25 April 2012
Yesterday I finished this very book and just like her other books, Sasson has managed to move me within the depths of my soul and make me realize how cruel the inhabitants of this Earth can be. And what's more distressing is the fact that people who cause such terror claim themselves as Muslims defending the Islamic Sharia when in fact they are too accustomed to their barbaric tribal routines.
This book tells the tale of an Afghan woman, Maryam, that brings the readers into a descriptive look inside the society of Afghanistan, and how cruel the women are treated there. After marriage they are abused, treated as slaves and child bearer but nothing more. They have no rights, they can be punished at an instant if the husband sees fit w/o any evidence.
I knew the situation of these poor women in the Middle East countries but have never heard one so specific. And my heart cries for those abused women, who will never know the freedom and rights I experience in my own beloved country, Malaysia.
Maryam herself experienced abuse and rape from her brutal first marriage despite having a father who was soft-spoken and was very modernised. After she divorced her first husband, he kidnapped their 2 year old son and took him back to Afghanistan just to torment her.
It was 17 years until Maryam ever saw her son again. But the story keeps getting worse and heart-wrenching.
But I'm not going to spoil the whole story for you. If you have the time you should pick up this excellent read. It will make you see the true sad situation occuring in the Middle East and how Islam truly is. It is a religion of peace and kindness. Not barbaric tribal culture that have been embedded in those countries...
Jean Sasson's for the love of a son (review) • Opuss № I