Religious Extremism in Leila Alami's Hope and other Dangerous Pursuits

  Fatine’s religiosity in Alami’s Hope and other Dangerous Pursuits does pose questions on the sources of religious extremism. Taking into account her disadvantaged social background as she hails from a very poor family, Fatine finds herself agentless. Class oppression deprived her of agency. Thus, in search for a meaningful existence which would reflect her self-worth, Fatine found a safe haven in religion. Her choice of embracing religion insofar as that she became a fanatic is a reaction against social hypocrisy and an attempt to voice her vengeance and not a choice which was based on conviction. This moots a heated debate as to what extent religious people are sincere in their religiosity and not escapists from harsh realities. In other words, religion becomes a refuge from one’s frustrations in life and not a sign of piety.

   Islamic countries are swamped with illiteracy, corruption, poverty, terrorism and other social ills, which may push foreigners to associate Islam with backwardness and retardance. Many uneducated observers point their fingers to Islam as the cause of such social problems. To be objective, one cannot lump all these troubles in the basket of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace, tolerance and integrity. This might seem paradoxical. I believe that muslims are partially the ones to blame for creating contradictions in their practice of the religion. I agree that factors such as ignorance, conspiracy of international powers, autocracy and the political manipulation of the religious discourse all interplay to produce the current situation, but muslims themselves assume also a responsibility of smearing islam into a religion of fanaticism and backwardness. That is to say, they cling on to religion only to make up for things they could not bear on the ground or had failed to address. These things may range from emotional void, psychological vicissitudes to financial hardships. Islam provides for its followers a comfort zone in such hard times. It gives them a space of hope and commiseration that this worldly life is not permanent and that a better life in the hereafter is awaiting those who were patient and stoic. There is nothing wrong with this comfort zone except when it is turned into a freezer of one’s life passively waiting for miracles to intercept their misery. Hurling one’s troubles in that comfort zone in order to just enjoy inner peace or relieve the pain is weakness, selfishness and hypocrisy yielding a feeble, hazy and fragile faith which will be easily sacrificed when life’s temptations knock he door. That’s why we may find someone who prays but steals, who performed pilgrimage but deceives and who veils her face but gossips, because their religious rituals are devoid of the spirit of Islam, their piousness is fake as their refuge to religion had not been on conviction but just to escape the agonizing experiences. Religion, then, becomes opium to one’s hardships, a peg to hang one’s misery on.

   In conclusion, the comfort zone that Islam provides allures feeble believers to take advantage of to the detriment of the virtuous core. Islam is abused when its followers observe it only to seek security or treatment.