Warning: My notes include spoilers for readers
The Bad Muslim Discount
By Syed Masood"Remember to never take more from the world than you can give back. pg5
(like a life or breaking one's heart)
So far, I love the dialogue between characters. There's plenty being said and most of it is relevant. I laughed out loud reading the first few pages of Anvar's thoughts and dialogue with brother Aamir.
However, the bad is starting to creep up on the good's advantage.
At first it was fun hearing the younger generation's take on growing up in a muslim home with many old muslim traditions, not to mention trying to live up to Koranic discipline and rituals.
But lately the story has delved more into the Afghanistan war with The good/bad Americans and rebel Pakistanis. Also. it feels like its leaning toward anti-muslim culture even while giving great quotes from the Koran.
The story itself is a challenge to keep up with as chapters jump from one family/character to another. Add to this the past Afghanistan war with the current Pakistan civil unrest and the story begins to feel too heavy, too politically burdensome to indulge in or maintain long-term interest.
I'm giving it more time to fully develop partly because I connected with Anvar the main character. He and his secret girlfriend have just split up and I'm not sure he can maintain the interest their relationship has garnered so far. As he states, Zuha is a big part of him being who he is right now. What will replace that huge gap about to open up in his life.
Safwa is not that interesting. Hopefully she can bring something more to Anvar's life and story.
And with all that said, I pick up the book excited instead of dreading to see what comes next.
"Doesn't your tongue get bitter," he said, "from all the truth you speak?" pg114
note: in a section where Abu Fahd shares his story with Anvar of being an illegal immigrant as well as his concern of Republicans, if they win the election, rounding up illegals and doing mass deportations, the irony from 2020 to 2025/26 ICE is too real. Anvar tells him the government doesn't have the time nor resources for "federal agents rounding up millions of people across the country." He says "I would be surprised if that happens."
page 231 right up to 237 is a scene with Anvar and the landlord Hadeez Bhatti. Their talk/dialogue reveals so much that was hidden about both men. It also sheds light on Azza and the two men in her life who are Bad Men, Abu Fahd and Qais Badami.
Bhatti tells Anvar what is true in all generations, that young people are too self-centered and think they know the whole world, understanding everything. He says they should read/see everyone else's story as they do their own, with respect and nonjudgement.
Their walk has taken them to the mosque where Bhatti is part of a study group. And so, after evening prayers, they gather to discuss the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). (halaqas)
Bhatti, who seemed to be looking at me more than he was at Imam Sama, leaned over a few minutes and whispered, "Attention, please."
I nodded. The Imam was telling us about the time the Prophet fell asleep under a tree. For a refugee, a man persecuted and hunted for his religious beliefs, this was dangerous.
Indeed, when the Prophet awoke, one of his enemies was standing before him, sword drawn. As the Prophet rose to his feet, the man challenged Muhammad, saying, "Who will save you from me now?"
There was no fear in the Prophet's voice when he gave his reply. It was simple. He said that Allah would save him.
This conviction left the man so stunned that his grip on his blade weakened and it fell to the ground. The Prophet picked up the sword and asked the man who would save him from Muhammad. When the man said he had no one to help him, the Prophet spared his life.
pgs 234-35
The Bad Muslim Discount and why Bhatti gives it to every tenant he accepts into the building (junoon)
passion. mad passion. fire pg236
One of the reasons I find this book so enjoyable is it shares the teachings of the Holy Koran and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). I am now encouraged to revisit one of my books that has traveled with me as a companion since 1989 at least. My Koran. I must thank Philip and Angela, wherever they are. To think, 37 years ago I was a young, newly married 25-year-old pup, about the age of Anvar and making the same mistakes; only seeing my own life and needs without reading/seeing other's stories fully. But perhaps I should give my younger self better credit. I did recognize and respect others, but I was somewhat selfish. Still somewhat am to a lesser degree...
I'd had no use for her when I thought her a saint. I needed her now, when I knew she'd been a sinner. A sinner I could understand. A sinner would understand me. pg241
(Azza desiring to speak to her deceased, adulterous mother for advice)
Our lives, I reminded myself, are hostages held by time. We are free only for a few moments. What we choose to do in those moments, who we choose to do them with, defines who we are.
I thought of Zuha.
I thought of Azza.
I let the song color my memories of them until the music ended and I was left wondering if the poet got what he so desperately desired. pg254
“‘Yet you are not modest like a Muslim woman. Your dress betrays what is in your heart’….
She spoke sweetly, but her words had the edge of a knife. ‘And your gaze betrays what is in yours‘”
– Syed M. Masood, The Bad Muslim Discount
"Muslims - our generation in the West - are like the Frankenstein monster. We're stapled and glued together, part West, part East. A little bit of Muslim here, a little bit of skeptic there. We put ourselves together as best we can and that makes us, not pretty of course, but unique. Then we spend the rest of our lives looking for a mate. Someone who is like us. Except there is no one like us and we did it to ourselves. pg263
(I read this section when i first perused the book. It must have intrigued me enough to buy it)
"The tea was the most interesting thing about him. He was a soft, uninspiring man who lived a simple, uneventful life. I went to Afghanistan during the jihad, you know, to escape him and his painful mediocrity. By the time I returned to Iraq, he was gone. Strange, is it not, what pleasant things we flee from? You should never forget that the oppression of love is better than the oppression of war. There is no freedom from oppression." He poured himself another cup of tea. "These leaves have to burn, after all, so that there can be tea."
pg271
(Abu Fahd talking to Anvar about leaving his father and home to fight in Afghanistan)
Laws meant something only when people with power agreed to follow them. Otherwise, they were just words. pg275
I would have to lie to him as well, I'd have to make him believe that Qais was evil and a terrorist, even if only one of those things was true. You never know what someone will do with the truth once they have it. pg277
(Azza)
My mother would say that only God got to decide the shape of the world.
