Characters Discussed in in Chapter 6:

Grewal Author of the text, she acts as narrator and speaks in the first person to signify her
presence in the text.
Fawzia At the beginning of the chapter, she is seen receiving her ijaza designation at a party in
her honor.
Ansa Tamara Gray A teacher whos speaking part at Fawzias party introduces her beliefs of
the authority of Islam and its role today. Her ideas about tradition suggest that Islam has a
universally true and unchanging aspect about it that cannot be influenced by nations, politics,
history, or generations. Seemingly contradicting this, she states that Islam must be renewed
continuously as it is in the USA. Thats the only hope for its survival. She suggests that Islam is
a constant, however, the threats and issues to Islam are what change from generation to
generation. Ansa believes only strong Muslims are of use to Allah and she recognizes that
traditional ties to the Quran validate the authority of the text.
Sakeena This is an American-Muslim student at the American University of Cairo, in Egypt.
She is friends with Grewal and she is introduced in the earlier part of the chapter as being
conflicted about the racism that exists in Egypt. She describes herself as a black born Muslim
on page 257. Her account is notable since it is the first time a female character has been this
informal with her words throughout the entire text. The informality could be a deeper look at
how close Grewal and Sakeena appear to be and so Grewal is making it a point to show this side
of their relationship.
Shaykh Nuh Keller This is a teacher who was also mentioned several times in the previous
chapters. Nuh is seen as very strict and he takes male students under his wing for instruction.
Jawad is under the tutelage of him in chapter 6 in his neighborhood in Jordan.
Jawad A student of Shaykh Nuhs, he is a teenager who contemplates going to college to
major in political science in order to help out the Muslims. Jawad misunderstands the strict
nature of Shaykh Nuhs personality and their encounters and so he believes that the Shaykh is
disappointed in him.
Asma This is the American-Muslim woman who comes to Egypt wishing to divorce her
husband before Allah before she does so in the US court system. Though divorce is a legal and
applicable action for what has happened with her marriage in this case, she finds it difficult for
the scholars of the law to actually agree to grant her the divorce she outright desires. Her struggle
is long and difficult, however she eventually finds out that the power to go through with this
divorce was more in her hands than what she originally thought.
Usman A student who is studying Fiqh law, which means Islamic Jurisprudence. He is
conflicted about the absolute nature of the laws and how they seem to offer an answer to every
possible scenario of a particular issue at hand. These laws, however have a bizarre and ludicrous
side about them when they are seen to state things such as, the man with the prettiest wife
should lead prayer. In the end, he learns the place of the laws in his life as to not be a point of
focus, but rather just another tool to better help him understand Islam and to find himself.
Knowledge can be no more than a tool. (p. 279)
Key Definitions:
Al-Qubaysiyat This is an exclusively female, Islamic group that was founded in the
1960s with the specific purpose of teaching women about such themes as: the Quran, Al-
Hadith, Tafsir, etc.
Baraka This is divine blessing in Islam. Grewal defines Baraka as a benefit force of
divine origin, which causes superabundance in the physical sphere and prosperity and
happiness in the psychic order.
Themes:
The source as pure and authoritative
What are examples of sources mentioned in this chapter that insure the purity and thus
then the authority of Islam?
Custodians vs Maintainers (in regards to tradition)
How does the job of each differ as presented in the text?
Why does their role change?
Can one become the other?
Faith leading to transformation (p286) Its not the destination but the journey.
For believers, the gap between what can be known and what can be proven about God
can never be completely filled by reason. This quote then leads to the conclusion that
Asmas search for truth was rooted in a type of religious transformation that was fueled
by her faith, not a specific answer. How can faith be a catalyst for transformation here?
Micro vs Macro
In this chapter, there seems to be a notable difference between individual vs group
experience, application of law, interest, etc. Why is there such a distinction between the
individual vs the group?
How is this this theme portrayed in the case of Asmas divorce from her husband?

Media:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJqsHnmDTD0