The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: Tales From Many Muslim Worlds

by Marguerite Richards (Editor ), Samina Najmi (Contributor)

An anthology revealing the multi-faceted experiences of people living in many Muslim worlds, which both challenges stereotypes and the responsibility to disband them.

Two schoolgirls in Yemen skip class, and wander into a yellow circus tent, empty except for one rusty cage. A Jordanian man spends a maddening summer in his sweaty apartment cursing his loud, ignorant neighbours. A woman in Beirut is heartsick, waiting for her kidnapped parrot to return. A young Bangladeshi-American argues with her father about her choice of boyfriend. A lady discovers the secret about the Pakistani neighbour who had stolen her birthday gifts. And an Iraqi soldier pines for an American journalist obsessed with someone else.

This ambitious collection is a four-year quest to find diverse stories from many Muslim worlds that build bridges between each of us, through intimate, and incredibly human experiences of love, loss, laughter and everything in between.

Genres: Essays

301 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2019

About the author

Based in Sri Lanka, Marguerite Richards is an American writer and memoir editor, working with people all over the world to tell their life stories. She holds degrees in literature and translation, has taught in France and Chile, and fell in love with magazine publishing in New York. She has worked on articles and essays published in many places, but she has found her calling with books. The second edition of her debut short memoir collection, The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human is available worldwide on Amazon and in bookstores June 2024.

Reviews

[Althea ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was such an emotional story and it’s evident how close each of these stories are to the the authors that wrote them. And it translates to me, as a reader, ten-fold.

⇢ trigger warnings// suicide (mentioned and discussed), death of a loved one, child death, war,

One of the authors is a Filipino actually based in Manila, if I’m not mistaken, and I cannot express how happy that made me. Criselda Yabes wrote “Fron Sulu, a Farewell to Dad” and I might have teared up because of how close to home it hit me. Even though it wasn’t written in Tagalog there was something about the writing that felt familiar even though I have never read from this author before. It might have also been the mention of places that I grew up visiting that made the story feel close to my heart.

There were too many relatable stories and this is one of the non-fiction books I’ve read that contained a lot of stories that personally stuck. Even then, as what is normal for a short story collection, not all of the stories were for me but the number of stories that I resonated with trumps the ones that I felt like other people could relate to more.

I was surprised at the difference of backgrounsd the authors came from. Some were photographers, playwrights, poets, full-time writers, bloggers, etc. that came from parts of SEA and Euro-America. I think the authors were able to successfully convey their experiences in an enjoyable way for the readers to process. I would love to see more fully local SEA Muslim authors if they ever do another compilation similar to this however.

There were a lot of discussions brought up about the Muslim culture and how their history has shaped our present, especially how these all related. It took me some time to read, decipher, and process everything just because it’s not a culture that I’m particularly familiar with. Nevertheless, I learned a lot and I’m really happy I read this.

I’m glad I read this even though it was outside of my comfort zone, I always like learning more about other South East Asian cultures.

*Thank you to Frankie @ Penguin SEA for sending me a copy to review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

[Aiza Idris (biblio_mom) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished reading this book days ago and as usual, it is challenging to review and rate this book as a whole because its a compilation of stories.

I must say, collecting these true diverse stories around the globe from these muslims from all walks of life and editing job is perfect despite of how hard it may be to the editor. Like she had mentioned, its a 4 year quest.

Let me tell you what I dislike about it first. As honest as the stories are, I am not comfortable with some stories about these Muslims especially when some of the people doesn't really have faith towards their own religion and i'm afraid it would bring the wrong impressions towards Muslims in general. I wouldn't say they represent our religion well. It just brought upon me great discomfort. But to each, their own. I'm not going in depth with which or what story to be exact. Spoilers free! 😁

What I like about it, the story isn't masked in any way at all. Its a pure ugly truth living as a Muslim in either their own country, as immigrants in western countries, and the challenges we face in embracing and practicing the religion itself. One particular story moved me to tears as if that story IS MINE. Its about this woman in niqab who longed for her father's love her entire lives only to let go of even the smallest hope at the end. Even writing this part of my review made me upset. It felt really personal 😭

[Fatirah Murtaza · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human is a collection of true stories. About 35 writers penned their personal stories, revealing their diverse experiences living in many Muslim worlds in which their stories bring us to look and recognise them beyond their religion – see what they’ve offered up via these stories. Humanity. Honesty. Vulnerabilities. Truth. By this means, this book doesn’t fixate on religion, if you’re wondering about it. It’s more to how these strangers sharing with us about their true-life events that are eventually bound to the same sentiment of shared humanity that we all are familiar of and for that I felt immensely grateful to be able to expand my cross-cultural understanding towards people coming from different cultural backgrounds despite the same religion we have.

