Keepin' it Halaal

Writing has been part of me for quite awhile now. It’s hard to put a date on when exactly I began to put pen to paper and actually construct stories. My guess would be sometime in my early elementary years. But when doesn’t necessarily matter; all that matters is that I have found interest and joy in writing for a long time.

While I do a lot of non-fiction writing for this blog, my true writing genius lies in my fictional writing. My non-fiction writing, such as what I do on this blog, does not compare to my creative writing. Or at least I think does. I’m probably not as good as I think I am. But that’s the subject of a future post insha’Allah.

More specifically, I write novels. I did not identify myself as a novelist until a couple years ago, but a couple years before that I attempted my first novel. As soon as I would come home from school most afternoons, I would begin clacking away at my grandma’s ancient hand-me-down PC. I only managed to get a few chapters into the story, but it was the beginning.

I become serious about novels in my senior year of high school. Ramadan coincided with the start of the school year, so I spent my lunch times in front of the office, reading. I had just purchased a novel I was very excited to read, ‘One Way to Pakistan.’ About halfway through, I began to say to myself, ‘I think I could do this. I think I could write a book.’ By the time I had finished the book, I knew I wanted to try writing a novel myself. When people ask me what gave me the inspiration for my first novel, I often credit this book. Indeed, ‘One Way to Pakistan’ is why the setting of my first novel is in Lahore, Pakistan.

My writing is all posted on Booksie, a website dedicated to aspiring authors and their work. I chose to display my work on such a site because I was looking for feedback on my novels. Insha’Allah one day I would like to possibly publish a novel or two, so it would be nice to see whether people enjoy them or not.

However, while I do have my regular readers Alhamdulillah, I do not get very many reads, at least not nearly as many readers as some of the other novels on the site. This is because I choose to stick to my morals when I decided to write. A reader once emailed me and commented, ‘I love your writing. You use great descriptions! It’s surprising you don’t have many readers. But I think if you thought about writing romance, you would probably get more reads. Just a thought:)’

Unfortunately, this commenter is correct. Take a quick look at Booksie and you will immediately notice the stories that receive the most reads are those of the romance genre, or worse, those of the erotica genre. Even the pieces in young adult genre, which is where mine are, do not get nearly as many reads as romance pieces.

Booksie readers tend to be drawn towards novels with what any Muslims would consider haram content. Just simple physical contact between a girlfriend and boyfriend or a slight peck on the cheek falls into the category of haram. If a book doesn’t have stuff like that included, then an author can be certain their book isn’t going to get many reads, at least not there. But even the bestsellers, physical novels and ebooks alike, are probably romance novels.

Despite the fact that I know I could get more reads and more publicity if I began writing romance novels filled with all that kissing and making out and such, I choose not to. Rather, I stick with what I feel is best.

I will admit there is some swearing in one novel, ‘My Sacrifice’ (aka ‘Meri Kurbaani’), both in English and in Urdu. However, whether or not that remains is yet to be seen. And while I do allude to sex in ‘The Bond of Sisters’ (aka ‘Behnon ka Rishta’), I never go into detail, it’s only implication, and it’s between a married couple. As for my latest work ‘A War Without Reason,’ well, I’m only one chapter in but I don’t foresee any haram scenes coming into play.

Instead, my writing focuses on social issues. The first novel I wrote and completed, ‘The Bond of Sisters,’ is about two exceptionally close friends who are forced into arranged marriages. One turns out great, but the other is filled with abuse and oppression. The sequel to my first novel, ‘A War Without Reason’ centers on the well-known tension between India and Pakistan as well as setting up the plot for the third book in the series, which will be about Islamic extremists in Pakistan. ‘My Sacrifice,’ perhaps one of my favorites, is about a young Pakistani American Muslim who becomes radicalized but begins to fight an internal war over what is right.

So, while I may not receive many reads or much feedback, I’m content with the type of writing I do. I do have my regular readers Alhamdulillah, all of them Muslim, which is far better than nothing! Insha’Allah there are more people out there who would be interested in my writing, I just haven’t reached them yet. Yes, I may not write in the genre that garners the most attention from Booksie users, and yes, I do not get nearly as many reads as I would if I did. But Islam is the most important thing in my life, and I want my writing to reflect that. Thus, I stick to my morals, keepin’ it halaal.

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If the hyperlinks in the text weren't enough, here are the links to all my novels:

-- The Bond of Sisters (Behnon ka Rishta)

-- A War Without Reason (sequel to The Bond of Sisters)

-- My Sacrifice (Meri Kurbaani)

-- Meri Kurbaani sample (an excerpt of the book)

-- My main Booksie page (with all of my posted writing listed)