Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Is there a bias in A Thousand Splendid Suns?
In Khalid Husseinins book, A Splendid Thousand Suns, a negative light is portrayed on Islam. Islam is a religion of peace and equality, however in Huessin's book the Taliban’s demonstrate Islam as a religion of oppression and discrimination. Even though the book is based on some truths, such as men are allowed to be polygamies and it is preferred that a woman travel with a man (for safety issues),Husseini fails to mention that women are given choices of who they marry and that women are seen equal to men. They are allowed to read, write and learn and Islam is not about destruction but rather peace. Do you agree that Khalid Husseini shows a certain bias to Islam by only portraying it through the mentality of the Taliban?
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I believe the reason he does this is because he is portraying Afganistan, and at this time the Taliban were taking Islam in extreme views, like stoning for adultry. There are extremists in all religons not only Islam. In the book before the war started, girls were in school, there were female teachers, it was when the war started that Islamic laws were taken to the extreme, and this was because of the Taliban. Therefore I do not believe that Hosseini is being bias.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mohamed because Khalid does reflect on the past about how Afghanistan was when it was peaceful. War changes so many things it's unbelievable. It was taken to an extreme because that is what it was like during that time of the war. I think he concentrated more on the negative aspects of the Islam laws because those are what effected the people the most and created the most friction in Afghanistan.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that there is an understated bias in, A Thousand Splendid Suns. Khalid Husseini portrays Islam in a negative manner. Husseini represents Islam through a bias because there are different ways in which one can interpret something and he chose the negative path instead of being neutral. For instance Taliban radicals took the meaning and teachings of Islam and made it into a Religion of oppressions. Husseini chose to illustrate that misconception of Islam and write about. No doubt there must have been reason that lead to his bias but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it still exists.
ReplyDeletei agree whole heartedly that the Taliban's are demonstrating Islam as a religion of oppression and discrimination. Also, showing that Islam is about killing and death.I disagree that Khalid Husseini shows a certain bias to Islam by only portraying it through the mentality of the Taliban and not showing the true peace and equality of Islam.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Hosseini was being a bit bias in his A Thousand Splendid Suns. He seems to approach the religion only under a negative light. Although Afghanistan was under difficult circumstances at the time as they are controlled by the Taliban, I believe that it is no reason that the religion should be seen as dull. Everyone has different thoughts and ideas, and Hosseini's views does not need to be similar to that of the Taliban.
ReplyDeleteEven though he shows a bias to Islam, he only doesn’t do this by portraying it through the mentality of the Taliban but also demonstrates this bias throughout the relationship of Rasheed and Jalil and how both of these men treat their wives. Because in Islam you have to treat your wife with great respect and love and even though it’s permissible to have more than one wife a man is still not allowed to do it if his first wife doesn’t approve and this is exactly what Rasheed and Jalil did. So even though Khalid Hussieni portrayed Islam on the view of the Taliban but he also did this through the character of Rasheed and Jalil and how they beat and mistreated their wives.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ayan that Husseini portrayed Islam in a negative view. He showed his readers all the harmful and distructive things about the religion without showing some good aspects of it. Those who never knew anything about this religion and this being their frist time reading it must have a negative thought about the religion. Although they were in control of the taliban there should have been some positive behaviour going on, whereas Husseini chose to show the Islamic faith in a different approach.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mohammed's point this was in a time where in Afghanistan the Taliban took Islam to extreme. I also agree that its not just Islam with extremists but there are many religions that have extremists aswell, just look at the situation in ireland.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with Mohammed because it was different back then. Especially when the Taliban invaded. At the start of the relationship with Mariam and Rasheed, when they used to walk Mariam would mention all the business women who wore makeup and the girls did go to school because Laila and her friends got an education as well as the other girls. Mariam and the other mothers went to the bazaars to buy groceries without a male companion all the time. It was when the war broke out and the Taliban invaded Afghanistan that the whole men are above women and that they cant go out without a male companion, etc., came into effect.
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ReplyDeleteKhaled Hosseini has shown a bias to its readers by showing us that the Taliban have taken Islam in a negative way. I agree with Ayan that everybody has a way of interpreting something but, Hosseini has chosen the negative way. Its not only Islam extremists, but there are so many other religions that have extremists. In Afghanistan before the Taliban existed everything was normal, women were given education, they could go shopping, there were female teachers, doctors, nurses, but afer the Taliban invaded Afghanistan they took Islam to a different level, and considered men supreme to women.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that he did portray Islam in a negative but I think he wasn't trying to do it intentionally. I think that the reason why he did portray it like this is so that readers may see the kind of state Afghanistan is in. There are people that are using Islam in a bad way and Hosseini wanted us to see that. He wanted us to see that people are suffering as a result of it. However I do think he should have been a bit more sensitive to those that believe in Islam by writing a few words in the end saying that he did not try to disrespect the religion.
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