“Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey Into the Heart of Islam” by A. Helwa
This is a romantically-written book about our transcendent relationship with God.
The book strips down all the elements that usually construct a religion – the rules, the customs and traditions – and focuses only on our direct spirituality, supplemented by the verses of the Qur’an that are interpreted within the appropriate contexts.
The book also reflects the love-based spiritual journey of the author, A. Helwa, and her re-embrace of Islam, which gives a personal twist to it. But that personal twist is also arguably the down side, as Helwa specifically over-quoting some of the icons that understandably moved her, with Rumi and Imam Ali in particular taking the biggest load. And she fails to provide a wider range of wisdom from the Wives or Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) or any other Muslim scholars throughout the centuries to give more substance to her points.
It can also become repetitive at times, with the narrative does not really have a smooth flow and instead looks more like Instagrammable sentences put together into a paragraph, which collectively become a chapter. Especially for the earlier chapters 1-5. I mean, if we open the book right from the middle we won’t get lost too much in the narrative due to the stand-alone nature of the many sentences. But I guess that’s also the appeal of the book, that we can open it daily and find stand out and meaningful sentences to read, just like the popular blog @quranquotesdaily (Instagram) that she curates.
Moreover, the book is not a theology book nor a history book, with Helwa herself never claimed to be a religious scholar, which makes it “feel” light in comparison with books written by the likes of Karen Armstrong or Reza Aslan. Any explanation about Islam is mostly on the surface level, and quite a lot of what’s written in the book are based on a generally accepted assumptions (even cliches) rather than a careful theological approach to ensure a clear line between facts and speculations.
But to be fair, Helwa did remark that “This book will not delve into the history and evolution of Islamic theology, but it does seek to create a bridge—not just between Islam and other faiths through universal spiritual truths, but also between various Muslims who practice differently from one another.”
And so, analogically speaking, the book is more of a Yoga retreat in Bali rather than a theological discussion by scholars about the Vedas. At some parts of the book it even have word of encouragements that look like they belong more in a seminar with a motivational guru, or in a self-help book in the style of “The Secret” complete with lessons about gratitude journal and positive affirmation chants, with an Islamic twist to it. So it’s dzikir and not chanting, ruku and not forward bending pose in yoga, Zakat and not charity, etc.
Moreover, Helwa further underlines the target audience for the book when she commented “Secrets of Divine Love was written for the longing heart, for the one who is searching for something they have not been able to find. For the one who sometimes spirals into hopelessness and cannot help but feel too imperfect for a perfect God to love. This book is for the one who is at the edge of their faith, who has experienced religion as a harsh winter instead of the life-bearing spring it was sent to be by God.”
In short, the book is the reflection of the author’s spiritual journey and her experience in personal development, which can be positively contagious and justifies the much hype over it, but with its quality of knowledge constantly swings from 3 stars to 5 stars (and overall settles in about 3.4). And I can see how it can relate well with the more religious people, it might also be an epiphany for some skeptics or newbies, but it would probably look like a spiritual mumbo jumbo for others.
EDWIN SETIADI 