Everyday Life in the Muslim Middle East By Donna Bowen and Evelyn Early, eds. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.

Abstract

This book is a collection of thirty-four essays about people from
eleven countries and is designed to "give Western readers a sense of
what it is like to live in the Middle East in the latter part of the 20th
century.” The approach is based on the assumption that “one can
learn much about another culture by examining the daily, simple acts
that are performed by all people.” The book does not attempt to present
any theories of social action, although the primary source
material in the book can be used to test social theories.
Eleven of the essays deal with Moroccans and seven deal with
Egyptians. The book is thus heavily slanted toward Morocco and
Egypt, at the expense of countries not dealt with at all (i.e., Turkey,
Oman, Jordan, and Pakistan). What makes this book sociologically
interesting is its description of the behavior of people in groups. It
presents the themes of old vs. new, tradition vs. modernity, village vs.
city, and Islam vs. secularism. There were eleven articles that dealt
with Islam and Muslims specifically, as opposed to Middle Easterners
in general. I will limit my comments to seven of these articles, especially
since the title of the book specifies the “Muslim” Middle East.
In “The Sound of the Divine in Daily Life,” Kristina Nelson
makes the point that the Qur’an is heard extensively in public areas
throughout Egypt. She states that “Qur’anic recitation is a common,
daily event, not restricted to special occasions, nor even to strictly
religious contexts.” It may be recited by a beggar, heard in a taxi cab,
played on a shopkeeper’s radio, or used to open a conference. This is
uncommon in the West, and thus presents a unique and new experience
for people visiting the Middle East ...