by Khuban Omer Khan
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Nadeem Aslam's latest book The Wasted Vigil is set in Afghanistan where people of different ideologies and religion cross paths, while searching for something or someone .When I read Aslam's book I was taken aback by numerous misquotes attributed to the Quran. To find out more about Aslam, his book and why he chose to defame the Quran, especially in the current climate, I attended a reading of his novel at LUMS. I asked him, "Mr. Aslam, your fictional book is based in reality, it's not make believe right? And in it you have described the mindset of a jihadi. Now, an American journalist who has written a review of your book in the New York Times has said that 'those unfamiliar with Islam may misconstrue your characters' thoughts as being consistent with the faith'. How would you respond to this statement? Also, do you have any obligation to your reader to present an informed fictional account or can you write anything at all without any obligation to the audience of the message's veracity?" Discomfort was writ large on the faces of much of the uber-liberal audience. It was as if I had attacked the man simply by asking him why he chose to misquote the Holy Book. While Aslam struggled to answer, he was politely interrupted by the moderator, who did not want a discussion on religion (even though she had earlier commented on how the book revolves around religion) and an audience member who said, "well this is how jihadis think, it's time we accepted that." After that I was silenced. |
Did I imply we deny what jihadi's think? No. This is what I wanted to say:
Aslam, in describing the mindset of his jihadi character, misquotes from the Quran by splitting the verses and taking them out of context. He italicizes the Quranic verses and does not reference them anywhere in the book. For example, on page 104 he writes, "Because no true Muslim should shrink from killing in cold blood, his jihad training had included slitting the throats of sheep and horses while reciting the verse from the holy Quran which gives permission to massacre prisoners of war: it is not for the Prophet to have captives until he has spread the fear of slaughter in the land."
The verse is taken from Surah 8: Al-Anfal Ayah 67 which describes jihad as a defensive war and when read alongside Ayahs 70-71 brings Allah's message into perspective.
Aslam does this again when he writes on page 105, "He chanted the sacred words of the Quran. I will instill terror in the hearts of the infidels, strike off their heads, and strike off from them every fingertip."
This is half of Ayat 12 from Surah Al-Anfal The misquote is actually the end of the sentence where Allah is commanding angels, not humans, to attack the enemy in Jang-e-Badr. This is just one more example of how the author misconstrues the Quran's message for the sake of fiction.
I am not saying ban the book, I am not suggesting there should be a fatwa against the author. He, being a fictional writer may have the liberty to write whatever he wants. My only contention with him is that he should do so responsibly when quoting a Holy Book. It would, therefore, be wrong to generalize my argument to pure fiction. My suggestion: He should have given footnotes with the entire ayah, wherever the Quran was quoted. For people who oppose footnotes as strongly as I oppose misinterpreting the Quran (even in a fictional setting) another suggestion is that he could have written in his prologue a line or two saying he has misquoted from the Quran to fit the mindset of the jhadi terrorist. This way he would have separated his character's mindset from the doctrine itself. Even The Da Vinci Code separate fiction from fact on its first page.
In Aslam's defense, on answering my question at the reading he did manage to get across that his character Duniya (who makes her appearance in the latter part of the book) represents moderate Islam and therefore counters Casa's view. My answer to him (had I not been silenced) would be that he does not go through the effort of describing a moderate Muslims viewpoint through Quranic quotes. He only describes the Jihadi's perspective in light of the Quran. And since my purpose is not to salvage the image of Muslims around the world, for I know people like Casa exist, all I'm saying is that Aslam should be careful when quoting from the Quran. It is a very small point, if you think about it, yet it is an important issue because the thought of being mindful when it comes to the Quran is so unbearable for some people.
Given the way Muslims are perceived all over the world and how some Muslims perceive themselves, it is not fair of someone to perpetuate the stereotype in such an irresponsible manner, while people like me have to pick up the pieces and defend the Quran. Unfortunately, after distributing some handouts (at the reading) with the same information as in this article, I was ambushed by hate mails by those who thought I was attacking all fictional writing. That seems highly un-intellectual for a group of people who should be critically pondering and questioning literature with some degree of education and thought. For those who bombarded me with condescending words, told me not to be an apologist for Islam and even tried to stop me from distributing my handouts I have to say: If Aslam has the right to write whatever he wants and label it as fiction, then we should have the right to disagree with his method.
Nadeem Aslam "though culturally a Muslim but otherwise a non believer" (reference: interview with The Independent) says "I have no message in my book". He needs to realize that all expression, art, writing, fiction or non-fiction, has a message. His book has a message, and a purpose. Aslam also believes that "the novelist's job is not to pose solutions, but to find out how best to live." "From [his] viewpoint, all writing is political" (reference: BookBrowse interview).
