Imaging Islamic Identity: Negotiated Norms of Representation in Euro-Muslim Picture Books

Janson, Torsten

Published in: Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East

2012

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Citation for published version (APA): Janson, T. (2012). Imaging Islamic Identity: Negotiated Norms of Representation in Euro-Muslim Picture Books. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 32(2), 323-338.

Total number of authors: 1

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LUND UNIVERSITY

PO Box 117 221 00 Lund +46 46-222 00 00 Imaging Islamic Identity: Negotiated Norms of Representation in British- Muslim Picture Books

Torsten Janson

uring the s, safeguarding the cultural identity of the next generation of Mus- lims was a central question for the rapidly growing Islamic communities of Britain. To a significant degree, this was perceived as a problem of religious socialization. How could Muslim religious identity be preserved in a cultural context perceived as Christian at best, and at worst defined by secularism, immorality, and cultural decay? Children in par- ticular were regarded as exposed to majority norms through secular public education, cul- tural consumption, and peer relations. Adding to the problem, Muslim leadership remained fragmented since British Islamic organizations largely mirrored ethnic and sectarian alia- tions of the motherland left behind. As a rule, such organizations relied on traditional forms of religious instruction for children, focusing on a mimetic learning of prayer and Koranic recitation while disregarding deeper questions of religious and cultural identity. In the face of the challenges of religious socialization, some actors embarked on the venture of producing children’s specifically designed for an English- speaking Muslim audience. In this study, attention will be focused on the most ambitious and successful Euro- Muslim publisher of such materials: the British research and publishing organization the Islamic Foundation. This organization has its ideological roots in the South Asian reform movement Jamaat- i- Islami, founded in the s by Abul Ala Mawdudi. However, in essence the organization is a product of the British environment. Although the literature it produces represents a particu- lar understanding of , it is also a product of broader British- Muslim needs and concerns.

1. of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian background 2. For a detailed study of the Islamic Foundation, see Torsten dominate British Islam. Some 85 percent of all are con- Janson, Your Cradle Is Green: The Islamic Foundation and the Call Comparative Studies of nected to the South Asian (65 percent) and Barelwi (20 to Islam in Children’s Literature (Stockholm: Almqvist and Wik- South Asia, Africa and percent) movements while a mere 3 percent are affiliated with sell International, 2003). the Jamaat- i- Islami. Roughly half of the entire British- Muslim -1628962 3. Mawdudi has become one of the key references and inspira - the Middle East x population lives in or around London. Two- thirds of the rest have tions for the twentieth- century Islamic movement. In line with settled in the West Midlands, Yorkshire, and around Manches- his basic ideas, British organizations spurred off from the Jamaat- ter. Ethnically, it may be described as “a large and varied, cosmo- Vol. 32, No. 2, 2012 i- Islami have sought out a publicly visible position both within doi 10.1215/1089201 politan Muslim community in London and the south- east, while the Muslim communities and in relation to the encompassing outside that region the Muslims are almost synonymous with non- Muslim society. These organizations may be described as © 2012 by Duke University Press communities of Indian subcontinental origin” (Jørgen S. Nielsen, moderate Sunni Islamist, since they actively promote the imple- Muslims in Western Europe 2nd ed. [Edinburgh: Edinburgh Uni- mentation of Islamic principle in the public sphere while empha- versity Press, 1995], 44). For background and statistics about sizing the importance of embracing modern means for religious Muslims and Islam in Britain, see muslimsinbritain.org. expression and an active civic and cultural participation in British public society, critical to the significantly larger but more defen- sive and more secluded Deobandi and Barelwi movements. For a more detailed discussion, see Janson, Your Cradle Is Green. 323 Thus, it ultimately responds to current public instructive to pay attention to certain paratex- 324 debates on multicultural society and on politics tual elements of the Islamic Foundation’s books of identity, gender equality, religious education, produced during the formative years of the radicalism, racism, and . The cul- early s. In , the foundation launched tural context of marginality may explain the the Muslim Children’s Library (MCL). The library organization’s commitment to finding new, consists of thirty- four titles; later series replaced creative, and pragmatic solutions to solving the the MCL after . In the publications from issues of religious socialization of the Muslim the s, the MCL was presented in an almost minorities. Yet it fails to account for the specific two- page- long introduction as “a new series of character of the results of this commitment, books, but with a dierence, for children of all since the form as well as the content of the chil- ages.” According to Khurram Murad’s intro- Comparative dren’s literature as it has developed testify to a duction, which appeared in all children’s books

Studies of complex interplay of cultural impulses. produced during the s, children’s books in general only aim to entertain or to train, South Asia, Conceptualizing Islamic Children’s Literature without providing a place for God or the guid- Africa and the A primary concern for the literature produced ance of prophets. However, without a religious Middle East by organizations like the Islamic Foundation is component, entertainment and skills become to answer basic questions about religious iden- devoid of value and meaning. The same intro- tity. What does it mean to be a Muslim? What duction further states that “such books, in fact, role models should young Muslims emulate? rob young people of access to true knowledge. How should one pray? What is the meaning They give them no unchanging standards of of the Koran? How should one treat one’s fel- right and wrong, nor any incentives to live by low coreligionists? While such questions have what is right and refrain from what is wrong. remained central, the means of conveying The result is that all too often the young enter knowledge and norms have changed signifi- adult life in a state of social alienation and be- cantly over the years. Most notably, while the wilderment, unable to cope with the seemingly literature produced during the s remained unlimited choices of the world around them.”  graphically sparse, heeding traditional Sunni Here we find a number of key concepts indicat- Islamic norms of restrained representation, re- ing the foundation’s theological and ideologi- cent books tend to employ a broader range of cal profile. Formulations are dichotomous and illustrations. This development may in part be strong: as opposed to the works published by ascribed to an emulation of Euro- American or the MCL, secular books convey no eternal val- globalized commercial picture book aesthetics. ues, but rather rob children of access to truth Yet the imagery retains distinctive traits as well, and ethical standards. indicating the crystallization of a specific genre The qualification of the ethical standards of Islamic children’s literature and resting on in terms of “incentives to live by what is right specific visual codes. The imaging of identity and refrain from what is wrong” is worth not- in current Islamic children’s literature needs to ing. This is an obvious paraphrase of the Ko- be understood in terms of a contemporary ne- ranic principle of al-amr bi’l- ma’ruf wa’l- nahy ‘an gotiation of sensitive Islamic norms vis- à- vis the al- munkar (to command that which is right and pedagogic needs (and opportunities) of Euro- to forbid that which is wrong). This is a recur- American minority existence, resulting both in rent theme in the contemporary discourses of creative solutions and discursive constraints. Islamic revival, where it functions as a metonym In order to discern the development of the for underscoring the activist, public under- concept of an Islamic children’s literature, it is standing of Islam. Children’s needs are tied to

