Guest Blog: Jane Fitzpatrick, Contributing Writer for Religion Matters
Review of The Lover (2019) by Laury Silvers
North American author, Laury Silvers, has created a Sufi mystery series that grabs any avid reader into its plot while offering an accessible learning experience for those interested in studying Sufism. The Lover is the first book in that series called the Sufi Mysteries Quartet.
About The Lover
The story begins when Zaytuna is pulled into the case of a local boy’s tragic and mysterious death, bringing the community together in a uniquely harrowing way. Readers follow Hadith scholars, policemen, enslaved servants, Sufi mystics, and more as they come together to solve the crime. As unexpected truths, hidden around every corner, slowly unravel, they also find love amid loneliness, turmoil, and death.
Religion is not the obvious main character of Silvers’ narrative. However, from the tribulations of poverty to the ecstasy of mysticism, Silvers’ narrative explores the vast spectrums of social structures and lived Islamic experiences. Even through heartache and devastation, the beauty of a Muslim’s relationship with family and with God are revealed in Silvers’ intriguing plot and relatable characters. The Sufi tradition also drives the characters both as they move through the challenges of a tragic event and during the comings and goings of their everyday lives. As the plot seeks to offer both questions and answers, the individual perspectives on Sufism help the reader see religious tradition through the eyes of both the influential and the common people in medieval Baghdad society.
Using the Book as a Learning Tool
The Lover is an excellent book for engaging college students beyond textbook literature and for introducing Islamic mysticism through realistic, yet interesting, characters. The historical setting also provides lessons on the interplay between Islamic tradition and the unique political and community structures of Baghdad at the time.
To honor The Lover as a novel, I recommend working with this text in the style of a book club; however, this book should be read only after students have a basic understanding of Islamic culture and traditions. The text itself is easy to read, but the themes, content, and vocabulary may not be accessible for those who are totally unfamiliar with Islam. Given the importance of background knowledge, this book is probably most suitable for courses centered on Islam, Sufism, Middle East history, or Islamic Literature.
Circle Up!
Gathering the class into a circle can facilitate a more open discussion of the themes and details of the narrative that interest them. It also tends to promote a more casual setting.
Guide Discussion
Guide the discussion back to information the students have already learned about Islam and Sufism through other texts and more formal academic lectures and discussions. This will allow the students to visualize the traditions and teachings of Islam through the lived experiences of the characters.
Students will certainly have their own thoughts about this incredibly rich text, but you might want to consider some of these discussion themes:
- The ecstatic experience of a Sufi
- Class/social structures and relations
- The overall role of religion in the story
- The interaction between class/social structures and religious belief/practice
Create a Safe Classroom Space
I also recommend giving students a safe space for asking questions, particularly if the culture and traditions described in this book may seem distant from their own. The experiences of the characters described in The Lover are placed in a unique time and place. As a result, their everyday lifestyles and how they engage with other characters in the story might seem strange or unusual at first, especially to younger readers coming from different backgrounds.
The following resources offer guidelines for creating safe classroom spaces where students can talk about cultures and traditions that may differ from their own:
- Cultivating the Classroom as a Safe Space (from Edutopia)
- Creating Culturally Sustaining Learning Spaces (Workshop video from Portland State University)
Conclusion
This is an enjoyable book to read and discuss. Although it begins a series, The Lover is completely satisfactory as a stand-alone novel. If you’re looking for something unique to add to your summer bookshelf or to the final weeks of your syllabus for a more relaxed yet engaging lesson plan, try The Lover by Laury Silvers. And don’t forget: there are three more in the series!
The Jealous The Unseen The Peace
About the Author
