Shattering the Stereotypes : Muslim Women Speak Out

by Nawal El Saadawi

In the wake of September 11th, Muslim women in the West found themselves more marginalized than ever by a panicked discourse that did little to promote a true understanding of Islam or the Islamic world. Here, in this ambitious volume that includes essays, poetry, fiction, memoir, plays, and artwork, Muslim women speak for themselves, revealing a complexity of experience and thought that escapes most Western portrayals. Islam is, as editor Fawzia Afzal-Khan puts it, "one spoke in the wheel of our lives." In Shattering the Stereotypes, essays by such writers as Sara Suleri, the Pakistani-American memoirist and scholar, poems by poets including Suheir Hammad and Nathalie Handal, journalism from writers such as Barbara Nimri Aziz, and a selection of short fiction and plays together make a more rounded portrait of what it is to be a Muslim woman in the 21st century.

Genres: Islam, Nonfiction, Middle East, Feminism

Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

About the author

Nawal El Saadawi (Arabic: نوال السعداوي) was born in 1931, in a small village outside Cairo. Unusually, she and her brothers and sisters were educated together, and she graduated from the University of Cairo Medical School in 1955, specializing in psychiatry. For two years, she practiced as a medical doctor, both at the university and in her native Tahla.

From 1963 until 1972, Saadawi worked as Director General for Public Health Education for the Egyptian government. During this time, she also studied at Columbia University in New York, where she received her Master of Public Health degree in 1966. Her first novel Memoirs of a Woman Doctor was published in Cairo in 1958. In 1972, however, she lost her job in the Egyptian government as a result of political pressure. The magazine, Health, which she had founded and edited for more than three years, was closed down.

From 1973 to 1978 Saadawi worked at the High Institute of Literature and Science. It was at this time that she began to write, in works of fiction and non-fiction, the books on the oppression of Arab women for which she has become famous. Her most famous novel, Woman at Point Zero was published in Beirut in 1973. It was followed in 1976 by God Dies by the Nile and in 1977 by The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World.

In 1981 Nawal El Saadawi publicly criticized the one-party rule of President Anwar Sadat, and was subsequently arrested and imprisoned. She was released one month after his assassination. In 1982, she established the Arab Women's Solidarity Association, which was outlawed in 1991. When, in 1988, her name appeared on a fundamentalist death list, she and her second husband, Sherif Hetata, fled to the USA, where she taught at Duke University and Washington State University. She returned to Egypt in 1996.

In 2004 she presented herself as a candidate for the presidential elections in Egypt, with a platform of human rights, democracy and greater freedom for women. In July 2005, however, she was forced to withdraw her candidacy in the face of ongoing government persecution.

Nawal El Saadawi has achieved widespread international recognition for her work. She holds honorary doctorates from the universities of York, Illinois at Chicago, St Andrews and Tromso. Her many prizes and awards include the Great Minds of the Twentieth Century Prize, awarded by the American Biographical Institute in 2003, the North-South Prize from the Council of Europe and the Premi Internacional Catalunya in 2004. Her books have been translated into over 28 languages worldwide. They are taught in universities across the world.

She now works as a writer, psychiatrist and activist. Her most recent novel, entitled Al Riwaya was published in Cairo in 2004.

Reviews

[Lumturi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This isn't my favorite book I've read on Muslim women.

The first essay included is Fawzia Afzal-Khan's essay about Zionism and Israel. It's in this essay that Afzal-Khan also says headscarves are a form of subservience to patriarchy (because concepts of fitna and sexual chaos are applied by men to women's bodies), once again confirming stereotypes about Muslim women. Then she implicitly refers to veiled women as "victims" and questions whether they are really making an independent choice to veil.

Most of the opening non-fiction essays, and much of the other content, deals with Muslim women's experiences post 9/11. This is the strongest part of the book.

Minno Moallem's article was so academic I found it near incomprehensible. Afsaneh Najmabadi's article arguing for intervention in Iraq is outdated and clearly was not effective.

The biggest problem with the first section, and really the whole book in general, is that it's too long. There are too many essays.