4. Khurram Murad, “Muslim Children’s Library: An In- bridge University Press, 2000). Cf. the Koranic verse troduction,” in Khurram Murad, Love Your God (Mark- “Let there arise out of you a band of people [umma] field, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1982), 3. inviting to the good, enjoining what is right, and for- bidding what is wrong [al- amr bi’l- ma’ruf wa al- nahy 5. See Michael Cook, Commanding Right and Forbid- ‘an al- munkar]: they are the ones to attain felicity” ding Wrong in Islamic Thought (Cambridge: Cam - (Koran 3:104). specific Islamic standards, while the MCL pres- munication and increasingly creolized, playful ents itself as a means for coping with contempo- modes of Islamic representation. In short, Is- 325 rary society, in which Islam functions an active lamic children’s books in no way supplant the matrix for public life. This said, it is not enough ritual recitation of the Koran. Instead, they for Islamic children’s literature to be religiously complement it within a domestic setting. and morally correct. As the MCL introduction Not all British Muslims have pursued an further notes: “It is recognized that for a book to active or even armative religious identity. Yet, hold a child’s attention, he must enjoy reading it; for many, the preservation of religion has been it should therefore arouse his curiosity and en- integral to the preservation of cultural identity tertain him as well. The style, the language, the in the face of minority existence. Indeed, the illustrations and the production of the books migrant experience as such has proved to accen- are all geared to this goal. They provide moral tuate the notion of “Muslimness,” itself seldom Torsten Janson Torsten education, but not through sermons or ethical conceived as such in the immigrants’ countries abstractions.” The sentences above include an of origin. Muslim diasporic communities must obvious promotional component: irrespective of juggle multiple regional and national identi- theological or ideological orientation, parents ties: being immigrants, Muslim parents, British wish for their children to enjoy themselves. The citizens, and so forth. In this sense, migration entertaining dimension balances the expres- has contributed to the process of objectifying sively instrumental purpose of the books. But Islam; that is, the tendency of hermeneutical there is more to this than simply promotion. self- reflection on issues and categories of iden- 

The publisher stresses awareness of the social- tity hitherto left unquestioned. Representation in Euro-Muslim Picture Books ization processes at play in children’s literature For activist organizations in particular, Is- Identity: Islamic Imagining Negotiated Norms of consumption, underscoring the necessity of lamic theology provides a conceptual apparatus adapting Islamic identity to the prevailing social for the intellectual representation of minority conditions. Murad’s statement about children’s society in , critical terms. Today, Muslim books not providing sermons is thus placed into intellectuals and organizations like the Islamic perspective. Indeed, his is another way of saying Foundation are aware of the free market char- that the traditional sermon, khutba, and Koranic acter of religion and morals. They are actively schools are simply not enough. assuming the role of producers of religion for The type of organization represented by fastidious, independent, and flexible Muslim the foundation does not aspire to supplant the consumers. Religious products must be de- traditional mosques or to compete with their signed and marketed in compliance with the status. Rather, it aims to focus on questions of demands of contemporary markets and models: leadership, educational strategy, and dialogical it is both a strategy for survival and a factor of and sociocultural initiative. New associations success. Paradoxically, negative experiences of aim at expanding the scope of religion, and thus social, political, cultural, and economic margin- compete with the social functions and methods ality also stimulate alternative religious entrepre- of traditional Islamic institutions. They rest on neurial ventures such as publishing Islamic chil- the idea that Islamic identity should be an inte- dren’s literature. William Rubinstein has drawn gral part of everyday life, to be equally present attention to the combination of “a high degree in the , in school, and at home — an at- of marginality and a high degree of self- esteem” titude that tends to stimulate new forms of com- as a key characteristic for overproductive kinship

6. Murad, “Muslim Children’s Library,” 4. 9. See Sophie Gilliat, “Back to Basics: The Place of 11. See Thomas Luckmann, The Invisible Religion: The Islam in the Self- Identity of Young British Muslims,” Problem of Religion in Modern Society (1967; repr., New 7. See Khurram Murad, Muslim Youth in the West: Some in New Trends and Developments in the World of Islam, York: MacMillan, 1974). For a more detailed argument, Conceptual and Methodological Aspects (Markfield, ed. Peter B. Clarke (London: Luzac Oriental, 1998), see Bryan S. Turner, Religion and Social Theory, 2nd ed. UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1986), 5 and following. 93 – 103. (London: Sage, 1991). 8. See Garbi Schmidt, American Medina: A Study of 10. For a discussion of the effects of modernity pro- the Sunni Muslim Immigrant Communities in Chicago cesses on Muslim identity and political discourses, see (Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell International, 1998), Dale F. Eickelman and James Piscatori, Muslim Politics 248. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1996). networks in European history. Active and entre- A Muslim is an individual who accepts Islam 326 preneurial rethinking of Islamic transmission of as a way of life. norms may thus find a specific niche precisely as Islam is the faith and the path to follow. an eect of marginality, and groups inclined to move beyond traditional sectarianism may con- A Muslim believes in what Islam tells him or her to believe. ceive of the emerging religious market as “lib- erating, empowering and creative,” as pointed A Muslim acts as Islam tells him or her to out by Gregory Starrett. The consumption of act. . . .

