There were just too many issues, though.ġ) There was a LOT of telling, no showing.Ģ) Most characters were very underdeveloped, with large chunks of time and events just glossed over. Muslim fiction - with plotlines where women aren't abused victims, in need of saving from "evil brown men" - is SO hard to find. This being said, there is a huge shortage of Muslim literature out there, so I do laud the author for her efforts. I was expecting the characters to reflect more upon what happened at the end, but this didn't happen. So I was a little disappointed with this book, but as mentioned, the ending was a surprise and was quite insightful. I firmly believe that the right way to preach to others is through showing love, not through instilling fear, and also through one's own actions. Furthermore, she was overly judgemental on her non-practising Muslim friend Durrah, which if anything probably pushed her further away from her faith.
This is just one example, but there were a lot of other black and white explanations that I didn't agree with. One is a fundamental tenet of the faith, the other is something that is allowed but not even a sunnah (recommendation), and is actually cautioned in terms of not treating more than one wife fairly. To compare polygamy to prayer is so misleading. "What if I had a problem praying? Should we not remove that requirement from the religion?" There is a part of the book where she is talking about polygamy in Islam. I also didn't always agree with Aminah's (practicing Muslim) rationale for explaining some tenets of the Islamic faith often I found her quite dogmatic and inflexible to differences of opinion. If it was so easy for her to forsake her own faith, then maybe it would also be easy for her to sway back the other way (hence why I found it unrealistic). *Mini spoiler* She starts questioning her faith pretty early on.
Tamika has very little conviction in her own beliefs, is not able to defend any of them and is highly impressionable. I can't imagine such a story taking place without the non-Muslim characters getting offended by some of the things said in the book.
I really don't like this style because often it only succeeds in pushing people away. But the main drawback for me was that it was filled with a little too much of in-your-face kind of da'wah.
Firstly, in quite a few instances, I felt as though the dialogue and happenings were quite juvenile. She chooses Islam, and this forms the premise for the rest of the story. Tamika, the Christian roommate, has a college assignment to research a religion and do a presentation on it. This is a spiritual story of three roommates: one is Christian, one is a practising Muslim and the third is a non-practicing Muslim. I was initially going to give this a lower rating, but the unexpected twist at the end redeemed it slightly.
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