 | | | | Among the Believers |  | Author: V.s. Naipaul
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (50 reviews)
Sales Rank: 886175
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 430
ISBN: 0394509692
Dewey Decimal Number: 297.095
EAN: 9780394509693
ASIN: 0394509692
Publication Date: October 12, 1981
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Naipaul's controversial account of his travels through the Islamic world was hailed by The New Republic as "the most notable work on contemporary Islam to have appeared in a very long time."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
 A great travelogue July 24, 2008
This book is remarkable in the relevance of the authors experiences in the early 80s to the present day context. The author visits a cross section of countries in the Islamic world , moving from revolution in Iran to foment in South East Asia. Its a great book to get a fair understanding of Islam in a political context as envisioned by citizens in the countries that he visits. The author starts of with Iran and comes across a cross section of individuals who are hopeful and disillusioned by what the revolution has delivered. The most remarkable is his visit to the city of Qom (the Oxford of Persia), in the month of Ramadan. His meetings with leading theologians, one of whom personally shot the Shah's prime minister lends a touch of the macabre. The setting shifts to Pakistan which after three decades of independence is still struggling to deliver on its promise of being the land of the pure. The shariat has been imposed by Zia, but there's very little which seems to have been changed for the lay citizens. With the setting moving to South East Asia, the book loses its edge, compared to the surprisingly diverse perspectives of Islam that the author manages to extricate in Iran and Pakistan, both Indonesia and Malaysia offer a unidimensional perspective.
Its remarkable that the author manages to get access to the people that he finally interviews for the book given that he is a non-Muslim. Though a lot of the discussions are laced with his perspective, there seems to be minimal prejudice. A good book to get a broad perspective of the implementation of Islam in a political context
 A Travelog of Interviews May 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Naipal begins his journey in Iran, just after the its revolution. Then he visits Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia and returns to Iran just after the taking of the hostages at the US embassy. He meets educators, writers, government workers, students and the unemployed in cities and rural areas. Some he seeks out, others he meets serrindipituously. He asks them about their lives and their hopes for the future.
Two refrains emerge. One is cognitive dissonance regarding the west. It is a despised place of indulgence and evil and a preferred place for an education, trustworthy medicine, consumer products and residence. The other is the view that an Islamic state is perfect. Despite the example of Pakistan, where citizens scheme and lineup to leave, most believe that once a true Islamic state is achieved everything will work out. Naipaul observes that Islamic government as practiced in Pakistan is about punishing with whips and stones, military rule and poverty. Naipaul summarizes the understanding among those he meets as to what it takes to run successful "institutions", "it's as though the world is running itself." He sees some schools merely teaching the young how to be poor. For one school he makes a Dickensian comparison to Nicholas Nickleby.
It may be that the quotes are selectively edited, but they all seem to be within context. Sometimes, concerning the refrains, speakers are asked to clarify, or for others to clarify what was said, or are given a pithy question. In these cases, the original point was usually emphasized and never denied. Some reviewers have implied that Naipaul had preconceived notions before this trip. If Naipaul did begin his trip with a bias, his speakers confirmed it.
Naipaul presents almost no women's voices. They must be half the population of the countries he visited, but they comprise far less than 5% of the book.
The only females with full interviews are two school girls identified by the color of their robes. One woman is described more than interviewed; however, had she not been a member of a sect of interest, she might not have been included at all. The gender issue is the most obvious example of the disconnect in Islamic culture. Naipaul misses or skips over all the chivalric language of his interviewees. They talk of Islam protecting women. They debate whether women should do this or that. Naipaul is not shy in calling them on their western disconnect, but gives them a pass here. Whether or not the interviewees themselves oppress women, their disconnect here, is every bit as important, if not more important than the issues Naipaul emphasizes in this book.
Incisive and Brilliant September 2, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Notwithstanding hysterical criticisms leveled in negative reviews here, Naipaul does a great job pointing out the basic emptiness of religious fundamentalism. Of course, it focuses on Islam, but blame that on the times: in the early eighties, where was Naipaul supposed to find--say--Catholic fundamentalism?
Naipaul presents his commentary as a travelogue--very creative! By letting his characters speak for themselves, he avoids overt and heavy-handed commentary. But the points he makes are very clear, very true, and--if your sympathies lie with the other side--fatal to fundamentalism.
The central insight--to me, anyway--was that Islamic fundamentalism is all about controlling women. In this respect, of course, it is similar to all fundamentalism, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Shinto, whatever. But it does reveal the moral and intellectual bankruptcy at the heart of all fundamentalism.
Great book!
 Still The Best Portrait of Modern Islam August 5, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
A masterful view of modern Islam from the bottom up by one of the most perceptive observers of modern culture we have. This book is especially interesting because it was written on the cusp of the emergence of public awareness of the importance of conflicts between Islam and the Judeo-Christian west, and thus the narrative is not encumbered by a need to look at things through a political lens. These are wonderful human portraits, and thus engaging and useful.
Better than Naipaul's Fiction May 24, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was reading this book on September 11th, 2001 in preparation for a trip to Cairo, Egypt that I subsequently cancelled. I literally had the book open as the first plane hit the World Trade Center - I know because I was exercising on a stair master in a gym on the Jersey side of the Hudson, with a clear view of the towers.
The attack on the towers was so stunningly awful (in part because I had 2 friends with an office on the 95th floor) that I left after I saw the huge fireball and forgot to retrieve the book. The next day someone had put it in the trash. I didn't bother to take it out because I had almost finished reading.
For some reason, I don't like Naipaul's fiction, but am not sure why. However, I found "Among the Believers" much more engaging: particularly with regard to its insights into the contradictions of life in Iran as well as the discussion of strict Islam in northern Pakistan.
If you find such topics interesting, and enjoy fiction, you might try a recently published novel, SAUDI MATCH POINT from Blacksmith Books. It's a thriller, set entirely in Saudi Arabia - the strictest of all Islamic societies. The writing is clear, concise, and suspenseful. Plus it gives insights into the cultural side of Islam and how the nation's interpretation of the religion affects different classes of people who happen to live there - from the underclass and women, to the privileged elite and Shi'ite minority, as well as to foreigners working in separate enclaves.
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