I chose this book (the Armstrong) because my group thought a non-fiction title might be a good idea. It is one that has sat on my shelf saying 'read me Liz, read me' for a few years now, and as a teacher of Religious Studies the fact is I probably should have read it by now! I actually have most of the authors books on my shelves, picked up from various charity shops. I find the idea of her appealing, an ex-nun who now writes approachable and unbiased accounts of various world religions sounds like the sort of person I would like to read.
The reason I picked her Islam book in particular is, I should think, pretty obvious. Like most people in my profession I have been struggling with the lack of understanding of Islam in the west, which often manifests itself as fear and hatred. Even some of my more liberal, well-educated friends struggle to come to terms with a religion that, if we believe some media's accounts, would like to eradicate the western way of life and burn us innocent whities as infidels! That this is completely untrue I would like to think goes without saying, but sadly I find I really do have to make it clear. So much is said about Islam, about the meaning of the word, the nature of Jihad, their attitudes to women and their perception of non-muslims, that I thought reading this might be a good way of helping me sift out the racist lies from the truth.
Armstrong wrote this before 9/11 (though my version contains a 2 page postscript briefly addressing the issue) and in some ways it does show. She does address the issue of fundamentalism, but perhaps not in as much detail as you would expect if the book were written today. It is very hard to think back before 9/11, it changed out perception of the world so much. I consider myself fortunate to be old enough (just) to recognise the difference between post and pre 9/11, but try as I might I find it impossible to communicate this to my pupils. From September my youngest pupils will not have even been alive during 9/11, and even the eldest were too young to be aware of the change. They grew up with a fear and suspicion of Islam that I never had as a kid, and they probably learnt the word 'terrorist' far before I was aware of it.
The Islam portrayed by Armstrong is much more neutral. Sure there are things in this religions past that it is/should be ashamed of. A couple of massacres, a rather unsavoury method of gaining revenue by 'raiding' Arab merchants (a very common practice of the time Armstrong is keen to point out), but what religion doesn't? Crusades anybody? The underlying message of Muhammad (pbuh) is one of peace, tolerance and generally being decent to one another, had they been alive at time same time I'm pretty sure him and Jesus would have got along like a house on fire!
Armstrong believes the rise of Islam was extremely good for the Arab people, it united the disparate tribes and put in place a clear and administrable moral code. It allowed the nation to expand, and while it inevitably succumbed to civil war and invaders in much the same way all large empires do, it was overall successful and very tolerant of the Christians and Jews who lived in the areas it occupied. Religious tolerance was the aim of the game, and conversions to Islam were not even encouraged until much later on. To be honest, while this was all interesting, I felt Armstrong lacked focus during this middle but of the book. Emperor follows Emperor and I struggled to tell which was which and why I should care. However she redeemed herself in her final section on fundamentalism.
Those people who give up their lives and thousands of others for their religious causes, those people who appear to hate the west and who butcher their own religion and turn it into a misogynistic, intolerant, hateful mess. Those people I do not understand, could never get a grasp on, but I think I have a better idea now. I have never sympathised with anything the Nazi's did, but while it was vile and hateful I could understand their motivations. Having read about the suppression of religion and the enforced secularisation that happened in many Muslim countries after the rise of the west I have a degree of understanding. I still think the actions of Islamic fundamentalists are wrong, but at least now I have some perspective, some understanding of their history even if it does not justify it. And this is why we should all read this book, because with some perspective, some insight, perhaps we may be able to get through to those people who take their beautiful religion to an extreme.
'The Reluctant Fundamentalist' does try in many ways to do what Armstrong does in her fundamentalism chapter, only much shorter, easier to read and completely fictitious! It is a tense conversation between an American man (who doesn't actually speak) and a man he meets in Pakistan. The Pakistani man tells his life story, how he got a scholarship to an ivy league college in America and became very successful there, but now he is here back living in Pakistan. I can't say much more without ruining it, but the whole thing is very gripping and you begin to wonder why he moved back home and what, if anything, he is going to do to the American. An awesome, awesome thriller that is super short but super clever, well worth a read.
Well I hope that didn't offend too many people!
