When this book first came out, I wasn’t all too interested in reading it. I guess I had had a bit of an Afghan overload from spending the summer of ‘01 binging on books about the Afghan-Soviet war, and then the aftermath of 9/11 put a lid on my interest. The daily knowledge that mud-huts were being bombed into oblivion made it impossible for me to appreciate a fictitious account of war, any war. Well, a couple months ago, my sister brought home the book “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” by the same author of “The Kite-Runner” and I decided to give it a whirl. It made me cry bucket-loads and I decided that I would seize the first opportunity I got to read “The Kite Runner.”

This book has been playing hide and seek with me at the library for months. Just when I had given hope of getting it from the library, there it was, sitting calmly on the shelf. Seize it I did. And it’s been sitting on my shelf the past month, because as usual, I checked out more books than I could handle. This weekend, I realized I had to renew it after three weeks of letting it languish, and I decided to clear my shelf and just leave this one book behind. I spent the last couple of days reading it, and wow, it was such a good book. More than anything else, it is, to me, a story about childhood coming full circle in adulthood. It is all about dealing with the conflicts of the heart, of society, of history, and of culture. Perhaps, it’s most obviously a story of redemption.

I found it interesting how the author dealt with religion. He depicted the ones who are Muslim-in-name as well as those who believe in the principles of Islam. He depicted the confusion and selfishness of the irreligious, and the humility and selflessness of the religious (although those depictions might also be viewed in the context of class distinctions). And I couldn’t help noticing that the few Taliban characters described in the book were devoutly irreligious from childhood, having a gained a useful position in adulthood that has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with convenient access to power.

Many of you have probably already read this book, and I am as usual the last in line to read books that are on everyone’s to-do list. It was worth my time, and I am glad I waited a while to read it.

I finally finished reading “The Life of Pi.” Actually, I started out strong, reading half the book in a few days. Life then compelled me to put it down, and here I am finishing it three weeks later. I loved this book (although I am not one for the mixing of spiritual traditions). The ending threw me for a loop, and had me wondering which is the real story, the whole book, or just the last chapter? I can’t get the question out of my head. Was the whole book a metaphor for the final chapter? I don’t want that to be true! The fantasizer in me wants the metaphor to be the story!

The political world has been abuzz the past couple of weeks with Clinton Mania…that syndrome where you have to pick at someone, rather than focus on the sorry state of affairs facing President-elect Obama, and who better to chip away at than a Clinton? The possibilities for a soap opera-style drama of love, hate and craziness, not to mention subterfuge, suspicion, and scorn are endless with the Clintons. Now, with the prospect of Senator Clinton becoming Secretary of State (the American equivalent of Foreign Minister), there comes a distinct promise of many drama-laden years ahead.

So, in the interest of consuming as much Clinton as humanly possible, while at the same time not paying attention to the obsessive rumor-mill working overtime right now (Clinton sneakily finagled the job offer; Obama offered it to her to get her out of the Senate where she can *gasp* damage him; Bill Clinton will do everything in his power to sabotage Senator Clinton (or is that he’ll be sabotaging Obama?)…these are just a few of the psycho-dramas playing out in political blog-land), I decided to try and read Bill Clinton’s autobiography, My Life. I say “try” because it’s one hefty tome, coming in at 950-odd pages and almost 3.5 pounds . He starts off with the most minute of details from his childhood (how does he remember all that?!), and as desperately as I want to get into the part where he talks about his presidential campaigns and years in the White House, I can’t bring myself to skip ahead. To make matters worse, there was a new book in the library called Clinton in Exile: A President out of the White House which I could not resist checking out. That book makes for interesting reading, and well, it’s a good thing I picked up the autobiography for only a dollar at the library’s Used Book Store…I can take my time with it!

I recall there was some kind of uproar in Muslim/Arab circles when this book came out, so of course I had to give it a go now that I have a bit of free time. I must say, I don’t get what the fuss was about. Yes, it’s about a group of spoiled rich girls, but no need to be all jealous and condemn the issues they have in life. And for anyone suggesting that “girls like these” are “ruining our societies,” well, allow me to recommend that you take a good, long, hard, honest look at the boys of Riyadh, who are the real stars of this show.

I liked this book, overall. It depicts the lives of four upper class girls, who develop relationships with men both conventionally (through family-arranged weddings) and not-so-conventionally (dating, Saudi style). Some relationships work, others don’t, and the book portrays the emotional/societal fallout of such relationships. In some ways, it will shock you (when a traditionally married girl is divorced because her husband was really in love with someone else, his actions leading to the divorce are nothing short of despicable), but I can honestly say that it’s a very realistic book, and not so far removed from the relationships I see around me. Perhaps that is why it was such a scandal, and thus banned in the author’s home country of Saudi Arabia. Yes, I can see how the truth would sting.

It’s taking me a while lately to post stuff up…the days just seem terribly hectic right now, and there seems to be hardly any time to do the day’s activities, let alone blog about them

My latest verses, from Surah ‘aale-Imraan, ayahs 52-74, for the Circle of Unity have to do with the story of ‘Eesa AlayhimusSalaam, where Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala addresses Sayyidina ‘Eesa by saying:

54. And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah.

55. Behold! Allah said: “O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.

56. “As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help.”

57. “As to those who believe and work righteousness, Allah will pay them (in full) their reward; but Allah loveth not those who do wrong.”

58. “This is what we rehearse unto thee of the Signs and the Message of Wisdom.”

