{"id":837,"date":"2008-09-24T00:00:30","date_gmt":"2008-09-24T07:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/muslimahmediawatch.wordpress.com\/?p=837"},"modified":"2012-01-21T14:21:35","modified_gmt":"2012-01-21T18:21:35","slug":"ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/","title":{"rendered":"Ramadhan book club: Salam Maria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This was written by Cycads and was originally published<\/a> at her blog. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Since it\u2019s Ramadhan, I thought it might be quite appropriate that I have a special religious feature in my feminist\/Malay lit blog. So in today\u2019s post I\u2019d like bring to your attention a little known novel by Fatimah Busu, Salam Maria<\/strong><\/em> <\/strong>(or Hail Mary), published in 2004. Unfortunately it\u2019s in Malay, and almost impossible to purchase even in Malaysia as many big-name book shops don\u2019t stock it. But don\u2019t let these be stumbling blocks to discovering the beauty in Salam Maria<\/em>. In Fatimah Busu\u2019s allegory, the central character, Maria Zaitun, becomes a religious leader of a community for social outcasts who live in a rain forest called Hutan Beringin.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Though a devout Muslim, Maria Zaitun is ostracised by members of her village for refusing to conform to patriarchal ideals of womanhood. Even the village imam chases her out of the mosque in her time of spiritual need. It is, however, a group of women: old, poor, and disabled, who offer her sanctuary in their humble home in Hutan Beringin. Her highly charitable and non-judgemental nature towards rape and incest victims gains the reverence of the forest\u2019s inhabitants. Maria Zaitun is not just a spiritual leader, she is also an entrepreneur: she is the one who encourages these women to start a small cottage industry, sewing and selling specially-embroidered telekung or praying attire for Muslim women in the urban centres. This helps provide them with some form of financial independence and security.<\/p>\n

Word of Maria Zaitun\u2019s following reaches the ears of the village via a strange dream of a hospital patient who wakes from a coma after 2 years, 2 months, and 2 days. This triggers an excitement, on a scale of near madness, in meeting the woman who gained a saint-like status amongst the unwanted. The villagers go into the jungle \u2013 but much too late \u2013 as Maria Zaitun had died and already been buried by her followers in the presence of angels.<\/p>\n

Hutan Beringin serves as a social and religious utopia that Fatimah envisages different from the Malay society in reality where even women can easily become a member of the socially dispossessed through gossip and slander. The protagonists\u2019s exile from the village is an exile from modern society\u2019s moral and spiritual decay. And what makes Maria Zaitun\u2019s character unique is that she is fashioned after female saints in Islam such as Rabeah al-Adawiyah and Sayyidah Nafisah, and unlike other prominent Islamic female figures whose roles were defined by their husbands and fathers, Maria Zaitun is not portrayed as a subservient wife, but as a devout Muslim and a wise and knowledgeable spiritual leader.<\/p>\n

Radical and so important in many ways, Salam Maria<\/em> is an unusual Malay novel, but like many other novels in the language, it never quite received the attention of the media and the public it deserved and risks becoming completely forgotten underneath the heap of books by foreign writers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was written by Cycads and was originally published at her blog. Since it\u2019s Ramadhan, I thought it might be quite appropriate that I have a special religious feature in my feminist\/Malay lit blog. So in today\u2019s post I\u2019d like bring to your attention a little known novel by Fatimah Busu, Salam Maria (or Hail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[224,796,797],"class_list":["post-837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-booksmagazines","tag-books","tag-malaysian-literature","tag-malaysian-women"],"yoast_head":"\nRamadhan book club: Salam Maria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This was written by Cycads and was originally published at her blog. Since it\u2019s Ramadhan, I thought it might be quite appropriate that I have a special\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ramadhan book club: Salam Maria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This was written by Cycads and was originally published at her blog. Since it\u2019s Ramadhan, I thought it might be quite appropriate that I have a special\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Muslimah Media Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-09-24T07:00:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-01-21T18:21:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/cycads.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/09\/salam_maria.jpg?w=112&h=181\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/\",\"name\":\"Ramadhan book club: Salam Maria\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-09-24T07:00:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-01-21T18:21:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"This was written by Cycads and was originally published at her blog. Since it\u2019s Ramadhan, I thought it might be quite appropriate that I have a special\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ramadhan book club: Salam Maria\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/\",\"name\":\"Muslimah Media Watch\",\"description\":\"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ramadhan book club: Salam Maria","description":"This was written by Cycads and was originally published at her blog. Since it\u2019s Ramadhan, I thought it might be quite appropriate that I have a special","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ramadhan book club: Salam Maria","og_description":"This was written by Cycads and was originally published at her blog. Since it\u2019s Ramadhan, I thought it might be quite appropriate that I have a special","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/","og_site_name":"Muslimah Media Watch","article_published_time":"2008-09-24T07:00:30+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-01-21T18:21:35+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/cycads.files.wordpress.com\/2008\/09\/salam_maria.jpg?w=112&h=181"}],"author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/","name":"Ramadhan book club: Salam Maria","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-09-24T07:00:30+00:00","dateModified":"2012-01-21T18:21:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"This was written by Cycads and was originally published at her blog. Since it\u2019s Ramadhan, I thought it might be quite appropriate that I have a special","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/2008\/09\/ramadhan-book-club-salam-maria\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ramadhan book club: Salam Maria"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/","name":"Muslimah Media Watch","description":"Looking at Muslim women in the media and pop culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mmw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}