ORPHAN OF ISLAM: A memoir with a message
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| Orphan of Islam is a memoir where the author describes his troubled childhood. |
After
finishing the reading of a biography of A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, I
decided to read something different. And while scanning through the maze of
books at Lake Side, Pokhara, I happened to find an old book, not very old,
because its subject is as relevant today as it was then.
The
book was Orphan of Islam and it was penned by Alexander Khan. The book
was published by HarperCollins in 2012. I deliberately picked the book because
I liked its title. Even more when I saw a round sticker on the cover page of
the book where the book was compared with The Kite Runner, a novel by
Khaled Hosseini. I have already read The Kite Runner long ago and I was very
much impressed by the story of The Kite Runner---I thought Orphan of Islam of
the same category.
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| Book: The Orphan of Islam Publisher: HarperCollins Publication: 2012 Page: 306 |
I
read the book carefully and finished the entire book of 306 pages in 12 days.
Alexander Khan, the author, belonged to a family whose father was a Pathan
tribesman from north-west Pakistan, and his mother was an English woman.
The
book is a memoir where the author has described his troubled childhood. He said
that trouble had befallen him when he was merely a 3-year-old tiny toddler. He
was separated from his mother and he was sent to Pakistan with his sister. To a
mother’s utter shock, she was later told that her both children were killed in
an accident. The heartbroken mother sank into the pit of depression and later
she abandoned the family forever.
In
the subsequent chapters, the author described how after three years in
Pakistan; he was brought back to England when he was only six years old. Living
in England, the boy did not have a good time with his stepmother who was the
second wife of his father. The stepmother and her son Rafiq never treated
Alexander nicely. They always handled him as roughly as possible. At one time,
even the young Khan was removed from school and he was pressured to live a
life of a devout Muslim. Rafiq, the son of Alexander’s stepmother, would take
Alexander to the mosque and ask him to perform namaz (Muslim prayer) five times
a day.
In
the next part of the book, Alexander Khan writes that as he was growing into a
teenager and he started understanding life from the environment around him. His
friendship with non-Muslim boys and girls opened up new vistas of life before
Alexander. His new learning from the English society was completely different
from his home environment where everyone had to follow strict Islamic
disciplines. Looking at his friends’ freedom, at one point, the author wrote
that his life could have been like his friends only had his mother not
abandoned him.
Right
from the beginning, Alexander Khan was an open-minded boy. But his stepmother
and her son Rafiq wanted to radicalize him to become a devout Muslim. To
achieve their goal the family decided to send Alexander to Pakistan---the
purpose was to convert him into a devout Muslim.
In
Pakistan, Alexander Khan was admitted into a madrasa where he was taught
radical Islam and Jihad. In madarsa, the teacher inculcated the fundamental
ideas of Islam and he was encouraged to join Jihad against kafir (non-believers).
Young Khan’s mind was not ready to accept violence and hatred targeted against
any people or any religion. But every possible effort was made to brainwash the
young boy to become a radical jihadist. Despite their best efforts, they
completely failed to radicalize the boy. The reality was that Alexander had
already discarded the radical ideologies he was taught.
One day, with the help of a classmate, he fled from the madrasa and reached his father’s village. As the author writes while living in the village, he was away from the brutal treatment of those teachers at madrasa. He found living in the village was much safer than living in the madrasa.
To
the utter dismay of the boy, one day Alexander was kidnapped by his father’s
relatives and handed over to an extremist group in Afghanistan. Afghani
extremists wanted to train Alexander to meet their purpose. And for this, it
was of utmost necessity to brainwash the young boy. They applied their best
tactics to brainwash the young boy so that he would accept the supremacy of
Allah and hate the Western world. The religious teachers began injecting the
venom of hate and revenge into his mind and heart.
The
interesting part of the book here is how the young Alexander fooled them by
pretending that he believed in Jihad. But in reality, Alexander was waiting for
an opportunity to get away from Afghanistan. Finally, the opportunity came and
Alexander managed to escape from the captivity and reached England in one
piece.
The
memoir comes to an end here. Without a doubt, Alexander Khan has made an honest
effort to narrate his childhood experience. The book has clearly highlighted
how all kinds of forces worked together to radicalize him, but before his
self-conscience and strong determination they failed. This gives a message to
young Muslim boys and girls living in Western countries that they should not
succumb to any such effort of radicalization.
In
the past years, we have witnessed how young Muslims who had been born and
educated in Western countries were involved in several terror-related
activities. Behind all these incidents, there was one thing in common and it
was that all these young Muslim youths had been thoroughly radicalized. Despite
having been born and highly educated in Western countries, many of these Muslim
youths did not hesitate to shed the blood of their own fellow citizens. I am
very sure and certain that Alexander Khan’s memoir has successfully imparted a
strong message to those young Muslims living in the Western world that no matter
what happens to them but they should not fall prey to the hands of extremists.
Well,
there are a few things where I strongly disagree with the author. Alexander
Khan has compared his memoir with The Kite Runner. The readers can see a
highlight sticker on the front cover of the book where it is written, “If
you like The Kite Runner you’ll love this true story”. Those who have
read The Kite Runner and Orphan of Islam will immediately find it that
both books carry a different theme---they cannot be compared at all. Such an
effort by the author clearly shows that he actually wanted to encash the
popularity of The Kite Runner for his book Orphan of Islam.
After
completing the whole book, I could not relate the meaning of Orphan of Islam to
his memoir. The author has described his childhood experience in his memoir.
Then how he can be an orphan of Islam? There is absolutely no logic behind
this. It seems that the author simply chose this name to attract more readers
to his memoir.
Otherwise,
the author has made an honest explanation of his troubled childhood. As far as
his personal account of his childhood events is concerned, it seems that he hid
nothing. In the meantime, it should be understood that it is always difficult
to write about own family members, especially against them.
The final message of his memoir is loud and clear. Young Muslim boys and girls born in Western countries should not come under the influence of any radical groups. They should stand strong, independent, and faithful to the nations they were born.
As a
whole, the book is a good read and the readers will definitely enjoy a true
account of Alexander Khan’s childhood memoir.
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| LB Thapa is the publisher and editor of The Hemingway Post, a literary magazine. |
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