59. The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: “Be”. And he was.

60. The Truth (comes) from Allah alone; so be not of those who doubt.

This is the part that captivated me the most, I think because I finally learned how to say “Allah is the best of planners” in Arabic. It’s a message of comfort and clarity to ‘Eesa AlayhimusSalaam, as well as those who believed in the message he was sent to deliver, and I loved the simplicity and clarity of it. I am not someone who enjoys getting into long-winded debates of the inter-faith nature, so I like knowing where in the Qur’aan to direct people to read when they bug me with their Jesus stuff. I hope that I am never ever of those who doubt; may Allah keep me on the path He has blessed me with, ameen.

I have this thing with not wanting to be around anyone when I am reading Qur’aan. Not because I am humble and modest or anything sweet and lovely like that. It’s the fact that everyone around me has 10 times better pronounciation than me. I think that when it comes to Arabic, I must be slightly dyslexic, although I can read other things in Arabic just fine. My mother says it’s a test from Allah, to see how persistent I can be or if I will just cave in and not read the Qur’aan, and that if I keep at it, this “little” problem will just go away. Supposedly, my grandfather had the same issue, but I don’t think it was as bad. Anyhow, for a long time, I would read Qur’aan sparingly, because the difficulty was just too much to overcome, and I had no time to just sit there and nurse my tongue into obedience. Imagine, I had time for other things, but not this. SubhanAllah, and may Allah help me overcome my laziness. Ameen!

So, anyways, in the past several years, I have given to being more resolute in my Qur’an-reading…and maybe there has been an ounce of improvement…but I am looking for a ton of improvement, so that’s clearly a long way off. If anyone happens to come in my room while I am reading, I tend to get a little annoyed, but I don’t think they know why. Well, you know, hiding and doing anything gets to be just exhausting…so lately, I don’t even get annoyed, I just resign myself to the fact that they are going to hear my horrible reading. And then, yesterday, my older brother, who mashaAllah has such superb tajweed and style and I don’t read in front of him at any cost coz he will allways tell me what I am mispronouncing and stuff and, to top it off, ask me where in heaven did I pick that (non)style up from?!, comes in while I am reading Qur’aan. Now, my brother has not seen me do this in literally years, I am that good at hiding from him. So he was a bit surprised, but very happy, and then he said the sweetest* thing: “Don’t be embarrassed, it’s ok to read Qur’aan, you know. You are Muslim, after all…so it’s normal.” I just looked at him and said “Ok, whatever, thanks! Now buzz off.” And he said “No, I won’t. Not till I give you some advice.” Argggghhhh, he wouldn’t leave that easily…why couldn’t he just get what he came for and go away?! I caved, and asked what his “advice” was. And he said, “Forget the idea of finishing the Qur’aan this month; at the rate you read, you won’t even finish this year [not true!], so why don’t you just read a page a day, read along a couple times with a sheikh you like, and then read it 10 times by yourself, and then put the sheikh back on to see if your tajweed and everything is good.”

Well, ok, that was some good advice. After all, no way am I going to him to fix my tajweed…and dad says not to stress myself out being perfect…so that’s not an option either. InshaAllah, I will follow his advice…but after Ramadaan. I have to prove him wrong and do my khatam! InshaAllah.
Is there any limit to my pride?! Well, it’s not pride, hey…its dignity!

This post is super-personal, not even something my closest friends know about me…Don’t know how long it will stay up here, and it already took me a full day to decide to post it…we’ll see. Hope there is something useful here for anyone, in the mean-time…

*Sarcasm Alert!

Just about once a week, sometimes once in two weeks, we go to the library and check out stacks of books. Mostly cookbooks, those that have tons of pictures, because if I never get around to making any of the recipes, that’s ok; at least I have filled my eyes by feasting on the scrumptious pictures. And yes, that is truly enough for me. Who needs to be bothered with doing the after-cooking-and-eating dishes?! This is the mess-free way of feasting.

Aside from the picture books (makes me feel like a pre-schooler!), I also check out a bunch of books that I intend to read…yet, I never seem to get past a couple of chapters, before they are due back at the library again. I think my problem is that I can’t check out one book at a time, I just have to grab a baker’s dozen of them into my greedy little hands…in the end, I am left with a bewildering stack from which to choose, and so I read little bits of each one.

Well, I decided to limit myself to checking out two books this week. Of course, I had to break my word to myself, and now I have four books to read. I will attempt to read these books (in the middle of all the other things I seem to have to do during the day):

1. The Book of No: 250 Ways to Say It–and Mean It and Stop People-Pleasing Forever; by Susan Newman Ph.D; 2006.
2. Oil On the Brain; by Lisa Margonelli; 2007.
3. What’s Right with Islam; by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf; 2004.
4. The Qur’an; by Bruce Lawrence; 2006.

Now that I have made my shameful reading behavior public, hopefully I can make progress with this problem. If you never hear a word about what I think of these books, you’ll be able to guess what happened. *sigh*

by Valerie Zennati

DigiJ found this book on a quick visit to the library, and somehow figured I would find it an interesting read. So, I read this book yesterday, not because I am a fast reader, but because its a really effortless read. Its not super-exciting, but its not super-boring either. Its kind of in that zone where you can read it if you have no other options. Which describes me perfectly. I really need to spend an hour at the library and find some good stuff to read!

This book was basically written for Grade 9 and up (thanks a lot, DigiJ!) and is about a girl’s mandatory 2 year military service in the Israeli Army. The book spends a heck of a lot of time and space describing the first few months of her service, and then devotes a few chapters to the remainder of her military stint. And she touches briefly (almost uncomfortably) on the political aspects of the whole “issue.”

The thing that rather amazed me is how there is not a whole heck of a lot of religious conviction to back up such a duty to an obviously religious country. I mean, for example, the author kind of hints in a couple of places that she questions the existence of God. If there is uncertainty that God exists, then why the certainty that Israel is your Holy Land? I didn’t quite get that, but like I said, I read it all rather quickly, and perhaps I missed the plot a little.