new religious commodities serves important Therefore, we worship only and only functions in late- modern Muslim community upon Him do we call for help. formation and the imagination of Islamic iden- Comparative tity. Just as important, however, Muslim identity Here few attempts are made to catch the imagi- nation of the reader by either narrative or Studies of is also formed through the consumption of non- Islamic products, which are incorporated into graphic means. The book’s images consist of South Asia, an Islamic superstructure. A case in point is the some calligraphy, a couple of figures illustrating Africa and the listing of “Muslim food” in The American Muslim theology and prayer times, and a photograph of the Ka’ba in . There is also a decorative Middle East Teenager’s Handbook (): pizza and hamburg- ers, shwarmas and gyros, rice and curry, Chinese golden frame surrounding the short sentences, food, and Italian food. Branded Islamic prod- rendering a strict and solemn impression not ucts are envisioned to strengthen young Muslim unlike the layout of many Koran editions. The identity, but so is a culturally inclusive stance to only interactive element of the book is a work- secular consumer culture. book section, with questions corresponding to each chapter: “. Who is Allah? . How many gods are there? . Is God alone? . Does Allah An Updated Format for Religious Instruction  While the Islamic Foundation has been highly have a son or a family?” Despite this interroga- successful in carving out this niche market and tive element, the text hardly invites the child to attaining an intermediate social position de- any active dialogue or reflection. The questions spite its ideological marginality, this was not are to be answered by merely repeating state- achieved overnight. The early material certainly ments in the textbook. The book thus retains was innovative in certain respects, but in other the authoritarian pedagogical technique of rote ways it remained cautious in its rethinking of memorization in which the child is presented religious pedagogy. For instance, The Children’s with an undisputed and essentially monologic Book of Islam (Part One) of  was among the truth. In this sense, it is primarily the format very first English Islamic children’s books to that makes The Children’s Book of Islam some- reach a significant audience (eleven reprints thing new: the very idea of a printed manual of during the first twenty years, with seven thou- religious doctrine directed at children. In other sand to eleven thousand copies per printing). respects, the contents of the book remain quite This nonfiction, fifty- six- page textbook explain- faithful to a traditional approach to religious ing (Sunni) Islam for eight- to eleven- year- olds teaching. imparts doctrine in short chapters consisting of After the publication of a few successful simple sentences: nonfiction books, however, during the early s the organization expanded its horizons.

12. William Rubinstein, “The Weber Thesis, Ethnic Mi- 14. See ibid, 80 – 101. norities, and British Entrepreneurship,” in Religion, 15. Dilara Hafiz, Imran Hafiz, and Yasmine Hafiz, The Business, and Wealth in Modern Britain, ed. David Jer- American Muslim Teenager’s Handbook (Phoenix: emy (London: Routledge, 1998), 176. Acacia Publishing, 2007), 104. 13. Gregory Starrett, “Muslim Identities and the Great 16. Manazir Ahsan, The Children’s Book Chain of Buying,” in New Media in the : of Islam: Part One (Markfield, UK: The Islamic Foun- The Emerging Public Sphere, 2nd ed., ed. Dale F. Eickel- dation, 1979), 9. man and Jon W. Anderson (Indianapolis: Indianapolis University Press, 2003), 96. 17. Ibid., 44. It took recourse in the rich tradition of Muslim early Islamic history signifies a claim to present history and storytelling, realizing that religious British- Muslim children with “real” and “un- 327 norms may be more efficiently conveyed to corrupted” Islam, all the while accommodating young readers through literary depiction than religious pedagogy to an entirely new, Euro- by blunt injunction. Or to quote the suspenseful American format of children’s literature. opening lines of Murad’s Love Your God (): Murad’s Love Your God illustrates the inter- “The night was dark. It was already past mid- woven benefits of teaching doctrine and histori- night. In a few hours the first rays of sunlight cal knowledge through narration. It relates the

would appear. Then the Quraysh would realise popular story of Muhammad’s dramatic escape that Muhammad, the Prophet (Peace and Bless- from Mecca to Medina, together with Abu Bakr, ings be upon him), had slipped through their the Prophet’s closest companion and later the fingers and then the chase would be on.”  first caliph of the Muslim community. As the Torsten Janson Torsten Most books published within the MCL story goes, the two refugees flee through the series during the s consist of illustrated hills of al- Hira and hide in a cave. The Meccan stories about the Prophet Muhammad and the persecutors manage to track them down only to early Muslim community of Mecca and Medina. find the entrance of the cave covered with an It is hardly incidental that the organization apparently ancient cobweb, and thus conclude chose to tell stories inspired by sacred tradition that no one could have entered for ages. Inside when embarking on the venture of publishing the cave, Abu Bakr nervously hears the enemies literature for the purposes of religious social- approaching, but the Prophet reassures him:

ization. Apart from providing captivating and Representation in Euro-Muslim Picture Books “ Why are you fearful, Abu Bakr?” he chided exciting stories, and thus meeting basic peda- softly. “There are not just two of us; Allah him- Identity: Islamic Imagining Negotiated Norms of gogic demands, the narrative employment of self is the third. . . .” early Islam conforms to central tenets of the There was not the slightest sign of worry modern Sunni Islamic movement. These are on the Blessed Prophet’s face, so real and in- not just any exciting stories. The MCL’s preoc- tense was his faith in Allah, in His presence, in cupation with sacred history signifies the prin- His succour. He saw with certainty that Allah ciple of returning to the sources, so central to was there with him, even though no material or  thinkers of the Sunni Islamic movement and physical help was in sight. here accommodated to the children’s book for- The towering figures of the Prophet and the mat. The historical canon not only functions as first caliph of Islam are thus employed to illus- an inspiration for individual piety and morals; trate central themes present already in The Chil- it also serves as a blueprint for an ideal society. dren’s Book of Islam: a defining characteristic of a Indeed, as pointed out by Eric Hobsbawm, it is true Muslim is to accept Islam as an active way precisely in the face of rapid social change that of life and to rely on the omnipresence, power, societies tend to look to the (real or imagined) and benevolence of God. past for authoritarian symbols and models. Abu Bakr and Muhammad nevertheless The claim to represent and preserve values of do provide religious and moral standards in the past becomes an ecient strategy for carv- dierent ways. Abu Bakr incorporates the prin- ing out a new entrepreneurial niche in the pres- ciples of friendship, loyalty, and self- sacrifice. ent, thus inherently subverting traditional con- He relentlessly protects the Prophet, scouts for cepts of religious pedagogy. For organizations enemies, and secures the cave before letting such as the Islamic Foundation to normatively Muhammad enter. The Prophet, on the other employ the paradigm of the Prophet’s life and hand, remains impeccable in his composure

18. Murad, Love Your God, 6.

19. See Eric Hobsbawm, “Introduction: Inventing Tra- ditions,’’ in The Invention of Tradition, ed. Eric Hob- sbawm and Terence Ranger (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 1 – 14.

