IT IS NOT ABOUT RELIGION, IT'S A LIFE STORY

 

Hi! Welcome to my space, everyone, and Eid al-Adha Mubarak to my Muslim friends! I wish Allah blesses you with so much happiness on this blissful day.

Today, I'm going to talk about Muslim representation book from a Muslim author, Yousra Imran.

Hijab and Red Lipstick by Yousra Imran

“You cannot do anything in this country without my permission.”

Being a teenager isn't easy. And it doesn't help when you have a mega strict Egyptian dad who tells you that everything is "haram" a.k.a. forbidden. All Sara wants to do is experiment with makeup, listen to the latest Destiny's Child single and read fashion magazines, but her dad's conservative interpretation of Islam makes it impossible. Things get even harder when her dad lands himself a job in the Arabian Gulf and moves Sara and her family to a country where the patriarchy rules supreme. In a country where you have to have your father's permission for everything, every door feels like it is being closed on Sara's future. In a desperate bid for freedom, Sara makes a judgement call that threatens to ruin their dysfunctional father-daughter relationship forever.

Hijab & Red Lipstick is told from the perspective of a young British Muslim woman growing up between London and the Middle East. It is a tale of a young woman’s difficult quest to find herself, offering an unusual and unique insight into life in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, where people’s personal lives, relationships and coming of age experiences are rarely spoken about. 

Trigger warning: This book contains some sensitive topics which readers under the age of sixteen may find distressing, including discussions of rape, coercive behaviour, self-harm, domestic abuse and sexual abuse.

Hijab and Red Lipstick is a young adult novel about Sara's life experiences as a British-Egyptian Muslim. This book is written like a memoir. We will follow her from her young age until she becomes an adult.

Sara's first and main story is about her father. Her father is an Egyptian. A strict Egyptian Muslim. He makes rules for his family about what to do and don't do without really explaining why. As a young girl Sara thinks that these rules are nonsenses. Why should she follow them? Her friends seem more "free" with their life. So, she breaks them. Instead of giving her freedom like she wants, her reckless behaviors just give her more troubles.

I heard from a few people that this book was not a good Muslim representation book, and at some point, I understood why. What I think is, this book is not about religion, it's about Sara—a Muslim—who has bad life experiences and a toxic family. She may make a lot of bad decisions, but at those times, she thinks they are the best choices. It's life, you know, we make mistakes sometimes. Therefore, if you want to read this book, I suggest you to have an open mind while reading it. Wide open! Do not expect to read about being a good Muslim here because this book is not about that. 

As a Muslim reading this, I actually found this book interesting. I am not an Egyptian—and I don't know if the cultures in this book are right or wrong—so it fascinated me learning about Muslim from another country. How different their point of view from mine. I quite liked it.

At first, I considered to give this book 3 stars. I thought, this book was basically "a memoir". It was a good story and that was it. But then the ending. I loved it so much. It was perfectly beautiful. It deserved one more star.

So, am I going to recommend it? Yes. You will learn a lot from this book. But, you should read it until the end. Don't DNF it! Because the ending is too good to be missed.

I hope you enjoy this book, HAPPY READING.