Summary Of The Butterfly Mosque By Willow Wilson

Willow Wilsons memoir entitled “The Butterfly Mosque” depicts the quest of an Atheist whom denies the dissociation of a god she has been taught never existed and submerges herself into a new religion; Islam. Wilson’s journey starts out with her fascination of the concept of god and unanswered prayer through her sickness. She chooses Islam for the very reason that it is monotheistic, antiauthoritarian, and sexually positive. Wilson’s ideas of Islam identify and show distinct contrasts with William Shepard’s book that introduces the foundation of Islam. I, myself identify as a Balkan Muslim, not necessarily a firm follower but a believer. Before I had been taught so much more about my religion in this Introductory class to Islam, I knew little

He states, “For an empathetic understanding of the present generation of Muslims one has to recognize that most of them do not accept Western critics’ radical reinterpretations of some parts of Muslim history” (Shepard, 5). Wilson had begun to understand this after countless times of her husband denying the Western depictions of Islam. He states “I can’t believe you’re going to teach American history…. This is exactly the kind of Western cultural takeover Egypt is turning a blind eye on” (Wilson, 40). Wilson acknowledges that Muslims do not want anyone to redefine the initial teachings of Islam or the Qur’an and believes the students in Egypt should be taught their own history rather than someone else’s. In arguing with someone of the Middle East over this you begin to lose the empathetical understanding for their reasoning behind their defense and in turn Wilson agreed. Omar’s perception of the West had begun to change the more he engaged in Wilsons Western perception. Even Shepard had stated “Islam and the West have not only interacted and influenced each other but today there are many who are both Muslim and Western” (Shepard,

The dominance and assertion that men are above women is very hard for me to grasp in context to my westernized mindset. The Qur’an does state that women are not subjected to kitchen or motherly duties, that they can own their own businesses or engage in an education but men are expected to be the primary income holders and caretakers of the household. Today women have proved themselves dramatically through so many accomplishments, that they can be independent without any man. So why is it so hard for the religion of Islam to accept that women can be just as dominant as men? I would first approach this view with the empathetic understanding Shepard has taught me. I need to bracket off my own beliefs and think of when the Qur’an was written, how times were back then and why men have these expectations to uphold. From there, I can begin to understand the importance and tradition of the dominant