Butterfly Mosque Summary

In the book butterfly mosque this book is about a twenty year old American woman who falls in love with a religion, she was undecided what path to choose stay as an atheist or as a Muslim, she falls in love with an Egyptian culture but as well in a Egyptian man. Though her book she devotes many of her pages to a discussion of women and Islam. The author begins with the concept, Is Islam really in conflict with Western values? She explores the many dimension of this topic.
The author’s language is as consistently distressing as the title of her book. For example she writes, "Down the center of this metropolis snaked the Nile, coffee-dark and wide." And here is an idea of the opinions of her general population of the book as a whole “I didn't know what waited for me in Egypt. I didn't know whether the clash of civilizations was real, or whether being an American Muslim was a contradiction. But for the first time in my life, I felt unified--that had to mean something. Cultural and political differences go bone deep, but there is something even deeper. I believed that. I had to believe it."
As writer she is gutsy.
Throughout her sojourn abroad, she interviews religious leaders of Islam and even travels alone to Islamic Republic of Iran for answers. And though' I would like if she spent longer divulging her religious transformation and how she turned from associate atheist to a God-believing Muslim, this can be far and away the most effective memoir regarding Islam that I’ve seen, within the post-9/11 era, it's refreshing to browse a book by an American Women who extolling the virtues of Islam, portrayal it as a faith of peace that protects Women and offers them a place of security. For Wilson, feminine authorization isn't inconsistent with monotheism
values.
The author shows us how there are many forms of Islam, just as there are hundreds different other religious. What we see as limiting to women in Islam or other African cultures is often cultural rather than religious for example how women are forbidden to drive in Saudi Arabia or are not allow to travel without permission. In fact, it is the only country in the whole wide world that bans women from these privileges. In Turkey, 99.8 percent Muslims and a woman was prime minister, and women enjoy all the freedoms and privileges that men do. Turkey's constitution actually does not allow women to wear the headscarf in public places. Wilson writes “I was surprised by how often Islam, in its purely textual form, took my side. There is no religious limit on the public spaces that women can inhabit; nothing prevents them from running businesses or driving cars, there is no reason they must walk behind men or cover their faces. A woman's role is not defined by the kitchen and the nursery."

Besides her discussion about women and the Egyptian cultures, the author also confronts the frightening environment for American Muslims in the course of the Patriot Act. She is a very brave woman who shows the peaceful, lyrical, nurturing side of the Muslim religion that only few in our country see. I really hope Wilson writes more books and continues the conversion in becoming a Muslim; it was interesting to see the transition form an atheist non religious person into someone who is deeply in love in the Egyptian culture and believing in god.