Books Reviewed:

Shattering the Stereotypes: Muslim Women Speak Out
Edited by Fawzia Afzal-Khan Massachusetts, Olive Branch Press, Interlink, 2005

Reviewed by Sally Bland

This is a book that really lives up to the promise of its title. Twenty-nine women of varying origins reflect on how the fallout from Sept. 11 impacted on their lives and on the lives of Muslims in general, whether in the US or abroad.

With a thorough-going critical eye, some contributors even challenge the terminology they themselves use, for they resent being boxed in by any label, including that of "Muslim woman", which eclipses other facets of their identity.

As editor Fawzia Afzal-Khan writes, "When I was growing up in Lahore, Pakistan, in the late sixties and seventies, I had no idea I was going to become a Muslim Woman after I migrated to that land of possibilities, the United States of America. I mean, the irony of having all those possibilities reduced to this one label is a bit mind-numbing, isn't it?" (p. 1)

Yet, if being Muslim was once a taken-for-granted part of the rhythm of their daily lives, the post-Sept. 11 targeting of Muslims - and those who "resemble" them - forced these women to speak out explicitly as Muslims, in order to counter false impressions.

"Shattering the Stereotypes" is part of this endeavour, an attempt "to weave together the different strands of conversation that have been taking place between women from diverse Muslim-American backgrounds since 9/11," and to transform their worst experiences into new, life-saving knowledge that will lead to a more peaceful world. (p. 4).

Aside from the daring critical sense with which these women write, the outstanding and somewhat unique characteristic of this book is that it is multigenred, encompassing six divergent types of writing: non-fiction, poetry, journalism, religious discourse, fiction and plays.

Multiple themes are addressed from diverse angles. Some of the writers tell what it was like to be in New York City at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks: the shock, pain and disorientation, followed by harassment, racial profiling, mass detentions, the erosion of civil liberties, and the feeling of being suddenly rendered a foreigner despite holding US citizenship.

In a particularly poignant essay, "Where is Home? Fragmented Lives, Border Crossings, and the Politics of Exile", Rabab Abdulhadi recounts how she suddenly felt a stranger in a place she had lived for years, as America's "melting pot" theory collapsed.

"Beneath the fa?ade of liberal advocacy of multiculturalism lies an ethnocentric New York that continues to deny our existence except as bloodthirsty or suspect male villains, helpless female victims, or exoticised alien others."

For her, there was also an unexpected element of familiarity: heightened police presence and checkpoints jerked her mind back to a recent visit to her home country, Palestine, leading her to conclude: "Our souls are split open. It is perhaps time to go home, but back home exists no more." (p. 83)

Many of the contributors link their experience as Muslims in the US with the successive wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, delivering a resounding critique of US foreign policy for its misguided "anti-terrorism" campaign and for "talking democracy but assisting autocracy". (p. 69)

A theatrical monologue by Bina Sharif satirises how Afghani women have been used and misused in this cruel game, with no one listening to their voice until it was politically opportune. "Maybe I do want to be uncovered," she says, "but I do not want to sit on the roadside begging from the leftover soldiers of the winner army.... I want to be free in my own country, here is Afghanistan. No I don't want to be free in your country. I won't be free there.... Once the war is over and all its reasons achieved I will be completely forgotten like before." (pp. 249, 252-3)

Another recurrent theme is salvaging the truth about Islam. Several writers focus on what the Koran actually says about women, arguing that much of the mistreatment of women in Muslim countries is a product of unjust power systems, not Islamic law.

Pakistani Rifaat Hassan persuasively advocates interpreting Koranic texts according to an ethical criterion: "If you believe that God is just, which to me is His essence, and the Koran is His word, it must reflect His justice as well." Hence, Koranic text cannot be used to perpetuate injustice and should be reinterpreted if this is found to be the case.

These are only some of the themes dealt with in "Shattering the Stereotypes", a book so rich in texture and broad in subject matter that it defies adequate appraisal in a short review.

This article was published in the Monday, July 11, 2005 edition of the Jordan Times. It is used here with permission.