AAO's Updates en-US Sun, 27 Apr 2025 12:37:56 -0700 60 AAO's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7523543982 Sun, 27 Apr 2025 12:37:56 -0700 <![CDATA[AAO added 'Heart Lamp: Selected Stories']]> /review/show/7523543982 Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq AAO has read Heart Lamp: Selected Stories (Paperback) by Banu Mushtaq
...جزينا وجزينا....

First things first: The creator is referred to as “He� in religious text in the Abrahamic faiths (“the divine he�) but that “He� is not the gendered word people tend to understand it to be, the one the author makes the speaking character address. Much in the same way that the “royal we� is not really a “we.� It is more used due to the limitations of grammar than to describe the maker. Human attributes are limitations that can never be ascribed to the maker, never the other way around; maleness (and femaleness, even the wished for femaleness) are limitations, the character here is wishing two things at least 1) that the divine he be a gendered he at all 2) that it be replaced with she. But this is not the “he� we use to identify gender. "He" should be understood as a grammatical necessity in languages absent a suitable gender-neutral pronoun for a supreme, personal being, or as a way to convey certain aspects of God's relationship with the world. In Arabic words have a gender, gender (male as well as female, are a feature of the language) sometimes male names have a female gender, does that mean femininity is implied or that femaleness is favored? Of course not. That’s a value statement that burdens language with what language isn’t meant to serve.
The maker transcends physicality, so the author is implying a character who wants a lesser God, one who fits her understanding, which isn’t logical�.it is crucial to note that religious texts also maintain feminine comparisons and metaphors to describe the maker’s goodness, for example, the author correctly references the prophet’s PBUH saying that the maker is more loving and nurturing of his creatures than even the most affectionate mothers which demonstrates that the divine is not limited by human gender constructs and has actually already answered the prayer. It’s more a linguistic placeholder and a means of relating to the divine through human language and concepts. It is not an assertion that the maker should be understood within the meaning of gender, maleness or otherwise, indeed not through any human characteristics. The book of books mentions the angels who visited Abraham PBUH as ‘not eating� this is because angles in Islam are to be understood as not needing food, hunger for food being a human attribute, not all creatures are the same in dimension or description…and reducing concepts to being fungible is flawed reasoning at least…this is high concept and I hope that was clear, I begin by addressing that issue raised in the last story because for me it held significant weight. I felt like it could be perceived as inappropriate even though it might not have been intended that way, again, it’s next level stuff and the error, if it was as such, is probably more due to ignorance and/or innocence, either the character’s or the author’s. I found the issue of ignorance to kind of run through the text as I thought these women don’t know their rights much less how to go about demanding them�
That said�

It rarely, if ever, happens that a book nominated for the booker gets me interested in all the other nominees. In that sense, Heart Lamp is an anomaly of a book, to me, I found myself interested in all the other listed works because of this one.
B. Mushtaq's Heart Lamp, a collection of twelve stories translated from Kannada by D. Bhasthi, is an interesting and often painful exploration of the mistreatment faced by women in patriarchal, caste-ridden, and ostensibly religious communities of southern India. The book, published this month globally, and already a finalist for the 2025 Booker International Prize, draws from Mushtaq's extensive work since the 1990s, presenting a "best of" her tales that unflinchingly depict the systemic oppression and sometimes cruel treatment of women.
For people in the western world this will read like a book about the tragedies of living in a Muslim community. But for Muslims it will seem like another book entirely. One about the tragedies of sharia law actually NOT being applied.
In truth these are not “muslim communities� any more than the American Projects (public housing development communities) are “christian communities.� I don’t mean to be dismissive of these backgrounds, but to humanize them. To take them for the diversities and complexities they encompass without unjustly shifting blame on one aspect� and not another.
Indeed, the very label "muslim communities" often carries with it a host of assumptions, not least among them being pervasive myths surrounding concepts like Sharia law.
