How we cite our quotes: (Page)
Quote #4
Academic studies of Islam commonly focus on its textual heritage or on visible, official institutions such as mosques. Consequently, it is this Islam—the Islam of texts and mosques—that becomes visible and that is presented as in some sense legitimate, whereas most of the Muslims whom I know personally, both in the Middle East and in Europe and America, would never go near a mosque or willingly associate themselves with any form of official Islam. (129)
Ahmed often juxtaposes official Islam—the Islam of educated men and textual tradition—with Islam as it's actually lived by most people. The differences are more than ideological. There's some geography to it as well. Ahmed points out that official Islam lists the mosque as its home address. The other Islam can be found in women's realms of power, like the "harem" of Zatoun and Alexandria, and in the places occupied by everyday people. So even though official Islam represented a small minority, it dominated in places of power because of its easy visibility (the power of the written word!).
Quote #5
I remember feeling uneasy, for instance, at his telling us how the art and artifacts of the Egyptians proved that the Egyptians did indeed have a civilization but also showed that they lacked the capacity for abstract thought. This fact became quite obvious, he said...when Egyptians' civilization was compared to that of the Greeks, who had developed philosophies and mathematics and so on, which the Egyptians did not have. (146)
Ahmed is speaking of her creepy English School headmaster and sometimes teacher, Mr. Price. His prejudices against Egypt—and especially against Egyptian Muslims—were meant to wear down any cultural pride felt by his local students and to assert the superiority of his own culture. While Ahmed can't quite put her finger on her uneasiness at this behavior when she was a child, it becomes clear to her in later days. She understands that these microaggressions were meant to revise history, to erase the contributions and importance of Egyptian culture for the global community.
Quote #6
I continued to love European classical music and still have (a little grudgingly perhaps) a love for it. But I find myself sometimes yearning for another music, the kind only my mother and her sisters and friends listened to at home when I was a child. (153)
Ahmed tells us of her estrangement from Egyptian culture (especially from pop culture). She even says that her mother's Arabic music drove her insane with its incessant wailing noise. As she grows in understanding of the concept of a "colonized consciousness," she sees that her love of European things wasn't founded on some objective ideal—it was fed by a steady stream of bias flowing from British authority figures. Ahmed realizes that she has to confront the visions of these two cultures she has in her head to get at the truth, and to learn to appreciate what's valuable in her home culture.