†The Arabic words al and Al appear frequently through the book. Al with a capital “A” and without a hyphen denotes “family” or “house of,” as in Al Saud, “the House of Saud,” as the Saudi monarchy is officially called. When this changes to al-, a lowercase letter followed by a hyphen, it becomes a definite article. Two examples would be how a small minority of Islamic extremists view the world divided into two: Dar al-Islam (“the House of Islam”) and the rest of the world, Dar al-Harb (literally, “the House of War”).
‡Many Muslim women “cover” because of choice (the majority), morality, tradition, culture or religiosity. Some are forced. Others argue that covering is not a Quranic commandment. Regardless, the idea of dressing “modestly” applies to both men and women in the Islamic canon. In recent years in the West, the hijab has been the subject of heated debate and xenophobia.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
All quotations from the Quran in this book come from Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation, universally acknowledged as the best English translation of the holy text:
Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. The Holy Qur-ān: English Translation & Commentary (with Arabic text), 1st ed. Kashmiri Bazar, Lahore: Shaik Muhammad Ashraf, 1934.
In addition, this book uses quotes from the six books of the Sunni Islamic canon called Kutub al-Sittah. They are primarily collections of the hadith (traditions) attributed to the Prophet Muhammad; the best known of these books is the Sahih Bukhari. It is said they were compiled in the ninth century, almost two hundred years after Muhammad died.
PROLOGUE
Ackerman, Spencer. “CIA has not found any link between Orlando killer and ISIS, says agency chief.” Guardian. June 16, 2016.
Onyanga-Omara, Jane. “Islamic State celebrates Donald Trump election victory.” USA Today. November 10, 2016.
CHAPTER 1: LI BEIRUT
Healy, Patrick. “Beirut, The Provincetown of the Middle East.” New York Times. July 29, 2009.
CHAPTER 3: PUBE FACE, TOWELHEAD, CAMEL FUCKER, CAVE NIGGER
Al-Sharif, Imam. “Rationalizing Jihad in Egypt and the Modern World.” Islam Today.
Bergen, Peter and Paul Cruickshank. “The Unraveling.” New Republic. June 11, 2008.
Human Rights Watch. “Black Hole: The Fate of Islamists Rendered to Egypt.” Human Rights Watch, 2005.
---. “In a Time of Torture: The Assault on Justice in Egypt’s Crackdown on Homosexual Conduct.” Human Rights Watch, 2004.
---. “Trade-Off: The Rendition to Egypt of Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, `Issam Shu`aib, Khalifa Bidaiwi al-Sayyid al-Badawi, Ali`Abd al-Rahim, `Uthman al-Samman, and `Abd al-`Aziz Musa Dawud al-Gamal.” Human Rights Watch, 2004.
Jones, Seth G. Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa’ida Since 9/11. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012.
MacAskill, Ewan. “Bhutto assassination could have been prevented, says UN report.” Guardian. April 16, 2010.
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1979.
Shariati, Ali. Hajj. Translated from Persian by Ali Behzadnia and Najla Denny. Costa Mesa, CA: Jubilee Press.
---. Hajj. 2nd ed. Tehran: Free Islamic Literature, 1978.
---. Hajj: Reflection on its Rituals. Translated from Persian by Laleh Bakhtiar. Chicago: Kazi Press, 2007.
Wright, J. W. and Everett K Rowson. Homoeroticism in Classical Arabic Literature. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
Wright, Lawrence. “The Rebellion Within: An Al Qaeda Mastermind Questions Terrorism.” New Yorker. June 2, 2008.
CHAPTER 4: THE GARDEN OF PARADISE
Armstrong, Karen. Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time. New York: Harper Collins, 2006.
Dickey, Christopher. “The Fire That Won’t Die Out.” Newsweek. July 21, 2002.
Ismail, Raihan. Saudi Clerics and Shia Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Kramer, Martin. Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival: The Politics of Ideas in the Middle East. New York: Transaction Publishers, 2009.
