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Novel, The Scent of Jasmine is a Snapshot of Past Arab World

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By Saadia Faruqi

A new book, The Scent of Jasmine: Coming of Age in Jerusalem and Damascus, offers deep insight into a world that is largely destroyed now. Founding director of both the Palestine Aid Society of America and the Arab American National Museum, Author Dr. Anan Ameri had a Palestinian father and a Syrian mother and moved to the United States after completing university. Through her novel, she tells the intriguing and uplighting story of her early years.

In The Scent of Jasmine, Ameri has written an engaging memoir about her childhood in Syria, complete with descriptions of everyday life in many Arab cities and villages. Due to countless wars and terrorism, many of these destinations are no longer the vibrant spaces of Ameri’s youth, a fact that makes for impactful reading against the backdrop of the current political turmoil in the Middle East. For Ameri, this turmoil began early in her life, when her Palestinian father and his family became homeless and were forced to flee their country to Jordan. In 1950 the family left East Jerusalem and spent the rest of their time traveling between Amman, Jordan and Damascus, Syria.

Ameri writes about her identity as a nation-less Palestinian in the following terms:

“As a child, I used to fantasize about being Swiss and Norwegian, not because I wished to be blonde or rich, but because I wished to be free from disaster, separation and sadness, and from seeing my father, his friends and relatives forever grieving their loss of Palestine.”

The book is not written as the average memoir. Instead, it offers twenty three vignettes of Ameri’s childhood memories, ranging from the birth of her baby brother to protests in Egypt and Jordan, from Eid celebrations in Amman to neighborhood cafes in Damascus. While different, this angle is refreshing because it highlights the best years of Ameri’s life.

Through her eyes, readers see the cities of Damascus and Amman as they used to be in the 1960s and 1970s; they witness the hustle and bustle of Syrians, Jordanians and others. Through her ears they hear the laughter that filled Ameri’s life, the sounds of the streets outside, and even the student protests that echoed around her in her youth.

Within these memories lie important themes as well. As a little girl Ameri finds the patriarchal system of the Middle East difficult to swallow. She talks about her confusion when her younger sister’s birth is met with disappointment, while her brother’s birth is celebrated wholeheartedly. She angers at the blind eye her family turns towards her uncle’s adulterous behavior. She worries about the religious intolerance and extremism at her college in Beirut. These ups and downs shape who Ameri becomes as an adult.

At the same time, she is shaped by positive political experiences. Contrary to popular belief, the 1960s in the Middle East was similar to the 1960s in America and Europe. Ameri participated in the protests, sit-ins and strikes that were common in Jordan during this time. She walked in her first demonstration at the age of 12, an event that propelled her into political action, leading her to have been been kicked out of two colleges as a teem for her activism.

“Along with thousands of others, we rallied for women’s and workers’ rights, for democracy and a free press, for Arab unity and, of course for a free Palestine. These were my formative years, the years I experienced many firsts, including a first love and a first job. Most importantly these were the years when I developed my political and social consciousness.”

A light and quick read, The Scent of Jasmine not only opens a window on a region and lifestyle that is long gone, but also shatters stereotypes about the Middle East. It is available on Amazon by clicking here.

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Haroon Moghul’s ‘How to Be a Muslim: An American Story’ Discusses the Struggles of American Muslim Life

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by Saeed Khan

At first blush, the title of Haroon Moghul’s latest book will be misleading. “How to Be a Muslim: An American Story” is not a how-to book in the conventional sense. It is not a roadmap on how to perform rituals, develop spirituality or acquire an ethical compass, all of which are undoubtedly important from an Islamic perspective. But Moghul offers something equally critical for young Muslims trying to navigate life, especially in America: an honesty that is fresh, raw and at times, courageously brutal.

haroon moghulHaroon Moghul, a public intellectual who serves as a frequent commentator on Muslim issues across a wide array of platforms including cable news networks as well as print and online media, is also an active convener of Muslim-Jewish engagement at the Shalom Hartman Institute. In “How to Be a Muslim,” Moghul explores life thus far in an exceptionally deep dive. There is the expected account of an immigrant Muslim American coming to terms with the common challenges of identity and belonging, religion versus culture, yet Moghul bares his soul and some highly personal details of his life in the process. The reader learns of his interventions with alcohol and dating, but also with his pained struggle to stay a believer. All of these are still taboo topics in most Muslim circles, but emerging in some conversations across the country.

