Another way to approach The Wedding of Zein is to look at the different social groups in the village. In class we've talked about the interaction between society and religion. In that regard it's interesting to note that Salih divides the community up in
terms of the way different groups of people reacted to the Imam, the leader of the Mosque (p. 90-93). He describes the following four reactions:
1) Reserved Affection
Who were these people?
How did they view the Imam?
Why are they somewhat positive toward the Imam while the others are negative?
How do you think they approached religion?
Who made up this crowd?
They specifically rejected the Imam's form of religion.
Did they replace it with something else? What?
Who took this attitude?
What did this group do while prayers were going on in the Mosque? (p. 104-105)
Did this group completely reject the Imam's religion?
Why do you think they considered the Imam to be "necessary" even if they didn't particularly like him?
Salih puts Zein in a group by himself.So, we essentially have four different groups (well…three groups plus Zein) with different ways of reacting to the Imam as a religious figure. Seif ad-Din moved from one group to another. In which group did he begin? To which group did he convert? What was the reaction of his original group to his conversion?
What was Zein's attitude toward the Imam?
How did he display this attitude?
What did the Imam do at Zein's wedding?
According to Salih, what was the real reason why the Imam didn't like Zein?
While groups 2-4 basically had a negative attitude toward the Imam (and the first only a "reserved" affection) most of the people in the village thought highly of Haneen. Why do you think this is true? How was Haneen's approach to religion different from that of the Imam?
If we add this positive attitude toward Haneen's religion on the part of some we really have five different roles that people played in society toward religion. Do you see people taking similar roles and attitudes in our society? Are there social groups that reflect these different roles? Think of examples that you can share with the class.
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Last Modified March 9, 1997 |
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