20. Murad, Love Your God, 11. and hilm (elevated calm) and taqwa (pious God- education, racism, Islamophobia, and ethnic 328 conscience). His behavior actually demonstrates tensions. Significantly, the Islamic Foundation’s that Abu Bakr’s efforts and worries were un- first stories relevant to the lives of contemporary founded, however loyal and praiseworthy they British- Muslim immigrants (published in  may have been. Ultimately, the threat from the and ) relate how young Adam finds and Meccans is devoid of substance and the danger consolidates his Muslim identity during his visit is illusory, for God will keep His servants safe to , his parents’ country of origin. How- provided that they completely surrender to His ever, we are not told anything about how Adam protection. applies his newly confirmed Muslim identity in In the stories published during the s, a British setting. In fact, it took the publisher it is first and foremost the Prophet himself twenty years to produce its first story about a con- Comparative who displays elevated pious composure in the temporary Muslim child actually set in Britain.

Studies of face of apparent danger. Instructive as he may Since the late s, however, contempo- be as an illustration of the principle of taqwa, rary issues have dominated in children’s litera- South Asia, the Prophet remains an unattainable ideal, the ture. This change marks a drastic rethinking Africa and the embodiment of a supreme principle. The same of religious pedagogy and the very concept of Middle East holds true for a range of less dramatic stories, Islamic children’s literature, folding it into the relating how the Prophet, “in the midst of his preoccupation with formulating Muslim iden- great task,” devotes attention and care to chil- tity in a European multicultural setting. Leav- dren. Here, he serves less as a model for per- ing the safe haven of sacred tradition thus com- sonal identification and emulation for children, mits the publisher to a demanding process of and more as an advocate for children’s rights. cultural navigation and negotiation. The di- Therefore, while the stories of the s took culties are, however, apparently outweighed by the first steps toward a narrative address of the the pedagogic gains, since the contemporary child in the formulation of religious principles, setting provides opportunities for the literary they also retained a strong authoritarian com- depiction of mundane, everyday characters with ponent in their depiction of early Islam. whom Muslim reading children can identify. As noted above, the Islamic Foundation From a stylistic point of view, the contem- has sought out an intermediary position be- porary focus also allows the books to strike an tween the Muslim community and the cultural entirely dierent chord: demands of the encompassing non- Muslim ma- He stopped and raised his gun. At that moment, jority society. At first, the children’s books were I felt the whole world fall on top of me. I thought solely preoccupied with early Islamic history. of my Mum and Dad and my brother and sisters. This should partly be understood as illustrating I wanted to cry. Then I thought of God, Who had the importance devoted to sacred tradition. Per- made me and Who had power over everything. haps even more important, this historical preoc- I calmed down. It seemed like Flinn was mov- cupation underscores the diculty of contem- ing in slow motion as he raised his gun towards porary minority Muslim existence. For migrants, Gary. Suddenly a thought came to me, bismillah. history provides a safe haven. It is a very dier- I picked up a small log that was beside me and flung it at Flinn. What if it missed Flinn? Would ent challenge to write psychologically convinc- he shoot me first in his anger? Al- hamdulillah it ing and socially relevant stories about contem- hit him with full force on the head and he stag- porary young British- Muslim minority identity. gered backwards. “Run!” I shouted. This issue brings to the fore a range of highly sensitive issues, such as the stakes of cultural This is the dramatic climax of Rashid and the inclusion in multicultural society, consumer- Missing Body () by Hassan Radwan. Together ism, gender relations, sexual identities, religious with a Christian and a Jewish friend, thirteen-

21. M. S. Kayani, A Great Friend of Children (Markfield, 23. Hassan Radwan, Rashid and the Missing Body UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1981), 7. (Markfield, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 2001), 67.

22. See Susan Omar, New Friends, New Places (Mark- field, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 2007). year- old Rashid exposes a murderous conspir- designed to meet the demands of contemporary acy but manages with cleverness and courage to Muslim identity formulation among children, 329 bring the villain to justice. In several respects, leads to an inventory of sacred tradition. Apart this book is very similar to most detective sto- from serving the purpose of conveying knowl- ries for youngsters, but there are particularities edge of an ideal Islamic society, the historical that tie the story to an Islamic horizon, quite narratives appear to have functioned as a trans- similar to the stories of the Prophet. Rashid’s fer zone toward the ultimate challenge of de- sudden composure and agency may be read as picting contemporary Euro- American Muslim

the direct eect of his thought of God as his cre- existence for youngsters. ator. Here the text indirectly draws on the same theological notions of taqwa and hilm. There are Representing a Sacred Past several points in the story where Rashid (rather “What kind of toys can we give our children?” Torsten Janson Torsten than his otherwise sympathetic Abrahamitic asks an Australian parent on the conservative compatriots) relies on his Islamic identity for Deobandi website Ask the Imam, to which is practical guidance to solve the crime. In this given the response: “Generally toys that do not sense, the theological framework is identical have any animate pictures or are not shaped in with the books discussed above. Rashid himself an animate form (like dolls) may be given to is a perfect example of a contemporary British children. Dolls may be given if the head is re- youngster who accepts Islam as a way of life and moved.”  The somewhat morbid suggestion to who acts in accordance with the principles and give children decapitated dolls seems to refer to

injunctions explicated in The Children’s Book of the reported in the Sunan of Abu Da’ud, Representation in Euro-Muslim Picture Books

Islam as well as in the historico- soteriological in which it is reported that the angel Gabriel Identity: Islamic Imagining Negotiated Norms of epic about the Prophet. Yet in Rashid and the one day refused to enter the Prophet’s house Missing Body such principles remain implicit in because there was a statue beside its door. The the narrative. Rather than pinpointing theolog- angel told Muhammad “that the head of the ical notions and imposing moral standards on statue be broken off so that it resembles the the child, the religious pedagogy of Rashid and trunk of a tree.”  On the same web page, an- the Missing Body confidently relies on the literary other parent is advised against purchasing any depiction of a young boy to illustrate the prac- children’s books containing drawings of ani- tical benefits of being a religiously active and mate beings. As the imam advises, “There are a aware Muslim today. It also relies on the intel- number of children’s books available in the UK lectual and empathic abilities of young Muslim without such pictures.”  This strict interpreta- readers to draw mature, moral conclusions. tion of the hadith may be far from representa- All in all, the three literary examples tive, but it does illustrate that orthodox Sunni above illustrate the main phases in the devel- Islamic ideas still play a role in the discussions opment of producing pedagogic material spe- of toys, images, and other aspects of children’s cifically guided to the needs of Euro- American culture. Muslim minority existence. The literature is set Producing children’s literature accommo- out in a format similar to a traditional mono- dated to a Euro- American picture- book format logical and mimetic pedagogy of presenting raises the problem of figurative representation. the child with a fixed set of doctrine and ritual, As noted, most Islamic children’s literature as illustrated by the solemn injunctions of The flourishes within the Sunni Islamic movement. Children’s Book of Islam. The ensuing realization A defining characteristic of this movement is its of the benefits of a literary, narrative address, openness to pragmatic and novel technical solu-

