Nine Parts of Desire

This is the first of my book reviews, if/ when I ever get used to navigating the WordPress site.

Nine Parts of Desire. Geraldine Brooks. 1995, 244 pages.

No, this is not a porn book, although in a way it is about sex or at least gender roles in Islamic cultures. Geraldine Brooks is an Australian-American journalist, author, and investigator who spent several years in the Middle East investigating ‘the hidden lives of Islamic women’ which is also the subtitle of this enlightening book. She seems to have a unique ability for a secular westerner to befriend and become a confidante of Islamic women from a wide variety of countries, including almost all of those with Muslim-majority populations except for those in southeast Asia, and some parts of Africa. In Egypt, Eritrea, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Iraq, Iran, and The United Arab Emirates, she somehow gains access to humble illiterate subservient Muslim women and those in the upper echelons of societies including Queen Noor of Jordan. Her knowledge of the history of Islam in its multiple mutually incompatible flavours,  and the life of Muhammad with his multiple wives is impressive.

The title comes from an Arabic saying attributed to Ali Ibn Abu Taleb, a son-in-law of Muhammad. “Almighty God created sexual desire in ten parts; then he gave nine parts to women and one part to men.” This quip might be humorous if it were not so obviously ludicrous from a scientific biological point of view- and if it had not been used over almost twelve centuries to repress women and deny them the right to almost any sexual pleasure, with forced painful genital mutilation, and multiple other humiliations. And if women are by nature nine times as desirous of sex as men, why does Islam allow and even encourage polygamy which lets them experience only at most a small fraction of the pleasure that their husbands are provided? 

This book very powerfully documents the denial of basic human rights to women inherent in the Islamic faith, at least as currently practiced, not just in matters of sexual satisfaction, but in every facet of their lives. But it also paradoxically documents the vociferous defence of Islam by the majority of those oppressed women. The apologetic women hide behind the hijab, cannot even speak to a unrelated male because their voices might be too seductive, cannot leave the home without a male relative, and cannot be allowed any say in the choice of their husbands. This seems to me to be a system-wide example of the Stockholm Syndrome in action.

This  picture is very depressing, although Brooks sees some faint rays of hope. It is surprising to me that she sees this in the somewhat more progressive attitudes of her Shi’ite Iranian friends than in the Egyptian or Jordanian Sunni women. She became a close friend of Queen Noor (Now Dowager Queen) of Jordan whose vocal advocacy for women’s right to an education and equality is unusual in Islamic countries. But the Islamic credentials of the queen are suspect as she was an upper class secular American civil engineer prior to marrying the late King Hussain. It seems clear that any progress in granting rights to Islamic women will need to involve the influence of prominent wives of the ruling men. And some disturbing trends are also documented, such as the Saudi development of all-female universities designed specifically to avoid the exposure of Saudi women to Western higher educational institutions. And certainly coed institutions of higher learning where women might benefit from discussions with men are anathema to the Saudi Mutawain, the sadistic religious police of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, uncontrolled by even the Saud family.

The expectation of one borderless Islamic state that is going to solve all the world’s problems, expressed by some of the men Brooks interviewed, is fortunately an unrealistic dream, as events since this book was written clearly show. The interminable wars between different factions of Islam  are hardly to be lauded, but at least make this dire future unrealistic.

Returning to the supposed sexual theme, the widespread legal Iranian practice of Sigheh warrants separate comment. Obtaining this ‘temporary marriage’ permit (available to most men but only widowed women) with terms and conditions like a western prenuptial agreement) is apparently easy and seems specifically designed to satisfy the sexual urges of both men and women in an acceptable arrangement in that society. It can theoretically even be coupled (sorry for the pun) with polygamy. Although this practice is and always will be widely condemned in prudish western Judaeo-Christian cultures, is it really very different from the norm of Hollywood’s serial overlapping monogamy?

A personal hang-up. The author  of this book converted from some wishy-washy Christianity to Judaism to marry her husband, as did Marilyn Munroe to marry Arthur Miller and Ivanka Trump to marry Jared Kushner. Queen Noor of Jordan converted to Islam from Christianity to marry King Hussain. Some of my friends and relatives have converted from one religion to another to obey the dictates of a restrictive religion regarding marriage, not because of any conviction about the authenticity of the dogmas. I can understand ‘converting’ or at least faking it, if the alternative is death, as it often was in centuries past. But if religion means anything worthwhile it should be teaching universal truths. And how can these great truths change depending on the hormones and neurotransmitters that develop in an individual’s response to another human being?

In spite of a brief Afterword written after 9/11, this book is somewhat dated. An even more pessimistic assessment of modern Islamism is to be found in Nomad by Ayaana Hirsi Ali published in 2010, but even that is now dated. This will be my next review. With her extensive experience and contacts in the Middle East, it would be interesting to read Brooks’s views about more recent developments. Unfortunately she has turned her considerable writing skills to publishing several historical novels instead.

Replies/comments: cghent6@rogers.com