His most recent fictional novel is a story of two girls, Maryam and Laila, who grow up in different regions of Afghanistan – Maryam in Herat and Laila in Kabul. While Maryam is older than Laila, their lives are brought together by fate as they end up living together in the same home in Kabul, married to the same abusive husband. Throughout the course of the novel, Khaled Hosseini guides us through over forty years of Maryam and Laila's lives, masterfully weaving their personal narratives into the backdrop of Afghanistan's turbulent recent history.
On the basis of only the storyline, A Thousand Splendid Suns is a literary marvel. Hosseini has a gift for descriptive writing; the portraits of the culture and lifestyle of Afghanistan that he paints are exquisitely detailed and bring the pages to life. Moreover, he does a wonderful job of developing his characters and creates reader-sympathy for them by allowing the reader to become intimately acquainted with their lives. The friendship that blossoms between Maryam and Laila is heart-warming; their relationship with their abusive husband is tragic; Laila's distressed life and her longing for her childhood best-friend, Tariq, is hopeful. In this story, Hosseini displays his masterful understanding of human emotions, and slowly and beautifully draws these emotions forth from the reader throughout the course of the story. Furthermore, it was heartening to read a novel that delineated certain subtleties of Muslim culture, especially those relating to inter-gender relations or respect for elders.
On the basis of its social and political commentary, however, A Thousand Splendid Suns was disappointing. First, to give credit to Hosseini, it was shocking to see the way in which Rasheed, the novel's primary antagonist, physically, mentally, and emotionally abused his wives, Maryam and Laila, over the course of many years. There is no question that such behavior treatment of one's spouse is completely unacceptable in Islam. There is also no doubt that such abusive relationships still exist amongst Muslim couples, which is condemnable. Yet, for the non-Muslim reader, Rasheed's relationship with his wives likely reinforced negative impressions they may have had of the status of women in Islam and of Muslim women being oppressed and subject to abuse at the hands of Muslim men. In his one-sided portrayal, Hosseini failed to show his readers the other side of the coin: the countless number of Muslim couples who live happily and harmoniously according to Islamic principles and show genuine affection toward one another.
Additionally, throughout the novel Hosseini paints a very bleak portrait of the ruling Taliban regime, which, in the mind of the non-Muslim reader, is likely to be the manifestation of true Islam in practice. The Taliban regime goes so far as to ban any and all art forms they considered deviant and to prohibit women from working.
Reading the novel drove home the point that as Shia Muslims, we are fortunate to have leaders who have a much greater respect and reverence for women; Imam Khomeini, for instance, made several speeches throughout his life on the significant role of women in the development of healthy human beings and healthy societies, as well as their crucial role in the Islamic Revolution. In a May 1979 speech, he proclaimed, “Women are human beings, great human beings. Women are the educators of society….A country's success or its misfortune depends on women. If they impart sound teachings, they create (sound) human beings and a flourishing country."
Imam Khomeini also went on to declare that in the Islamic Republic, women would be able to participate in elections and run for office, which is a significant improvement in comparison with their rights under the Taliban regime.
Hence, the problem with Hosseini's novel is that once again, we see that Islam painted by one broad, misleading brushstroke. In an interview with Bloomsbury magazine, Hosseini stated, "I want to distance myself from the notion…that the West can and should exert pressure on these countries to grant women equal rights. Though I think this is a well-intended and even noble idea, I see it as too simplistic and impractical. This approach either directly or indirectly dismisses the complexities and nuances of the target society as dictated by its culture, traditions, customs, political system, social structure, and overriding faith. I believe change needs to come from within, that is, from a Muslim society’s own fabric."
Yet, given that Hosseini believes that "change must come from within," his one-dimensional and biased portrayals of Muslim women and the Muslim lifestyle do a disservice to Islam, and are especially dangerous at a time when there is already so much baseless propaganda against Islam abound in the media and when various institutions in the United States are trying to sell the idea of a war on Iran to the larger American population. Given the current discourse on the role of women in Islam, Hosseini should have been much more discerning in choosing how to depict his female characters.
Hosseini's novels are popular amongst American readers, as is evidenced by the fact that The Kite Runner is now a major motion picture. However, with blatantly biased depictions of Islam, A Thousand Splendid Suns is likely to contribute to the negative stereotypes and misunderstanding of Islam that is already prevalent in American media and culture. Despite the efforts of our brothers and sisters across the country who are working diligently to clarify such misunderstands, Hosseini's novel added to our burden.