24. Ask- Imam website, Question 5357 from Austra- 26. Ask- Imam website, Question 9832 from United regarded as a symbolic killing of the statue. While Al- lia, 22 May 2002, http://www.islam.tc/cgi- bin/aski- Kingdom, 07 October 2003, www.islam.tc/cgi- bin/ Qaradawi also is strict in his affirmation of the prohi- mam/ask.pl?q=5357&act=view. askimam/ask.pl?q=9832&act=view. bition of statues in Islam, he exempts children’s toys from this rule. See al- Qaradawi, The Lawful and the 25. Quoted in Yusuf al- Qaradawi, The Lawful and the 27. The influential Egyptian scholar Yusuf al- Qaradawi Prohibited in Islam. Prohibited in Islam (Indianapolis, IN: American Trust, does, for instance, interpret this hadith differently, un- 1980), web.youngmuslims.ca/online_library/books/ derscoring that the significance of the beheading lies the_lawful_and_prohibition_in_islam/ch2s3p3- 5.htm. in the debasement of the statue. That is, it is not to be tions. Even so, the issue of figurative representa- Images depicting animate beings tend to dis- 330 tion remains highly sensitive, since Sunni theol- play a low degree of naturalism and individual ogy has tended to consider images of animated features, and images of human beings tend to beings as infringing on the basic principle of function symbolically and illustratively, rather monotheism — namely, that God is sole cre- than attempting to represent personality icon- ator. In addition, during recent decades, few ographically. Another tendency has been the issues have proved more controversial than the ornamentalization of figurative objects: crafted question representing the Prophet, not least il- objects in animal shapes often are covered with lustrated by the debates and conflicts following geometrical patterns or vegetable ornamenta-  ’s The Satanic Verses () and tion, again downplaying naturalism. the publication of the infamous Danish Mu- The Islamic Foundation’s children’s books Comparative hammad cartoons in . To be sure, such reveal interesting ways of handling, explicitly or

Studies of controversies need to be understood as result- implicitly, transgressions of accepted norms of ing from complex, transnational, and postco- representation in Islamic traditions. Respect of South Asia, lonial processes and power relations, and they the confines gives rise to creative artistic solu- Africa and the cannot be explained with reference to any “in- tions rather than poverty of artistic expression. Middle East herent” Islamic norms of representation. This At first glance, it is hard to discern any consis- is not the place to dwell on such conflicts, but tent pictorial strategy at work in the children’s they certainly have influenced internal Muslim literature produced by the foundation. Among discussions of the forms and stakes of religious the more than fifty books produced since the visual representation. In times when Islamopho- late s, some are devoid of images alto- bia floods the Internet, Muslim actors aspiring gether, while others only contain decorative ele- to forward the Islamic creed in new visual for- ments in the form of calligraphy. There also are mats must carefully deliberate on how to do so illustrated stories about the Prophet and early in eective and acceptable pictorial ways. caliphs that do not include any illustrations of In Sunni medieval jurisprudence, the animated beings. Others include merely sym- strongest ban concerned figures casting shad- bolic representations of human beings or else ows, that is, solid three- dimensional statues, include naturalistic images of human figures on since they were seen as most prone to idolization. more or less every page. There also emerged a general theological con- On closer scrutiny, it is possible to discern sensus on the prohibition of two- dimensional certain patterns, which are in accord with what depictions of all creatures possessing a ruh today is perceived as acceptable Sunni norms of (spirit or soul), that is, human beings, animals, representation. All in all, the books produced angels, and jinn. This is not to say images of from the late s through the s observe animated beings have disappeared, since theo- aniconic traditions more strictly than books pro- logical principles often have been sidestepped duced from the early s onward. Fourteen in . Rather, religious ideas have con- of the forty- seven story books published before tributed to a highly diverse Islamic aesthetic  were completely devoid of human imagery, tradition with certain recurring tendencies. while a few contain only pictures of people seen

28. According to the Koran (38:71 – 72), God formed 30. It should be noted that Shi’i theology distinctly ligious norms in law needs to be understood as the humankind from clay and gave it life by blowing deviates from the stricter Sunni understandings. In result of an internal Muslim process, through which ruh (spirit) into it. Accordingly, one of God’s ninety- Shi’i Islam, the central issue concerns niya (inten- an urban, pious middle class distinguished itself vis- nine beautiful names is al- musawwir, “The Shaper” tion): images of animate beings, even of the proph- à- vis magical, popular veneration of talismans and or “The Creator.” From the same verbal root of saw- ets and imams, are forbidden only if they are made tombs of saints as well as vis- à- vis the lavish, iconic wara is derived the word taswir, which has come to for idolization. imagery produced in the courts and aristocracy. See mean “idol,” “statue,” or “painting.” Worship of any Oleg Grabar, The Formation of Islamic Art , 2nd ed. 31. To some extent, the norms of representation that entity other than the One God is considered illusory (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1987), 95 and came to dominate Sunni orthodox Islamic aesthet- and tantamount to polytheism and disbelief. Since following. ics did reflect wider aniconic cultural trends. On the human beings cannot capture the transcendent God, other hand, the specific Islamic orchestration of such picturing or otherwise mediating the divine is often norms was part of a politico- cultural demarcation perceived as an act of irrelevant, meaningless strife. process, through which an Islamic specificity was de- 29. See Jytte Klausen, The Cartoons That Shook the lineated in relation to the monotheistic sister- creeds World (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009). of late antiquity. The institutionalization of such re- from a distance or avoid images of faces. Almost Islamic norms of representation. Several books all of these books were produced during the avoid depictions of animate beings altogether. 331 s. The avoidance of human imagery cor- In Murad’s The Brave Boy (), which relates related with a distinctly centralized authorship, the heroic feats of ‘ ibn Abi Talib, one of Sha- most notably Murad, one of Mawdudi’s closest min Shahin’s illustrations depicts the Battle of disciples and director of the Islamic Founda- the Trench by merely showing the tips of sticks, tion from  to . Murad authored twelve spears, and swords of the soldiers, whose figural of the children’s books published during the presence otherwise remains undetected in the

