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The Night of the Mi’raj AT a time when there is a surfeit of books about the Taliban, Islamic militancy and of course, the Afghan war, it is refreshing to come across a novel that explores human relationships and passions in an orthodox Islamic society.
Zoe Ferraris has been married into a family of the Saudi-Palestinian Bedouins and has lived in Saudi Arabia after the First Gulf War. Not surprisingly, during the years she lived there, she not only studied and contrasted the growth of individuals but also assimilated the rich culture of that ancient land. By choosing Saudi Arabia as the setting for her mystery fiction, she has brought into focus the existence of a Muslim world that is poles apart from the world of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The Night of Mi’raj brings out the challenges and angularities that are born in a world where the cultural profoundness and claustrophobic society are creating passions that are painful in consequences. The novel is about the disappearance and subsequent cruel death in the desert, of 16-year-old Nouf ash-Shrawi, just before her marriage. Nayir, an ethinic Palestine but mistaken for a Bedouin, is called in by Othman, an adopted son of the rich Shrawi family, to help the family in the hour of distress, and then one thing leads to another. A devout and orthodox Muslim, his world comes in contact with the forensic scientist Katya Hijazi to not only create turmoil in his life but also bring about the stifling nature of the laws and traditions. The duo works towards solving the murder and in the process reveal the darker side of life that traps the lives of young women like Nouf. The prescriptions of modesty and domesticity belonging to another era are baneful to the young who have the consumerist tools of modern life but not the means that make them a medium for a fuller life. The Shrawi family, and indeed, Nayir and Katya can do little accept watch the old walls crumbling and the ineffective efforts to paste wallpaper over it. Having said that, the book primarily holds the interest of the reader as a mystery fiction and in that it is refreshingly different. It does not use the tried and tested formula of liberal dosage of sex and instead focuses on the human emotion and passion in a given society. However, some might find the nailing of Abir a trifle contrived and lacking in conviction. More so because the two occasions that that she presents herself in the company of guests she is seen to be performing the chore that is done by the numerous servants of the family. Also, one might wonder, being younger to Nouf, that is, not more than 15 years of age, was she capable of being overwhelmed by the dark passions, wit and will to perform a heinous deed? But, probably, having focused on the inhibiting effect of the traditional society on women who are supposed to give birth to children year after year and develop layers of fat on their body, pegging murder on the younger sibling was more convenient. Finally, a few words about the explanation of the author about the title of the book: Mi’raj is a celebrated event in the history of Islam—a moment of revelation and spiritual climax in the life of Prophet Mohammed. Learning of truth in a murder mystery is too crass and base an experience to be remotely compared to the kind of truth revealed to the Prophet. Nevertheless, Ferraris is a refreshing change from the Taliban and Al Qaeda genre and of course, the cliched murder mysteries.
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Zoe Ferraris’ debut
novel is packaged as a murder mystery, but as the reader irresistibly
turns the pages, it is discovered that it is more about a society that
is governed by Shariat laws which in the modern context inhibit the
full flight of human potential. Not surprisingly, ever so often, there
are individuals who get trapped in the conflict between the ordained
code of behavior and the urge to expand the boundaries.