Middle East Reviews

by LCDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, USN

Walking Through Fire by Nawal El-Saadawi translated by Sherif Hetata. Palgrave Books, New York. 246 pages, 2002.

Designating as a FAO means an immersion into the nations, cultures and religions of the region we are experts in. There is the temptation in our busy schedules to read books about a country's military, terrorist factions or political biographies. This although important only gives part of the answer when trying to assess a nation's intentions or how its government will react to the moods of its' people. Reading a nation's literature gives insight into the everyday people who must etch out a living in Teheran, Cairo or Buenos Aires. If we had analyzed the plays, books and novels written after the 1967 Six-Day War we could've understood the deprivations Egyptians would've endured to settle the score with Israel, more importantly we could've also understood that Nasser and Sadat after him had no choice but to attack Israel to restore legitimacy to the government in the eyes of the people. One of the most enduring failures of U.S. analysts was of course predicting the fall of the Shah. This was a result of not even attempting to understand the forces uniting behind his overthrow. These included the clergy, the middle-class, the poverty-stricken and finally the military. Amazingly no one read a book published in Arabic and Persian by Khomeini entitled while he was in exile, "Islamic Governance." This was to be his blueprint for how he would establish his Islamic Republic. It should have come as no surprise that a group of senior clergy would control the economic and political lives of millions of Iranians.

This book is the autobiography of Dr. Nawal El-Saadawi, a rural phyisician, writer and woman's rights advocate in Egypt. Her autobiography is significant because in it lays the central fight against terrorism, whether Egypt can intellectually endure under the threats and stresses of Islamic militancy. Dr. El-Saadawi's story is also a history of Egypt from the eyes of the educated middle-class. Just like today, university campuses were a hotbed of dissent and violence against the monarchy of King Farouk I and subsequent incompetence and corruption of Nasser's ministers. As a university student she would come in contact with Islamists, Communists and Leftists bent on bringing Egypt their version of a just society. In the corridors of campuses and in the living rooms of average Egyptians talk was not of the revolution and its impact but the real power behind Egypt's first president General Mohammed Naguib, which was a charismatic Colonel Gamal Abd-al-Nasser.

The book also details the life of an Egyptian woman and El-Saadawi criticizes the Shabka system, whereby a female's worth in currency is determined by her dowry. This dowry is negotiated between the two families. El-Saadawi volunteered to be a medical provider in the front during the 1967 Six-Day War, she came close to death when an Israeli artillery shell landed near the vehicle she was riding killing the driver. She wrote that Egypt's struggle is not limited to her men but also by the burdens the females endure in the fields, in factories and in homes. She would chastise the establishment that declared the rewards of Jihad only for men, citing Islamic history and the pivotal role women played during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad.

However her service and love for country would not save her from a novel she wrote over two years ago. The novel written in metaphor warns of the danger of Islamic militants and the established clergy unwilling to educate the population as to their misguided message. Her harassment began with the mosque next door that declared her writings heresy, which only increased sales of her book. Then Gamaa-al-Islamiyah, a militant group, placed her and many Egyptian intellectuals on a death list. The Government had to place a 24-hour guard on her home and her second husband implored her to stop writing. As an Egyptian intellectual she had two choices to make hide in Egypt or go into exile and continue writing. She left for the United States.

This book is highly recommended for Middle East FAOs, because it illustrates that this is not a war against terrorism but for the intellectual soul of nations like Egypt. It is this climate of Islamic militancy that caused the stabbing of Noble Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz and the exile of Dr. Abu Zeid to the Netherlands.



Political Science: An Islamic Perspective by Ahmed Rashid Moten. St. Martin Press, New York. 224 pages, 2002.

Nothing discredits Al-Qaeda, the Taliban and all those who support them than scholarly Islamic study. Ahmed Moten is a head of the Political Science Department at the International Islamic University in Malaysia. His book attempts to give readers a political framework based on Islam, using the Quran (Islamic Book of Divine Revelation), Hadith (The Prophet Muhammad's actions and deeds) and precedents of Islamic government in the past 1,400 years. Using the Quran he breaks down an Islamic government as having six basic tenants other wise they are considered tyrannical. These principles include:

- Tawhid, belief in the indivisible unity of God,

- shariah, using the Quran, Hadith and interpretation to establish a just society,

- adalah, establishing justice and the rule of law,

- hurriyah, freedom in person, property and thought in order to achieve the maximum degree of self realization,

- musawah,equal opportunity to achieve his or her potential, and

- shura,the establishment of a consultative council as a check upon the executive branch.

Thus every so-called Islamic Republic or fringe thugs like the Taliban can be judged as to how they achieve these six essential principles of Islamic governance. The concept of equality is mentioned six times in the Quran and Prophet Muhammad said, "all people are as equal as the teeth of a comb, as they are like the children of Adam." Somehow in their quest to oppress, steal and subjugate the Afghan people, the Taliban forgot these lessons from the very faith they claim to defend.

The Quran and Hadith did not elaborate a constitutional theory according to the author. However most Muslims agree that an Islamic society should contain elements of these six principles. Another important concept is that of the Ummah members of the Islamic community although this is even debatable as Prophet Muhammad in a treaty with the Jewish tribe of Abu Aawf, declared them and the Muslims to be part of one Ummah. The importance here is the abolishment of blood relationships as the defining principle of loyalty, identity, vengeance and kindness. One should assist their fellow brother or sister not on the basis of family or kin relations only, but in order to enhance the collective society and perform these acts of kindness as an act of worship to God. As Muhammad clearly intended that his successor be chosen from among the best qualified peers, according to Sunni Islam, than one can make the argument that political power emanates from the Ummah (the people) with the blessings of God. The seeds of modern democracy can be found in Islamic religious texts.

Finally the author makes an eloquent appeal for Ijtihad (Analytical Reasoning). What was not found in the Quran and the Hadith was adjudicated using rational discussion and discourse. This process of reinterpreting the Quran and Hadith is known as Ijitihad, which was arbitrarily stopped in the eleventh century. This needs to be reawakened I order to reconcile Islam with concepts of the 21st century. This debate among Muslims is known as the Islamic Nahda (Revival) and it attracts liberal, moderate and fundamentalist thinkers. Islamic militants unfortunately represent a violent expression of this revival. They threaten any Muslim thinker who wishes to re-explore the Quran and Hadith in its historical context or by analyzing its metaphors and commands reconciling them to modern theories of economics, sociology and politics. This is an important book in finding ways to ideologically combat terrorism, which is a threat to Muslims as well as the globe.

2002, Foreign Area Officer Association
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