Islamic Faith

In the book Kite Runner, the Islamic beliefs of the characters play an important role in their personality and life style. Throughout the course of the book, Amir and Baba’s Islamic beliefs shaped their characteristics by reflecting upon their decisions. There is a long history of the Islamic beliefs. However, there are 6 basic beliefs that all Islam’s believe in; belief in one God (Allah), belief in the prophets, belief in the holy book, belief in angels, belief in the day of judgement and belief in the decrees or the predestination of God (Allah). There are 2 major types of believers of Islam, the Pashtuns and the Hazaras. “I read that my people, the Pashtuns, had persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras. It said the Hazaras had tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns had “quelled them with unspeakable violence.” The book said that my people killed the Hazaras and driven them from their lands, burned their homes, and sold their woman. The book said that a part of the reason Pashtuns had oppressed the Hazaras was that Pashtuns were Sunni Muslims, while Hazaras were Shi’a.” (Hosseini, page 9-10). It shows that the Pashtuns had more power and were more highly looked upon. Baba and Amir are Pashtuns while Ali and Hassan are Hazaras, hence the fact that Ali and Hassan are their slaves. The Islam history and beliefs are all in the Koran, which is like a bible to the Islams.

Baba isn’t a very faithful Islam. Instead of following the beliefs of normal Islams, he makes up his own. An example of this is when he explains to Amir about his belief of sinning. “Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. Do you understand that?” “When you kill a man, you steal a life, you steal his wife’s right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell lie, you steal someone’s right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. Do you see?” (Hosseini, page 19). Also, Baba doubts God’s existence. “If there’s a God out there, then I would hope he has more important things to attend to than my drinking scotch or eating pork.” (Hosseini, page 20). Baba’s Islamic faith doesn’t affect him much because he decides what to do. This doesn’t mean he’s a bad man. He builds orphanages and helps people around towns. “Baba always carried an extra handful of Afghani bills in his pocket just for them; I’d never seen him deny a peddler.” (Hosseini, page 259). I think this is just his act of kindness, not because of his religion. Amir’s Islamic faith affected him a little bit when he was younger. However, as he grew older, he abandoned his beliefs as he abandoned Kabul. If Amir had followed his beliefs, he wouldn’t have treated Hassan like a brother, even a friend. He would have saw Hassan as a Hazara slave, and treated him poorly. “We were kids who had learned to crawl together, and no history, ethnicity, society, or religion was going to change that either. I spent most of my first twelve years of my life playing with Hassan.” (Hosseini, page 27). Although Amir is very attached to Hassan even though he is a Shi’a, he only plays with him when it’s only the two of them alone. Also, Amir idolizes Baba and follows his footsteps. This pulls Amir away from his beliefs since Baba isn’t a very faithful Islam. Also, as Amir lived in America, he was drawn back from his religion. “Bowing my head to the ground, I recited half-forgotten verses from the Koran –verses the mullah had made us commit to memory in Kabul –and asked for kindness from a God I wasn’t sure existed.” (Hosseini, page 163). “I bow to the west. Then I remember I haven’t prayed for over fifteen years. I have long forgotten the words. But it doesn’t matter, I will utter those few words I still remember: La illaha il Allah, Muhammad u rasul ullah. There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger. I see now that Baba was wrong, there is a God, there always had been. I see Him here, in the eyes of the people in this corridor of desperation. This is the real house of God, this is where those who have lost God will find Him, not the white masjid with its bright diamond lights and towering minarets. There is a God, there has to be, and now I will pray, I will pray that He forgive that I have neglected Him all of these years, forgive that I have betrayed, lied, sinned with impunity only to turn to Him now in my hour of need, I pray that He is as merciful, benevolent, and gracious as His book says He is. I bow to the west and kiss the ground and promise that I will do zakat, I will do namaz, I will fast during Ramadan and when Ramadan has passed I will go on fasting, I will commit to memory every last word of His holy book, and I will set on a pilgrimage to that sweltering city in the desert and bow before the Ka’hah too. I will do all of this and I will think and I will think of Him every day from this day on if He only grants me this one wish: My hands are stained with Hassan’s blood; I pray God doesn’t let them get stained with the blood of his boy too.” (Hosseini, page 363-364). This shows that Amir was not a very faithful Islam but he has converted his views now. His choice of belief had impacted him greatly and his sins have haunted him throughout his whole life.