Religion In The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a powerful novel about two friends whose only similarity is the wet nurse they were fed from when they were little. Because the novel is not informative in purpose and as American, we know little about the history and politics of Afghanistan, its culture, Islam, the persecution of the Hazara, and the Taliban, it is vital in order to understand the novel on the deepest of levels to have background information relating to the topics previously mentioned. Without any background knowledge of Afghanistan it is still easy to understand the novel, in order to more fully appreciate the work of art that the Kite Runner is, certain information must be presented at the time of the analysis of the novel. To understand
Occasionally in the novel Baba drinks an alcoholic beverage. In Islam, this is an inexcusable sin. Readers with pervious knowledge would understand how great the event in the book is. It is understood in the novel that Baba is not very religious but this act shows how far to the other side of religion he truly is. Another example is when Amir waits until Sohrab is on his death bed to pray. The line in the novel stating that Amir had not prayed in nearly fifteen years is something a casual reader would just skim over, but to a reader with knowledge of Islam this is a significant detail. In Islam is it expected that one prays five times a day and by choosing to pray after 15 years for the boy shows how truly guilty Amir feels for his wrong doing to Hassan. The boy is merely a symbol for the betrayal of Hassan. Again, this example of analysis shows how important background information is for this
In reality they are so much more. Ali and Hassan are both of Hazara decent. The Hazaras are decedents of Genghis Khan that are and have been discriminated against in Afghanistan for hundreds of years. Knowledge of history is also necessary to under the discrimination against this people. The main theory on why the Hazara people have been so looked down upon is because Genghis Khan's invasion of what today is central Afghanistan. People argue that because of this, other Afganies are still angry about what Genghis Khan and his armies did to the people back in the 12th century. Hazaras have been abused in many ways including forced slavery and servitued just as in the novel. Most Hazara children did not go to school which is something a casual reader would likely not understand without knowledge on the subject. This also explains why Hassan and his wife were murdered. Serveral periods of Hazara genocids have occurred in Afganistan. One such occurred at the time of the Talibans