Mufti, Shahan. The Faithful Scribe: A Story of Islam, Pakistan, Family, and War. New York: Other Press, 2013.
Sciolino, Elaine. “A Nation Challenged: Ally’s Future: U.S. Pondering Saudis’ Vulnerability.” New York Times. November 4, 2001.
Sheikh `Abdul `Aziz Bin `Abdullah ibn `AbdulRahman ibn Bazz. “English Translations of Majmoo’al-Fatawa of late Scholar Ibn Bazz.” Portal of the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta’. Vol. No. 9 of 30.
CHAPTER 5: SHOOT ME IN HERE
Dabashi, Hamid. The Green Movement in Iran. Edited with an introduction by Navid Nakzadfar. New Brunswick, NJ: Tarnation Publishers, 2011.
Tait, Robert. “Iranian protesters’ slogans target Khamenei as the real enemy.” Guardian. June 17, 2009.
Sahimi, Muhammad. “The Green Movement at One Year.” Frontline. June 8, 2010.
Sharma, Parvez. “Memo from the streets of Tehran.” The Daily Beast. June 18, 2009.
CHAPTER 6: THE NAKED BELIEVER
Aslan, Reza. No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. New York: Random House, 2005.
Ramadan, Tariq. In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.
CHAPTER 7: THE SATANIC VERSES
Armstrong, Karen. A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. New York: Ballantine Books, 1993.
---. Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time. New York: Harper Collins. 2006.
Gerard, Etienne. “Nicolas Sarkozy ‘fier’ de ses propos sur ‘la racaille’ et le Kärcher.” Le lab politique. June 26, 2016.
Literature, Migration and the “War on Terror.” Edited by Fiona Tolan, Stephen Morton, Anastasia Valassopoulos, and Robert Spencer. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012.
CHAPTER 8: MECCA VEGAS
“A beacon for pilgrims in the heart of the Holy City.” Fairmont.com.
Coll, Steve. An Arabian Family in the American Century. New York: Penguin Books, 2008.
Peer, Basharat. “Modern Mecca: The transformation of a holy city.” New Yorker. April 16, 2012.
CHAPTER 9: MUSLIM BOOT CAMP
Coll, Steve. An Arabian Family in the American Century. New York: Penguin Books, 2008.
Nomani, Asra Q. Standing Alone: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam. San Francisco: Harper Collins, 2005.
Smith, Lewis. “Fate of another royal found guilty of adultery.” The Independent. June 19, 2009.
CHAPTER 10: MECCA’S MANY MUHAMMADS
Br
own, Jonathan A. C. Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet’s Legacy. London: Oneworld Publications, 2014.
Shariati, Ali. On the Sociology of Religion: Lectures by Ali Shariati. Translated from Persian by Hamid Algar. Berkeley, CA: Mizan Press, 1979.
CHAPTER 11: MY PASSAGE TO INDIA
Aygle, Denise. “The Mongol Invasions of Bilād al-Shām by Ghāzān Khān and Ibn Taymīyah’s Three ‘Anti-Mongol’ Fatwas.” Mamluk Studies Review XI (2), 2007.
Haider, Murtaza. “European Parliament identifies Wahabi and Salafi roots of global terrorism.” Dawn. July 22, 2013.
Ibn Taymiyyah, Ahmad ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm Kitab Al-Iman. Kuala Lumpur: Islamic Book Trust, 1999.
Khan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
Usmani, Taqi Mufti. The Great Scholars of the Deoband Islamic Seminary. London: Turath Publishing, 2008.
CHAPTER 12: ISLAM 3.0
“Arab Human Development Report 2009.” United Nations Development Programme. May 26, 2009.
Cohen, Roger. “The Islamic State of Molenbeek.” New York Times. April 11, 2016.
Esposito, John, L. The Future of Islam. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Gardner, Frank. “Islamic state releases al Baghdadi message.” BBC News. May 14, 2015.
