Children of Dust: A Portrait of a Muslim as a Young Man - Softcover

Eteraz, Ali

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061626856 ISBN 13: 9780061626852

Publisher: HarperOne, 2011

Synopsis

Centered around the rural areas of Pakistan, "Children of Dust" is a memoir that chronicles a boy's coming of age in a fundamentalist milieu, and offers a detailed account of the ways in which people internalize and submit to Islamic extremism and social alienation. It sets forth a harrowing narrative of abuse and violence, an intimate portrait of life at the lower levels of Pakistani society, an exploration of love in a place where both romance and women are reviled, a discussion on the rise of religious fanaticism, and an intellectual reflection on the mental totalitarianism of global Wahhabism. After settling in the US, where he entered college and began evaluating his past with a critical eye, Ali and his family returned to Pakistan in 1999. He found the cities of his youth dominated by the ideology of the Taliban, filled with members of al-Qaeda, and his extended family caught up in a fight for survival. He became the target of an al-Qaeda plot to abduct and hold him ransom for being a purported CIA agent. He eventually had to escape under military escort. One of the fundamental questions animating the book is how the author reconciled himself with the violence he experienced without becoming consumed by it. This question opens the door to searing reflections on the possibilities of reform in Islam by an individual who, as a human rights lawyer and activist, has now been intimately involved in such efforts for a decade.

About this title

Review:

[Eteraz’s] adventures are a heavenly read. (O, The Oprah Magazine)

Wildly entertaining, Children of Dust is memoir of the first order, as genuinely American as Muslim, unraveling the perilous mystery that is modern Pakistan as only memoir can. Unlike others, Eteraz has truly ‘been there,’ and we are all the better for it. (Murad Kalam, author of Night Journey)

The gripping story of a young man exposed to both the beauty and ugliness of religion. (Laila Lalami, author of Secret Son)

A love letter to one man’s fading faith, Children of Dust is a gift and a necessity, and should be read by believers and nonbelievers alike. Sure to deepen our collective conversation about religion and reason, loyalty and universality, and our geopolitical aims, it’s also just plain fun to read. (Yael Goldstein Love, author of Overture: A Novel and The Passion of Tasha Darsky)

“In Children of Dust . . . we follow the journey of a soul determined to reconcile the many worlds that live inside him. In a time rife with cultural misinterpretations and generalizations, sensitive accounts such as Children of Dust are invaluable assets.” (Laleh Khadivi, novelist, author of The Age of Orphans)

An astoundingly frightening, funny, and brave book. At a time when debate and reform in the larger landscape of the Muslim world, and in countries like Pakistan in particular, are virtually non-existent, Children of Dust is a call to thought. (Fatima Bhutto, poet and writer)

This elegantly written memoir traces [Eteraz’s] relationship with the religion of his birth, from his childhood in Pakistan, where he feared beatings at the madrassa, to adulthood in the U.S. . . . Thoughtful and wry, he offers glimpses of a changing Pakistan and a U.S. immigrant’s journey, too. (Booklist)

“A gifted writer and scholar, Eteraz is able to create a true-life Islamic bildungsroman as he effortlessly conveys his comingof- age tale while educating the reader. When his religious awakening finally occurs, his catharsis transcends the page.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A ...complex story of a young man’s journey into the heart of his own faith.... Knowledgeable, humorous and personable, Eteraz is an engaging storyteller.” (San Jose Mercury News)

Compelling. (Washington Post)

About the Author:

Ali Eteraz is a writer, activist and international lawyer who has worked at the United States Department of Justice and Park Avenue law firms. He writes a column for The Huffington Post and the Guardian's "Comment is Free" section. He has background in the study of Islamic Law, and is the founder an Islamic think tank with global reach dedicated to legislative and legal reform in the Muslim world (where he works with people such as Irshad Manji, Tariq Ramadan, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, and Pakistan's Council of Islamic Ideology). In a little more than a year he has received more than two million readers on his various blogs. In addition to his personal site, he currently runs the popular website Plural Politics, dedicated to grassroots alliance among minority and economically disenfranchised communities. He has been a guest blogger on Jewcy.com. His essays on Islam have appeared in Killing the Buddha, Counterpunch, Agonist, The Revealer and Identity Theory. He was also a Glimmer Train short-story finalist. He lives between Las Vegas, New York and Kuwait. Visit author on-line at: www.alieteraz.com

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperOne
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0061626856
• ISBN 13: 9780061626852
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352