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.  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 extremists. 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 spark of revolutions in Iran—communist and Islamic—both driven by utopianism. Naipaul visits Iran shortly after the success of 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.

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. 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. 

Book Review: Mera Dagistan by Rasul Gamzatov

My Dagestan (Мой Дагестан) (Avar: Дир Дагъистан) by Rasul Gamzatov.

The book was translated in English in 1970 by Julius Katzer and Dorian Rottenberg.

⭐⭐⭐⭐✰ Worth Reading

Let me speak of Dagestan—a rugged land along North Caucasus of Eastern Europe and the western shore of the Caspian Sea. The word Dagestan is of Turkish and Persian origin, directly translating to "land of the mountains".  The land has for centuries been a mosaic of peoples and languages: Avars, Dargins, Lezgins, Laks, Kumyks, and many others. The territory was annexed into the Russian Empire after protracted wars in the early nineteenth century.  By 1921, with the Red Army’s advance, the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic came into being. 

Soviet state enforced sweeping modernization in Dagestan, bringing it into line with Marxist-Leninist ideology while managing the religious sentiments. Arabic was replaced first by Latin, later by Cyrillic; schools sprang up, teaching not scripture but secular education. The writers urged to craft a modern national literature that must reflect Soviet ideals like progress, collective ownership, brotherhood and unity. A strange paradox took root—Islam receded under official suspicion, but ethnic and linguistic self-awareness unexpectedly thrived.

Out of this creative ferment emerged Rasul Gamzatov (1923–2003), the poet whom Dagestan now claims as its voice in the Avar language. Gamzatov’s literary voice reflects a deep connection to his roots, and his writings offer profound insights into the history, traditions, and people of Dagestan. His masterpiece, My Dagestan (1967), celebrates the Caucasian folklore and expresses a deep belonging to his native land. 

The book draws multiple anecdotes from lives of five personalities: Ahmed Khan Abu-Bakar – a prominent Soviet writer of the Dargin people, Gamzat Tsadasy – his father and a well-known folk poet, Abutalib Gafurovich Gafurov – a Lakian poet of Dagestan, Imam Shamil and Hadji Murad– legendary Avar leaders who symbolize the spiritual and military resistance of the North Caucasus.

Gamzatov’s narrative style is generous and warm. He took care to introduce the names and stories of Dagestani people, ensuring they were remembered. Through anecdotes, jokes, and verses, he painted vivid pictures of Dagestan’s natural beauty and cultural richness. His book is a unique literary work that blends poetry and prose, oral traditions, folklore and criticism, and gossip while functioning as both a cultural history of Dagestani poetry and a personal philosophical testament. 

Today, West is struggling to narrow down the essential characteristics of Muslim identity – is it primarily culture, religion, ethnicity? But cultures are heterogeneous and contradictory, highly porous, and deeply intertwined.  A key aspect of the book is the reflection of Dagestan’s cultural hybridity—where Soviet ideals, pre-Islamic (pagan) traditions, and Islamic values intersect and merge, creating a unique and layered cultural identity. In this book, Gamzatov demonstrated remarkable knowledge not only of Dagestani literature, but also of Soviet & North Caucasian literary traditions and personalities.

For readers seeking a poetic journey through history, poetry, and human connection of a distant land, this book is an unforgettable experience. For the readers seeking a profound understanding of culture of Soviet era Dagestan, this book is an invaluable resource. Rasul Gamzatov doesn’t just tell the story of Dagestan — he makes the readers feel like a part of it. 

*The poem, Zhuravli (english translation) by Rasul Gamzatov has become a well-known Soviet song.