Aslam has written this book, knowing it has a message and knowing it's a political message. He has misused the Quran to suit this purpose. Why would Mr. Aslam choose to attribute words of ill-will and unprovoked aggression to the Quran? For the sake of fiction?
Khuban Omer Khan received her MFA in Film Production from Boston Univeristy in 2007 and a BSc in Social Sciences from LUMS in 2004. This article is a response to an article published on April 14th, 2009 in Instep, a sub-section of The News, by Hani Taha Salim.
Aslam, in describing the mindset of his jihadi character, misquotes from the Quran by splitting the verses and taking them out of context. He italicizes the Quranic verses and does not reference them anywhere in the book. For example, on page 104 he writes, "Because no true Muslim should shrink from killing in cold blood, his jihad training had included slitting the throats of sheep and horses while reciting the verse from the holy Quran which gives permission to massacre prisoners of war: it is not for the Prophet to have captives until he has spread the fear of slaughter in the land."
The verse is taken from Surah 8: Al-Anfal Ayah 67 which describes jihad as a defensive war and when read alongside Ayahs 70-71 brings Allah's message into perspective.
Aslam does this again when he writes on page 105, "He chanted the sacred words of the Quran. I will instill terror in the hearts of the infidels, strike off their heads, and strike off from them every fingertip."
This is half of Ayat 12 from Surah Al-Anfal The misquote is actually the end of the sentence where Allah is commanding angels, not humans, to attack the enemy in Jang-e-Badr. This is just one more example of how the author misconstrues the Quran's message for the sake of fiction.
I am not saying ban the book, I am not suggesting there should be a fatwa against the author. He, being a fictional writer may have the liberty to write whatever he wants. My only contention with him is that he should do so responsibly when quoting a Holy Book. It would, therefore, be wrong to generalize my argument to pure fiction. My suggestion: He should have given footnotes with the entire ayah, wherever the Quran was quoted. For people who oppose footnotes as strongly as I oppose misinterpreting the Quran (even in a fictional setting) another suggestion is that he could have written in his prologue a line or two saying he has misquoted from the Quran to fit the mindset of the jhadi terrorist. This way he would have separated his character's mindset from the doctrine itself. Even The Da Vinci Code separate fiction from fact on its first page.
In Aslam's defense, on answering my question at the reading he did manage to get across that his character Duniya (who makes her appearance in the latter part of the book) represents moderate Islam and therefore counters Casa's view. My answer to him (had I not been silenced) would be that he does not go through the effort of describing a moderate Muslims viewpoint through Quranic quotes. He only describes the Jihadi's perspective in light of the Quran. And since my purpose is not to salvage the image of Muslims around the world, for I know people like Casa exist, all I'm saying is that Aslam should be careful when quoting from the Quran. It is a very small point, if you think about it, yet it is an important issue because the thought of being mindful when it comes to the Quran is so unbearable for some people.
Given the way Muslims are perceived all over the world and how some Muslims perceive themselves, it is not fair of someone to perpetuate the stereotype in such an irresponsible manner, while people like me have to pick up the pieces and defend the Quran. Unfortunately, after distributing some handouts (at the reading) with the same information as in this article, I was ambushed by hate mails by those who thought I was attacking all fictional writing. That seems highly un-intellectual for a group of people who should be critically pondering and questioning literature with some degree of education and thought. For those who bombarded me with condescending words, told me not to be an apologist for Islam and even tried to stop me from distributing my handouts I have to say: If Aslam has the right to write whatever he wants and label it as fiction, then we should have the right to disagree with his method.
Nadeem Aslam "though culturally a Muslim but otherwise a non believer" (reference: interview with The Independent) says "I have no message in my book". He needs to realize that all expression, art, writing, fiction or non-fiction, has a message. His book has a message, and a purpose. Aslam also believes that "the novelist's job is not to pose solutions, but to find out how best to live." "From [his] viewpoint, all writing is political" (reference: BookBrowse interview).
Aslam has written this book, knowing it has a message and knowing it's a political message. He has misused the Quran to suit this purpose. Why would Mr. Aslam choose to attribute words of ill-will and unprovoked aggression to the Quran? For the sake of fiction?
Khuban Omer Khan received her MFA in Film Production from Boston Univeristy in 2007 and a BSc in Social Sciences from LUMS in 2004. This article is a response to an article published on April 14th, 2009 in Instep, a sub-section of The News, by Hani Taha Salim.
