Blog: Mel's Muse - The Torn Veil by Gulshan Esther: ONLINE BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS & DISCUSSION SUMMARY

Posted: Friday, 6th August 2010

QUESTIONS

1. What strikes me, immediately, about the author is the sincerity and commitment she shows to her Islamic faith. Are the rituals she conforms to so very different to our own when seen through the eyes of a non-believer?
2. She makes no complaint about her disability but has complete faith that she will be healed. Can we honestly say that our faith is as strong?
3. Gulshan Esther says that when she thought of God, no picture arose in her mind P28. Do we have a picture of God?
4. Islam began in 622. Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac is recorded in the Koran, and sacrifice and tithing are part of the Islamic faith. How is this different to Christian interpretation of the story? P32
5. Islam means surrender P36. Is this compatible with Christianity?
6. Gulshan Esther speaks of ‘praying from the heart’ after her father’s death P46. What do you think she means by this?
7. She learns that Paradise was not, as she had been taught ‘a place of material comforts,’ but the presence of Jesus P82. How do we think of Paradise? Is it an important part of our faith?
8. Gulshan Esther asks how Islam, based on the Koran, can breed such hatred that her brothers would rather see her dead than tell a truth they didn’t agree with P71/72. Why don’t Christians interpret the verses about ‘hating your mother and father’ in the same way? What, or who, makes the difference?
9. Can we / should we believe that anyone can be raised from the dead at anytime if they have the faith?
10. Is it possible to reconcile the exclusive claims of Christianity i.e. ‘no man cometh unto the father except through me’ with the Muslim faith? If so, how?

DISCUSSION SUMMARY

With many of the Book Club members away for various reasons, only a small number met on Thursday at my house. As always, the questions I compiled (above) served only as a prompt, so our discussion did not follow them rigidly – if at all!

LITERARY ASPECTS OF THE BOOK

We began with a debate on the merits of the book from a literary perspective. One member, who was unable to be with us, had previously rung me to tell me how disappointing she had found the narrative. “Too shallow; not enough depth; glossing over momentous experiences as if they were insignificant,” were some of the terms she used to describe her opinion of the writer’s approach. Others felt the style lacked emotional engagement; was clinical; unbelievable; and that they were sceptical about the miracles. “I felt I couldn’t connect with the author,” said one member, “so I felt I didn’t really care what happened to her.”

LIMITATIONS OF GHOST WRITING?

These views prevailed! However, as I pointed out, the story had been ghost-written. Should we, therefore, as readers be criticising the style of the ghost-writer rather than the narrator, I asked? Or perhaps this was the fault of the publishers, in that their contract may have allowed only for 40,000 – 50,000 words? Hearing Gulshen Esther speak, I suggested, might offer a very different depth of experience to her audience than the book does to her readers. (Having been a ghost-writer, myself, I shall be writing more of this in a later blog).

MONOTHEISTIC FAITH

Some of the newer Christians among us admitted to having been surprised to learn that Abraham and other Old Testament characters – not to mention Jesus - figured in the Koran! The question was raised as to whether one could equate the Old Testament God of Abraham with the New Testament God Christians worship?

The answer, we concluded, was that the monotheistic God of Genesis was, actually, the same God of Christian faith. All three elements (beings) of the Trinity were present and active at the point of creation: Creator God (the Father); the Spirit of God that moved upon the waters (Holy Spirit) and the Word spoken by God “Let there be light,” (Jesus). This is affirmed in John 1:1.

THE BIRTH OF ISLAM

Whilst Jews continued to worship the God of Abraham, Islam is a new religion, started by a man named Muhammad (whom Muslim’s call the ‘last prophet’ – thereby negating any future would-be prophets) about 622 years after the birth of Jesus. Previously, most Arabian tribes had worshipped many gods, with one High God (thought to be the God of Abraham) called Allah. Having studied Judaism and Christianity, Muhammad preached a monotheistic religion, which he called Islam, meaning ‘surrender to the will of Allah’. His preaching was not popular among those opposed to the concept of one god. However, according to the BBC website, “by the time Muhammad died in 632AD, most of Arabia had become Muslim, joined up by force, bribes or deals.”

