CHILDREN OF DUST by Ali Eteraz

*****

Thank-you Julie Harabedian, FSB Associates

for this copy

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne; 1st edition (October 13, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061567086
• ISBN-13: 978-0061567087

THE WASHINGTON POST:

Ali Eteraz has been a devout Muslim, a disillusioned skeptic and everything in between. Throughout his meandering spiritual journey, his faith has given him great pride and contentedness but has also been a source of deep shame, anger and frustration. This emotional struggle is the backdrop for his memoir, "Children of Dust," which chronicles his childhood in Pakistan, his family's immigration to the United States and finally his return to Asia as an adult. Eteraz grew up attending a madrassa in rural Pakistan, where he spent his days memorizing the Koran and enduring harsh beatings for his mistakes. When his family relocated to Alabama during his adolescence, he struggled to fit in with his peers while adhering to the strict religious practices his family enforced. "I was too embarrassed to admit to non-Muslims that it was Islam -- archaic, anachronistic, exotic Islam -- that controlled me," Eteraz writes. "Admitting that would lead me to be viewed as an outsider -- and I wanted nothing more than to be American." From there, you might say Eteraz got religious whiplash: He describes periods of intense absorption in the dutiful practice of Islam, followed by phases of doubt and cynicism. In particular, he deeply questioned his faith after a harrowing trip to Pakistan, where he narrowly escaped being killed by fellow Muslims who suspected he was a U.S. agent. Finally, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks changed his worldview definitively. "I felt an unbridgeable distance from those militants across the globe that I'd long ago felt drawn to and then, more recently, had felt pity for," he writes. Amid all the soul-searching, Eteraz manages to amusingly describe his teenage antics and poke some fun at himself for all the superficial ways he tried to make friends envy him for his piety. These honest details make his story even more compelling.

My View: 

Ali Eteraz takes us on a journey from his birth to today and what a journey it is! Ali's parents and relatives, Pakistani Muslim fundamentalists expect their son, "Abir ul Islam", translated Perfume of Islam to literally spread their fundamentalist faith across Islam.

To prepare their son for such an endeavor, they enroll Abir ul Islam into a school called "madrassa", where he learns to memorize the Koran by rote not understanding the meaning of the words. Each word pronounced is a breath of God, so meaning is not necessary. I was shocked by the brutality employed to keep students on the straight and narrow during classes.

Ali Eteraz ( the author will change names while progressing with his journey towards a peaceful  Islam . Ali Eteraz is his name these days.) reveals Islamic traditions with which I was  unaccustomed , some quite serious, others humorous. 

I can imagine how difficult it must have been for Ali to fit into an American high school, dating, even holding hands with a girl being forbidden to him. We watch him struggle with this serious issue as a teen with hormones rampant as any teenager. Yet as the years go by all the many forbidden temptations ordered by Islam guide the author to reflect on a truth which leads to peace, which he still pursues. 

I recommend this memoir to anyone who wishes to see peace in this world, for all countries, religions. Ali Eteraz is a unique voice searching for this precious peace and I wish him all the luck he will need.

I hope the end of this memoir will be as much a surprise to those who read "CHILDREN OF DUST" as it was to me.