Hikek, Ismat. “What does Islam say about killing an innocent person?” Fountainhead Magazine. Issue 56: October-December 2006.
Hubbard, Ben. “A Saudi Morals Enforcer Called for a More Liberal Islam. Then the Death Threats Began. New York Times. July 10, 2016.
Hubbard, Ben and Mark Mazzetti. “Rise of Saudi Prince Shatters Decades of Royal Tradition.” New York Times. October 15, 2016.
Hubbard, Ben. “Saudi Arabia Executes a Prince Convicted in a Fatal Shooting.” New York Times. October 18, 2016.
Maayan, Groisman. “Saudi Cleric: Homosexuality not a deviation from Islam, should not be punished.” Jerusalem Post. May 3, 2016.
Sykes, Tom. “Why Saudi Arabian Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir Was Executed.” The Daily Beast. October 24, 2016.
Tahir-ul-Qadri, Muhammad, Shaykh-ul-Islam. Fatwa on Terrorism and Suicide Bombings. London: Minhaj-ul-Quran Publications, 2010.
*Part of this historically important text is available on the extremist website Islam Today.
*Other articles I’ve written on subject: http://www.thedailybeast.com/contributors/parvez-sharma.html.
*The entire EU report mentioned in this article is available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/etudes/join/2013/457137/EXPO-AFET_ET(2013)457137_EN.pdf.
THANK YOUS
First, my husband, who makes everything possible.
Second, Robert Guinsler, my ever optimistic, prescient, and superb agent at Sterling Lord: a man who is intensely loyal and never gives up. Dr. Yousuf Zafar, you are undoubtedly a good doctor, but foremost you are the best photographer I know and I am honored to showcase some of your work. A big thank you to my brilliant author friend Cole Stryker, who suffered more than most have to in the creation of this book and who I hope, now married, spends less time on the dark web. A big thank you to my diligent, patient, and smart editor Vy Tran, who allowed herself to enter a world that was completely unknown and then make sense of it. So grateful for Glenn Yeffeth, Adrienne Lang, Aida Herrera, Jennifer Canzoneri, Monica Lowry, Sarah Avinger, Alicia Kania, Rachel Phares, and Aaron Edmiston—the outstanding team at BenBella who worked so hard to put this together. A big thank you is also due to Rona Vail, Juliet Widoff, Mark Mankoff, Jeff Hoffman, Loveleen Tandan, Sajid Akbar, and Vivek Mansukhani for their unflinching support. So many friends and colleagues have lived this journey with me and I don’t know where we would be without them. So thank you A. T., H. V. A., P. Austin, and E. Goldstein. Aseem Chhabra and Cynthia Biboso, a special thank you. And Andrew Herwitz, Firoozeh Khatibi, Laila Jarman, Mallika Dutt, Lopa Banerjee, Vivek Rai, William O’ Connor, Ambassador Rufus Gifford and his lovely husband Stephen DeVincent, Scott Long, A. A., Anni Zonevald, Adam Berman, Rhoda Kanaaneh, Nuzhat Leedham, Alia Younes, Asif Kamal, Aroon Shivdasani, Ahmed Moor, Adam Horowitz, Raed El Khadem, Hiba Haidar, Mark Berthold, Layla Al-Zubaidi, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, Hamid and Melissa Rahmanian, Philip Weiss, Brian Whitaker, Sourena Parham, Alison Amron, Sarah Masters, Zahir J., Shakeel V., John Murphy, Ross Posternak, Sandip Roy, Yassir Islam, Mike Galaviz, Geoff Burkhart, Leena Jaiswal, Lucas Verga, Michelle Hua, Peter Friedman, Michael Sanzone, Amy Goodman, Daayiee Abdullah, Tula Goenka, Faisal Alam, Muhsin Hendricks, Nadia and Shahinaz, Mazen el-Fares, El-Farooq Khaki, Vivek Rai, Sandi Dubowski, Max Carlson, Michelle Hua, GMHC, Mahdis Keshavarz, Bilal and Irum Musharraf, Steven Kopstein, Reza Aslan, Asra Nomani, Ensaf Haidar, Bonte Minnema, Bertho Makso, Georges Azzi, Brent Alberghini, John Avalon, Kevin Sessums, Cleve Jones, and so many more, including the folks in the Obama-era US Department of State and the US Department of Homeland Security (those were the days!). Also thanks to the EU and German Green friends, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. And Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami for listening and teaching from more countries than I can count.
