The Good Daughter

By Jasmin Darznik

The story of Jasmin's Iranian grandmother and mother. Both women suffered under the unfair rule of selfish and uncaring men and a patriarchal, overly religious society.
The grandmother, Kobra, lived with her husband and his mother. The husband was a gambler and the family's fortune ebbed and flowed with his wins and losses. Kobra had three kids, two sons, one of which died as a toddler and a daughter, Lili.
Lili's father wanted his daughter to be educated so she attended school. When she was about thirteen, she attracted the unwanted attention of a man. The man proceeded to ask to marry Lili, even though she was just a kid. In Iran, a girl was considered old enough for marriage once she had her first menses. So Lili ended up married to Kazem, a grown man.
Kazem turned out to be a brute and he beat Lili. After she gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Sara, Lili decided she could no longer tolerate being married to Kazem.
Unfortunately, in Iran at that time, a divorced woman was considered to be little more than a prostitute. Also, any children born to a married couple belonged to the father and not to the mother. Lili was forced to give up baby Sara.
But giving up Sara gave Lili the opportunity to leave Iran and travel to Germany to further her education. She attained a degree in midwifery. She also eventually married an European man and they moved to Iran.
Lili tried to maintain a relationship with her daughter, Sara, but Sara's father and his family poisoned her mind against her mother. Lili then gave birth to another daughter, Jasmin.
The political situation in Iran was becoming unstable. This was shortly before the time of the Iran hostage crisis in 1979. Lili and her husband left Iran and moved to California. Jasmin was only about three years old at the time.
Growing up in America, Jasmin didn't know about her mother's past. She didn't know Lili had been divorced, she didn't know she had a half-sister named Sara. She accidentally came across an old photo showing her mother and Kazem on the day they were married and naturally wanted to know what the deal was. But Lili refused to talk about it, telling her it wasn't any of Jasmin's business. Lili must have had second thoughts about it and she sent her daughter ten audio tapes, describing her life in Iran and her first, failed marriage and the child she left behind.

This was an OK read. When ever I read one of these Middle Eastern memoirs, it always seems to me that the women are just as much to blame for the oppression they suffer under as the men and the laws that oppress them. The women go along with it, they accept the abuse as their lot in life and they actively fight against the changes that could make their lives better, like education, like ending female circumcision, like ending child marriage. So many prefer to stay with the old ways, the old religion.

Kirkus Reviews has a review of the book.

Muhammad His Life Based on the Earliest Sources

By Martin Lings

If you want to read an account of the life of Muhammad as seen by a devout believer then this is the book for you. It is chock full of the kind of details that will make an Islamist's mouth water.
On the other hand if you want to know the truth about Muhammad, then look elsewhere. This book is just a retelling of all the old myths and is completely uncritical of the old stories and it treats all those stories as if they were Gospel. I found the book a chore to read but it did contain some interesting items. While I knew that Muhammad had a child bride who was nine years old, I didn't know he encouraged other men to do the same because, according to him, girls are fun to play with. I also didn't know that when his enemies surrendered to him after a battle, Muhammad had them executed.
The most interesting thing about this book is the author. This man was an Englishman who converted to Islam. Apparently the violence, intolerance and the cruelty to females that are the hallmarks of Arab culture was just what this guy was looking for in a religion. He even acquired an Arab name: Abu Bakr Siraj Ad-Din.
One thing I have learned, after reading this biography: Islam is certainly an accurate reflection of its founder.

Islam - The Straight Path

Edited by Kenneth W. Morgan

A couple words of warning about this book. First, it is pretty dated since in was written in 1958. Second it is not an unbiased or impartial book about Islam since it was written entirely by Islamics.

That being said, it is still a very informative book about the history and the spread of Islam. The statistics are probably quite a bit off since they are fifty years out of date. One problem I had with the book was the use of the Islamic dating system, which starts from the year Mohammad moved from Mecca to Medina, so it about 600 years behind the dating system used in the West. In most instances, the western date is included, but at times it is not.

The book is a series of chapters written by different experts and it discusses the history of Islam, its beliefs and its laws (briefly), the different sects, such as Shia, Sunni and Sufi and the history of the spread of Islam throughout others parts of the world, including Africa, India, China, Europe, Turkey and the Far East.

This book is available to read online at Religion Online.

What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam

By John L. Esposito

What is with these Islamists? Are you puzzled by this religion that seems to preach hate and intolerance? Then you may find this book very helpful.
John Esposito is an expert on Islam. He has written many books on the subject. He is a  university professor and past president of the Middle East Studies Association. He knows and respects Islam. This book is a kind of primer about Islam. It presents the basic facts about this major religion in an easy to read and concise format. The book is presented in a question and answer style. So if you have just a few questions, you can look in the front of the book, find your questions and read just those sections you want to know about. Even if you think you know the basics of Islam, this book still contains information you might not know. I didn't know about the Islamic banking system which is not based on credit and interest like Western banks but is based on a sharing of profit and loss.
This is a good reference book and an important addition to the library of anyone who is interested in religion or who is concerned about Islam.

Review from the Middle East Forum:   http://www.meforum.org/1574/what-everyone-needs-to-know-about-islam.

Review from Oxford Islamic Studies Online:    http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/Public/book_wenkai.html.

Women and Gender in Islam

By Leila Ahmed

An interesting book that looks at the underpinnings of Islamic subjugation of women; it contains a lot of information about the beginnings of Islam. Unfortunately, Leila Ahmed seeks to shift the blame for Islamic abuse of women unto the West, Christians and Jews. Her theory is that the Islamic message absorbed the anti-female practices of other societies of the area, including the Greeks, Christians, and Jews. Also, it is the West's fault that Islamic hardliners are reinstating the old abuses: it is simply a backlash at Western dominance  and Western values (including feminism) that they feel have been imposed on them.

It makes me tired. When will people stop laying blame and start taking responsibility for their own messes?