Categories: uncategorized
Date: 19 December 2005 23:22:54
We packed light for our trip to Bali, which meant the only reading material I took was a travel guide and an Indonesian phrase book. Not much for two weeks in which we were to end up spending plenty of time waiting in airports, at the side of the road, outside our hotel, inside our hotel rooms. Couple that with a time difference that made getting up at 5 am seem reasonable and I'm glad that I felt a certain amount of jealousy at the tomes others had deemed to bring with them at the outset of our trip. We got comments on how light we had managed to pack, but I felt the need to weigh in a little heavier by buying a book to read on the flight.
The choice I settled on was The World From Islam by George Negus. I thought this would be interesting as part our trip was to the island of Lombok which is, like most of Indonesia, predominantly Muslim.
It is a very interesting book. Aussies will remember George Negus as a foreign affairs journalist from way back, especially liked for his long stint at Foreign Correspondent on ABC. In his professional and personal travels Negus has spent a lot of time with Muslims, mostly in Arab countries in the Middle East, and in this book he tells stories of the places he went to and the people he met. It's split into short sections that read like newspaper columns, each one a story in itself that makes the book very easy to pick up and read. While some of them are political and a little over my head most concentrate on the personalities encountered, giving the feeling of an authentic brush with the real life of a Muslim person.
It also contains many of the small facts of Islamic life that aren't covered in the newspapers. Why and how do they pray five times a day, how are women really treated and what's up with the hijab? Every person that Negus encounters in this book gives simple reasons without any fuss, making an understanding of Islam seem reasonable. I think books and other media like this are a great asset in the fight against the misunderstanding and fear of Islam. Recommended reading.