Book Review: Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey

Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey by V. S. Naipaul

⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading

History bears out the proposition that political revolutions have always been preceded by social and religious revolutions. Jihad does not spring due to the lack of economic or social upliftment but their plain and simple aim of degrading the secular state and establishing sharia rule. In Bangladesh, a significant number of people have converted to Islam over centuries, particularly during the medieval period when the region was influenced by conquest of Muslim rulers and proselytization by Sufi saints. 

Today, there has been the rapid rise of radicalism in Bangladesh with the ouster of ex-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the student protest.  The protest has now been hijacked by Islamic fundamentalists. Over the years, there was a surge in madrasas, and this has led to growing religious fanaticism, with zealots aggressively pushing an Islamist agenda. With Islamist influence in power, Bangladesh is modifying national identity by erasing symbols of its secular past, including the removal of statues of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and attacking Hindu minority. 

The explanation about such rapid religious radicalism of Bangladesh or any more such converted societies is relevant to book published in 1981, Among the Believers: An Islamic Journey by the Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul. The book is a controversial and critical travelogue in nature. The book describes a six-month journey across the Asian continent after the Iranian Revolution across Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia. These countries were originally Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Hindu and pagan. The history of these nations is built on conquest and conversion where a diverse and cutting-edge center of learning and trade during its time become engulfed by Islamic ideology. Through interviews and personal observations, Naipaul effort to understand societies conquered by Islam and the religious zeal gripping youth in these societies. The theme of the book is a study of capturing deep cultural and political shifts in the Muslim world post Iranian revolution. 

The author explains the crux of Islamic extremism as a form of ideological imperialism that denies the complex histories and cultures of converted peoples. The people who converted to Islam were encouraged to act like Arabs and follow their strict ways. The descendent of these converts started to forget and ignore their own rich history and culture. In the minds of these believers, being conquered by the Arabs and becoming like them is still seen as a way to be saved.

Naipaul observed that before 1979, there was two simultaneous revolutions in Iran—communist and Islamic—both driven by utopianism. Naipaul visits Iran shortly after the Islamic Revolution. The revolution against Shah gained broad support to Ayatollah by promising a return to traditional values and social justice based on religion. After the revolution, Iran became an Islamic Republic, and communism lost influence in the country. Naipaul depicts a nation living through a dystopian dream. Although the official rhetoric had changed, the torture and executions didn't stop.  

Naipaul travels to Pakistan and make sweeping conclusion. He notes that Pakistan was born amid sectarian bloodshed and political chaos. Within a decade, the fragile democracy was overtaken by military rule, following the hanging of Pakistan’s prime minister in a coup three years earlier. Much attention in the book is drawn to the Muslim invasion of the Indian subcontinent, especially the Arab conquest of Sindh, which Naipaul describes as a foundational event shaping the collective psyche. Naipaul highlights how this narrative of conquest is seen by many in Pakistan and Bangladesh as a moment of salvation and religious dominance continues to fuel political Islam in contemporary Pakistan. 

Naipaul further travels to Malayasia and Indonesia situated in South-east Asia. Naipaul further describes Malaysia as a place where Islam initially blended easily with local customs and beliefs, creating a mixed or syncretic faith. However, this changed as missionaries arrived from Pakistan aiming to purify Islam and make it more orthodox. Many young Malays who studied abroad came back to their villages calling for stricter religious observance. 

Regarding Indonesia, Naipaul notes its history of cultural influence by Hinduism and Buddhism but highlights how youth movements sparked widespread Islamic conversions. Today, about 90% of Indonesians are Muslim. While Indonesia is constitutionally secular, religion plays a strong role the legal systems and the application of sharia law are common concerns.

Naipaul identifies Islam as a political and social system in ways other religions are not by delivering few strong messages. One, Islam’s message of equality often drew in poor and marginalized communities looking for dignity. Two, many converts saw Islam as a way to resist the dominance of traditional power. And three, by asking converts to reject their pre-Islamic past, the Islam turn them into more passionate believers than native Arabs themselves.

Naipaul explains that Islamic extremism often arises among young people searching for identity, influenced by madarsa education and a desire for pure faith, yet it also creates conflict with ideas of modernity, culture, and politics. The brilliance of the book is in showing how extremism grew in some Islamic societies during the 1970s. Irrespective of personal expectations, this is no doubt an important book, but only as a starting point.  Highly recommended reading for the persons interested in Islamic societies.