Offence: The Muslim Case

by Kamila Shamsie

In recent years, countless politicians and commentators have been addressing the Quran in an attempt to understand the rise of Muslim extremist ideology. They have missed the point: the most significant factor in this phenomenon is to be found within the particular circumstances of individual nation-states. Islam as a static global and temporal entity is a myth. The reality reflects a wide variety of experience founded on the co-mingling of religion, cultural and national and international politics. It is inside this individual complexity that battle-lines have been drawn and the fight waged within Islam itself, often largely unremarked upon by the world outside.

Through a consideration of the case of Pakistan, this volume seeks to place the recent surge in extremist Islam within the framework of the nation-state, and to sharpen those dangerously blurred distinctions between the Merely Offended and the Violently Offended in the course of examining the causes of offence.

Genres: Nonfiction, Islam, Politics, Pakistan, Religion, Philosophy

82 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2009

About the author

Kamila Shamsie was born in 1973 in Karachi, where she grew up. She has a BA in Creative Writing from Hamilton College in Clinton, NY and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. While at the University of Massachusetts she wrote In The City By The Sea , published by Granta Books UK in 1998. This first novel was shortlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys Award in the UK, and Shamsie received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literature in Pakistan in 1999. Her 2000 novel Salt and Saffron led to Shamsie’s selection as one of Orange’s “21 Writers of the 21st Century.” With her third novel, Kartography , Shamsie was again shortlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys award in the UK. Both Kartography and her next novel, Broken Verses , won the Patras Bokhari Award from the Academy of Letters in Pakistan. Burnt Shadows, Shamsie’s fifth novel, has been longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her books have been translated into a number of languages.

Shamsie is the daughter of literary critic and writer Muneeza Shamsie, the niece of celebrated Indian novelist Attia Hosain, and the granddaughter of the memoirist Begum Jahanara Habibullah. A reviewer and columnist, primarily for the Guardian, Shamsie has been a judge for several literary awards including The Orange Award for New Writing and The Guardian First Book Award. She also sits on the advisory board of the Index on Censorship.

For years Shamsie spent equal amounts of time in London and Karachi, while also occasionally teaching creative writing at Hamilton College in New York State. She now lives primarily in London.

Reviews

[Abdullah Mo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muslims get easily offended when someone challenges the sanctity of their idols. The offenders, to Kamila Shamsie are more insiders than outsiders; the threat we pose to each other is far greater than what we are exposed to. On the very onset, it appears to be advocacy of Muslim viewpoint on how they feel hurt when their religiously sacred symbols are disrespected, and that it should avoided. However, the argument is not that unassertive, instead shamsie traces down the factors that strengthen the feelings of ‘offence’ in Pakistani Muslims. Debunks the notion of Muslim brotherhood, traces the fault line between violence and Islam, and juxtaposes freedom of expression against respect. On a descriptive note, in this seven section essay some of the points she highlights include: heterogeneity among Muslims, national politics and religious identity, illusion of united Umah, ethno-cultural tussles, the myth of theocratic state, intra-religious encounters between Muslims, Zia’s Islam, war on/of terror, Satanic verses, Danish cartoons. Shamsie along with delineating with these pinching arguments, at parallel presents the chronology of Islamisation in Pakistan from its conception to contemporary times by focusing on all major events of last 6o years or so, from Sir Syed to Musharaf, from Urdu-Hindi conflict to calling Qadyanis Kafir, from Kashmir to Bangladesh etc.

[Faaiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kamila Shamsie presents a very interesting lens from which the current rise of extremism in Pakistan can be analyzed. Although I wouldn't consider myself to be an expert on this matter, but from what I've read and have been reading, this line of thought has been largely unexplored or overlooked. I think this book presents an excellent starting point for those who want to explore this topic in greater detail. Kamila Shamsie's writing style and prose keep the reader actively engaged and thoroughly engrossed as she moves from one era to the next. It would have been ideal had she delved into greater detail about each era, but regardless, she does a very good job at presenting her arguments while being succinct.

[Paul Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a world of political and religious mis-trust, unnatural allies and competition for resources, everyone should read this book. A clear, focused and objective analysis, I congratulate Ms Shamsie. I first read this book five years ago and concede it did not have as great an impression upon me. Oh dear! Does that mean that I am becoming radicalised?