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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A gripping read that must be taken with a grain of salt,
By A Customer
This review is from: Blasphemy: A Novel (Paperback)
On the inside sleeve of this book's hardcover edition, Tehmina Durrani writes that the intent of "Blasphemy" is to expose the corruption in society, not denigrate Islam. I read that before I read the book, so perhaps my interpretation of the book was slightly colored. However, I honestly do not agree with the two extremes that other readers have presented: one being that it's completely wrong, and the other being that it's completely right.On the one hand, Islam has given women more inalienable rights than any other religion ever has. On the other hand, the practitioners of Islam in many societies have successfully managed to distort the practices of the religion to suit their own needs. In many cases, this means delegating women to their homes. One Pakistani mullah (a member of the so-called clergy) recently said, "In Islam, a woman has full rights. But these rights are restricted to the four walls of her home." In an illiterate society, the people hear "a woman has full rights" and nod their heads, agreeing. Then they hear the restriction upon these rights, which they most likely have never heard of unless they're already corrupted, and figure, "well, if the mullah says so, it must be true." The same situation happened during the Dark Ages with the Christian church: the vast majority of society was uneducated, and the clergy was free to tamper with the religion and its followers as it pleased. Look at what happened. The purpose of Ms. Durrani's book is two-fold: one, it is an enjoyable book to read. More importantly, however, it sends a subtle but powerful message to its reader that Pakistani society in particular (and Muslim societies in general) need to wake up to the enormous problem of clergy. Clergy are not sanctioned in Islam, yet today, they wield enormous power. While I do not necessarily share the same views with Ms. Durrani on how to bring about reform, or what that reform entails, I do fully support her claim that reform needs to be implemented. For the reader of "Blasphemy" who is unfamiliar with Ms. Durrani's background, she is a member of Pakistan's tiny but immensely powerful upper class. This class is the society's most educated one, and in some ways, its most irreligious one. However, that is not to say that Ms. Durrani is irreligious; rather, she simply knows that Islam as it is being practiced in Pakistan is very corrupted. Islam in Pakistan, at least in the case of the pirs and mullahs and maulvis, etc., is far from the Islam of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him). That Islam was revealed by God through the Prophet (pbuh) to enlighten mankind and free men from their chains of ignorance. Today, we Muslims, whether we are Pakistani or not, face a challenge: do we continue to practice our motley assortment of interpretations of Islam, or do we reform our practices to return to the original practice of Islam, the way of the Prophet (pbuh)? That is a question that neither I nor Ms. Durrani will answer, but the message both in this review and in "Blasphemy" is strong. It's up to the reader to decide what he (or she) wants to take from the book. And if nothing else, let "Blasphemy" be a lesson in how power corrupts men, even if they originally have the best of intentions.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A dazzling story of religious exploitation,
By Meltem Tanilkan (Istanbul,Turkey) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Blasphemy: A Novel (Hardcover)
The story basically tells about the power of religious leaders in a society of illiterate people. I find the whole story quite interesting because the author attempts to show that people don't hate others who perform the devil and sins as long as they do it secretly, no matter how terrible things they do. As long as everything has been kept as a secret, the society never blames the ones who are responsible of all the sins. But if one of the victims tries to make everybody know about the sins, then they blame the victim but not the responsible one.I don't think that the story is against Islamic society. It is simply against the exploitation of religious feelings and fears of ignorant people by clergymen (pirs) who are thought to be close to god and have special power to help people. And I also don't think that the the author tries to say that this is what Pakistan is all about. Because the author tells about the life styles of people both in the shrine and outside the shrine. I believe this makes the book more objective. Sometimes it may be quite difficult to follow the story because the author suddenly jumps from the present time to the past and to the present again.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Blasphemy,
By Mogul (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Blasphemy: A Novel (Paperback)
A very intense reading. It did not take me too long to become part of the suffering of the character at the hands of peer Sain. I have experianced this believe system in our family. It took me more than 5 years to make my case with the family and finally to get rid of the 'Holy Man'.Tehmina has done a wonderfull job of painting the 'Peer Culture' in Pakistan. The falsehood of this culture has destroyed many lives. I hope some other writers pickup where Tehmina left it. More work needs to be done to expose the falsehood of 'Mazars' and 'Peers'. I wish and hope Pakistan inacts a law against the establishment of such tombs, and I also hope the existing ones are leveled to the ground. This might dim a period of ignorance in Pakistan.
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