Salaam, With Love by Sara Sharaf Beg is a YA contemporary story about a young Muslim woman celebrating Ramadan with her extended family. I picked it up to learn more about the holiday through the eyes of someone who celebrates.
Seventeen-year-old, Pakistani-American Dua and her parents have been invited to spend the holy month of Ramadan with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in New York, extended family that Dua hasn’t spent time with since her childhood. On arrival, she immediately feels out of place when she realizes that her uncle’s family are far more devout than her own and she is crammed into a bedroom with her perfect cousin Mahnoor who recently graduated from college and is engaged to a boy from a good local family. Trying to make the best of things, Dua decides she will spend Ramadan trying to connect more deeply with her faith and with her family - as well as trying to prove to her parents that she can make adult choices so they will accept her wish to study music at college.
Soon, Dua makes friends with her cousins and her cousin’s soon-to-be in-laws, one of whom is the good-looking Hassan who not only plays the drums but is also a hafiz - someone who has memorized the entire Qur’an. With Dua having pledged to memorize six new surahs during Ramadan, the pair end up spending time together as she studies and a connection begins to form. However, as family drama also begins to unfold it pulls the new friend group apart. Can Dua learn more about her faith, her family, and her place in the world in just 30 days, and what will it take to bring the group back together again?
I really enjoyed Salaam, With Love, and felt that it gave me a far greater understanding of Ramadan - both the customs themselves and the meaning behind them. Everything about the holiday was beautifully described and I could easily picture the gorgeous clothes and tables laden with food for when the families came together to break their fast. I often felt as if I were really a part of Dua’s family and joining them in their celebrations. The characters themselves were generally very likable too, although Dua consistently came across as much younger than her given age.
The book is a little contradictory at times and could have used a little more proofreading because some parts didn’t really make much sense, but I was able to overlook these issues. The one thing I genuinely disliked about this book was the epilogue, which felt tacked on and unnecessary, however, I wonder if I would feel differently about it if I came from a family background more culturally similar to Dua’s?
My Rating: 4/5
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