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~The Hijabi Reads~ A Book Review Series:#3 “If The Oceans Were Ink” by Carla Power

Summary

‘If The Oceans Were Ink’ took me on a genuinely stirring, captivating and refreshing journey into understanding Islam through discussions between a secular skeptical feminist and a pioneer of hadith studies(a Muslim scholar). Carla Power, an esteemed writer studies Islam right from its authentic sources-the Qur’an and the Sunnah, with Sheikh Mohammed Akram Nadwi, an alim who doesn’t need any introduction in the Muslim world. What follows is a series of cross-cultural conversations, discussions of the apparent clash between Islam and the West, understanding the universal guidance of the Qur’an, women’s scholarship in Islam among numerous other pertinent topics. Despite having their divergent world views, how far would each go to accommodate and make sense of the other, without compromising on their own foundational beliefs?

Overview

I love the rhythm of the book and the sheer magnitude of knowledge and perception that Power manages to squeeze into a concise three-hundred pages. Learning begins in a cafe right off Oxford Street, where the Fatiha (The Opener) is discussed emphasizing an individual’s direct connection with God. The subject matter moves rapidly from purely theoretical discussions to travel, from Power visiting the Shaykh’s madrassa in India, where he was trained to going down her own memory lane-her childhood living in Iran and Afghanistan.Politics, Quranic stories of Jesus, Mary, the Pharaoh and his wife, Joseph and his brothers, the centrality of women in Islamic history and its transmission, spiritual reflections, understanding the life of Prophet peace be upon him-Power doesn’t fail to amaze me with her curiosity in learning and her expansive inquiries into all these issues and more.

I was slightly concerned (also excited) that I’d be reading about Islam from a skeptic’s point of view. Being a feminist, it wasn’t surprising that a lot of Power’s questions were regarding women's’ rights and freedoms in Islam. There was some heavy reading in the book when the author was distressed with certain issues such as the Prophet’s wife, Aisha’s age and married life, some ayaat from Surah An-Nisa (The Women) but I decided to read those with an open mind, trying to see where Power was coming from, and then comparing it to my own inconsistent study of those topics usually attacked by Orientialists criticizing Islam.Power admits, “I wondered just how much my own project was guilty of this: of trying to stuff the Sheikh’s worldview into Western categories.”(pg. 172) But I appreciate her concern, her willingness to understand a new world from a madrassa trained yet a Western academic scholar/Sheikh’s narrative. She really gets to the core of the Islamic tradition and together they destroy myths and uncover treasures from the Qur’an which she rightly calls the Book of Signs. It was interesting to see her honesty,her limitations and especially her probing when she wasn’t content with Sheikh Akram’s interpretations. But her experience with faith is what fascinates me the most- trying to appreciate God’s signs in the most mundane of things and feeling a sense of ‘radical gratitude’. Much of Sheikh Akram’s life is chronicled in this book, especially his revolutionary contribution titled, ‘Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam’ consisting of forty volumes of nearly nine thousand women scholars, from the time of the Prophet to the twentieth century. Sheikh’s distinction between culture and religion and how to navigate the two is evident in his own life- he truly embodies the message he preaches, following the footsteps of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in all aspects of his personal and professional life.

There are far too many powerful ideas and realities that are discussed in the book but here are a few of my favourites,

“If the Quran served as the spiritual and philosophical foundations for the Sheikh, the Prophet’s life was a model for how he put them into daily practice. “Islam is not an idea, he told me one day via Skype. “It is a history.” (Pg.53)

“I tell people, ‘God has given girls qualities and potential,” he said. If they aren’t allowed to develop them, if they aren’t provided with opportunities to study and learn, it’s basically a live burial.” (Quoting Sheikh Akram, Pg.135)

“His reasoning was framed in the language of submitting to Allah alone: no human should have control over any other one. It sounded bracing, liberating, and as stripped of gooey romanticism as any second-wave feminist text.” (pg. 146)

So would I recommend reading it? I most definitely would. What instantly drew me to the book was its title, “If the Oceans Were Ink”. It is borrowed from the ayah (verse) of Surah Al Kahf (Chapter of the Cave) in the Qur’an where Allah swt reveals, “ Say [Prophet], ‘If the oceans were ink for writing the words of my Lord, it would run dry before those words were exhausted’- even if We were to add another ocean to it.” The author gracefully introduces this verse stating the Qur’an’s proclamation of its limitless possibilities.

I wasn’t expecting an exhaustive study of the Qur’an in this book- so don’t be surprised that once you complete this book it’s like you’ve barely just started learning about Islam, something that humbled me.The never ending ocean of Allah’s words is a navigation that this book steered me towards and that to me-is its biggest appeal.