Moghul then describes and discusses his bipolar disorder, an act of singular courage in a community climate where mental health is the condition that “must not be named.” Clearly, it is the author’s intention to expose his own life and ordeals as a way not to garner sympathy for himself, but rather empathy for those who have to suffer in silence with similar circumstances in the shadows of Muslim communities, often in plain sight.

The intended audience for Moghul’s account reaches well beyond the Muslim community. As such, his memoir contains footnotes, a rarity in autobiographical accounts. He uses citations when he deftly weaves in information about Islam, its history and its practices for the uninitiated reader. Moghul achieves a very elusive objective successfully—providing a personal story with an education about a highly maligned, misunderstood topic in today’s public debate—doing so without indignantly forcing either narrative upon the reader.

The candor of Moghul’s narrative “re”-humanizes Muslims—no small task at a time when the Muslim community faces dehumanization from several quarters. Ironically, while some treat Muslims as less than human, some Muslims act as though they are more than human, erroneously asserting a sense of Muslim exceptionalism. Moghul’s memoir dispels that absurd and unwarranted conceit, showing that while Muslims are indeed susceptible to faults and glitches as others are, they are, thankfully, works in progress.

In the 2001 movie, Vanilla Sky, Penelope Cruz says, “Every passing minute is a chance to turn it all around.” “How to Be a Muslim” is a testament to this very profound, and very Islamic, notion. Buy your copy here!

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‘Mirror on the Veil’: Anthology that Counters Hijabi Stereotypes

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by Saadia Faruqi

I have worn the hijab for the last decade, perhaps more. It’s difficult to count the years because it didn’t happen in one day or even a few months so that I could look back and remind myself: “there, that’s the year I finally did it!” For me, like for millions of other Muslim women, putting on the hijab was a long-term experiment, an on-again-off-again relationship with a piece of fabric.

I write about this relationship in-depth in the new essay anthology “Mirror on the Veil.” Edited by two brilliant Muslim American women: Nausheen Pasha-Zaidi who is a psychology lecturer at the University of Houston and Shaheen Pasha who is a journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. This anthology is subtitled ‘A Collection of Personal Essays on Hijab and Veiling.’ The book is about the hijab, but not only from the perspective of those who wear it, like me, but also from the viewpoint of those who don’t wear it and those who used to but have now forsaken it.

When I contributed to the anthology I didn’t know the editors or the other contributors. After email correspondence with Pasha-Zaidi, we realized we were in the same city and decided to meet up. Thus many other opportunities came into existence, which have resulted in a book that Muslims and non-Muslims alike are eager to read. For instance, I introduced her to my friend Reverend Nell Green, a Christian whose narrative also came to be included in the anthology. This will be a breath of fresh air to readers who don’t want to read the same old story about veiling, but rather are looking for interesting, unique perspectives including one from a Christian pastor with years of experience living in Muslim countries.

The anthology is divided into sections. Part I, which includes my essay, is titled ‘Becoming Visible.’ In it, writers share how they first came to this piece of fabric that has become the stereotypical identity of Muslim women in western media. Some essays are deeply personal reflections on life. One essay is in the form of letters to strangers on the street (Dear White Guy on the Subway, for example). Perhaps the most striking essay is by Tanya Muneera Williams, who explains:

“I am a Muslim woman. I am a rapper. And I do wear hijab.”

Who doesn’t want to read the journey to hijab as experienced by a black Muslim woman who happens to be a rapper? It is a fascinating read which is sure to blow away stereotypes and educate readers in the same way Tanya has been doing with her music.

Part II is entitled ‘The Distribution of Normal.’ It includes narratives of non-Muslims, such as a white Christian teacher in the U.A.E. After her experiences with hijabi students, her return to the United States is a hilarious commentary on the state of dress here:

My time in the Muslim world has changed me fundamentally. I go home to North America and am shocked at how little clothes people have on. True, the environment shapes our attitudes and views and I have become more conservative as a result of being here. Yet, I am shocked at how shocked I am. Have “we” always walked around with so few garments? Did I used to walk around this way? Apparently yes, but I never thought of myself as inappropriately dressed before and now everywhere I look there are butt cracks, flabby arms, wrinkled and not-so-wrinkled cleavages, elephant knees, muffin tops, arm pit hairs, back hairs… I could go on. Oh please, someone put some clothes on all of these bodies!

