A woman's perspective on Islam
in a modern global context
Author Sahar El-Nadi shares the fascinating story behind Sandcastles & Snowmen: why she wrote the book, where the name comes from and the message she hopes to share with the world in her book.
A Snowman Changed My Perspective
In the late 1980’s, I saw an advertisement in an American magazine encouraging women to buy a laptop. In the picture, a cheerful young woman carried one with labels pointing to it from all directions to show its contents. One of those labels read: “draft of my book”. Since then, I wanted a laptop and dreamed of writing a book.
Although I’ve been a writer and a public speaker for many years, I never got around to writing that book, until many unusual circumstances came together to give me the final nudge. It happened in Sweden, where I was encouraged by non-Muslim (and often atheist) Swedes to write a book to simply explain Islam. This request was a big lesson for me on the value of human communication and exchanging cultures with the aim of mutual learning and respect.
Swedes are very good at that. I decided to explain Islam in a modern global context through my personal journey as a woman, re-discovering a faith I was born into but did not understand, just like most young people of my generation.
The first time I was invited to speak in Sweden was during a very cold spell in winter. When I asked my friends what to pack for the weather, one of them said I should pack very warm clothes because, “It could get really cold up there,” she said, “even colder than in Saudi Arabia!” We both laughed. Then a strange thought occurred to me: I remembered seeing a photograph on the Internet earlier of a very unusual snowman: a Saudi Snowman!
It’s not entirely impossible to have snow in a desert climate like Saudi Arabia, but that idea never occurs to us because we’re more comfortable referring to our archived images about each other. We only think of sand in Saudi Arabia and snow in Sweden. But actually, both sand and snow exist in both places.
My work challenges stereotypes and creatively connects people across cultural divides. So I included that picture of the Saudi Snowman in the lecture I was preparing and used it to start a discussion on diversity.
Then it occurred to me that if we asked two children at opposite sides of the world to build something from their local environment, probably the child playing on a warm beach would build a sandcastle, and the child playing in a snow-covered forest would build a snowman.
Why the name Sandcastles & Snowmen?
Although sandcastles and snowmen come from two different worlds, they have some things in common: both are a child’s innocent attempt at turning an abstract idea into a tangible reality; just as we do as adults when we try to build a life. Both structures, whether made from sand or snow, create the illusion of permanency, but the truth is, both are only just temporary. No matter how long they live, they will soon return to where they came from: the sand on the beach and the snow in the forest, just like us; just like life.
As we become adults we turn into active consumers and we attach emotional value to things. We believe that happiness comes from being rich. We forget that we’re 3-dimensional beings who have a soul too, not just a mind and a body. We build lives out of delicate ideas, dreams and feelings believing they will last forever. We ignore the only solid fact: that one day all will cease to exist.
Before that happens, we all need to find out why we were brought to our respective beaches and forests in the first place?
I spent the first 30 years of my life evading this important question. Then, when I grew tired of running away from my soul, I decided to search for the answer, and I found it right there in my heart.
The Quest for Meaning
What little I practiced of Islam was mechanical and superficial. I was too busy living to pause and reflect on a deeper meaning of my life. Like most young people of the globalized world, I too was sucked into the grind of material living believing the illusion that happiness came from acquiring more “things”.
Back then, I was a lifestyle editor, a fashion commentator and a TV host. Spirituality to me was just a quaint concept. I was proud to be more a citizen of the world than a local woman and I thought it was impossible to be both. But I was wrong. The time came when my soul was so starved that it hurt. There were big issues I couldn’t relate to through materialism alone. So, I began a journey of self-education and discovery. In many ways, the journey itself was the answer. I actually became a better global citizen because of being Muslim, not despite of it.
This is the transformational journey I share in my book Sandcastles & Snowmen.
Through my work, I speak about Islam and Muslim-West relations with world leaders, such as the King of Sweden and the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations. My most interesting spiritual conversations were with ordinary people on trains, planes and sidewalk cafes in all corners of the world. Surprisingly, I learned a lot about my faith from all these people, who weren’t even Muslims. This is one of the beautiful aspects I discovered in Islam: that the more you take in of life’s diversity and variety, the more you can give in the practical, contemporary application of faith to make this a better world for everyone living in it.
My Message Through the Book
Some of the values I discovered while researching Islam have touched me profoundly as viable solutions for some pressing global problems and I believe those lessons would make a significant positive difference to our world in relation to peace, environmental protection, human rights, freedom, women, diversity, and many other issues of global importance. Whether or not those who applied them were Muslim, the solutions will still work.
Just as people around the world would draw inspiration from Zen or Yoga without intending to be Buddhists, why not turn to Islam for global inspiration as well?
I also want my personal story to show an example of millions of international Muslim women like me. Women who are grown up, independent, intelligent and successful, who also freely and willingly choose to adhere to Islam. Not out fear or coercion as the common misconception goes, but after careful reflection and through research. We don’t need to be “rescued” from our beliefs and our religious practices. We want to be treated as equals, who deserve respect for our freedom of choice and of religion.
I also hope my book will do my faith some justice. In the face of bigoted attacks on one hand, and the archaic literature being reproduced as the only source of knowledge on Islam on the other hand.
Sadly, traditional books on Islam look like technical manuals to most young Muslims. They’re boring and impersonal, portraying an overly ideal and angelic image of a Muslim that makes it difficult for both Muslims and non-Muslims to think of Islam in application in the real world, let alone in a modern global context. This missing perspective is what I try to cover in my book from practical international experience and in light of my readings and social media activities in political, economic, behavioural, scientific and creative fields.
In my research, I found that the original texts of Islam teach us to constantly learn and unlearn, to doubt and question and to never take anything at face value, not even faith.
The world needs to know that Islam is not an oppressive ideology for creating mindless, obedient clones; but a life system for creating self-leaders, creative thinkers, innovative scientists, successful entrepreneurs and exemplary global citizens. I discuss each of those topics in my book and I’m hoping it will be enjoyable for the global reader of any faith and culture, including Muslims, especially those who live in non-Muslim communities and who want to relate to their new environment without sacrificing their Islamic heritage.
I’m also hoping that Sandcastles & Snowmen would serve as a useful tool of understanding for educators, politicians, media professionals, activists and integration advocates around the world.
The biggest message I want to share with the world through my book is that we often look too faraway for inspiration, when actually the inspiration each of us seeks is right there in our hearts, we only need to be silent and listen.
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Sahar El-Nadi can be reached through her site SaharElnadi.com