His Other Wife

by Umm Zakiyyah

Jacob and Deanna are a power couple. Aliyah is Deanna's best friend...whom Jacob wants to marry. Expanded and continued beyond Umm Zakiyyah's popular online series by the same name, His Other Wife is a story about love and betrayal, faith and personal crisis, and withstanding deep emotional wounds.Jacob is a successful businessman and college professor, and his wife Deanna is a renowned marriage counselor and author. Together they are their Muslim community’s power couple. Aliyah is Deanna’s recently divorced best friend who has just accepted a position at the college where Jacob works—and who is the unwilling recipient of Deanna’s constant unsolicited relationship advice, particularly that Aliyah needs to learn how to hold a marriage together and keep a man from ever thinking about marrying another woman. But their friendship takes a difficult turn when Aliyah receives a phone call from her uncle saying that Jacob is interested in marrying her as a second wife—without Deanna’s knowledge.

642 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 14, 2016

About the author

Daughter of American converts to Islam, Umm Zakiyyah writes about the interfaith struggles of Muslims and Christians, and the intercultural, spiritual, and moral struggles of Muslims in America.

Umm Zakiyyah’s work has earned praise from writers, professors, and filmmakers and has been translated into multiple languages. In 2008, Umm Zakiyyah was awarded the Muslim Girls Unity Conference Distinguished Authors Award. Umm Zakiyyah also writes under her birth name Ruby Moore.

Visit uzauthor.com

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

Has the author improved technically in her writing from earlier books? Yes. However, she tried to shove three books'-worth of plot into one book here. The plot as described on the cover ends quite early on, and we are loaded down with.....

SPOILERS......

Rape survivors who were molested as children, mental illness, familial dysfunction, suicidal thoughts/attempts, and let's not forget to drag people through the mud for not being Muslim. Also, sorry, but having a closeted lesbian character who is married to a guy express anti-GLBTQ+ attitudes doesn't make her comments any less homophobic and transphobic.

Most of the characters come off as smug, self-righteous, arrogant, manipulative, and generally just not anyone I'd want to be around. They seemed to do nothing but judge and condemn others constantly - even Aliyah the doormat hands out a few condemnations from her "piously perfect" pedestal. After all, how dare any character be flawed and only human!

I was not convinced by a single romance in this book. The characters were never developed as couples enough for me to buy that they were "soooo in love".

I am unimpressed and wondering at all the 5 star reviews I see for this author, having read 4 of her books. Are we so starved for Muslim fiction that we highly rate what would, in other circumstances, be rated mediocre at best?

[Sherifah · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first ever novel by Umm Zakiyah. Hard to put down and full of good points, and well written story with great character development. A talented writer, I look forward to reading her other novels.

[Ruqaiyah Davids · Rating 2 out of 5]

Umm Zakiyyah seemed set out to save the world with this novel. While noble, it's just not possible. Nor does it make for a good read.

She addresses several valid and important issues in the novel, and allows her readers to enter into enlightening discussions by way of her characters' dialogue. I particularly like how she allows for differing views to be presented by way of two characters discussing their personal views and understanding on a matter. It allows us to see that, as individuals who are part of a larger ummah, we don't all have to see things the same way, and that, when we do disagree, we can do so amicably and still learn from one another. I really like this aspect of the novel.

However, the story was much too long, and it includes way too many sub-plots and had way too much repetition of the same issues and even repeats whole parts of previous conversations and scenes -- Umm Zakiyyah should not underestimate her readers by thinking she needs to repeat information over and over or explain explicitly how one thing relates to another when it is actually obvious. This was unnecessary and extremely disturbing to me while reading.

On the other hand, however, there were several scenes which I feel she has glossed over and that I would actually have liked to have seen the full extent of -- I felt deprived and left out of the loop.

Additionally, many of her conversations between characters were much too lengthy to be gripping -- and some conversations arose quite inorganically and felt too forced, their sole purpose being to address a topic with a particular agenda, while having no actual relevance or purpose in furthering the plot or developing an important character.

Unfortunately, there is an imbalance in the novel between over-emphasising certain scenes and issues, and not fully developing or exploring others.

Umm Zakiyyah's technical writing skill is sound, and her story and its themes are coherent for the most part, ma sha Allah. However, this novel would have been much more impacting and enjoyable had it been reduced by a few characters and sub-plots, and a couple of hundred pages.

