Product Description

Among the Believers is V. S. Naipaul's classic account of his journeys through Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia; 'the believers' are the Muslims he met on those journeys, young men and women battling to regain the original purity of their faith in the hope of restoring order to a chaotic world. It is a uniquely valuable insight into modern Islam, and the comforting simplifications of religious fanaticism.

'The edgy exactitude of Naipaul's writing is both effortlessly classical and yet at the same time brilliantly contemporary, as sharp and lucid as a spear of glass . . . He is inimitable, truly great and truly deserving of the Nobel' Observer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49633 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
'The edgy exactitude of Naipaul's writing is both effortlessly classical and yet at the same time brilliantly contemporary, as sharp and lucid as a spear of glass... He is inimitable, truly great and truly deserving of the Nobel' Observer

About the Author

V. S. Naipaul was born in Trinidad in 1932. He went to England on a scholarship in 1950. After four years at University College, Oxford, he began to write, and since then has followed no other profession. He has published more than 20 books of fiction and nonfiction, including Half a Life, A House for Mr. Biswas, A Bend in the River, and a collection of letters, Between Father and Son. In 2001 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Customer Reviews

A world based only on faith
In this remarkable travel journal about Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, V.S. Naipaul sketches an in depth portrait of the history, the ideological context, the economic and social situation as well as the hypocrisies and the dilemmas facing these Muslim countries.

History
The Islamic invasions (e. g., Sind) were commercial-imperial enterprises, not propagations of the faith. They had to show profits (tributes, taxes, treasure, slaves and women).
Some countries had strong communist parties, which were crushed by a military dictatorship (Indonesia) or by a fundamentalist Muslim government (Iran).
Pakistan was created by mass immigration from India.

Ideological basis
The all important factor is absolute faith in the revealed `truth'. It is pure belief, total submission to Allah. For the ideologists, `ignorance is bliss'.
This faith is fed by calls for justice, social rage, racial hate or alls for vengeance.
Its main enemies are secularism and science. `Intellectuals are humiliated and there is open or veiled censorship.

Politics
In Islam, politics is combined with religion. The prefect State is a theocracy, not a democracy (`When democrats talk about freedom, they are inspired by the superpowers.')
If elections are held, they are rigged or the candidates are `screened.'

Social, ethnic tensions, education
In these overcrowded countries, there are extreme tensions between the haves and the have-nots, who are frustrated by political paralysis imposed by the wealthy (now and old money).
There are also ethnic and religious tensions and discriminations (against the infidels, against the Chinese in Malaysia and Indonesia).
In Iran, the ayatollahs live like medieval barons.
In Pakistan, the majority of the population is illiterate.
Biased education systems keep the poor ignorant and poor.

Economics
Iran is awash in oil. Indonesia's main income is also based on oil revenues. Pakistan survives on money sent back by emigrants. There is nearly everywhere rampant corruption.

Dilemmas and hypocrisies
Apparently, the `Western' civilization cannot be mastered, it has to be rejected. But at the same time, those countries depend on the West for trade (oil sales) and defense (weaponry).
When they are seriously ill, religious leaders go to Western hospitals to be cured by Western science.
As one person remarks: `When the law is dishonored by the lawmakers, how can the common man obey?'

V.S. Naipaul wrote an objective, fascinating, but also uncompromising report on a faith which looks backward, while the solutions for the problems of the countries involved should come from modern revolutions: science, education and new legal, judicial, economic and administrative systems.
Not to be missed.