Shiism in my novel.

I usually don't respond to reviews of my novel "Under The Full and Crescent Moon" but there was a review that made a very interesting point about my novel and I think it's appropriate to talk about it here in the last few days of Muhurram which is a very important time for me as a Shia Muslim.

A lot of the novel revolves around debates on what it means to be Muslim and the tension that comes from different understandings of the faith. The review said that it is obvious those debates are between the protagonist of the story, Khadija, being a Shia while the antagonist is Sunni. Now I believe in the principle that what the author intended to write doesn't matter, and how the reader interprets it, does. And so for this reviewer (who I thank for the review, I really do appreciate it), the novel revolving around a disagreement between Shia and Sunni Islam is true.

But the historical debates on Islamic Law that I took inspiration from to write the story were between two groups who were called the ahl-al-r'ay on one side and ahl-al-hadith on the other. And the historical resolution of those debates is what formed the Sunni Schools of Law that we know today. So what I aimed to write was a conflict between what would become the four schools of Sunni Islamic Law, and I didn't do a good enough job of conveying it to at least one reader.

Now it is true that the month of Muhurram was an important one in the story, but how the residents of the fictional city of Medina'tul-Agham reacted to it, isn't how Shia's commemmorate it, with very public and overt displays of grief.

From the novel on page 128:

The new year began with the sighting of the moon that heralded the first month of the year, Muharram. It was not an occasion that elicited much comment or any celebration in the city since Muharram was considered a month of ill repute. The second grandson of the Prophet and much of his family were massacred on the tenth of the month by a tyrannical ruler, a fellow Muslim who then consolidated power, causing a political fallout that showed no sign of abating in the wider Islamic community even after many decades. Medina’tul-Agham was far away from the scene of that historical crime, but the bloody story was retold by many of the Muslims of the city on the tenth as an act of remembrance and lamentation. Even for those who did not observe it, Muharram was a month of sobriety and self-reflection, not celebration.

So there is a little bit of wishful thinking that I put in there about how I feel Shias and Sunnis can avoid bad feelings towards in each other, which is by Sunnis greiving the death of the second grandson of the Prophet, peace be upon both of them, along with us, especially on the tenth, even as we do it differently.

In any case if you're interested in my novel, check my profile on how to get a copy and maybe even write a review or let me know what you think, and please consider donating to the family in Gaza I'm fundraising for. All opinions my own, in the end only God knows best.