Did I ever mention that I'm a Muslim? Okay, I am, and I believe in my faith. What I don't believe is that all these terrible things people are doing in the name of Islam is Islamic. Really, it's contradictory, since Islam means "Peace", and religion is not supposed to be contradictory. I can quote a verse from the Qur'an right off the top of my head right now, one that always stuck in my mind: "If a person kills another person, then it will be as if he has killed all of mankind; if a person saves another person, then it will be as if he has saved all of mankind". How does anyone misinterpret that? Note that it says "person", not "Muslim" - it applies to anyone and everyone. So why blame one entire religious group for what a few psychos did? Anyone can blame that a deed has been done in the name of religion. It doesn't mean that it really has been.
My point: authors have to be careful with what they write. That one line from that one page might have (and still could) cost Ms. Piccoult hundreds to millions of readers - Islam is the second-largest religion (in terms of worshippers) in the entire world, after all - and an author wants to attract readers, not repel them.
Personally, even though religion and faith are constantly in my life, I try to avoid them in my writing (depending on my intended audience) to express neutrality, not favoring one religion over another. So my characters (except for the ones in my two works set in Pakistan) aren't Muslim, Christian, Jewish, or Atheist. And you know what? I can write a full-length novel without bringing religion into it, aside from a few "oh my God"s, maybe, and I think most of those have been changed to "oh my gosh". And, well, most people in Pakistan are Muslim, so the characters in my novels set in Pakistan (currently there are only two) are too, but my intended audience is both Muslims of all nationalities and Non-Muslims. What's the purpose of that? I try to put my faith in Islam into a more positive perspective, which it should be seen in but more often than not isn't. By the way, Shazi, the bass guitarist from Jal the band is Christian, unlike Farhan and Goher who are both Muslim - I'm not going to try to change anything about that in True or False? I respect each of their faiths and individual beliefs, and I respect Shazi as a person. Plus, he's just a really great bass guitarist. I wish I could play like that, but hey, everyone's got his (or her) own talents.
Which brings me to my second and last point before this post gets way too long: everyone's personal views should be given an equal chance and each view should be respected, even if it cannot be agreed with. Granted, the world isn't perfect, but if an author doesn't want to lose readers, she has to respect them before they can respect her, taking into consideration that some could be deeply offended by a single sentence. Yes, Ms. Piccoult is a controversial author, I understand that, but controversial doesn't mean disrespecting someone else's views. I'm not saying that my own writing is perfect and will never offend anybody - it's impossible not to, what with all the different ranges of personalities that people have - what I'm saying is that I put as much effort as possible into maintaining respect. So if Ms. Piccoult ever meets me, I'm saying that, if she really believes that being a Muslim is such a bad thing, she's going to be pretty surprised. And I bet I'd be surprised too because she'd somehow turn out differently than I had thought as well. Humans, after all, often surprise even themselves, like I just did by writing this very long post.
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2 comments:
I am guessing that you did not like this particular part in the novel. Haha. Sorry =( except for that sentence the book is good. Well, question, what did the character respond to the converting to Islam thing? I forget
Yes, Sara I have seen that movie. But I do not remember what the man looked like. I have to watch that movie again.
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