When you hold a knife in your hand, you're responsible for what you do with it. The will of a higher power doesn't absolve you of the consequences of your decisions. Religion is not morality, despite what Ma might think. pg290-91
Fearful people are credulous people. That is why entire populations can be manipulated to go along with wars, massacres, and atrocities. pg294
(Credulous: willing to believe or trust too readily, especially without proper or adequate evidence; gullible.)
"But the man is still responsible for his own actions. The pain he is carrying in his heart doesn't excuse the pain he's inflicting on Azza."
(Abu beating Azza because he blames her for what happened to his son)
When I didn't say anything, Zuha added, "That is how monsters multiply, Anvar, spreading their hurt into the world in a cycle of misery that doesn't have an end. The fact that they're victims doesn't exempt them from moral consequences. You don't get to hurt people just because someone hurt you."
"Like what I did to Aamir?" Zuha asked. "I made him collateral damage." pg308
(also hurt people are looking to be loved and healed)
"You Americans never think much about who may get hurt, as long as you get what you want." (Azza to Zuha)
"Did Anvar ever tell you he loved me?"
I saw it. A chance for revenge. I could lie. I would balance out the truth Anvar had felt the need to tell Qais.
I could tell Zuha that Anvar had told me that he loved me. That he told me so all the time, that he promised me he was over Zuha, that he'd said horrible things about her when she agreed to marry his brother. It would be such an easy thing to do. All the wonderful blessings of Zuha's life would turn to ash in her mouth. Then she'd get a taste of the heartache that had been my existence.
Anvar had taken the fate of Qais out of my hands.
With one word, I could take Zuha away from him now.
After all, what reason had I ever had to not set fire to the entire world? pg313-14 (Azza)
(hurt people, hurt people)
note: hurt people try to set fire to the world
Here is where the novel tells me everything that makes it such a wonderful read. Here is where the novel demonstrates how hurt people make choices to hurt others or begin to heal by refusing to hurt others or themselves.
Azza sees the world through so much hurt and pain, her need to hurt Qais is almost justifiable, and her need to hurt Zuha and Anvar understandable. But trying to hurt Qais only led to her getting hurt.
As of this last sentence read (what reason not to set fire to the world) I give this novel 5 stars. It has delivered all that I relish in a novel: good writing, great pacing, easy to follow, wise quotes, watching wonderful pieces connect to a bigger puzzle, an ending wrap that appears to be summarizing a theme and message meant to be taken from the story.
Author Syed Manzar Mahood has delivered.
You cannot approach your religion with your mind. As Abu Bakr said, your inability to comprehend God is your understanding of God. You must transcend reason if you are to experience the divine. The path to Allah run through the heart alone.
(Abraham leapt into the fire as ordered by Nimrod. An act of pure love and surrender)
Iqbal
According to ancient Jewish midrash and Islamic tradition (not the biblical text), King Nimrod ordered Abraham to be burned in a massive, specially constructed furnace because Abraham refused to worship idols and destroyed his father's idols. Abraham was thrown into the fire but miraculously remained unharmed, leading to his release. (online explanation)
Astaghfirullah: I seek forgiveness from Allah
"I know you think it blasphemy, but in those moments, I feel there is something more, something good, in the universe. The possibility of something being divine opens up for me. That is why I love lirerature. The human imagination is a miracle, and it is possible that this miracle is a gift from a Creator." pg337
(Anvar explains to his mom how lovely music, literature/prose, art and Zuha/love make him feel as if in the presence of Allah) Astaghfirullah!
"religion has never made me feel that way." Astaghfirullah!
As the landlord Hafeez Bhatti leads Anvar through the trashed apartment that is to be his new apartment I realize how relevant this man has been to the story. Hafeez carries and dispenses much wisdom and life experience to characters throughout and is the reason for the novel's title. He is "most humble," a gift attributable to a student of life. Yes, I have appreciated Hafeez presence from the moment he was introduced. He earned my respect with his pre-knowledge of Qais being a bad man. He is an expert at reading the room and detecting irregularities.
Got it! This story is about relationships. Anvar's relationships. Relations with a grandmother, mother, father, brother, lover, friend, client, landlord, enemy, government, Imam, community, God.
I suppose all books deal in relationships, but somehow this one has made it obvious to me just as I read its final pages. It occurs when Zuha says to Anvar, "You haven't taken any of Aamir's calls?"
Anvar blames Aamir for the death of Abu Fahd by telling him about Anvar and Azza's' relationship.
Relationships are what brings about the tragic death.
enemy, brother, father, daughter, lover, community, Allah.
And there were breaks in all these relationships
(the chain of causation)
"Of all sad words of tongue and pen . . ." John Greenleaf Whittier
https://www.poetry-archive.
Jason Backes, the Halal food truck friend. Great discussion with Anvar on upcoming election.
"I would never presume to tell a white man what is or isn't racist."
Jason said "there's never going to be a muslim ban, the Supremes wouldn't allow it."
To which Anvar replies "Don't put too much hope in the courts. Liberty lives in the hearts of men and women, and when it dies there, no law can save it." pg342
And so this brings up the question Americans are asking today: Has the highest court of magistrates in the land suffered death of liberty in their hearts? Has liberty lost a home in their hearts and judgements?
It appears so!
Perhaps The Bad Muslim Discount is what America once offered immigrant muslims but has since withdrawn liberty from them.
Remember to never take more from the world than you can give back to it....
I hope to pass this book on to someone who will appreciate and enjoy all it has to offer a reader.
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