The House of the Mosque

An eyeopener!
This is the story of how Ayatollah Khomeini and Saddam Hussein rose to power. A story of how it is possible for a very very few ruthless people to exercise tyranny. A story of a surprised people, of surprised persons that did not see what was coming, and even when it came could not believe their eyes. It is a story of the mechanism of fear; How to rule by it, who rises towards it and who exploits it. Who become informers and who gets to know they actually is built around an inviolable core of humanity. It is a story of broken Tradition, of the misuse of an old and holy book full of wonderful poetry. It is a story of what it costs to break free.

Kader Abdolah is a pen-name, constructed from the names of two of the author’s friends murdered in the troubles surrounding the Islamic Revolution in Iran. This is my second experience of his writing, the first being Cunéiforme (My Father’s Notebook) and I conclude he will come to be recognised as a great and subtle writer. Right now his books are slow to appear in English.

This is a book by an exile who loves the country he fled. He writes with a light touch, spanning decades and giving us a view of the country during both the Shah’s reign and the Khomeini years from the point of view of the peaceful head of a household who is repeatedly drawn by family members into confrontation with the authorities. The disgraceful conduct of show more America in supporting the Shah’s regime and in supporting Saddam Hussein’s savage chemical war gets a restrained and honest airing in the book.

It’s so easy to dismiss Iran, based on the country as reported to us in the evening news. Read this book for an entirely new perspective on a dignified and cultivated people living under two consecutive intolerable regimes. show less

“There was once a house, an old house, which was known as ‘the house of the mosque’.”

So begins The House of the Mosque by Kader Abdolah.

Written by an Iranian author, now living in the Netherlands and writing in Dutch, The House of the Mosque follows an extended family who live in a house built onto a mosque in Senejan in Iran. The story starts in 1969 just before the first men land on the moon and continues through the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the subsequent Iran-Iraq war.

Before reading this book, I knew very little about the above events or about Islam and its traditions but I didn’t feel this affected my enjoyment of this book; in fact I would recommend this as a good starting point for someone who’s interested in show more reading literature about this period or area.

The House of the Mosque is a beautifully written novel, fable like in style with perhaps a touch of magical realism. Abdolah has been criticised for not being accurate enough in his treatment of the events surrounding the Iranian Revolution and I don’t know enough about the history of this period to know whether this criticism is accurate or not. But I think this is intended as a fable, as a fictionalised account of the author’s experiences in Iran during the time of the revolution and as a homage to the ‘old ways’, before the revolution changed things. The ending of the book makes it clear that to some extent this novel is autobiographical in nature and the novel is dedicated to Aqa Jaan, the main character in the book, ‘so I can let him go’. This is an emotional rather than factual account of this period of upheaval in Iran but despite the many struggles and sufferings described, the story is not depressing and ends on a note of hope that is truly uplifting.

A wonderful book and one that has made me interested in reading more literature about this area of the world. show less

This novel charts the changing fortunes of an Iranian family in the turbulent period of the 1950s through to the 1970s. Political upheaval and religious extremism colour each of their lives in different ways, and characters come and go against the backdrop of a slow-moving revolution.

My knowledge of recent Iranian history was sadly lacking before I read this, and I went into it feeling a little apprehensive. My worries were totally unnecessary; I read it in two sittings, and found myself utterly absorbed. The cast of characters was huge and sometimes a bit confusing, and was supplanted by a not-particularly-helpful family tree at the front of the book, but I did eventually get it clear in my head who was who and who wasn’t who. The show more writing was exceptional, and the plot was quite unique. Definitely a good read. show less

