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Characters Discussed in in Chapter 6:

GrewalAuthor of the text, she acts as narrator and speaks in the first person to signify her

presence in the text.

FawziaAt the beginning of the chapter, she is seen receiving her ijaza designation at a party in

her honor.

Ansa Tamara GrayA teacher whos speaking part at Fawzias party introduces her beliefs of

the authority of Islam and its role today. Her ideas about tradition suggest that Islam has a

universally true and unchanging aspect about it that cannot be influenced by nations, politics,

history, or generations. Seemingly contradicting this, she states that Islam must be renewed

continuously as it is in the USA. Thats the only hope for its survival. She suggests that Islam is

a constant, however, the threats and issues to Islam are what change from generation to

generation. Ansa believes only strong Muslims are of use to Allah and she recognizes that

traditional ties to the Quran validate the authority of the text.

SakeenaThis is an American-Muslim student at the American University of Cairo, in Egypt.

She is friends with Grewal and she is introduced in the earlier part of the chapter as being

conflicted about the racism that exists in Egypt. She describes herself as a black bornMuslim

on page 257. Her account is notable since it is the first time a female character has been this

informal with her words throughout the entire text. The informality could be a deeper look at

how close Grewal and Sakeena appear to be and so Grewal is making it a point to show this side

of their relationship.

Shaykh Nuh KellerThis is a teacher who was also mentioned several times in the previous

chapters. Nuh is seen as very strict and he takes male students under his wing for instruction.

Jawad is under the tutelage of him in chapter 6 in his neighborhood in Jordan.

JawadA student of Shaykh Nuhs, he is a teenager who contemplates going to college to

major in political science in order to help out the Muslims. Jawad misunderstands the strict

nature of Shaykh Nuhs personality and their encounters and so he believes that the Shaykh is

disappointed in him.

AsmaThis is the American-Muslim woman who comes to Egypt wishing to divorce her

husband before Allah before she does so in the US court system. Though divorce is a legal and

applicable action for what has happened with her marriage in this case, she finds it difficult for

the scholars of the law to actually agree to grant her the divorce she outright desires. Her struggle

is long and difficult, however she eventually finds out that the power to go through with this

divorce was more in her hands than what she originally thought.

UsmanA student who is studying Fiqh law, which means Islamic Jurisprudence. He is

conflicted about the absolute nature of the laws and how they seem to offer an answer to every

possible scenario of a particular issue at hand. These laws, however have a bizarre and ludicrous

side about them when they are seen to state things such as, the man with the prettiest wife

should lead prayer. In the end, he learns the place of the laws in his life as to not be a point of

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focus, but rather just another tool to better help him understand Islam and to find himself.

Knowledge can be no more than a tool. (p. 279)

Key Definitions:

Al-QubaysiyatThis is an exclusively female, Islamic group that was founded in the1960s with the specific purpose of teaching women about such themes as: the Quran, Al-

Hadith, Tafsir, etc.

BarakaThis is divine blessing in Islam. Grewal defines Baraka as a benefit force of

divine origin, which causes superabundance in the physical sphere and prosperity and

happiness in the psychic order.

Themes:

The source as pure and authoritative

What are examples of sources mentioned in this chapter that insure the purity and thusthen the authority of Islam?

Custodians vs Maintainers (in regards to tradition)

How does the job of each differ as presented in the text?

Why does their role change?

Can one become the other?

Faith leading to transformation (p286) Its not the destination but the journey.

For believers, the gap between what can be known and what can be proven about God

can never be completely filled by reason. This quote then leads to the conclusion thatAsmas search for truth was rooted in a type of religious transformation that was fueled

by her faith, not a specific answer. How can faith be a catalyst for transformation here?

Micro vs Macro

In this chapter, there seems to be a notable difference between individual vs group

experience, application of law, interest, etc. Why is there such a distinction between the

individual vs the group?

How is this this theme portrayed in the case of Asmas divorce from her husband?

Media:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJqsHnmDTD0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJqsHnmDTD0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJqsHnmDTD0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJqsHnmDTD0