Customer Reviews

Miniskirts, Mothers, and Muslims: A Christian Woman in a Muslim Land

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I HIGHLY recommend this book for any woman working or wanting to work in an Middle East/Arab world. It even has implications for countries where Islam is more of a cultural thing than it is a strict religious attachment. Mallouhi has great perspective and will definitely open your eyes to the ways and thinkings of many Muslim cultures. While specifics will differ from Muslim country to Muslim country, the principles are the same. In order to be effective ministers, we need to understand those principles! You must read this book before starting a ministry overseas!

This book is meant to improve one's effectiveness at Christian ministry in Arab countries by teaching the principle that if you do not respect culturally established norms, you and your religion will not be seen with respect. If you're a non-Muslim who likes to (or wants to) see things from different perspectives, a careful reading of this book may give you some new material to wrap your open mind around. But it's important to note that Muslim is not synonomous with Arab, and this book almost exclusively concerns Arab countries.

I enjoyed this book and appreciated hearing about this author's particular experiences in various Arab countries, however, it is definitely a book for missionaries. It seems like she is advocating respect for Muslims, but mainly in order to open the door for them to be lead to Christianity. All in all I did enjoy the author's stories, and it was thought-provoking.

I've traveled in many Asian, non-Arab countries, as well as several European and North and South American countries. I've interacted with Muslims as well as others of many persuasions including religious and non-religious. I'd say even more so today than when the book first came out: These principles apply very appropriately to intercultural and inter-religious discussion in ANY country. Of course, not all Muslims have the same standards of modesty, for example and there is also great variety among Christians. The relevance is certainly not restricted to the Arab world, or even to the Arabs alone who come to live in the west or farther east, but also to Indians, Malay, Indonesians, Turkic, or Chinese. I recommend this book to anyone, including non-Christians, whose work or interest includes Muslims, or maybe even conservative Mennonites in Edmonton! Some Indonesian friends once shared with me that in their country of many cultures and languages, it is their custom when they have a guest over to research the cultural etiquette of their guest and then try to arrange food and decorum that will please the person from that culture. You don't have to be a Missionary or even a Christian to express such politeness and it will improve your mutual understanding.

In college my major was Islamic studies. I read a large amount of books on Islam. I believe this is the best book for anyone working with Muslims to gain a valid cultural perspective. If you are planning on working overseas in a Muslim country, this is a must read. It is very easy to read and not full of history. It is practical and right on. I would highly recommend this book.

This book is light-hearted and easy to read. She gives lots of examples of real life sittuations and tells how best to handle them. It is perfect for any woman preparing to travel to an Islamic country. Men will benifit from reading this too. I also find it very usefull when incountering Muslim imagrants and refugees here in the U.S.

Christine Mallouhi writes from the interesting perspective of a Western Christian missionary living in various, mostly Arabic-speaking Muslim countries. Learning over many years through trial and error and with the help of her Arabic, conservatively raised husband, the author repeatedly emphasizes and offers numerous examples of the importance of showing respect to other cultures in order to be respected and accepted in turn, especially important when one is trying to spread one's religious values.

Although written to help other Christian missionaries understand how to be true to their faith and set a good example as Westerners as well, anyone can learn from this book about the fascinating world of Arabic cultures and how even within areas of one country Muslim Arabs cannot be pigeonholed into stereotypes. While some readers may dislike the advice to change one's dress and mannerisms to better fit in with a different culture, especially one which they find confusing and perhaps oppressive, one cannot deny the benefits of doing so - when in Rome, do as the Romans do - in order to gain understanding of a different culture, to make life easier, and to enjoy new friendships.

I will be living soon in a muslim country and find this very helpful in understanding muslim culture.

This is another book I read last year.It was ok and showed a lot of opinion I thought.It was written well.I didn't agree with everything in there I believe was the impression I'd gotten from the book.The subject matter is,of course,of great interest to me because of my own experiences into Islam(and out).Nadia N.Rehmani-author of Sharper Than A Two Edged Sword-A True Story Of One Woman's Walk Into Islam And Out.

I did NOT enjoy this book. I am a convert to Islam and find this book to be simplistically written and completely biased.