SIMILARITIES & PARTIAL TRUTHS

We felt that there were similarities among many of the faiths in the world: a little truth here; a little there. But we agreed that the exclusive claims of the Messiah: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father except through me,” are hard to reconcile with the claims of those who believe that all roads lead to God.

EXCLUSIVE CLAIMS OF CHRISTIANITY

An interesting comment which I came across in The Guardian online notes that: “The notion that a person born into one group would be good and one born into another bad does not lend itself to a rationalist approach and robs the individual of responsibility of their actions.”

Whilst I could not agree with the entire article, this statement chimes, somewhat, with the views I expressed to my readers’ group. We are ALL made in the image of God. We are, also, ALL subject to what is commonly known as ‘original sin’. It follows, therefore, that ‘goodness’ as well as ‘badness’ is inherent in mankind, regardless of their belief system.

Scripture states that we will be judged by the light we have received. And though belief in Jesus as Saviour does not bring about our salvation (we are called to be followers not merely believers, as even the devil believes) it may be that in ways that are a mystery to us, Jesus will figure in the eleventh hour of those who don’t know him, just as he did to the thief on the cross. However, this in no way absolves us from the great commission “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Matthew 28:19 – as we are reminded throughout Gulshan Esther’s book.

HATRED & VIOLENCE v LOVE & PEACE

Pages 71 and 72 of the book (question 8 above) speak of the hatred and violence evoked by Islam. This is a view shared by Zarin Koub, a foremost historian of Islam, professor at Baghdad University, and author of the book, History of Religion. Gulshan Esther asks how Islam can breed such hatred that her brothers would rather see her dead than tell a truth they didn’t agree with?

Christianity – as lived and taught by Christ – is, in contrast, a faith of love and peace. Yet it cannot be said that those purporting to be Christians down through the ages have lived by these tenets of belief, as the Crusades and Spanish Inquisition testify all too clearly. Nor, in my opinion, can we trade Biblical verses against those of the Koran. As we agreed, in the readers’ group, the reality of Christian peace and love is dependent upon interpretation, as revealed by the Holy Spirit, and is lived out according to our maturity in the faith.

SACRIFICE: THE HEART OF CHRISTIANITY

One of the most significant parts of the book, for me, was found on page 32 (question 4 above). It appears, from Gulshan Esther’s narrative, that Islam interprets the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son as something for Muslim’s to emulate. (Muslim belief is that the sacrifice was Ishmael, the son of Hagar, Abraham’s wife’s maidservant, whereas Christianity states that it was Isaac, Sarah’s first born, on whom God promised to found a nation).

Christian interpretation – whilst embracing the merit of sacrificial giving (which is supported throughout the New Testament) – focuses far more on the fact that it was God who actually supplied the sacrifice, not Abraham! In other words, a divine sacrifice, not a human one!

For Christians, this points to the sacrifice made by God the Father, in offering his Son, Jesus, to atone for the sins of the world. As Gulshan Esther learns, it is not our sacrifices, or any action on our part that brings about our salvation. Rather, it is God’s sacrifice for us – and our response (reaction) in accepting his gift and surrendering our lives as a living sacrifice to him.

NEW TESTAMENT FAITH TODAY

And this, really, is the wonder and the mystery of the Christian faith that Gulshan Esther discovered when she was found by God! Whether her initial conversion was out of gratitude for her healing (as one book club member suggested) or out of genuine belief in Jesus Christ as her Saviour and Lord, there is no doubting the sincerity of her ultimate calling, and the faithfulness of her discipleship.

Do I still think this book was a compelling read, as I said in my Review? Yes! Despite all its faults and failings, this is a book which – by taking us beyond the comfort zone of 21^st Century Western Christianity – presents us with a modern experience of faith as it must have been in Jesus’ time. Do read it, see for yourself, and leave your comments in the box below.

NEXT TIME

The next Book Club meeting is on Thursday 30^th September, 2010, when we will be studying a secular book: J.D.Salinger’s The Catcher In The Rye. Further details will appear on My Diary page in due course. For other Book Reviews, see links below.

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© Copyright Mel Menzies: USED BY PERMISSION
Author of a number of books, one a Sunday Times No 4 Bestseller, Mel Menzies is also an experienced Speaker at live events, as well as on Radio and TV. This article, in its original form, can be found at http://www.melmenzies.co.uk/

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