Najwa’s Journey to Salvation Minaret is a beautiful story that tells the tale of an affluent child of a Sudanese politician in Khartoum and her transformation to a lowly servant in England’s busiest city, London. Najwa is introduced to us as a carefree soul growing up in the heart of Sudan. Sheltered from the hardships of life due to socioeconomic status, she passes through the first quarter of her life with relative easy, with aristocratic luxuries such as vacations to London, and servants tending to her every need. Suddenly, an unexpected coup takes over the government and arrests Najwa’s father for corruption. Heartbroken, the family flees to London while the father is facing capital punishment. With most assets frozen by the Sudanese …show more content…
Due to frozen funds, she was unable to finish her degree at university, and this has made getting a job difficult and frustrating for one used to a lavish lifestyle bordering on royalty. Najwa soon swallows her pride, and begins working for Lamya, an affluent Egyptian who mildly resembles the Najwa of prosperity. Having been surrounded by servants growing up, Najwa thrives in this position, and is able to move in the shadows, unnoticed and with low interference with her employers. As talented as she is as a servant, she is aware this is a position she would not have been proud to take in the past. She details how she “knows them intimate ways while they hardly no me,” proving how easily replaced and forgotten she is in this job (83). Lacking fulfillment, Najwa remembers the Muslims reciting their daily prayers, and the fulfillment they pulled from worshipping Allah. This sense of belonging and importance defiantly beckons for Najwa, who graciously answers the call. Najwa tightens up in her faith, and begins to admire the devoted Muslim, Tamer, that is the brother of her employer. It’s a stark contrast to the Najwa before the coup ever occurred. Najwa then very much cared about her image, and chased fulfillment in school and social circles. Now more mature, Najwa’s focus has completely shifted due the hardship and circumstances brought upon …show more content…
Tamer and Najwa both respect one another and bond over their common faith, but realize their love is prohibited due to the working nature of their relationship. Despite this pressure, they pursue it anyways until Dr. Zeinab, Tamer’s mother, intervenes. Tamer is heartbroken, and Najwa is also quite upset. After two relationships, both unhealthy in different ways, she begins to think she’ll be alone forever. Najwa’s new identity as a Muslim is a catalyst in both of these relationships in opposite ways, but at the conclusion of each relationship her strength as a Muslim grows similarly. With Anwar, she realizes she needs a religious husband who supports her desires, and with Tamer she realizes that it is destructive to their individual religious journeys to be together. These realizations help build this new identity further for Najwa, pushing her to new heights in her relationship with Allah as well as building up her character and
This book differs from most ethnographies in that it was not authored by an anthropologist. Fernea originally set out to accompany her husband as he completed research for his doctorate in social anthropology from the University Chicago. Henceforth, Fernea did not enter the field with any specific goals, hypotheses, or particular interests. In many ways, Guests of the Sheik reads as a personal narrative, describing Ferneas struggles integrating into a society that has vastly different expectations and guidelines for women. Fernea recalls the culture shock she first experienced as well as her eagerness to overcome it. Her goals were mainly of a human nature: she wanted to feel a sense of belonging, to have friends, and to establish a life in El Nahra. The first part of Guests of the Sheik largely mimics Fernea's own journey to feeling accepted as it introduces readers to the various groups of women who soon become Fernea's close friends and confidants, most importantly Laila, who will later introduce many aspects of Muslim culture to Fernea. Throughout the book, each chapter emphasizes a different aspect of life as Fernea discovers it, or details an important event. As such, readers experience Ramadan and Eid, two staples of the Muslim culture, Weddings and marriage arrangements, discussions of monogamy and polygamy, the Pilgrimage to Karbala, and many other customs
By her admission the women volunteers of the social welfare organizations were predominantly middle and upper-class. Deeb does not consider how women from other socio-economic groups pursue and engage in piety and modernity, and how they view “authenticated Islam.” As such Deeb’s description of an authenticated Islamic community in al-Dahiyya seems to represent the formulations provided by a privileged class of women. The absence of other socio-economic is coupled with a cursory description of the peripheries of the community. Less emphasis is placed on the inhabitants of al-Dahiyya who are marginalized and excluded from the enchanted modern. A greater study of how authenticated Islam is understood by member of other socio-economic classes and the more marginalized members of the community would have given a greater insight, not only into the development of the enchanted modern, but also the social dynamics which govern
I’m so relieved. It will be much easier to help you if I know more about you. I knew you were a girl because of the way your hands are callused. Your work is carrying wood and cutting grass and sweeping, is it not? she asks. Najmah nods once. That’s a girl's work.” (Staples 194) (STEWE-2)”Najmah, my name is Najmah” (Staples 195)(SIP-B)Later on Nusrat brings on a new student, and it turns out to be Nur.(STEWE-1)”I run to Nur and i throw my arms around him” (251)(STEWE-2)”Baba-jan? i ask before we even say hello….. The world we knew had come to an end” (252)(CS)Najmah meeting Nusrat caused Najmah to have part of her family
The significance of representing such a history is that it may open William Beckford’s narrative of the Arab Muslim woman to a new analysis and judgment. It may, as well, help in “allowing us to see them [Arab Muslim women] not as "culminations" of a natural truth, but "merely the current episodes in a series of subjugations" (Foucault 1977, 148)” (mohja), and to differentiate between them as represented in Western texts whose feet never touch earth, and the real –flesh and blood–ones whose “feet touch earth in Hamah or Rawalpindi or Rabat.”( MOHJA)
It revolves around the issues of gender oppression, sexual assault, and importance of social status. Alifa Rifaat manages to express her opinions towards these themes by writing about a typical Egyptian marriage. She puts in focus the strong influence that a patriarchal society has. She also manages to prove how important social status is in society. The uses of literally elements such as theme and irony help express this view. It shows that in a typical Egyptian society women are commonly oppressed by all males in society
8. Nawal El-Saadawi, "The Hidden Face of Eve, Women in the Arab World," translated and edited by Sherif Hettata, Zed Press, London, 1980, pg.33
In the novel She and in the stories of The Arabian Nights, both Haggard and Haddawy explore the expanding gender roles of women within the nineteenth century. At a time that focused on the New Woman Question, traditional gender roles were shifted to produce greater rights and responsibilities for women. Both Ayesha, from Haggard’s novel She, and Shahrazad, from Haddawy’s translation of The Arabian Nights, transgress the traditional roles of women as they are being portrayed as strong and educated females, unwilling to yield to men’s commands. While She (Ayesha) takes her power to the extreme (i.e. embodying the femme fatale), Shahrazad offers a counterpart to She (i.e. she is strong yet selfless and concerned with the welfare of others). Thus, from the two characters emerge the idea of a woman who does not abide by the constraints of nineteenth century gender roles and, instead, symbolizes the New Woman.
