How far would some people go to express their disl…

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How far would some people go to express their disliking to a below-the-average chick-lit novel? Next Saturday, the Court of Grievances will decide if Banat Al Riyadh is enough to fine its author, Raja Al Sanie, and to crack down on the sale of her book. Those who filed the lawsuit accused Al Sanie of slandering Saudi society. How ridiculous! I think those who filed the lawsuit should be sued for ignorance and/or denial of what has been going on in their country in the past few years. How about that now, huh? Anyways, I guess the court will rule against Al Sanie who can appeal, or simply pay the fine and consider it money spent on publicity.

9 thoughts on “How far would some people go to express their disl…”

  1. Ahmed,

    Could you let me know how the online version of Arab News can be accessed within Saudi? As you know, they’ve been blocking acceess for quite some time. I’d appreciate it if you let me know of a way to circumvent that.

    Thanks,
    Abdullah

  3. It’s just a novel and a novel by definition is fiction .. and fiction is something you make up whether it is related to reality or not .. some, if not all, fictions are inspired by the authors surroundings but it doesn’t mean that what they write represents the entire society they live in. If someone reads a novel and starts thinking that they could use the novel they’re reading as an example to talk about an entire society then they should quit reading novels or any other type of writings for that matter.

    It’s not the author’s fault if readers generalize.

    I read Raja’s novel and I don’t think she deserves all of this “nonsense”. She tackled an issue that exsits not only in KSA but also in many Arab/Muslim societies. What they should be doing now is finding solutions.

  4. salam,

    i guess people can say it’s just a novel. but i was a teen. i read novels. & i guess in my view, i do think feel fictions should be used wisely.

    i hope Allah made myself understood, so, ask yourself why nowadays people can shout at their mothers “i live for me, i hate you mom!!!” or fornicate in public & say “it’s an act of love between two people — you’re evil to be against love!”. you might not see it in your country, i don’t know. but if you don’t take care of the influences in your culture, it could engulf your way of life. something haram will change into halal & vice versa.

    if not a real person to lead this, i think people could relate with a fictional character as well. don’t they? God Knows Best.

    & so that’s why i think fictions, used unwisely, can be damaging. correct me if i’m mistaken, God Knows Best. :)

  6. Sina, readers get affected by novels I agree with you, some also use one of the novels characters as a role model .. all sorts of things could happen from just reading a novel. Bs let’s focus on Raja’s novel for a moment, I don’t recall reading any part of the novel that provoked haram. For instance, one of her characters (I forgot her name, actually I forgot all characters names :P) went to the UK and met a Saudi guy and a relationship started between them .. do you remember how this relationship ended? The guy didn’t marry the girl and married a girl his parents chose for him eventhough he promised the girl he loves that he was going to marry her. This scenario repeats itself over and over in our societies and I believe that, from this story Raja was trying to tell girls “be careful, it doesn’t always end in marriage .. don’t get involved in a love relationship with a guy!”

    Another story is the girl who got divorced before her wedding .. her “husband” divorced her because she let him kiss her (if I remember correctly) before the wedding. Again, this scenario happens in our societies as well and her message was “some guys don’t think of their wives as their wives until after the wedding”.

    So basically, Raja was drawing fictional stories from our societies and concluded each story with a message or a lesson. Sometimes the messages were not explicit but most times they were. And her messages, in general, didn’t contradict with Islam or its teachings.

    Different people derive different lessons from one story because each person of us reads in a different way and each person of us comes from a different background and has different beliefs and values and you can’t blame the writer for that. The writer writes with a certain idea/lesson in mind but then there are people who derive ideas/lessons that the writer never thought of.

    As for wise vs unwise, I’m not sure what you mean by wise and unwise so I can’t really tell whether I agree with you or not!

    What I know is that we need to shed some light on girls who lead a life that resembles the life of Banat Al-Riyadh “the novel”. We need to understand what leads them to choose this life style and believe me it is not always lack of faith. I know respectful religious girls who at a point in their lives became like Banat Al-Riyadh (again, I’m refering to the novel here). We need to know how to deal with those girls and to teach them how to change their lives to become better individuals in the society.

  7. ok esperanza. you could be right. :) you read the book, coz honestly i didn’t. i only read ArabNews said Lamees is the group’s fortune-teller; Rashed forces Qamrah to give up her hijab, slaps & divorced her when she’s pregnant. Alia Zein said “it’s exactly how things were in Saudi — parties, drinking, lesbians”.

    all & all, you’re the best to judge. that’s why i ask if the Quran supports it. you’ll know better. :)

    still i guess, even under good message, i do still worry why the young need a kissing scene to know that they are not wives until marriege. it kinda raises questions. if one reads the Quranic message, this would not even happen. so, i’m just worried why things are happening. we need a novel with kissing scenes to know that? :T

    you know, that kinda questions. :)

    still if young ones don’t understand why i’m worried, i once thought what’s wrong with this that too at your age. but now being older, i guess more angles add up. maybe one day young people will understand my worries too.

    thanks & God Bless. :)

  8. nisa, lighten up girl..its a novel, its fiction, the charcters are fiction. Similar stories happen in real life, so instead of hiding our head in the sand we should be able at least write about it.

  9. the al saud should be more concerned not about the book, but about the problems the books discusses, that obviously exist.

    out number of un married youngsters horny enough to gratify themselves with anything that moves… now thats a problem…

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