The Haj: A Novel

With this book by Leon Uris having more than 120 reviews already, I will not go into the plot details. Instead, I wish to mention what impressed me. I was singularly impressed with hearing an exciting historical fiction story from the viewpoint of an Arab Muslim Muktar (governor) and his family (and extended family), being told from the perspective of his son, Ishmael. The story describes in great detail the culture of the Arab Muslim family and community in the 1940's and 1950's. The vicious hatred, control and infighting within families and between families is the theme that struck me as being the most significant. According to Uris' view of Arabic men, boys are trained at a young age to hate the Jew, control their women, vie for position within the family, and ruthlessly thrust anyone aside (even your family members) if required. Hatred reigns supreme in this culture. Hatred of the Jew, hatred and distrust of Western civilization, hatred for other Arabic cultures and nations is clearly described in this book. Blind hatred is the theme of this book. Is it any wonder with this mindset that the Arab world is ruled by ruthless tyrants who enact brutal laws to repress the masses they rule? The Haj and his family become displaced from their village when Israel becomes a nation in 1948 and war ensues. The description of "life" in their village of Tabah, and subsequently eking out a pitiful existence in a refugee camp is darkly bleak and horrific to consider - a literal hell on earth. The control of Arabic women and their lot in life under Sharia Law is equally horrific. Women are given absolutely no position in Arabic culture except as sexual slaves and domestic slaves. Men rule with supreme authority, even capital punishment authority. If this interpretation of Arabic life within the realm of Muslim religion is accurate, and I have no reason to doubt it, then it is not surprising why the refugee situation still exists over 50 years from when it began, and why the nations of the Middle East have no chance of a peaceful coexistence - neither with their Arabic neighbors or their enemy Israel.This is a startling book and well worth the read. It will instruct you, shock you, and intrigue you. I have to admit it took me nearly 100 pages to get "hooked" as it takes that long to set the local and historical stage of the book. Valuable historical information is given in these first 100 pages. The first 100 pages are very instructive of Arabic history and culture.Read this book to gain an understanding of Arabic culture and history. It is a real eye-opener and gave me a much needed education on this particular culture. This one stays on my shelf to read again someday. A "keeper" in every sense of the word. Uris' insights into Arabic culture remain valuable and pertinent in understanding today's events and turmoil in the Middle East.konedog

I decided to write a review on this book because of some of the negative feedback it has received, accusing the author of being biased, racist, and his writing to be historically innacurate. I dont think that calling Mr Uris racist is accurate - the whole point of this book is to show that much of the Palestinians tragic situation that rose as a result of the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 was because there was no one around to negotiate on their behalf or protect there interests: the jews were about to get a state of their own, which was planned first and foremost as a jewish state and certainly didnt include a palestinian government, Abdullah wanted to expand Jordan and build a "Greater Syria" empire amd therefore had little interest in granting the palestinians any kind of state of there own, Egypt having aspirations of her own and knowing that the British and the Americans were by her side decided to get involved in the war and get what she can also,territory - wise: this would not have included granting the palestinians a state for themselves, only achieving the expanding of the Egyptian territory. The list goes on and on. Ultimaltely, the Palestinians had no one to turn to and no one to look out for them, never having any experience in self government or in democratic liberal politics. I think that this is the main focus of the book, and the real "eye opener" that it holds, because this offers an outlook rarely seen in todays press.Mr. Uris's pro-jewish views are obvious - he himself is a jew and he obviously feels for them and sympathizes there case as seen in his other books like Exodus and Mila 18. However, he shows much sympathy for the palestinian cause when he writes about how they themselves were victimized by other nation leaders who had aspirations and interests of there own, leaders who took advantage of the lack of government and leadership within the palestinians to achieve there own political ambitions and desires. His description of the arab life that some of the readers have found insulting is inacurate. These readers are judging the book through western eyes, and not understanding the basic element of the story. The fact of the matter is, that the palestinian arabs, the fellah and the bedouin alike, were not western cultured - far from it - and for that reason western moral standards like a 2 person marriage as opposed to pologamy, linguistic skills as opposed to analphabetism, feminism as opposed to hierarchy between man and woman have no place in the arab palestinian world of the 1940's. Palestine in the 1940's wasnt western cultured, and people living there at that time acted accordingly. That their actions are judged by us "Westeners" to be of ill moral - thats not Mr. Uris's doing. The reason that the jews in the story are portrayed as skilled, hardworking, ect, is because they had a European (western) background and culture - these ideals are western ideals and therefore would not have characterized a palestinian fellah of the 1940's or a bedoin. Throughout the book there is always a contrast between the jews and the palestinians based on this theme, and its not meant to show any prejudism or racism, its meant to show us the contrast between the west and the palestinian culture, that survived for thousands of years before the west conquered the middle east and forced changes on the people. This is just another example of how the Palestinians lacked the skills to survive the "western" conquest because of there lack of government and liberal-parliamentary politics which did exist at this point in the surrounding Arab nations and thus ensured their survival after the British left.All in all this is a great story, really interesting and thoughtful. Its an intelligent book for intelligent people, who realize that the world in the 40's 30's was very different than the world today, and that the Middle East region at that time was very poor, very anti-western and the adaptation of western culture was held only by a few (the rich and the powerful of the Arab world) while the rest of the population was a mix of a variety of ethnic groups who clung zealously to their own heritage and ways because the world around them was changing so fast and suddenly that this became their ownly source of comfort.

Purchased this book after the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel in an attempt to try and understand the history of Palestine. Historically accurate and beautifully written. The author takes you on a cultural journey through time offering the reader the opportunity to understand the mindset and long held beliefs of both Arab and Jew.

I liked everything about the book. I bought it as a gift.

I am re-reading all Leon Uris's books and they really draw you into the action and storyline. Brilliant entertaining read.

Crap

Je vais écrire cette critique en anglais, parce que le livre est en anglais.First, I need to criticize the posting on Amazon for not stating that this was an "Unabridged recording."Had I known that, I would have bought it sooner... That is my only criticism of the presentation.The packaging, of this audio book on CD is the best I've ever seen.The production values — professional reading, dramatizing,with accents that were not condescending, is excellent.I would like very much to see more audio products with this quality & price."The Haj" tells the story of the founding of the State of Israel, from the point of view of Jews who do not hate Arabs,but understood the terrible position that their Arab brothers have put the Palestinian people.As I have written to decades, the Palestinian people have two existential threats;they have Jews for enemies and they have Arabs for friends.Those who reject that point of view probably won't like this book. I found it to bea fair telling of a the story of very difficult period of transition for two peoples;one that remains unresolved.