s. Indeed, male authors wrote almost all scene (fig. ). There are, however, exceptions books of this period, while female authors have to such an approach and alternative ways of completely dominated the Islamic Foundation’s handling Sunni Islamic norms of representa- children’s literature since the s. There is tion. One example is Jerzy Karo’s illustration of Torsten Janson Torsten furthermore a close correlation between chro- another battle scene in M. S. Kayani’s A Great nology and content. While a historical and Friend of Children (), where green Muslim hagiographic focus dominates the publication warriors fight the purple- clad Meccans (fig. during the s, books published after this pe- ). Karo’s image is heavily stylized in form and riod deal more or less exclusively with contem- color; the image appears flat and geometric porary issues. Finally, the paratextual elements rather than rounded and realistic. Despite de- of the early books are extensive; these include a picting human beings, the image thus departs detailed presentation of the Islamic Foundation from a strict application of perspective and

and its MCL series. naturalism. Representation in Euro-Muslim Picture Books

During this first period, when developing This tendency toward abstraction becomes Identity: Islamic Imagining Negotiated Norms of its concept of children’s literature, the Islamic even more clear in Karo’s illustration of seventh- Foundation thus appears to have sought safety century Medina. Here, the town comprises in a male transmission of the sacred tradition, squares and arcs in shifting yellow and purple which consisted in stories of the Prophet and tones, creating an impression of toy building the early caliphs. Additional textual elements blocks (fig. ). The function of perspective is have functioned as a similar safety zone. Brack- to mark the viewing subject’s relation to the de- eting the books with declarations of underlying picted object. Even though images are informed ideas and ambitions seems to have been a way by subjective points of view, the “laws” of per- for a new, entrepreneurial actor to discursively spective came to rest on impersonal, geometric, integrate the potentially controversial format of quasi- mechanic and quasi- objective principles Islamic children’s literature into an overarching of graphic representation. In short, perspective project of religious socialization, aiming at pro- signifies a subjective and social ordering of the moting Islamic norms and identity among the visual, through which socially coded viewpoints young in a secular cultural setting. The impor- can be objectified, naturalized, and presented tance devoted to paratexts also underscores that as faithful copies of empirical reality. To reject the books during the initial phase were part of or to subtly adjust perspective thus may func- a centralized, organizational output. Accord- tion as a religious or philosophical rejection of ing to the distinction put forward by children’s anthropocentrism as well as a symbolic defense literature theorist Maria Nikolajeva, the books of a theocentric worldview. As a result, high- of the first phase can be characterized as genre lighting the stylistic and symbolic character of children’s literature rather than auteur chil- represented nature, such as in the battlefield de- dren’s literature, that is, retaining a static and picted by Karo, serves as a strategy to maintain conventional relationship to literary norms and the depiction of human beings while marking a narrative models. distance from any pretense of usurping God’s The early literature likewise displays a unique role as the musawwir (shaper) of empiri- variety of strategies in order to abide by Sunni cal reality.

32. See Maria Nikolajeva, Children’s Literature Comes 33. See Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, Reading of Age: Toward a New Aesthetic (New York: Garland Images: The Grammar of Visual Design, 2nd ed. (Lon- Publishing, 1996). don: Routledge, 2006). 332

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Figure 1: Battle of the Trench. Illustration by Figure 2: Muslim- Meccan Fighters. Illustration by Shamin Shahin, in The Brave Boy (Markfield, UK: Jerzy Karo, in A Great Friend of Children (Markfield, The Islamic Foundation, 1982). Image courtesy of UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1981). Image courtesy of Kube Publishing and The Islamic Foundation. Kube Publishing and The Islamic Foundation.

An image illustrating the Prophet’s and merely on stylistic symbolization, as in Karo’s Abu Bakr’s flight from Mecca in the previously warriors. More significant, it relies on premod- discussed Love Your God creates a similar ef- ern traditions of ornamental design that are up- fect. Zainusa Gamiet’s illustration depicts the dated and accommodated to the new format of spider of the cobweb saving the refugees in the Islamic illustrated children’s books. cave, thus conflicting with a strict application of Sunni Islamic principles of not depicting Reimaging Sacred Space in a Migrant Setting animate beings (fig. ). However, in Gamiet’s While the books produced during the s illustration, the spider is the centerpiece of an either were devoid of human images or experi- ornamental pattern in sharply contrasting blue mented with various ways of graphically adjust- and orange. Rather than denoting a spider as ing the images to comply with renegotiated Is- part of nature, it has been converted into a sty- lamic norms, during the following decade the listic, non- naturalistic symbol of sacred history. Islamic Foundation changed its pictorial con- It is not an image of a spider but rather a con- tents. The vast majority of the books produced notative symbol of the hijra, the migration of from the s contain images of human be- the Prophet to Medina, which marks the con- ings: pictures of adults and children, men and struction of the ideal Islamic society and the women, Muslims and non- Muslims. Correlating very beginning of the Islamic era. The animate with this shift in imagery, during the early s being is denaturalized through a process of or- the publisher inserted the following sentence in namentalization. In Gamiet’s illustration, the its presentation of the MCL: “The books are negotiation of Islamic principles does not rest presented with full color illustrations keeping in 333

Torsten Janson Torsten Representation in Euro-Muslim Picture Books Imagining Islamic Identity: Islamic Imagining Negotiated Norms of

Figure 3: Medina Buildings. Illustration by Jerzy Karo, Figure 4: Ornamental Spider. Illustration by in A Great Friend of Children (Markfield, UK: The Zainusa Gamiet, in Love Your God (Markfield, UK: Islamic Foundation, 1981). Image courtesy of Kube The Islamic Foundation, 1982). Image courtesy of Publishing and The Islamic Foundation. Kube Publishing and The Islamic Foundation.