This book would not exist without many friends and colleagues, some whose full identities cannot be revealed for safety reasons. They have often let me into their lives and secrets that I would normally not be privy to. Thank you Aisha, Zaffar, Rokhsana, Safa, Rafik, and so many others in Beirut. Thank you Adham and Salman in Jidda, Saudi Arabia. Nora in Riyadh and Zafar and Sadeem in Al-Qatif and al-Awammiyah, Saudi Arabia. In Cairo, much gratitude to A. A.; Garth O’Connor; Razia and Rausha at Al Azhar and Naseem at the American University of Cairo; the Younes, Asfour, Malouf and Khoury families; and the many nonprofits that have helped me over the years in Egypt. In Tehran, I would like to thank Arash Afsanian, Behrouz Farrokhzad, Arash Aryan, N. S., and the Hooshang and Jehangir families. In Pakistan, some of my own family and also Afzal, Karim, Khalida, Afsheen, Mehak, Ghalib, Tahir K., and the NGOs I worked with in Lahore, Islamabad, Dhaka, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan over the years, teaching me invaluable lessons about the region and information that I otherwise would not have been able to get access to. In India, my own family, Imam Khalifa and Maulana Hasan at the Nadhwa seminary in Lucknow, Zainab Bakhtiar, Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad Naqvi, Ahsan, and Qasim. In Bangladesh, S. K., S. D., Bandhu, and the many NGOs that have taught me so much. In Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi, Ghalib, K. A., T. K., R. R. and S. Jahangir, G. A., R. F., R. T., and yes, even the “deplorables” at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad.
To every single voice that needs an “Inquilab Zindabad” (“Long live the revolution”) in the Indian subcontinent.
To each voice that dared to call for “Marg Bar Diktator!” (“Death to the dictator!”) in Iran’s unfinished 2009 Green Revolution.
To the courageous warriors that yelled in unison “Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam” (“The people want to bring down the regime”) on the streets of Cairo in 2011 and now face the consequences of so many unfinished Arab Springs.
And to my fellow soldiers Adham and Shahinaz.
So much remains unfinished in the busine
ss of freedom.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PARVEZ SHARMA makes fearless, multiple-award-winning films about faith, identity, religious extremism, and social justice. Two of the best known are A Jihad for Love and A Sinner in Mecca. In the latter, shot mostly with an iPhone, guerrilla-style, Parvez travels to Mecca to reveal a side of Islam that’s literally never been seen before. “We emerge from the film more enlightened,” writes the New York Times, naming it a Critics’ Pick. He has been hailed as a “gifted filmmaker” (the Wall Street Journal), “frankly brave” (NPR), “provocative” (San Francisco Chronicle), and as carrying out “an attack on Islam” by Ayatollah Khamenei’s regime in Iran.
Parvez’s writings on Islamic, racial, and political issues have appeared on the Huffington Post, the Daily Beast, the Guardian, and elsewhere. He is a prominent speaker on Islam, politics, extremism, personal identity, and the media, having spoken at more than 200 live events around the world and conducted workshops with the United Nations, European Union, US State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security. He reported actively about the “Green Movement” in Iran and about the revolution in Egypt. The New York Times, in a profile on the filmmaker, said, “After ‘Jihad,’ Mr. Sharma was labeled an infidel, and in the intervening years, he has gotten more death threats than he cares to recall.” Parvez was named one of “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World” in a list headed by the Dalai Lama.
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