Nine Parts of Desire: The Hidden World of Islamic Women

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1994

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapters 9-11

Chapter 12-Conclusion

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Key Figures

Geraldine Brooks

Geraldine Brooks was born on September 14, 1955, in Sydney, Australia. She studied at the University of Sydney and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She became a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, winning an Overseas Press Club Award in 1996 for her coverage of the Gulf War. She also spent the early ‘90s reporting for The New Yorker throughout the area of the former Yugoslavia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Brooks’s experiences as a correspondent in the Middle East provide a foundational context for her work, particularly in Nine Parts of Desire, where her focus is on delineating the intricacies of women’s lives in Islamic societies. Brooks’s approach to storytelling is characterized by a commitment to journalistic investigation combined with a literary narrative style. The book has received acclaim for its insights into Muslim women’s lives while also attracting some criticism for what some regard as a Western-centric bias (See: Background).

Apart from her journalism, Brooks is also a successful novelist of works of historical fiction. Her second novel, March (2005), inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s Civil War-era novel Little Women (1868/1869), won the Pulitzer Prize in 2006. Some of her other historical novels include Year of Wonders (2001), about an outbreak of plague in the 17th century, Caleb’s Crossing (2011), a fictionalized portrayal of the life of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, and The Secret Chord (2015), about the ancient King David of Israel. Among other honors, she won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2010 and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in 2023.

Sahar Hamdi

Sahar Hamdi appears in Chapter 12 of Nine Parts of Desire. Her journey embodies some of the tensions between personal identity, societal expectations, and cultural traditions within the context of Islamic societies, reflecting The Role of Women in Islamic Societies.

As a celebrated belly dancer in Cairo, Sahar’s life is a testament to the complex dynamics Islamic women often face. She rises to prominence in the entertainment scene, where she is particularly favored by wealthy Saudi tourists. However, her profession also attracts religious censure and debate, indicating the paradox of her profession––she is celebrated and sought after, yet also subject to moral scrutiny and even religious condemnation. This duality underscores the tension between personal ambition and societal norms, as her dance, an expression of art and femininity, becomes a focal point of cultural and religious debate, with the government attempting to regulate the practice.

Sahar, like some other prominent belly dancers of her generation, eventually embraces retirement for religious reasons, mirroring the broader societal shifts and pressures exerted on women in Islamic cultures as her country becomes more conservative. Her decision can be seen both as a response to societal and religious pressures for conformity and as an expression of personal autonomy and self-reflection in matters of faith. The narrative underscores the multifaceted nature of such decisions, highlighting that the actions of women in these contexts are influenced by a combination of personal beliefs, cultural norms, and societal expectations, rather than by any single factor.

Mahmoud Ramadan

Mahmoud Ramadan is an official with the Department of Artistic Inspection in Egypt. He appears in Chapter 12. His responsibilities include regulating belly dancing, a cultural art form ingrained in Egyptian society yet subject to various interpretations and moral judgments. Ramadan’s role as the chief inspector of dancers, where he issues permits based on the appropriateness of costumes and choreography, positions him at the intersection of art, morality, and governmental regulation.

His reflections on the golden era of belly dancing in the 1950s, when dancers were idolized and highly compensated, juxtapose with the contemporary scene, where he observes a decline in the quality and societal appreciation of the art form. This decline, marked by the aging of renowned dancers and the lack of promising new talent, symbolizes broader cultural shifts as the religious climate becomes more conservative.

Ramadan’s narrative encapsulates the governmental perspective on cultural expression within Islamic society. His role in regulating belly dancing is indicative of the broader societal and political dynamics at play, where art forms like belly dancing navigate the fine line between cultural heritage and moral propriety. Through Ramadan’s character, Brooks explores the tension between artistic freedom and religious conservatism, shedding light on the challenges faced by artists and performers in conforming to the evolving standards set by authorities.