Most voices in this book span from the natives in the West to the Arab tribes in the Middle East and the Indians in the East. Their backdrop stories I can say mostly associated with wars. Some of these strangers had their first-hand experiences of Saddam Hussein’s tyranny ruling and the way they described the war scenes were so vivid that I could still have the scenes replaying in my head. What not bone-chilling when these stories are written in the first-person point of view. But what amazes me is the profound bravery in the writers to come up with their stories bare, embracing their ordinary chaos of being human. There’s a broad spectrum of social issues that I could see from their stories such as gaslighting, rampant domestic violence, wars paranoia and also, specific cultural issues that leave most women at the mercy of men. This book has taught me that every person has its own place, ground and worth which transcend race, nationality, gender, and most importantly religion. Reading this compilation of stories that almost took a 4 years quest to complete is worth it. I did laugh, cry and daze into space thinking what would be like if I were in their shoes. Unthinkable.

I do really recommend this book to someone who wants to expand their world with these stories because the authenticity in these diverse stories is so fascinating. For that, I wanted to congratulate to Marguerite Richards for being able to work on this 4 years project and collect these golden stories.

Full written review is up on my blog - https://tirabookreviews.blogspot.com/...

[readorables · Rating 4 out of 5]

First and foremost, thank you Penguin Books Southeast Asia for the digital copy of the book! 📚🐧

This book is a compilation of short stories of Muslim experiences around the world, from the US to Yemen, Lebanon, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Iraq, the UK, Pakistan, you name it!
The stories are very candid and raw, which really grasped my attention. It’s kind of hard to put it down because 1) they’re short stories 2) it’s about the little things.. yet it’s beautifully captured so that it feels honest and intimate.
⠀
It’s a compilation of stories about immigrants; feelings of longing; about our imperfections and how through those imperfections we strive to be the best version of ourselves; it’s about love, caring for one another.. for animals.. it’s about things that don’t happen the way we want or plan it to be, but we keep on going, move forward and learn from them.
⠀
One thing I was looking forward to but didn’t get is reading a story by a Southeast Asian Muslim, considering a lot of Muslims are concentrated in SEA region as well.. I’ve been wanting to hear SEA Muslim voices because books I have read so far centre around Muslim immigrants or Middle-Eastern Muslims. But that was just my personal expectation 😬
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From this book, I’ve reflected that, when we, Muslims, have conversations about Islam, we always talk about what we “ought to be” and what we “have to do” in order to get Allah’s blessings. We always look at the state of perfectionism. How can I be a perfect Muslim? What do I do so that Allah will grant me Jannah? How can I get Allah’s approval?
Yet.. we rarely realise that throughout that journey, we are also faced with many many individual obstacles or struggles. This book brings about those narratives (I mean, it’s said in the title!) and I think that’s beautiful. The underlying message behind this book is therefore understanding what it means to be human. It’s not perfectly ordered, but the journey is what makes us interesting.
I enjoy reading this one!

[Fatinamudz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non-Fiction is not really my forte so it does take me sometimes to finish the whole book besides my workloads nevertheless, I finish it all and that's important. By far, I love that this book centered around Muslims from many countries around the world. These are a collection of stories that shared about their experience, lives, loves, culture, the people, and the truth about it all.

There are some stories that I really love and kinda related much to me and inspired me to be a better person to reflect on my whole life, my religion and a few of them truly hit me hard and tear me apart somehow there are some which I'm not agreed with and not liking it much. Despite that, I'm happy that this collection of stories been shared with the world and they can read the truth about it all. I definitely will buy a physical book The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: Tales from Many Muslim Worlds so that I can have an open discussion with my family.

