Hagar The Incredible

Nomani’s wrestling with the contradictions of feminism and Islam is a compelling read. The journey to the holy cities provides glimpses of the repression and countless hypocrisies of Saudi Arabia’s social and political life. But what is engaging is Nomani’s spiritual search through Islamic history, with its questions and instructions about the rights of women in Islam. Nomani exposes the roots of the puritanical Wahabi Islam, funded by the Saudis through their outreach programmes, which emerged to curb Sufism in other regions and pushed women to the second rank.

In the deserts of Mecca, Nomani finds strength in the forgotten legacy of women in Islam, including the Prophet’s mother, wife and daughters. What is particularly endearing is Nomani’s tale of soul-bonding with Hagar, Prophet Abraham’s second wife. He married Hagar to beget a child, since Sarah was infertile. (According to the Old Testament, Hagar is an Egyptian slave hired as a surrogate mother). Prophet Ishmael was born of this union. In a test of faith, Abraham went off with a jealous Sarah, leaving Hagar alone near the Kaaba in the custody of God. Four thousand years ago, Hagar stood alone in Mecca and in desperate search for water to quench her wailing baby’s thirst, ran seven times between the two hills of Safa and Marwah, appealing to God for mercy. Hagar passed the trial of isolation and water sprang from where the baby kicked. The ritual of running between the hills in the tradition of Hagar is an important part of the pilgrimage and the water that sprang from the ground is the holy water of "zam zam", carried back home by pilgrims.

Nomani is surprised to find liberation in Islam and discovers Prophet Mohammed as a social reformer who built a community on ideals of justice, equity and tolerance that honoured women. The inspired pilgrim comes home to challenge the norms of local mosques in America, urging them to allow women to pray alongside men as they did in early Islam and continue to do so at the Kaaba and the mosques at Medina. Nomani makes a strong plea for "ijtehad"—judicial scholarly reasoning— to resolve new issues in the true spirit of Islam.

The book effectively argues that Muslim societies that punish women for alleged crimes of the body contradict the fundamental principles of forgiveness, privacy and motherhood in Islam. Without being insulting, Nomani confronts her faith with issues of sex, sin and female sexuality. In the process, she emerges as a powerful voice for change in the Muslim world.