An exquisite and inspiring memoir about one mother's unimaginable choice in the face of oppression and abuse in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
How far would you go to protect yourself? Your dignity? Your family?
In the days before Homeira Qaderi gave birth to her son, Siawash, the road to the hospital in Kabul would often be barricaded because of the frequent suicide explosions. With the city and the military on edge, it was not uncommon for an armed soldier to point his gun at the pregnant woman's bulging stomach, terrified that she was hiding a bomb. Propelled by the love she held for her soon-to-be-born child, Homeira walked through blood and wreckage to reach the hospital doors. But the joy of her beautiful son's birth was soon overshadowed by other dangers that would threaten her life.
No ordinary Afghan woman, Homeira refused to cower under the strictures of a misogynistic social order. Defying the law, at the age of thirteen, she risked her freedom to teach children reading and writing and fought for women's rights in her theocratic and patriarchal society.
Devastating in its power, Dancing in the Mosque is a mother's searing letter to the son she was forced to leave behind. In telling her story - and that of Afghan women - Homeira challenges us to reconsider the meaning of motherhood, sacrifice, and survival.
| ISBN: | 9780008375317 |
| Publication date: | 31st March 2022 |
| Author: | Humayra Qadiri |
| Publisher: | 4th Estate an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 240 pages |
| Genres: |
Memoirs Gender studies: women and girls Terrorism, armed struggle Shariah law: family relations Shariah law: customs and behaviour Islamic life and practice True stories of survival of abuse and injustice Violence and abuse in society |