[Kara (bookishskippy) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was stunning to me in terms of story-line and the writing the fact that many of the different writers came together as one to share their thoughts on how they grew up as a modern Muslim.
some of the experiences were nerve wrecking to hear.

The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human is a collection of diverse experience of living as a Muslim. Some of it might be fiction stories under the line i can tell there were some true stories,due to some of the punch line the writers used in this book!

If you are a Muslim i urge you to read this book why you may ask because this up brings all the inner truth and struggles which your community folks face. It is important to get a glimpse about it. As a non Muslim i enjoyed reading this book as you will get to understand what happens in their faith not just the beauty of it but the depth of it. How their values are used in the modern times and why they do so.
Highly recommend this to all if you adore reading an intense literature collection!

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has taken me 6 months to read this book, which is unusual for me. I’m not entirely sure why, except that these 34 stories each stand unique, and it didn’t feel possible for me to sit and listen to one person sharing their intimate reflections and experiences and then immediately move on to the next. I took my time.

There was much to link the stories. The raw humanity of each one was palpable. I found myself transported to Muslim contexts right around the globe, my eyes opened and understanding deepened around familiar and unfamiliar histories. At the same time there was a profound feeling of recognition, a common human face, a luminous binding thread in the deepest questions about our existence and how to belong in our own lives.

I would definitely recommend the book. I finished every story feeling ‘that was good!’ and with new thoughts to take away and investigate. I loved the way the juxtaposition of so many experiences, locations and perspectives chipped away at lazy one-size-fits-all ideas about our Muslim neighbours, creating moments of eye contact that could not be undone.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection of memoirs. Many of the stories also brought back my own memories from living in some of the countries mentioned and having similar experiences. For good or bad, the stories made me feel nostalgic and brought back emotions around things and events I had largely forgotten about - thank you for that! The writers in this collection all shared some thought-provoking, insightful, and poignant stories from their lives. I would recommend this collection, especially for those that would like to experience a moment in a culture or country that may be very different from their own.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human is an anthology of essays contributed by Muslim authors or authors living in predominantly Islamic regions. Some of the essays focus on discrimination or faith, while others focus on friendships, romantic relationships, or family interactions. I particularly enjoyed the ones that had a true sense of place, especially those set in areas I know less about - often areas not as well represented in American literature (Oman, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, etc.). While there were a few essays I didn't finish (one from an author I've read before and didn't care for, another that read as a very dry and seemed more focused on statistics than personal experiences) the majority were heartfelt and compelling. I do wish there had been footnotes* to explain some of the regional terms or Islamic terms that I hadn't encountered before as I found myself frequently Googling unfamiliar vocabulary. Overall, an interesting and worthwhile read.

*I did discover a glossary in the back...unfortunately, in ebooks I often don't discover them until too late...a footnote on the the first term that appears in the text directing the reader there would have been helpful, though I should probably also spend more time with the table of contents in the front!

[Bagus · Rating 4 out of 5]

The easiest way to find stereotypes is by typing the word we curious about into a search engine. In my case, I typed the word “Muslim” on DuckDuckGo (I’ve refrained from using Google on a daily basis for almost 4 years). Clicking ‘Picture’ there, I found a few pictures of women who wear hijab or niqab. Scrolling down a bit, then a few pictures of Muslim doing salah, the prayer, and another picture of a sheikh with a long beard. Then from ‘Picture’, I went into the ‘News’ section which shows some information about how Muslims observe Ramadan around the world (tonight happened to be the fourth night of Ramadan for this year), while a few news related to Trump Muslim Ban still appeared in the feeds. Stereotypes appear due to overgeneralized belief about a certain group of people due, most likely happen due to our fear of the unknown.

As humans, we often fear what we don’t know about. If say, we don’t know someone very well, or our neighbour, we tend to be more reserved towards that particular person. And it might need some chance encounter in the future to really get what that person really thinks, or we might not get it at all due to stereotypes or our prejudices. Through the collected stories in this volume, Marguerite Richards who herself is an American woman who lives in Sri Lanka attempts to provide a better picture of what many term as 'the Muslim Worlds'. Susan Sontag writes in her essay On Photography: “To photograph people is to violate them, by seeing them as they never see themselves, by having knowledge of them that they can never have; it turns people into objects that can be symbolically possessed.” As though answering Sontag inquiries, this volume brings out the voice of the subaltern from the Muslim Worlds to have their sayings about the stereotypes which haunt them.