In the regional city of Senejan in Iran, stands the Friday Mosque and the house attached to the mosque, For generations, the Imam of the Mosque and his family, and also the caretaker of the mosque have lived together. The book opens in the mid twentieth century, when the local successful carpet salesman Aqa Jaan and his family caretake the mosque, and the Alsaberi family live alongside them. Kader Abdolah paints life at the mosque as unconcerned with the politics of the time, living life under the Shah without overt criticism for the progression of social values, quietly plodding on with everyday concerns, content, idyllic and free. The house is peopled by quirky characters; Imam Alsaberi suffers with a form of obsessive compulsion and show more cannot bear to be touched. He is washed everyday in his specially constructed bathroom by the 'the grandmothers' before he can preach. The Grandmothers have lived at the house of the mosque since they were very young, they are not actually related to the inhabitants of the house, they take care of everything quietly, invisibly. Muezzin is another quiet inhabitant of the house of the mosque, he spends his time shaping ceramic vases and plates in the basement, he is blind but he has a beautiful voice with with he calls the community to prayer, he hides his transistor radio under his clothes. There are other family members who visit occasionally like Nosrat, the modern photographer who brings his unveiled girlfriends to the house at the mosque, making love to them in sacred places, or Kazem Khan the elderly poet from the Jaan ancestral village who comes to seduce the Grandmothers and smoke opium.

When Imam Alsaberi dies, everything slowly unravels. Every new imam is unsatisfactory in some way, the politics of the country heats up, the mosque becomes a place where tradition and dissent clash, people are forced to change or be imprisoned. The events at the house of the mosque as observed by Aqa Jaan mirror the changing social and political events which ultimately lead to the overthrow of the Shah and the imposition of an ayatollah, Khomeini as the ruler of the country. Iran sees great upheaval but also previously unthinkable evils.

The House of the Mosque provides an insight into the impact of the significant political difficulties in the second half of the twentieth century upon ordinary Iranian people. The book took a hold over me as I followed the trials of the inhabitants of the House of the Mosque, so much so that I cared what happened to each character. Excellent characterisation, story and setting. 4 stars, an early reviewers copy. show less

I loved Kader Abdolah's 'The House of the Mosque'. The book follows the fortunes of one family, who through successive generations have served as custodians of the main Friday mosque in Senejan. The author maps the impact of Iran's turbulent history from the late 1960s through to the Iranian revolution and beyond as it impacts on this family. We see the specific marks that the broad sweep of history leaves on individuals, and how powerless they prove in the face of dramatic and violent change. We watch members of the family hold to their principles through times of extreme hardship, notably the patriach Aqa Jaan, and also how the promise of power or lure of temptation, perverts others, who succumb to the lure of dictatorship and show more religious extremism. The book weaves its spell slowly and surely. I was left caring deeply for this family, and more awake to the fate of the many other families who also faced life and loss through these turbulent times. show less

I didn’t know much about Muslim culture when I started reading this book. Even so, this book pulled me right in and gave me a better understanding of what is was like living in Iran at the time. House of The Mosque is set in Iran during a time of much upheaval. When you read this book you find yourself pulled in multiple directions. You feel yourself pulled toward the traditional, nice and safe life while at the same time drawn to the new and potentially dangerous. While life has slowly been changing all around them, the family of The Mosque is situated in a conservative town and has been relatively buffered from it. For them life has remained very much the same. You find yourself empathizing with this family despite the fact that show more they cling to the traditional (The women cover themselves; television is forbidden). Yet slowly they are being pulled along. No, not pulled along but rather forced along. You feel their confusion when they find that the ties of the community are fraying, that they no longer have control over what happens in their home town. You are surprised that government tried to outlaw women from covering themselves. You are angered when you read about the secret police attending the Mosque, lest anyone speak out against the new regime. As the tension slowly builds and it seems as if their way of life is slipping away, a new regime takes over. It is a return to the old, the traditional, and yet all too quickly it falls away as things take a violent turn. In fighting to cling to their way of life, the community began forcing the old ways on everyone. Just when you think things could not get any worse, war with America breaks out and the situation descends into chaos. And yet there are constant strings throughout, a feeling of hope. I enjoyed this book enormously and highly recommend it. show less