Sharia law is only truly applied in one country in the Muslim world, and is only applied in matters where there is clear guidance and scripture in application. Mosques don’t get money from the community (unlike the church) under sharia, but in application they do because mosques amount to personal efforts, where sharia law is not adhered to. Even where it is adhered to,it often applies within a political framework (not as intended)
Under Sharia, the husband owe, regardless of the spouse’s personal wealth,
Sadaq (before marriage, to the spouse [not anyone else],) agreed by both
Nafaqah (during marriage, to the spouse and children [not anyone else,]) agreed by both
Nafaqah (after marriage, to the children [not anyone else,) agreed with consultation [of judge]
These are from strict scripture, non-negotiable, outside their agreement, not optional for the man, no ifs, ands, or buts, and are not to be tampered with or withheld. Full stop. As sacred as anything the maker posts them in the book of books as his (the limits [set by] Allah [from 13] - The Women). Incidentally there is a “women� chapter (one of the majors) but not a “men� chapter.
Mushtaq, who is also a journalist, lawyer, and women's rights activist, sees her writing as a means to "register injustices" and "record them in an artistic way." The stories in Heart Lamp embody this mission, centering on the domestic lives of mothers, grandmothers, and daughters who are beleaguered by the misconduct of men in their communities. Recurring themes include husbands abandoning their wives for younger women, women being denied aid by relatives and religious leaders, and the pervasive shame, jealousy, and rage experienced by the female characters.
Some themes, even plots, keep recurring, and even though they evidence a relentless matrix and pattern of oppression, readers may find them repetitive.
The collection highlights how ostensible religious authority is often manipulated to marginalize and oppress women, reinforcing cultural norms that limit their autonomy, both bodily and financially. The stories also illustrate how poverty intersects with caste hierarchies to further dehumanize individuals. Despite the bleakness, Mushtaq's narratives also showcase moments of collective rage and resistance, with women finding ways to assert their agency, even in small acts of defiance. The final story, written probably to appeal to our feminist rage, will probably alienate the most pertinent of audiences for the other stories. To be honest it did not work for me, but I thought the titular story triumphant, even over its own sentimentality.
The translation is lauded for bringing Mushtaq's decades of work to a wider English-speaking audience. The translator cleverly left some Kannada terms untranslated, which helps to ground the stories in their specific cultural context and underscores the role of language in both oppression and resistance. The author herself states as much about language in the first story.
I mention the Sharia Law parts above because they pertain to the subject matter of the book.
Heart Lamp shows that a simple direct guideline such as this isn’t being followed, and the real-world repercussions of that. A system not in application naturally can’t be faulted for transgressions that happen outside its prescriptions.
This was likewise the case for many of the tragedies here, and I found the treatment too surfaced and narrow to encompass that clarification. Petitions are being made to mosque imams, who are normally tasked with prayer, rather than judges, who in Sharia are tasked with the law. Circumcisions are being made outside of medical undertaking, even supervision. Education, an obligation upon Muslims all, an obligation, is being denied a sector based on gender. All and more are not in keeping with Sharia law.
When one thinks of India and the direction it has been going of late (not unlike an actually nationalist western world, to be fair) this problem becomes that much more complicated. Fault the system, but that system is NOT Sharia law. Not sure whether the author was dancing around that for political nuance and implication. But I appreciated her bringing the subject up.
These are very sad if surfaced tragedies. I wanted a deeper, less sentimental treatment but thought it was worth the read nonetheless. I also have to say I thought the profanity was better than typically handled, and my decision to read would have turned entirely on that alone.
]]> ReadStatus9195197064 Sun, 16 Mar 2025 16:47:05 -0700 <![CDATA[AAO finished reading 'القرآن الكريم']]> /review/show/2941171427 القرآن الكريم by Anonymous AAO finished reading القرآن الكريم by Anonymous
]]> Review6092644548 Fri, 29 Dec 2023 03:13:15 -0800 <![CDATA[AAO added 'Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine']]> /review/show/6092644548 Justice for Some by Noura Erakat AAO has read Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Hardcover) by Noura Erakat
]]> Rating651911236 Thu, 05 Oct 2023 06:48:24 -0700 <![CDATA[AAO liked a communityquestion]]> /
AAO liked a question about القرآن الكريم:
القرآن الكريم by Anonymous
How do we know the Quran is the authentic word of Allah?
]]>