The secret life of the Middle Eastern Muslim woman is a hot topic. In bookstores around the world, books line the shelves displaying covers of teasing confessionals — desert princesses, seductive eyes lined with makeup behind a niqab, life when related to a terrorist, the disturbing details of what Muslims do to their women. These salacious tales are told by real-live women — don’t you just love memoirs? But there’s one memoir that won’t be snapped up by readers longing for the intriguing stories of those poor, abused Muslim now-saved women. It’s Leila 
Ahmed’s A Border Passage: from Cairo to America—a Woman’s Journey. A memoir that goes beyond mere memories to social issues across continents, the book doesn’t give neo-Orientalist drama a glance. Published in 1999, the memoir has not lost its relevance even nearly a decade later. In fact, Ahmed’s beautifully written reflections on her Egyptian childhood and British education may be even more necessary today.
Ahmed, born in Egypt in 1940, addresses topics such as imperialism, literacy, feminism, racism, and identity as they relate to her life before moving to the United States. Skillfully crafting her prose, Ahmed simultaneously uses the critical analysis of an academic (a PhD of Cambridge University, she currently teaches at Harvard Divinity School) to break down issues and introduce new ideas. In describing the Islam of her childhood, she writes of a “women’s Islam” distinct from a text-based, dogmatic “men’s Islam.” Ahmed laments the way written works dominate academia as reflecting “the ‘true’ and ‘authentic’ Islam”:
“Professors, for example, including a number who have no sympathy whatever for feminism, are now jumping on the bandwagon of gender studies and directing a plethora of dissertations on this or that medieval text with titles like ‘Islam and Menstruation.’ But such dissertations should more aptly have titles along the lines of ‘A Study of Medieval Male Beliefs about Menstruation.’ For what, after all, do these men’s beliefs, and the rules they laid down on the basis of their beliefs, have to do with Islam? Just because they were more powerful, privileged men in their society and knew how to write, does this mean they have the right forever to tell us what Islam is and what the rules should be?” (129-30)
Ahmed shatters many stereotypes about Egypt, Islam, and Muslim women. It’s not that she goes out of her way to do it. Instead, she presents her life matter-of-factly and most stereotypes just don’t fit into that world. The large black veil was only worn by the lower classes? A Muslim man would encourage his daughter to pursue science? Ahmed’s mother saw pacifism as the core of Islam? These ideas are slipped into the story naturally, not as part of a “Let me explain real Islam to you” agenda. (The latter is usually the only alternative to Islamophobic sensationalism.)
When Ahmed does mean to shock and enlighten her readers, the topics are hardly clichéd. A chapter of the book is devoted to investigating the history of the label “Arab.” Egypt, as it turns out, is relatively new to the label. And the fact that Muslims are predisposed to supporting the Palestinian cause over Israel? Ahmed completely destroys this “fact,” uncovering in her research Egypt’s pro-Israel (dare I say Zionist?) past. Ideas that seem unimaginable become real in the memoir, and there lies Ahmed’s greatest strength. The background of politics, the thoughts on literature, the musings on religion are intriguing and enjoyable. But the greatest impression A Border Passage leaves upon the reader is the idea that all “facts” can be reevaluated. Ahmed teaches her critical eye, forcing readers to realize that nothing is simple. Not Egyptian identity, not British imperialism, not the spirituality of Muslim women. This may only be the story of one woman, but with this message it makes room for the stories of many.
Wow, I’ve got to put this book on my to-read list. Thanks for the review!
Why is this hatred Iranians bear on evrything Arab. May I ask?Why does an Iranian care about this Arab thing?´First of all you lump Arabs with Iranians under one category which is extremely distressing, secondly you go on to play with fire and start propagting buyllshit about Egypt.Do you want to do to Egypt what you are doing in Iraq.Cant you forget that Arab semiticbaylonians educated you. Cant forget that you Arabs from pennisula brought you alphabet religon and leyyers.Can’t forget that you sole cosmoplitan achievments were done when you were ruled by Arabs and when you wrote in ArabicArab identity is stronger and older than Irqanian one.Babylonians, Pharoahs ,yemense wre all semites speaking semitic languages that predesesed Arabic.Have enough integerity and publish my comment.It is mraninglöess to censor anything that differes with you
Amre,I’m not sure what Iran has to do with this discussion. I would recommend you read “A Border Passage,” though, before making any assumptions about Leila Ahmed’s attitude towards Arab nationalism and Egyptian history.
Dear Melinda,I read “A Border Passage” myself, and the lady is a top-notch talented writer. I liked the book, however, I disagreed to many aspects of it, these are,1- Egypt’s pro-israel history.2- Mixing Islam to the widely believed dogmas among Muslims, being a divine study PhD, makes me expect much more from her in this regards. Wide gap you can find more about it here if you wished:http://eharfoush.blogspot.com/2007/05/1.html3- Mixing nationalism as a notion, that is against any non-Arabs in the region, and nationalism as a supportive ideology to unity and integration. I am a nationalist myself, but a one who dreams of integration between Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Saudi and Gulf. Climing such integration under secular society is the way-out from our everlasting handicapping.Thanks for the post and best regards:Eyad
Dear Melinda,What interests me in your blog is dedication to Muslim Woman depiction. Women who were regarded by God, before the masculine clergy “be it Paul in Christianity or many others in Islam” steel it back. Excellent work
I really love this book! It touches on so many interesting issues, many of which you described so excellently in your review. The whole story of her father’s disagreements with Nasser over the construction of the Aswan dam was another really interesting part of the book, as well as the history of her mother’s family. Definitely recommended reading for any Egyptian history buffs out there!