view the limitations set by Islam.”  This notice ture remained distinctly constrained in various appeared only in the seven books containing no ways. In fact, despite the contemporary focus, human imagery published or reprinted during very few books narratively depict young British- the s. Paradoxically, the warrant appears Muslim public life at all. Rather, most are set to be testimony to the fact that the publisher in various free zones, relating creationist tales actually had begun publishing other children’s about nature, instructing religious rituals, or books containing figural depiction, while these depicting confined, domestic space. Again, the seven books do not. few books that in any way touch on public life One might expect that such cultural nego- tend to picture public institutions (schools and tiation of Islamic norms and European means hospitals) and social relations with non- Muslims of narration and design would intensify with as problems and threats to Muslim identity. In the recent preoccupation with contemporary contrast, the few narrative books, just as in the topics. As it turns out, however, Britain re- nonfictional ones, take refuge in Islamic princi- mains strikingly absent in the stories. As noted ples, family ties, religious ritual and Islamic his- above, it was not until , after twenty years tory, God- created nature, and the pious Muslim of publishing children’s literature, that the Is- home as well as peer relations among Muslims lamic Foundation published a book for Muslim as means of defense against social ills. children set in Britain. While there followed a While the early textbooks on Islamic faith steady flow of books dealing with British- Muslim contained few and solely nonfigurative images, minority experiences after this date, the litera- the newer nonfiction books take full recourse

34. Omar, New Friends, New Places, 3. Figure 5: Insha Allah. 334 Illustration by Noorah Kathryn Abdullah, in What Do We Say: A Guide to Islamic Manners (Markfield, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 2000). Image courtesy of Kube

Publishing and The Islamic Foundation.

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in colorful, playful, figurative imagery. For in- ping illustrations of the children and the writ- stance, the volume What Do We Say: A Guide to ten text, the dynamic between the former ele- Islamic Manners () introduces idi- ments and calligraphies is all the more striking omatic phrases — in original Arabic, translitera- and conspicuous. Why are there calligraphies tions, and translations — coupled with everyday on the wall? What do they mean? Without any contextualizations and illustrations (fig. ). explicit facts or leading questions inserted into As a handbook of phrases, the narrative com- the narrative, children are invited to explore ponent is constrained, but here the images are central religious tenets about God and His mes- co- narrative and slightly counterpointal; that senger. Second, the calligraphies are discon- is, words and image do not completely overlap, nected from the narrative of the books, but they but provide complementary narrative informa- form part of an overarching metanarrative, the tion. The illustrations thus invite the child to same narrative that discursively interconnects actively co- read the images with the text, itself the entire line of children’s Islamic literature of presumably read out loud by an adult. the publisher: the neverending story of God’s In this and in other books, we also find a creation of the world. slightly dierent kind of counterpoint in the im- Maryam and the Trees relates how Maryam ages. Terry Norrige’s illustrations of Maryam and and her younger brother learn to respect na- the Trees (), for instance, depict several inte- ture: “Isn’t Allah Merciful, to fill your lungs riors where calligraphic panels, reading “Allah” with air, and to give you life? He loves you, and “Muhammad,” decorate the walls of the and He loves the plants, too. He wants us to house (fig. ). First, while there is no dynamic take care of them, not hurt them. They also counterpoint between the completely overlap- praise Allah.”  The text here alludes to the Is-

35. See Noorah Kathryn Abdullah, What Do We Say: A 36. See Maria Nikolajeva and Carole Scott, How 37. Rowaa El- Magazy, Maryam and the Trees (Mark- Guide to Islamic Manners (Markfield, UK: The Islamic Picturebooks Work (London: Garland Publishing, 2001). field, UK : The Islamic Foundation, 1999), 5. Foundation, 2000). Figure 6: Living Room Calligraphies. Illustration 335 by Terry Norrige, in Maryam and the Trees (Markfield, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1999). Image courtesy of Kube Publishing and The Islamic

Foundation. Torsten Janson Torsten Representation in Euro-Muslim Picture Books Imagining Islamic Identity: Islamic Imagining Negotiated Norms of

lamic principles of God as the creator of life; of Islamic norms of representations, this cre- of human beings as His khalifa (caliphs), that is, ationist metanarrative tells a dierent story. To His vicegerents on earth responsible for caring the contrary, the iconographic depictions of ze- for his creation; and of nature’s testimony of the bras, monkeys, and squirrels testify to the glory power and glory of God. In the story, Maryam of the One, Divine, Eternal Musawwir. Far from and her brother are encouraged to scientifically infringing on God’s domain, the artist thus is explore the world of trees, to enjoy their fruits seen as celebrating God’s creation through the and discover their importance for wild life. production of naturalistic images. Indeed, the Granddad also finds an opportunity to relate owls on the final pages of Animals do not merely the popular tale of Muhammad and the crying hoot but mysteriously (and humorously) recite tree, before the children finally rush into the the name of God: “Allah made owls that hoot garden, “ready to plant their first tree for the in the night: Who? Who? Allah- Hoo!” (fig. ). sake of Allah!”  The illustrated calligraphies of Another important Islamic free zone is “Allah” and “Muhammad” thus may be seen as the home. It is described and depicted as a pri- symbols tying down not only the story at hand marily feminine sphere, revolving around the but also humankind and the world in its total- catering, mild, and deeply pious mother (fig. ), ity, to a cosmological metanarrative resting on as in My Mum Is a Wonder (). In this illus- a creationist ontology, accommodated to a chil- trated book and others like it, female charac- dren’s format. ters are pictured with headscarves, even when While some of the more recent books, at home. Male characters are almost completely such as the strikingly naturalist depictions by absent from the domestic sphere. And when Vinay Ahluvalia in Animals (), may appear to they occasionally enter the domestic scene, they have completely departed from any observation do so by exercising justice or by teaching sacred

38. Ibid., 21. 39. Farah Sardar, Animals (Markfield, UK: The Islamic 40. See Michèle Messaoudi, My Mum Is a Wonder Foundation, 1997), 23. (Markfield, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1999). Figure 7: Testifying Owls. 336 Illustration by Vinay Ahluvalia, in Maryam and the Trees (Markfield, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1997). Image courtesy of Kube Publishing and The Islamic Foundation.