Some people who tell their stories are by no means religious, who are practising Muslims, pray 5 times a day, fast during Ramadan. However, there are also many other faces in the Muslim Worlds that are not often exposed by the media. The second story in this volume, for example, tells the story of “The Unbeliever” (by Abeer Y. Hoque) as the author slowly loses her belief due to the way Islamic laws treat a woman as worth half a man in some respects. While in the story “Siren Songs” (by Barrak Alzaid), the author reveals his story about coming of age in Kuwait as his desire for a male company has to be hidden from his family during the time he embraced his adventure with his male partner, Antoine. We could also see the experiences of Christian minority who need to thrive in areas where the Muslim population dominate such as Criselda Yabes experience in the story “From Sulu, a Farewell to Dad” as she chronicles the tale of her living in Sulu, an island in the far south of the Philippines where Muslims are the majority.

There are also many stories of Muslims who become a minority or have to live somewhere else as refugees due to war. “Impassioned Elements” by Salahdin Imam, for instance, tells the situation in 1971 in Chittagong, in then-East Pakistan as the military and economic repression from West Pakistan slowly awoke the national unity of the Bengals to up their ante and thrive for an independent Bangladesh. While Ali Bader in “All for a Worthless Man” recounts his unrequited love for an American journalist as he left to defend Iraq against the American invasion of the Saddam regime in 2003. In “Main Hoon Junaid”, Samia Ahmed shares the tragic story of poor Junaid who was murdered due to his reluctance to give up her seat on a train ride in India and the sole fact that he was a Muslim minority in a Hindu-dominated region. The stories in this volume allow us to see someone as humans first before they are Muslims. If we strip the labels from anyone, then they become humans just like everyone else.

It’s hard not to like this book, albeit the difficulties that might arise from the cultural differences. The people described in this book are far from perfect. They’re just humans, who also cry when sad and smile when happy, and there are so many chaoses that happened during the time they become humans, which is explained well by the catchy title. The glossary that the editor provides at the end of the book is quite helpful, as there are many vocabularies from the mother tongues of each contributor and their vernaculars. To do this book justice, it needs to be read slowly. Some contributors write really good stories, while some others are not articulate enough to tell their stories, but that is the consequence of compiling an anthology like this which consists of stories from many people with different culture and upbringings. In the end, I agree with the foreword which says “contrary to popular belief, Islam is not a monolith and its believers are far from unified or homogenous.”

If you are someone from the Muslim Worlds, you will find this volume especially nostalgic since there are many things you could relate to with your upbringings. If you are someone who attempts to understand Muslim people, this might be a book to go to enlighten your perception too.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly, I’d like to thank Frankie, for reaching out to me and the editor, Marguerite Richards for sending this book in exchange for an honest review. When I first heard of this book, I thought to myself, I need to read these stories to understand the vast and various experiences of Muslims living in different places around the world and what’s their take on Islam and how their relationship is with Islam.

When I first started reading this book, I immediately know I’m going to like it, the introduction was written so well. But once that first story started, I realised then that it’s going to be a bumpy journey. I’d say as a collection, some stories I can understand better and somehow relate to it to certain extend whereas some stories feel very much foreign and detached for me. But I don’t hate any of the stories, it’s just that some stories carry more depth and written in such way that I couldn’t grasp as much as the rest.

The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human has definitely been an eye opener. It provides you with so much insight to different kind of people who practice Islam. Some are devout Muslims, while some are still figuring out their relationship with God while the rest are still clueless and haven’t found their path to connect with their faith. I do have a feeling not all Muslims are going to sit well with certain stories in this collection, especially those in my own country, Malaysia, because the practice is different over here. There’s this one story I particularly like because the character, named Sibel lets her son decides his own religion as an individual and did not immediately make him a Muslim as he was born, unlike in Malaysia, every child born in a Muslim family will have Islam as their religion for the rest of their life, no matter they are practicing the values and thoughts in this religion or not.

