Seeking Sanctuary

by Hilda Reilly

Seeking Sanctuary is a rich and detailed journey into Sudan, a country that crystallizes present fears and prejudices about Islam, extremism and borderless global terrorism. It is told through the eyes of converts—people intimately familiar with the western world but who have chosen Sudan and its apparent discomfort over their former existence. The result is not the clichéd clash of cultures, or a narrative of awkwardness, but an uplifting account of joyful assimilation. The book provides an extraordinary insight into the religious journey to conversion. Its focus on the individual stories reveals the enormous complexity of motive, the subtlety of the experience, and the need for sensitivity rather than commonplace suspicion. It explains how the concerts have molded their own belief systems out of a common set of values to create an existence that allows them to feel comfortable about themselves and their environment for the first time. It contains a fascinating collection of intimate portraits, and individual discoveries.

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Hilda Reilly is a travel writer and novelist. She has an MSc in Consciousness Studies and an MA in Creative writing, both of which inspire her fiction writing. She is particularly interested in the use of fictional narrative to explore unusual mental states. Her novel, Guises of Desire, is based on the life of Bertha Pappenheim, aka Anna O, the 'founding patient' of psychoanalysis.
She has written two travel books, one about Palestine and the other about Sudan: Prickly Pears of Palestine and Seeking Sanctuary.

Reviews

[Anthony Stancomb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful book for anyone interested in the phenomenon of Islam, and its success throughout the world. But it's more than that; it's a chronicle of people's lives and the struggle they have gone through to end up as Muslims in the Sudan - and of their continuing struggle to live among other Muslims in an urban, but very poor environment.
The premis of the book sounds rather daunting, but it the story rattles along with a few pauses to sketch in the history and customs, and details the practices. I found it absolutely fascinating - all those things you always wanted to know, but never asked about. Tribal markings - female circumcision - family life - teenage brides - multiple wives - education - Sharia Law...... And it's all written so lightly and clearly that it's easy to absorb. The author also explains so clearly about the different elements - Sufis, Shias, Sunnis etc, and the conflicts between the different factions.
The book is largely concerned with the people who have left the Western World for the World of Islam, and we get to understand the attractions, but through following their lives, the reader gets to experience their efforts to reach an Islamic community and the struggle of daily life once they are there.
I highly recommend it to any layman wanting to glimpse the realities of the Muslim World.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although from reading the back of this book, you might think this is a dry Islamic revert tract, nothing could be further from the truth. Hilda Reilly cleverly twines an account of daily life and traditional customs in Sudan with her conversations with Westerners who have become Muslim and moved to Sudan. This is interesting from a religious perspective, but even more so from a cultural/ethnographic standpoint: this book is invaluable background reading for anyone contemplating a trip to Sudan, or to those who have been. It should also be required reading for all who inhabit "Aidland" in the South, to help them understand the reality for Sudanese divorced from the development dollars in Juba.