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halaucination 's review for:
Hijab Butch Blues
by Lamya H.
At first I really enjoyed this book, the author’s writing compelled to me to continue reading (I have a long history of not making through the first chapter of other books) but the more I got through the book, the more I lost interest in what they were trying to portray through her words.
As a Muslim woman myself, it felt very uncomfortable reading through what seems very selfish interpretations of the Quran, I understand the metaphors and comparison with the story of the prophets, but somewhere along the way it became very clear to me that lamya has their own interpretation of the Quran. I’m not quite sure where this disconnect comes from, maybe it stems from the fact that she is not a native Arabic speaker, a lot of her questions regarding the words chosen in the Quran could have been easily answered had they looked for the correct translation. Or maybe it was the fact that the author could have been grasping at straws just to find comfort in the situations she was going through at the time ie. “the Hajar of my imagination” or “the Yusuf in my story”. And this constant obsession with wanting to tie down Allah to humanly constraints of how language is spoken and taught among us is quite strange to me, every time “They” is used to refer to Allah I had to roll my eyes.
Another thing I wanted to point out is the blatant hypocrisy of the author: how do you go from clearly stating that you are not interested in white people at all, but then dive into a two-year relationship with a white woman? Also dedicating an entire chapter to the prophet Mohammed and not once mentioning the Hadith. I understand that this book specifically is centered around stories from the Quran, it seems very strange that - for a book that is 304 pages long - not once was it ever mentioned even in passing.
One final thing: what is up with the disrespect towards the prophets? It really agitates and infuriates me how the author belittles their friend for merely picking a prophet as her favorite, I don’t understand how you are a follower of a religion that specifically tells its followers to respect and appreciate all the prophets chosen, and then choose to critique the prophets for the tests that they went through and their responses to what had happened to them, are they not humans as we are? Are they not supposed to make mistakes just because they were chosen by Allah? If they were correct in every situation they were put through, how else would you have written this book?
Anyways, Every person’s journey throughout life differs from one another, and that is clear through Lamya’s memoir. From the brief explanations about Lamya’s ‘queer muslim crew’ feels like a bunch of people stuck in an echo chamber constantly talking just to talk. However, I do have to admit that i did feel a major disconnect with what the author was going through and my own experiences. This is not a critique towards the author, but to any piece of media that I read or watch that is from a westerner perspective.
Overall, it seems as if I was not the right audience for this type of book. I could guess why this book is highly rated on here for a number of reasons, but it has fallen short on me; borderlining blasphemy cannot make me enjoy this book as I expected to.
TLDR: 2.75/5
As a Muslim woman myself, it felt very uncomfortable reading through what seems very selfish interpretations of the Quran, I understand the metaphors and comparison with the story of the prophets, but somewhere along the way it became very clear to me that lamya has their own interpretation of the Quran. I’m not quite sure where this disconnect comes from, maybe it stems from the fact that she is not a native Arabic speaker, a lot of her questions regarding the words chosen in the Quran could have been easily answered had they looked for the correct translation. Or maybe it was the fact that the author could have been grasping at straws just to find comfort in the situations she was going through at the time ie. “the Hajar of my imagination” or “the Yusuf in my story”. And this constant obsession with wanting to tie down Allah to humanly constraints of how language is spoken and taught among us is quite strange to me, every time “They” is used to refer to Allah I had to roll my eyes.
Another thing I wanted to point out is the blatant hypocrisy of the author: how do you go from clearly stating that you are not interested in white people at all, but then dive into a two-year relationship with a white woman? Also dedicating an entire chapter to the prophet Mohammed and not once mentioning the Hadith. I understand that this book specifically is centered around stories from the Quran, it seems very strange that - for a book that is 304 pages long - not once was it ever mentioned even in passing.
One final thing: what is up with the disrespect towards the prophets? It really agitates and infuriates me how the author belittles their friend for merely picking a prophet as her favorite, I don’t understand how you are a follower of a religion that specifically tells its followers to respect and appreciate all the prophets chosen, and then choose to critique the prophets for the tests that they went through and their responses to what had happened to them, are they not humans as we are? Are they not supposed to make mistakes just because they were chosen by Allah? If they were correct in every situation they were put through, how else would you have written this book?
Anyways, Every person’s journey throughout life differs from one another, and that is clear through Lamya’s memoir. From the brief explanations about Lamya’s ‘queer muslim crew’ feels like a bunch of people stuck in an echo chamber constantly talking just to talk. However, I do have to admit that i did feel a major disconnect with what the author was going through and my own experiences. This is not a critique towards the author, but to any piece of media that I read or watch that is from a westerner perspective.
Overall, it seems as if I was not the right audience for this type of book. I could guess why this book is highly rated on here for a number of reasons, but it has fallen short on me; borderlining blasphemy cannot make me enjoy this book as I expected to.
TLDR: 2.75/5