[Hussaina Gambo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I came here to vent and vent I will. I have read Umm Zakiyya's If I could Speak trilogy and liked it. It therefore was shock to me how this one turned out. Aliyah is too weak for my liking. I don't think it is right to teach people that Islam expects people to always take crap from others. Not only Aliyah, even Jacob. They were both passive aggressive and they allowed Deanna get away with her atrocities and most times blamed her for their weakness. The story tried to bring to the fore important issues especially in trying to show how in Muslim societies, just like any other society, there are problems. I am positive this became necessary because of the squeaky clean image the society got in the trilogy , at least. All fine and good but what gives a writer the right to write a text book with about a hundred characters? It felt like the writer was hell bent on discussing EVERY conceivable problem in one book. Not only that, the writer had a problem letting go of issues so the same issues kept being revisited on different characters. I did not enjoy the book, I was offended by the size and sub-plots. I immediately gave my sister the book to read to punish her the way the person that gave me the book punished me. I also felt that some things were overdone, like Deanna putting Aliyah down or the facebook messages that Deanna and her cohorts kept posting. I don't think in the adult world people actually behave like that. It was not believable for me. Before I go, let me drop this last line: how strange Jacob and Aliyah's brand of courtship! They would speak of work and every other thing but their feelings. Jacob would only ask to speak to Aliyah's uncle, never once did he use the opportunity of being a colleague to sell himself to her. I think this is a rather extreme show of religiosity. I find this kind of restraint impossible to believe especially for a man that waited more than twelve years to have the opportunity to marry this lady. No, thank you. I think Within limit and probably in the presence of a chaperone,nothing stops a man from expressing his feelings in the hope that he convinces her to accept him .

[Boho Beannie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I've read by this author. The storyline moved slowly and the conversations too often seemed like forced sermons. I understand talking about how to actually live out your faith, but the characters seemed too flat. As a non-Muslim, I enjoyed the frequent Quran references and how everything was seen through the lens of their belief. The mental health issues were difficult, but I appreciated that the author didn't make them easy or quick solutions but showed the very real continuous struggle that is mental illness. I skimmed the last third or so, I was interested in finding out what happened with the characters, but the forced conversations and how they always cough/laugh was getting on my nerves. I'm not sure of this would qualify as a romance or women's fiction, but it was interesting to read.

[SteamyBookLover · Rating 5 out of 5]

The longest book I found worth reading. Normally, I have a strict policy against reading books longer than 300-350pp, and an author is pushing it the further away from 300pp a book gets. I am a product of my society, and if you can't tell me a story by 300pp, then I am not interested.

Umm Zakiyyah’s His other Wife is an exception.
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nbamusli...

[Solly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the book is well written with some strong characters, it is rather long with a very slow moving plot. In fact, the book has several plots that are not really related except that the characters know one another.
The main story line moves very slowly and then culminates in an unbelieveable event that would only be expected of people who have reached the highest level of personal development - won't mention it here so as not to spoil it for those who still intend to read this book.
The author tried to cover too many issues and challenges faced by Muslim converts. Not sure if whe wanted to highlight all the issues but a lot of discussion goes into these challenges and there are so many that they detract from the main story.

[Obalola Ibrahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, the story is quite long for me to go through at first, so because it was a recommendation from my friend, Jumai, I found a way to listen to it.
Two people who God had written together were through cunning and self ambition were separated from their destiny. After many years apart and through personal reflection on God's words and human interactions, lots of patience and forgiveness, the two came together to fulfill their destinies.
Lots of self reflection, societal expectations from different communities - especially self preservation (or tribal preservation).

[Faseeha Esmailjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book took me a good amount of time to finish and when purchasing the fact that the book was thick and font was small excited me immensely.

This book has certainly added a different perspective to Islam and how people born into Islam take a lot for granted. This resonated with me. I do appreciate that Aliyah was humanised in the last chapter when she finally broke down after Deannas attempted suicide. This book was well thought out and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

[Elizabeth Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book!

I have yet to be disappointed with anything by this author. Her characters are realistic enough that I feel as though I have met them, or at least heard of of them. The storylines reflect the struggles of the Muslim community and . Inspire us to turn to Allah for solutions.

[Aisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been much better. There was far too much going on and the dialogues between characters just felt too preachy. I couldn't really relate to any of the characters either. Perhaps it just needs a good edit to save the story?

[Raheemah Odusote · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written story that gripped me from the beginning to the end. I even prayed that it wouldn't end. 🤣

[Adesola · Rating 5 out of 5]

very educative and eye opening to facts about islam and life in general

[Shar Maene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have learned a lot from it and somehow have related what the author was telling about the reality of our community. It was a long read but it was worth it.

[Firdausy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much, am just glad it exists, it touches you both spiritually and emotionally ❤😻

[Samantha Salem · Rating 5 out of 5]

That was intense!!! Just finished reading it! I reached 96% of the book and was hesitant to finish it because I felt sad it ended already. But I'm glad how everything ended. Great job Umm Zakiyyah as usual!

[Abu Kamdar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written novel, worth a read for people who like fiction. It is an interesting tale full of important lessons and points to ponder. But it juggled too many stories at once, leaving some stories unfinished. That is only issue with what was really a well told story.

[Book.Wormette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read and not really about the what you would expect from the title. I am glad to finish the book after getting a teaser from reading the short story with the same title.