...and an emotionally turbulent young adulthood surrounding the Islamic reform of a country, and the struggle to find ones place between the faith they are born into, and the knowledge they have come to know and love. Marjane Satrapi’s story depicts the Muslim experience through the eyes of a young girl, and allows the viewer to experience first hand, the cultural hardships and struggle overlooked by mainstream media when it only focus on the fundamentalist side of a recently controversial sect of religion. Marjane’s struggle between religion and her surrounding culture is important to the Islamic faith as a whole, and the study of Muslims by outsiders, because it is a first hand account of a world one can only experience through books, films, and most importantly, the voice of the people, even if they are young, rebellious, and most importantly very inspiring, girls.
“Araby” tells the story of a young boy who romanticizes over his friend’s older sister. He spends a lot of time admiring the girl from a distance. When the girl finally talks to him, she reveals she cannot go to the bazaar taking place that weekend, he sees it as a chance to impress her. He tells her that he is going and will buy her something. The boy becomes overwhelmed by the opportunity to perform this chivalrous act for her, surely allowing him to win the affections of the girl. The night of the bazaar, he is forced to wait for his drunken uncle to return home to give him money to go. Unfortunately, this causes the boy to arrive at the bazaar as it is closing. Of the stalls that remained open, he visited one where the owner, and English woman, “seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty” (Joyce 89) and he knows he will not be able to buy anything for her. He decides to just go home, realizing he is “a creature driven and derided with vanity” (Joyce 90). He is angry with himself and embarrassed as he...
Religious values of the predominately Muslim culture in Nadia al-Faqih in A Woman of Five Seasons are at a point where their practice will bring great adversity to her new found way of life. Nadia is married into a life of luxury where her husband Ihsan is in a constant state of yearning for greater wealth and lusting after other worldly gains. She is pushed into a life where what she should want, the latest fashions, perfumes, and celebrity magazines are constantly thrust in her face.
Nazneen, who is just sixteen years old is married to Chanu aged forty years. It a case of mismatch marriage. This decision is taken by her father after her elder sister Hasina elopes with nephew of the saw mill owner. As passivity is expected from young girls at the time of marriage, Nazneen accepts this match made by her father. There is no resistance on her part. She reaches England with her husband. Here she has everything. She has well- furnished house, food to eat and above all an educated husband. A husband who is the identity of a women. Monica A...
Brick Lane contains many examples of portrayal of culture. This text is written as a third person omniscient so there are no direct opinions or feelings, although we can clearly figure out what they would be. The main theme that associates with this text is family life. We see how Nazneen’s father forces her marriage and is very strict about it as a result of her sister Hasina’s marriage going wrong. We also discover that in their culture it seems to be accepted for the daughter to be forced to marry the man of her father’s choice when Nazneen says to her father, “Abba, it is good that you have chosen my husband. I hope I can be a good wife, like Amma.” Nazneen states that she thinks her mother is a good wife and hopes she can be like her. We notice that after she gets married, she follo...
Under the Shah’s oppresive rule, the society was divided in distinct social classes that influenced the population negatively moreover inspired them to revolt against his rule. Marji saw the class differences between the people and she wanted it to be fair for all people. İn the chapter veil Marji tells that she wants to be a prophet because their made did not eat with them and because her father had a cadillac. While growing up Marji saw that her maid is not in the same social class with her and even though they were like sisters the social classes don’t allow them to eat together and Mehri was her maid since the age of 8. Furthermore she saw that most people was living in poverty while her father had an cadillac. She wanted to make everyone equal by becoming a prophet. Young Marji was in the middle of class conflict that causes her to grow up faster than the other kids as she struggles to understand these cultural issues. İn the chapter “the letter” Marjane wrote about her maid,Mehri, fa...
Nawal El Saadawi is an Egyptian psychiatrist, feminist and an activist who has written many books on the subject of Middle Eastern women, and the practice of female genital cutting in the society. Initially, she went to this prison in order to do research in a female inmates, and their experience in the prison. However, after a while she got interested in meeting the woman he who had killed a man and had been sentenced to hanging. She based this book on her encounter with Firdaus and Firdau’s life story. Firdaus story is the contemporary story of sexism, discrimination and sexual abuse that occurs all around the world. She is abused by her father, her uncle, her husband and her one true love. Throughout the book, author shows the difficulty of being a woman in the patriarchal society during 1970’s in Egypt. At the same time, the entire book really perpetuates the stereotype that western culture has about gender discrimination in Middle Eastern nations.
Thereafter, Soraya is left with no recourse under Islamic law. According to the beliefs regarding honour and shame in the village, to seek shelte...