i don’t know why u guys both to answer this person. i have never seen such senseless hatred. i haven’t read a border passage – been trying to get a hold of it for a while. not suprised by anything you’ve revealed about the book. here’s the thing, tho: why is her account any less relevant than those sensationalist ones u refer to in the beginning of the post? are you denying that a lot of muslim women experience AWFUL STUFF? those things are memoirs. MEMOIRS.you also need to know this about leila ahmed and her ilk: they are rich women from prominent families. nowhere in thr world do rich women experience the same hardships as the rest of their countrywomen. also, the egypt she describes is dead and gone…completely.but if you’re interested in rich-egyptian-woman accounts of egypt, read “In the eye of the sun” by ahdaf soueif. makes me barf, but i think u’d find it interesting to analyze.
Dear Melinda,you asked me a simple question, and I believe I have the right to answer.The fact the blog is edited by an Iranian makes the fact the she pick up a post that aims at propagating bull shit about Egypt and the Arab nation, quite dubious.why does she insist on sticking her country to the Arab world that is something I cant understand.And, dont you think that you had better discuss issues regarding Iranian identity insteadwe are all Arabs, why the hell Iranians insist on sticking themselves to us, i simply dont understand.Secondly it is a big insult when Iranian go out of their way trying their best to deny the most obvious which Is the oragnic arab unity.we are one nation with a common language history that goes back thousands of yearswhat makes Iranians iranians .Were the achaemenids sassanids, and parthians one people. never untill the Arab conquests and safavid era.why the hell do you go on picking on this issue which serves nothing but the Israeli and mullah’s interets of dismantling the Arab world.For Iran that would facilitate its inclusion in the region. tyhat is what Iran wants wipe out Arabism so they can enter the middle east.I guess I have answered you, so please publish my comment
Forsoothsayer,Thanks for the comments.I’m not denying that horrible things to happen to Muslim women. I agree that memoirs that include such things are valuable. What I’m referring to is the memoirs that sensationalize the lives of these women and market the books to people who only want to affirm their view of the Middle East as a backwards hellhole filled with people inferior to Americans and Europeans. That said, sensationalist memoirs aren’t limited to the Middle East. They can do precisely the same thing to segments of American society.It’s true that Ahmed’s memoir is limited to the rich, privileged perspective, and in the book she acknowledges that. If you know of any memoirs that show the lives of the rest of the population, I’d definitely be interested: please let me know. And even though the Egypt of her childhood no longer exists, I found it interesting to read about for a historical point of view.
Amre, Melinda wrote this post on her own accord. Neither I nor MMW’s editor assigned this to her. Your comments that are not published are hateful, racist, and blatantly violate our comment guidelines. This blog is about MUSLIM WOMEN. Of any race. If you don’t like it, you can leave or we can ban you.
I haven’t read this book, but it sounds interesting and I might look into it (if life spares me enough time!).Nowadays, it seems like if a Muslim woman wants to get her book published, all she has to do is criticize Islam as a misogynistic, woman-hating religion, and that all women in Muslim countries are oppressed. Nonie Darwish, Ayan Hirsi Ali (ugh!), and Bridgette Gabriel are examples of ex-Muslim women who slander Islam because of its “oppressive” teachings towards women (although the latter is not Muslim – she’s Christian – she’s still a self-hating Middle-Eastern and anti-Muslim propagandist). That being said, I totally agree with what Melinda is saying about how American women can write sensationalist memoirs too.I am also wondering.. what is up with Amre el-Abyad’s anti-Iranian hate rant?? Someone needs to remind him that although the Arabs brought Islam into the region, the Persian culture never faded. In other words, the Arabization of Islam didn’t succeed in Persia at the time, even though it was taking place in other parts of the Muslim world. The Ummayads tried to Arabize everything, which is why they were overthrown by the Abbassids who practiced tolerance and coexistence among Arabs, Turks, and Persians. Most of the Muslim mathematicians, astronomers, and physicians were Persians anyway, but to say that Arabs were superior since they “ruled them”, or because they wrote in Arabic, is really being ignorant about history. I also think to say these things is blatantly racist too.I don’t understand these superiority complexes that exist in Islam, especially between Arabs and Persians. It tears our community apart and it hurts us even more today when unity is the most important thing our Ummah needs right now. No wonder Muslim nations don’t help one another. They’re too busy arguing about who taught who, or who invented what, and by the time they realize they need to shut up and work together, the buildings are already blowing up and innocent people are dieing.
you should see how he has threatened me with violence on my blog if i don’t remove my comment here: http://forsoothsayer.blogspot.com/2008/02/three.html. you should look for any translated works by nawal el saadawi – although she is a raging feminist, her works bring a lot of interesting perspective on a variety of topics. also, read the memoir of huda el sharaawi, the first female egyptian feminist, or dorriya shafik. both rich women, but played an important part in the volution of feminism in egypt over the 20th century. if u can get hold of a movie called “four women of egypt” by tahani rached you would be ecstatic i think.