How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
That night, we were lying on our beds, watching a talk show on TV. Two clerics with pepper gray long beards and white turbans were taking calls from the faithful all over the world. One caller from Finland, a guy named Ayub, asked if his teenaged son could go to hell for wearing his baggy pants so low the seam of his underwear showed. [...]
On the TV screen, the two mullahs were consulting each other. [...]
The mullahs decided that Ayub's son would go to hell after all for wearing his pants the way he did. They claimed it was in the Haddith. (24.120-137)
On the surface, it seems like Hosseini is again commenting on how religion can get focused on the wrong things (see 13.60 above). During this television program, though, Amir is sitting next to Sohrab in their hotel room. Amir recently told Sohrab that he and Hassan were half-brothers. This confession must have brought up all sorts of guilt: his betrayal of Hassan and the fact he never really told his father what happened to Hassan and how he abandoned Hassan. Sohrab's rescue, in a way, is Amir's attempt to be good again, his penance for leaving Hassan in the alley and sending Ali and Hassan away. Does Sohrab's rescue redeem Amir? Does Amir believe in the same hell as the cleric on the TV program?
Quote #8
[Raymond Andrews:] "Of course," he said. Cleared his throat. "Are you Muslim?"
[Amir:] "Yes."
[Raymond Andrews:] "Practicing?"
"Yes." In truth, I didn't remember the last time I had laid my forehead to the ground in prayer. Then I did remember: the day Dr. Amani gave Baba his prognosis. I had kneeled on the prayer rug, remembering only fragments of verses I had learned in school. (24.207-210)
Raymond Andrews questions Amir about his faith in the context of adoption: it's easier for Amir to adopt Sohrab if he's a practicing Muslim. But Andrews' question also illuminates Amir's faith and spiritual practice. Amir answers "Yes" to Andrews' question even though he can't remember the last time he prayed. And even then the prayers came to him in fragments. If we can wade past the surface discussion of adoption here, and Amir's practical motivations (adopting Sohrab), what does his answer say about his faith? Perhaps that he has carried it with him almost unconsciously since childhood. His affirmation springs forth from an unconscious the way his faith aids him in times of need: his father's diagnosis, Sohrab's suicide attempt, and Sohrab's later silence.
Quote #9
I throw my makeshift jai-namaz, my prayer rug, on the floor and I get on my knees, lower my forehead to the ground, my tears soaking through the sheet. I bow to the west. Then I remember I haven't prayed for over fifteen years. I have long forgotten the words. But it doesn't matter [...]. [...]. I see now that Baba was wrong, there is a God, there always had been. I see Him here, in the eyes of the people in this corridor of desperation. This is the real house of God, this is where those who have lost God will find Him, not the white masjid with its bright diamond lights and towering minarets. There is a God, there has to be, and now I will pray, I will pray that He forgive that I have neglected Him all of these years, forgive that I have betrayed, lied, and sinned with impunity only to turn to Him now in my hour of need [...]. (25.5)
In this passage, Amir prays in the hospital. Sohrab has just tried to commit suicide. Amir feels guilt not only for Sohrab's despair (he went back on his promise not to send Sohrab to an orphanage) but for his betrayal of Hassan. And perhaps his guilt forces Amir to reject his father's lack of faith. In a way, Amir needs to believe in God. Amir needs an agent to provide forgiveness.