Nazira Zeineddine by Cooke Miriam.;

Author:Cooke, Miriam.; [Cooke, Miriam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780742144
Publisher: Oneworld Publications

Review of The Girl and the Shaykhs

Having dedicated the first book to her father, Nazira dedicated this one to women in general, saying how happy she had been while writing Unveiling and Veiling because she had thought she was serving the best interests of Muslims and the Arab-Muslim nation. Concerned to show what was positive in Islam, she had been disappointed to learn that “my umma is not pleased with its girl.” Always tongue in cheek, she added, “and yet I took the Qur’an and Sunna as my guide so perhaps the umma is not pleased with them” (The Girl and the Shaykhs, pp. 11–12).

Angry with those whose views on women and gender she had commended in her book but who had attacked her, she mocked the hypocrisy of former fans who were attempting to distance themselves from the controversy. Were they not aware of the damage they were doing to their society? She was scathing: “When writing my book I consulted their letters and published books ... I saw from them nothing but approval and heard nothing but thanks ... Is it appropriate to attribute ill will to someone who had shown shaykhs and scholars her book while it was being written and before it was printed in order to be sure it was correct? Isn’t it possible to consider those who approved some parts of her book and who then thanked her to be participants in the work?” (The Girl and the Shaykhs, p. 93). As we know, this was no mere rhetoric. How could she trust the Mufti or any of the shaykhs who had first praised and then betrayed?

She vowed she would not show any of them the current book and if there were mistakes or problems this time it would be their fault because they had proven themselves treacherous (The Girl and the Shaykhs, pp. 91–95). Having shown respect for their learning, she could not understand why they were dismissive. As she had written in Unveiling and Veiling, “it is fine to disagree but we must respect each other’s differences because one of us might be right” (Unveiling and Veiling, p. 61). Yet on 23 November she did send some, the Mufti included, a copy of The Girl and the Shaykhs, asking him to re-read the first book. On 6 December, he repeated that each must follow his own muse.

Her language became militaristic; she was conducting a jihad, and “her book provided them with some new weapons with which to find the truth.” Moreover, referring to King Fu’ad’s poem, she wrote that it was as though the soul of Joan of Arc had transmigrated into her – note the rare reference to the Druze belief in metempsychosis (The Girl and the Shaykhs, pp. 14, 17, 99). The Druzes believe that upon the death of a Druze her soul is reincarnated in the body of a newborn Druze. Of course, Nazira was speaking metaphorically since Joan of Arc was not a Druze and her soul would have had to pass through many generations to reach Nazira’s body.

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