Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East

Abstract

This book is a collection of thirty-four essays about people fromeleven countries and is designed to "give Western readers a sense ofwhat it is like to live in the Middle East in the latter part of the 20thcentury.” The approach is based on the assumption that “one canlearn much about another culture by examining the daily, simple actsthat are performed by all people.” The book does not attempt to presentany theories of social action, although the primary sourcematerial in the book can be used to test social theories.Eleven of the essays deal with Moroccans and seven deal withEgyptians. The book is thus heavily slanted toward Morocco andEgypt, at the expense of countries not dealt with at all (i.e., Turkey,Oman, Jordan, and Pakistan). What makes this book sociologicallyinteresting is its description of the behavior of people in groups. Itpresents the themes of old vs. new, tradition vs. modernity, village vs.city, and Islam vs. secularism. There were eleven articles that dealtwith Islam and Muslims specifically, as opposed to Middle Easternersin general. I will limit my comments to seven of these articles, especiallysince the title of the book specifies the “Muslim” Middle East.In “The Sound of the Divine in Daily Life,” Kristina Nelsonmakes the point that the Qur’an is heard extensively in public areasthroughout Egypt. She states that “Qur’anic recitation is a common,daily event, not restricted to special occasions, nor even to strictlyreligious 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 isuncommon in the West, and thus presents a unique and new experiencefor people visiting the Middle East ...