I did enjoy some of the poetry like Mohja Kahf's poem. There is just too much poetry though.

The religious discourses section has articles from Mohja Kahf, Azizah al-Hibri, and Riffat Hassan. al-Hibri's article feels very basic compared to her other work. Mohja Kahf's writing is on an introductory level as well. Then there is the interview with Rifat Hassan on her remarks about Farhat Hashmi and Asma Jahangir which is not a good representation of her work compared to many of her articles.

The final section is plays. The section is just too long and there's too many plays.

There is a common assumption throughout the book the reader will be familiar with Islamic teachings, social justice terminology, and academic terminology. On the other hand, the essays in the religious discourses section are clearly meant for a person just beginning to learn about women in Islam. The Riffat Hassan interview was confusing without any context even to me. The book doesn't really represent "Muslim women", but a tiny segment of scholars, writers, journalists, and poets mostly adhering to leftist political beliefs and liberal religious beliefs.

This book could have been much better if they axed about a 1/3 of the content. The "religious discourses" section should be in the front to provide some context for the reader on women in Islam, but it's in the middle. There are many great Riffat Hassan essays that could have been included. There should have been more consistency in the non-fiction essays with less politics and more essays about Muslim women. A glossary would have helped as well because of the many, many foreign terms used. Many of the works probably needed introductory descriptions for context.

I really did like some of the poetry, non-fiction essays, and fiction, but I don't think this book really represents Muslim women. Also, reading this book with no background on Islam would be one confusing experience.

I prefer "Living Islam Out Loud" and "I Speak for Myself" to this book.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to put this on hold after taking 3 months to get through the non-fiction section. I want to finish it some day but I've renewed it too many times at the library and it must be returned (last week).

My take so far, it would be better if they had cut some of the essays. Terrorist Chic and Where is Home were my favorites, the most powerful.

[Selin Büyükcengiz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to drop this book. I empathize with Muslims that had to go through a post 9/11 world, or at least, I really try to.
But it is so hard, years after the adrenaline of this national trauma have passed, to look back and see all these Muslim women apologize through their own (metaphorical) beating from America’s surveillance system.
This country lost more people to covid every week during 2021 than on 9/11; muslim americans in early 2000s are left with their heads lowered through those years, made themselves smaller, blamed each other for their antagonization: and for what?

The over emphasis to make non-muslim americans feel comfortable through this book in my opinion took away from the meaningful discussions that could’ve gone deeper. In addition to the problems I stated above, that is what made this book unreadable to me.

I read around 60 pages of it and looked through the non-fiction and poetry section. Poetry here was probably the most nourishing part of this complication.

This was a terrible book to try to practice properly reading again (I have been listening to audiobooks too much. And I am definitely in support of the medium; but it’s one of those things that I want to utilize only because it is an equal or better experience for the specific book I am reading. NOT because it is the only way I digest books that I immediately default to.
Anyway I have been trying to get my attention span in shape and read at least some stuff in written form, but:)
This was so painful and infuriating to get through that I had to skim through some pages and skip some entirely.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fantastic anthology serves as a great response to those who view 'Muslim women'as oppressed, voiceless and lacking creativity.
Stereotypes are shattered over a span of six sections: Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Religious Discourses, Fiction and Play. In other words, 'Muslim women' from all around the globe express themselves in the various six ways. The main theme of the book is to show the difficulty these women faced after the 9/11 attacks.
I did not agree with all the opinions/interpretations given by these women of what it means to be a 'Muslim'. I guess that was the point of this book. Muslim women all around the globe have cultural practices embedded with their practice of Islam. Then, we bring our personal histories into our practice as well.
All in all, I enjoyed the diversity.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific anthology. I hope that anyone who has questions about the status of women in Muslim culture reads this book, and, as the title says, has their stereotypes shattered. One piece that discussed postcolonialism was pretty inaccessible for someone like me who knows little on the subject, but the rest of the book is fantastic.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent anthology showcasing the various perspectives of Muslim women.

[Zohra Star · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yep, you guessed right... I'm in this one too and its a fantastic anthology!