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Figure 8: Pious Mum. Illustration by Rukiah Peckham, in My Mum Is a Wonder (Markfield, UK: The Islamic Foundation, 1999). Image courtesy of Kube Publishing and The Islamic Foundation. tradition. As it turns out, this ideal, feminine in the form of (adult enough) abilities of inter- space has become the dominant arena for the cultural negotiation. The secondary narrative 337 negotiation of Islamic identity within European thus channels the cultural negotiation at play cultural pluralism in recent children’s litera- and connects it with the central narrative. An ture. Ritual space and nature remain promi- originally playful, boyish adventure has been nent themes as well, but they generally provide converted into a moral tale of a maturing male thematic free zones for not having to deal with British- Muslim identity. The driving force in this pressing cultural issues. Thus feminine symbol- process of conversion is, not surprisingly, Islam

ism and female authorship reveal a preoccupa- itself. From a gender perspective, the pattern is tion with minority issues and contexts. obvious enough: the girl of the domestic sphere To illustrate this problematic, we may once incorporates the problem. The boy remains again return to Rashid and the Missing Body. This committed to worldly agency but occasionally Torsten Janson Torsten story mainly revolves around the friendship of enters the domestic sphere in order to settle any Rashid and two non- Muslim boys, Christian dispute with logical thought based on sound Is- Chris and Jewish Gary. The problem at hand is lamic principles. entirely external: one missing body. However, a secondary narrative revolves around problems Images of a Sanctified Childhood in the domestic sphere. Rashid’s rebellious Active and organized British Muslims have older sister, Nur, disagrees with their father on agreed on the importance of formulating Islamic dress codes. Rashid is depicted as active, functional strategies of religious socialization

rational, and heroic, moving up and down the for contemporary Muslim children and youth. Representation in Euro-Muslim Picture Books

town until he ultimately solves the crime. In Ever since the establishment of large Muslim Identity: Islamic Imagining Negotiated Norms of contrast, his sister is exclusively depicted in the communities in Britain, however, there have domestic environment, screaming, raging, and emerged distinct childhood discourses, defined ultimately failing to come up with a functional by dierent ideas about the sociopolitical func- negotiation of her Muslim and British self. In- tion of religion as well as the interpretation and deed, her father is depicted as equally incompe- accommodation of religious forms of identity to tent, incapable of making the (favorite revival- the cultural and social circumstances at hand. ist) distinction between “Islam” and “culture” Despite ideological differences, the religious and clinging to a “traditionally Pakistani” idea commodities produced by organizations such of proper dress code. In the concluding pages as the Islamic Foundation remain useful for a of the book, it is little brother Rashid who man- broad range of consumers (even those who are ages to solve this conflict: not in agreement with the ideological motives behind the products). Actors with roots in the “ And you, Nur,” I interrupted, “you are right when you say this country is your home, but that Sunni Islamic movement have skillfully utilized doesn’t mean you have to reject everything about the free market of contemporary religious con- our parents’ culture, now does it? Surely it would sumption and identity formation. This has paid be better to take the good from both cultures o in granting such initiatives an influence sur- and come up with a sensible balance.” Nur and passing their popular mandate. In short, reli- Dad stared at me in shocked silence. Finally, Nur gious commodities such as the children’s books spoke up. “Since when did you become the voice discussed in this study remain fairly open and  of reason?” she said. I just smiled. adjustable to individual worldviews. In order These are the final words of the book. We have to assess the full significance of the success of not been told anything about the boyish triumph such entrepreneurial ventures on the markets of catching the crook. Rashid neither receives of Islamic identity, however, the question of how nor seeks any recognition for solving the mystery Muslim children and parents consume Islamic at hand. Instead, his moment of triumph arrives literature must be addressed. This virtually un- here, in the living room, in relation to his sister explored ethnographic field of research prom- and father. The adventurous experiences pay o ises to yield rich scholarly results.

41. Radwan, Rashid and the Missing Body, 80. In the future, further conclusions about books.”  Rushdie’s words eloquently pay tribute 338 the development of the norms of representation to central concerns underlying Islamic chil- that have unfolded during the establishment, dren’s literature. But what attachment does the consolidation, and diversification of a Euro- Islamic Foundation agree to shrug at, and what Islamic children’s literature can be offered. past is pickled in the books? Essentially, the very Based on preliminary evidence, it is clear that it concept of an Islamic literature is a result of a is untenable to conceptualize the contemporary Sunni Islamic revivalist ideology, resting on an visual norms of representation of Sunni Islamic idea of universal Islamic values transcending children’s literature in terms of any fixed set local, regional, and national Muslim particu- of visual rules and regulations. Rather, visual larity. While the Islamic Foundation thus may norms should be thought of in terms of a dis- shrug at the loss of South Asian attachments, Comparative tinct discursive point of departure, grounded the idea of a common Islamic past becomes all

Studies of in classic, Sunni principles of monotheism and the more essential. But the preservation of a resistance to subjectivist anthropocentrism. sacred symbolic stock is not perceived as an end South Asia, Through the experiences of migration and in itself. To the contrary, for the Islamic Foun- Africa and the minority existence, this point of departure has dation, pickling of the past in books signifies a Middle East been negotiated in relation to the pedagogic resacralization of the present. It is the cultural needs and communicational opportunities process of negotiation that gives the literature within a new cultural setting. The overall eect its particular Islamic character and appeal on has been the unfolding of a rich diversity of rep- an open market of religious consumption via the resentational strategies. emulation of pedagogically functional models Some solutions of representational nego- combined with a creative adherence to Islamic tiation recall visual strategies drawn from pre- aesthetic programs. In the final analysis, we modern Islamic artistic traditions; such is the need to think of this phenomenon in terms of tendency to ornamentalize forms and flatten style. When opening an Islamic children’s book, perspective. Another significant tendency is the the child does not only encounter a tale illustrat- formulation, transformation, and final dissolu- ing religious principles, introducing central his- tion of the extensive paratextual elements of torical characters, or depicting correct religious the literature. A case in point is the somewhat behavior. The child also encounters an Islamic randomly inserted calligraphies in depicted ambience, a less tangible sense of being part of interiors. Such concepts and symbols perform something out of the ordinary. The ultimate functions similar to the paratexts in discursively goal of Islamic children’s literature is not only marking anity with particular Islamic themes, the sacralization of the British present, but the , and social sentiments, yet in sanctification of the Muslim child itself. infinitely more subtle forms. Other strategies may be understood as responses to distinctly modern circumstances and the experiences of migration. The depiction of human beings in the books dealing with contemporary issues thus tends to be balanced with a preoccupation with confined Islamic spaces: the pious, domes- tic setting, the observation of religious rituals, the social setting of Muslim peer relations, and, last but certainly not least, the sanctuary of cre- ated nature that testifies to the glory and om- nipotence of the one single God. “The past of lost attachment remains a loss. What to do? Shrug. And pickle the past in

42. Salman Rushdie, Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism, 1981 – 1991 (London: Granta, 1991), 277.