Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East

Abstract

This book is a collection of thirty-four essays about people from eleven countries and is designed to "give Western readers a sense of what it is like to live in the Middle East in the latter part of the 20th century.” The approach is based on the assumption that “one can learn much about another culture by examining the daily, simple acts that are performed by all people.” The book does not attempt to present any theories of social action, although the primary source material in the book can be used to test social theories. Eleven of the essays deal with Moroccans and seven deal with Egyptians. The book is thus heavily slanted toward Morocco and Egypt, at the expense of countries not dealt with at all (i.e., Turkey, Oman, Jordan, and Pakistan). What makes this book sociologically interesting is its description of the behavior of people in groups. It presents the themes of old vs. new, tradition vs. modernity, village vs. city, and Islam vs. secularism. There were eleven articles that dealt with Islam and Muslims specifically, as opposed to Middle Easterners in general. I will limit my comments to seven of these articles, especially since the title of the book specifies the “Muslim” Middle East. In “The Sound of the Divine in Daily Life,” Kristina Nelson makes the point that the Qur’an is heard extensively in public areas throughout Egypt. She states that “Qur’anic recitation is a common, daily event, not restricted to special occasions, nor even to strictly religious contexts.” It may be recited by a beggar, heard in a taxi cab, played on a shopkeeper’s radio, or used to open a conference. This is uncommon in the West, and thus presents a unique and new experience for people visiting the Middle East ...