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The Imam's Daughter

THE IMAM’S DAUGHTER
By Hannah Shah
Random House. 272 pages. £12.99
ISBN 978-1-84604-147-1

The blurb on this book tells you what it is: ‘The remarkable true story of a young girl’s escape from her harrowing past’. It is packaged and, to an extent, written as a misery memoir, like so many books of the last decade which promise an inside view of horrific abuse and dysfunctional families. There is horror and great pathos, but also a real redemption; for Hannah Shah became a Christian, and makes plain in her book that it is her profession of faith in Jesus, not the physical abuse, which has caused the biggest rift in the family.

Hannah grew up as the eldest daughter of a Pakistani Imam in the north of England in the 1980s. Her parents knew no English and they lived a ghettoised life among other Pakistanis, continuing the customs of the villages they had all come from. From the age of five Hannah was regularly beaten and raped by her father. This is uncomfortable reading, though I don’t think it is voyeuristic; the descriptions of abuse are carefully worded so as to be clear but not explicit. The book tells also of the grinding abuse of Hannah through unending chores and gross favouritism in the family. Hannah only escaped when she was 16 after overhearing her father booking a flight for her — a flight which would take her to a forced marriage in a Pakistani village. Hannah’s R.E. teacher took her in, protected and comforted her, and it was through this Christian teacher that Hannah heard the gospel and saw the love of Christ in action. After half a year attending church with the family she gave her life to Jesus.

Hannah writes clearly of the peace and love which came into her life through Jesus, and also of the consequences of her conversion for her relationship with her family. They would have been prepared to forgive her leaving home and rejecting a marriage, but to leave Islam was a different matter. Now in her 30s, Hannah lives with death threats and an assumed identity, but she has married and works to help Islamic women in forced marriages and support converted Muslims. Though this book has been published by a secular publishing house, Hannah is explicit about her faith and the difference it makes. At no point does she seek to score easy points against Islam, recognising that her father abused her because he was a sadistic tyrant, not because he was an Imam, but pointedly saying that her culture was one which turned a blind eye to abuse and which did not value women. She also shows the widespread ignorance of the Qur’an among Muslims and the ongoing violence against ‘apostates’ and women.

I am thrilled that this book has been published. I pray that it will wake up many to the cruelties hidden in some Muslim communities and the dangers faced by converted Muslims. Should you read it? Yes — it will prompt you to pray more for your Muslim neighbours. Should you give it away to unbelieving friends — yes, providing you read it first and talk about it afterwards!

Sarah Allen