Children of Dust

An intimate overview of Pakistani youth today, this story relates the tale of a Pakistani boy from infancy to maturity in Pakistani urban slums and his life as a student in America. The reader will be shocked to learn that life in the madrasah or religious school where brutal beatings are the rule, was intended more to shatter the minds and bodies of the students than inspire them with any love for Islam. At the time of his birth, his father made a vow to the Almighty that he will grow up to be a great Muslim leader and gave him the special name of ‘Abir Islam’ or Fragrance of Islam. Never rebellious, Abir spends his whole life struggling to live up to his paternal expectations. The Pakistani urban slums are shown to plumb the depths of human degradation in a sea of poverty, nevertheless filled with vitality and colour. Seeking a better life, Abir and his family migrate to America where Abir lives the typical life of an American college student. On all the college and university campuses the students are obsessed with sex. Sex is what they live for and is their whole life. In this permissive environment everything is permitted. The students’ leisure hours are filled with TV, DVDs, video games, cell-phone chat and the internet. Ultimately the sexual environment is so strong that even this most serious Muslim student succumbs and, like his fellow students, Abir dates scores of beautiful young girls. They touch, pet, kiss and embrace, yet Abir still believes that his illicit activity will end in a happy marriage with parental consent! Eager to fulfil his father’s vow to become a great Muslim leader,