Other sections of the book deal with other stories. There is an essay by a Hindu about the ghunghat, and one by a young man who falls for a hijabi girl only to be rejected. There are also essays that break one’s heart because they describe the pain women go through when they don’t wear the hijab. High school girls explain how they are teased by their more religious friends. Brides discuss how they are scolded by mothers-in-law. Confident Muslim women write about how the men and even the governments around them force them to cover themselves. Readers will see a full picture of the hijab with not only its beauty but also the ugliness that sometimes surrounds it. One writer explains is thus:

What I am trying to argue is that, at face value, the hijab is meaningless in terms of conveying the type of person the woman is. Unfortunately, my experience has taught me that judgments and conclusions are made about women based on the mere presence or absence of this otherwise neutral piece of headwear. It is often assumed that a veiled woman is a “good girl” — respectable and obedient to God and committed to her religion. Unveiled women, on the other hand, are suspect, their level of faith questioned by what some understand to be their disobedience of God’s orders for her to wear the hijab. This judgment of a book by its cover is both unfortunate and unfair.

“Mirror on the Veil” is a must-read, as well as a must-share. It will help readers learn more about the variety of thought and perspectives on the hijab. Buy it on Amazon.

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‘Amina’s Voice’ Lets a Muslim Girl’s Voice Shine in Mainstream Media

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by Saadia Faruqi

If you’ve been searching in vain for fiction you can identify with as a South Asian or a Muslim, or perhaps both, Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing has some good news for you. In 2016 the publishing giant created a new imprint called Salaam Reads with the aim of publishing Muslim narratives in a mainstream book channel. You don’t have to be a literary expert to know that this is exciting news. Parents will no longer bemoan the fact that their sons and daughters don’t have reading materials that echo their unique cultural heritage. Teens will no longer be disappointed by reading stories of kids who are nothing like them.amina's voice

“Amina’s Voice,” a Middle-Grade novel by Hena Khan is the first book to be published by Salaam Reads, and it is phenomenal. Middle Grade typically is suitable for ages 8-12 or grades 3-7, but I know many adults who read – and are satisfied by – these novels. “Amina’s Voice” revolves around a sixth grader named Amina, whose parents are from Pakistan, while she herself is a conflicted, culture clashing young girl we all know. At home, her parents eat palak gosht and daal like all desi parents, but she’d rather have pizza. In Sunday school at the mosque, the lessons are not only boring but difficult to pronounce because they’re in Arabic. Her uncle is visiting from Pakistan and he is not happy with the way her family has Americanized, implying that the children cannot speak Urdu, which should be a “been there done that” sort of moment for millions of us.

There’s so much meat in the novel, so much to think about and identify with. Amina herself is a well-adjusted girl. She’s puzzled as her Korean-American friend wants to change her name from Soojin to Susan, and her elder brother Mustafa argues endlessly with her parents. Still, she faces a myriad of problems that will seem achingly familiar to anyone who’s been through middle school in America or whose children have. Her teacher wants her to perform in the Winter Choral Concert as a singer, but Amina is too shy. Her father signs her up for a Quran recitation competition – what Muslim kid hasn’t dreaded those? – at the mosque. Her uncle thinks music is forbidden in Islam and doesn’t want her playing the piano, which she loves and is extremely talented at. Her best friend Soojin suddenly begins to gravitate towards another friend, leaving Amina in the dust wishing for the way things used to be. While all this is going on, something tragic occurs: someone sets fire to their mosque.

In an environment of bigotry against immigrants and Muslims, Amina’s Voice is a beacon of hope for readers. Girls who read this novel will be emboldened by the strength Amina shows, the way she solves her problems even when the world around her is scary and hateful. She battles not only stricter elements of Islam within her own culture but also Islamophobes outside. All the while, she struggles to overcome her own insecurities and challenges. If Amina sounds like someone you know, I urge you to read it or share it with others.

Hena Khan is a Pakistani-American author whose books you may have read in the past. The most popular one was “It’s Ramadan, Curious George,” but she has also written others such as “Night of the Moon” and “Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns.” “Amina’s Voice” is available on Amazon and other retailers.

Saadia Faruqi is a Pakistani-American author of the short story collection “Brick Walls: Tales of Hope & Courage from Pakistan.” She lives in Houston, TX with her family.