This compilation makes you see the reality that not all Muslims are whom you expect them to be, because we’re all human beings after all. Faith is something we hold on to, yes, but there’s also so much more than faith: life situations, feelings, etc, so how to differentiate right from wrong? I like this one story calls The Ice Merchant whereby the ice merchant, a Muslim, says, “Whatever that is done, if it is with a good heart, it’s ok.” to the main character when she mentioned that she did memorial services for her brother-in-law, which is not common practice for Muslims in his country. Despite, being Muslims, different practices do happen due to one’s background, where they are coming from. It’s the spirit, the values and the intention counts.

For full review, click HERE

[Ava (jeepneylit) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite the nearly ten months of lockdown, I have managed to visit 28 countries in 2020 through books. One of the books that allowed me to realize this is The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human: Tales from Many Muslim Worlds. Composed of 34 stories and edited by Marguerite Richards, the collection is written in the first-person point of view by people living in many different Muslim worlds.

I found out about this book from Criselda Yabes, one of the contributors and happens to be my favorite Filipino writer. I appreciated the honesty of the writers, who don’t mince words, courageously peeling a part of themselves – the good, the bad, the ugly. This book also enabled me to expand my worldview, including that of Arab porn. Themes include: war and violence, displacement and asylum, internal wars fought by many (sexuality; abortion; immigration; languages; customs), and the question of what and where is home?

Some thoughts from the foreword and introduction that I want to share:
1. Take away the word ‘Muslim’ in these stories and people could come from anywhere or they could be anyone.
2. The writers share their intimate perspectives in the context of their individual Muslim worlds, the plurality of ‘worlds’ being imperative to the conversation.
3. The writer’s relationship with Islam, or the lack thereof, is not central to their reason for telling the story. People from Muslim worlds are, in fact, atheists, agnostics, pagans, and Muslims of all sects, and sometimes, all of the above at different times in their lives. Some of them are even Christians and many other faiths, though born and raised in predominantly Muslim countries.
4. The contributors do not challenge the stereotypes. Instead, they challenge the assumption of responsibility for those stereotypes.

[Alya Putri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains some short stories about Muslims all around the world. From these stories, I learned a lot of moral stories being Muslims. It was not easy to imagine their position. There's one story that made me emotional, was entitled Cat Connection. It reminds me of my cat. It was tough to see him died 😭

Overall, the book was terrific! It will change a few of your perspectives about Muslims. If you're a Muslim, you will be inspired to keep your faith. I enjoyed reading this book!

[Mike Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories themselves hold the rawness of the material well, but I am not entirely clear I understand the meaning of why they were collected together. It feels both "ordinarily chaotic" but then if it is such, what does it mean to be so clearly defined as "Muslim"? There seems a tension that is somewhat under explored to me.

[Fikri Angga Reksa · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite story is The Unbeliever by Abeer Y Hoque. It reminds me of how to appreciate diversity. Same with Abeer, I also still recite Sura Al-Kafirun without guilt: To you be your way and to me mine.

[Rick Fifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

41 essays that look various aspects of life through the eyes of people in the Muslim world. These are voices that we do not hear in our everyday life here in America. These essays are eye opening and moving in many cases. This is not a religious book, it is just a fact that these stories take place in countries where Islam is the majority religion. The stories deal with many aspects of life that many people deal with love, life, death, politics, religion and lives torn apart by war.

If you want to read a book that challenges you, this the book for you.

[Francesca Mudannayake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I couldn’t wait to snuggle up in bed with and read after a long day. Consisting of 41 short stories ranging from heartbreaking to life-affirming, I feel as if I know all of the authors and their innermost thoughts. I believe the purpose of this book was to offer a glimpse into the many Muslim worlds that the authors occupy -- a way to counteract the vitriol in today’s current climate. But having read this book, I realised that though cultural differences may prevail, the personal remains our commonality. Our emotions, our goals, and our obstacles all look the same…we’re really no different from each other. What a beautiful collection this is!

[Reader]

Everyone should read this book. The stories are compelling, heartfelt and insightful. Each author brings to life their own truth and demonstrates how all people have so much in common despite their differing circumstances and life experiences. Excellent read!