GinnVillas - Travel in America, Europe, South America and australia

Distorted Perspective   May 11, 2006

Incredible Pictures of Muslim World   December 24, 2004

Don't believe the hype   January 19, 2002

The unobtrusive text tells of Abbas' travels among these peoples. He strikes out in the U. S. with the Nation of Islam, who quickly clam up and deny him access. He gets along fine with the Indonesian Muslims, and even has to coax statements of discontent out of them. (This visit was before the eruption of religious rioting in that country). His lack of religion causes him to frequently despair of understanding his subjects--a lack of confidence thankfully not shared by his camera.


Allah O Akbar: A Journey Through Militant Islam   July 25, 2001
  3 out of 9 found this review helpful

The Iranian-born photographer Abbas, a staff photographer for Magnum Photos in Paris, travelled in twenty-nine Muslim countries from West Africa to China in an effort to try the pulse and flavor of fundamentalist Islam. Abbas, who makes no bones about the fact that his religion is artistic creativity, finds the whole phenomenon slightly repulsive even as it fascinates him.

The hundreds of black-and-white pictures in "Allah O Akbar" will likewise repulse and fascinate the reader, as will Abbas's fast-moving, intelligent text telling of his experiences as a photographer. Violence and death features prominently in these pictures, from the Qur'anic teacher in the Sudan bearing a whip to a profusion of slaughtered animal parts to the appalling parade of young Iranian men triumphantly carrying the corpse of a prostitute they had burnt to death. Many fascinating pictures concern women: one very modestly covered Algerian art student diligently paints a naked male statue while an Egyptian zoology student covered from head to toe (including black gloves) looks from under her cowl into a microscope. An Afghan bride participates in a marriage ceremony at which the groom is represented only by his picture (he's off in Germany); a belly dancer performs in a social club at a Renault company social club in France; and two women sit together on a Moroccan beach, one veiled and the other in a tanktop swimming suit.

Middle East Quarterly, June 1995


Reinforcing negative stereotypes.   August 12, 2000
  13 out of 27 found this review helpful

The apparent contempt that the author has for his subject, Islam and the Muslim world, makes this an unfortunately one-dimensional book, lacking in both insight and sensitivity. Through his highly subjective choice of photographic material the author has succeeded in heightening every prejudice, reinforcing every misconception, and exacerbating the deepening divide between the Islamic and Western worlds. The subject of Abbas' interviews implies that Muslims the world over are as ignorant as they are belligerent. He certainly confirms his reputation as "one of the few photographers who can raise photojournalism to an art form" but the only cost of sensationalism is honesty. A small price to pay for the artist who would rather 'inspire' than depict the truth in all its banality. He states that "poverty is not natural" and maintains that "young people find refuge in the Koran and in Islamist institutions when racism and chronic unemployment become unbearable." The shallow implication of this statement being that those who can attain relative gains (i.e. people with jobs) will not need the emotional and spiritual crutch provided by religion. But does spiritual hunger always arise from material limitation and need? Caricatures will suffice for the childish mind. Black and white photography dramatises contrast. It is my hope, however, that there will be readers who realise that not everything is black and white.