He added to the burden faced by Muslim sisters to prove that they are dressing moderately out of their own free will, and he added to the burden on Muslim brothers to reverse incorrect stereotypes of Muslim men as abusive, overly dominant and controlling. In short, we may be able to thank Mr. Hosseini for enlivening our imaginations for some time with A Thousand Splendid Suns, but we can only hope that given his current popularity, Mr. Hosseini depicts a more balanced view of Muslim culture in his next smash-hit novel.
Comments
Thanks for shedding light on this very sensitive topic. I hope that other novels, written by different authors, can depict a better image of Islam. Maybe a Muslim American author should create such fantastic, yet finctional, writtings, illustrating how Islam is practiced in America.
There is another thing that bugs me about the above review. It's emotional, but it doesn't say so much about what actually happened in the book. Lots of times when we don't like stuff, we accuse it of being "biased" or "pro-US" without explaining what that means. As a person who has never read the book, I was wondering how was it pro-US simply because bad things are mentioned in the book about Muslims. We have lots of problems in Muslim countries. Does writing about that make Hosseini a traitor? In my humble opinion, I think not.
I think the other article islamicinsights.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=156&Itemid=5 featuring the book explained the nuances behind the plot much more clearly. That article included many examples, including positive portrayals of Muslims, and stayed focused on the broader issues involved.
Best wishes for the author's success as well as Islamic Insights,
Sayed Aatif
Just to respond to your points briefly, first I would agree with you that the other review did a better job of explaining the nuances of the plot, as you mentioned.
In response to your point about Imam Khomeini, I thought that relevance of quoting his views was evident when I wrote, "Reading the novel drove home the point that as Shia Muslims, we are fortunate to have leaders who have a much greater respect and reverence for women." Would you disagree with the second part of thate statement? If so, that's a separate issue. The relevance is that Hosseini's portrayal of the Taliban gives the unfamaliar reader a very one-sided view of Islam. Hence the critique of Hosseini for "painting Islam with one broad brushstroke" -- the example of Imam Khomeini was used to prove that there are other, more positive views of women, in the Muslim world.
This is related to the third point -- I don't think that Hosseini is a traitor, and I agree with you that mentioning something bad about Muslims or criticizing Muslims does NOT make one a traitor. However, one must consider one's audience. Certainly it's one thing to criticize your fellow Muslims with the intention of guiding them and improving their character. It's quite another thing to write a novel that both overtly and implicitly criticizes Islam, that will be read by millions of non-Muslims, and as such, will only add fuel to the propaganda that is already out there. If you were living in a major metropolitan US city, would you in good conscience write an article in the opinion page of your local newspaper criticizing Muslims?
I suggest to any novel reader, give this book a chance. This was the first novel I ever read and I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially as a Muslim.
Regarding your question about how I feel about the statement: "Reading the novel drove home the point that as Shia Muslims, we are fortunate to have leaders who have a much greater respect and reverence for women," of course I agree with that statement! But I don't see what my agreeing or not has to do with my comment--that Iran and Afghanistan are two different places with separate movements and so it would probably be more affective to stay focussed on the country in question as well as the book itself. Again, how does the book overtly and implicitly criticize Islam and not just bad behavior on the part of some Muslims?
I don't want to go back and forth on this. As a journalist who like nearly everyone has made mistakes, I have had many comments directed at me throughout the years that have helped me, alhamdulillah. Please see my comments to you as a fellow brother and writer in this light.
I definatly agree with this review as that is exactly how I felt when I was reading this book. If one was to think of pure entertainment then this is a story that is amazing in all aspects. However as a muslima it was difficult for me to read this book and not feel utterly hopeless for the muslim women. This is a book that represents muslim women in such a one sided view point, the view point that unfortunately already all Americans have of muslim women. It is quite sad when one thinks of the magnitude of this beautiful religion the power of the quran to entrap you and mesmerize you with its words. The knowledge that on those horrible days filled with obstacles remembering your muslim will give you a rush of pure joy, that can never be attained elsewhere. That I love wearing the hijab and jilbab. That Islam is a religion that should not be justified for its rules but embraced for its utter perfection.
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