Review: Mabrook! A World of Muslim Weddings by Na’ima B. Robert and Shirin Adl
Hardcover, 32 pages Published March 3rd 2016 by Frances Lincoln Children's Bks Source: Publisher When I was a kid, I often wondered how church weddings were done. I dreamed about sitting in a church pew and watching a bride walk up the aisle dressed up in a pouffy white gown. I imagined the whole event…
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The Book Wars
Hardcover, 32 pages

Published March 3rd 2016 by Frances Lincoln Children’s Bks

Source: Publisher

When I was a kid, I often wondered how church weddings were done. I dreamed about sitting in a church pew and watching a bride walk up the aisle dressed up in a pouffy white gown. I imagined the whole event to be super magical and less like the frenzy and chaos that I was more used to where Fijian-Muslim weddings are concerned.

Mabrook offers readers a chance to glimpse, very briefly, into weddings of different Muslims around the globe. Muslims are a diverse bunch; we come in all sizes, shapes, and colours. So obviously apart from the basic commonalities as dictated by Islam, the way we do things are going to be diverse. This is especially true when you see the different ways in which Muslims celebrate weddings.

Mabrook travels from Pakistan to Morocco to Somalia to Britain, each two page spread showing the major elements composing weddings in the different countries. Important words such as biryani (food), mahr (the gift that the groom gives to the bride), waleemah (the wedding feast to which the community is invited) is defined in a short glossary at the end.

The book is very short but it does impart the essence of Muslim weddings which is: they are community events and there is a lot of food present. Rather than two hearts being united at these events, it is more a marriage of two families and the books captures this and conveys it to the readers.

The art is a mix of different textures and styles and brings the events to life in a more immediate way than simple illustrations would have.

All in all, this is a great picturebook that serves as an introduction to a different religion and different cultures. Much recommended.

Na’ima B. Robert is a published author and magazine publisher. Her books include the popular ‘From my sisters’ lips’, and teen novels, ‘From Somalia, with love’, ‘Boy vs. Girl’, the award-winning ‘Far from Home’ (Winner of Published Children’s Books at the Muslim Writers Awards 2011) as well as several children’s books. She is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Discover, the new magazine for curious Muslim kids and SISTERS, a magazine for Muslim women. She currently resides in Egypt where she splits her time between running 2 magazines, writing books and caring for her five children.

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