I have a character in my novel who has been brought up in Muslim extremists who treated her unfairly. She burns her family to death and escapes her life of torture for hope elsewhere, now an atheist.

After several years, she sacrifies her fiance and now she is torn up. Her fiance 'was' [now he's an atheist too] from a Muslim family and this kept pricking her how she killed her own. Finally she feels inclined to find out the reason behind her misery and realizes - she took religion as it were potrayed to her and not what it really was.

She will die, as the heroine or main female character, either ways. But as what? A miserable atheist who feels shattered for things she did or a woman who repented for her sins, just before she passed away [which, according to Islamic Shariah, means she died as a Muslim.] I think of the latter as a more suitable ending, as the story is about hope and trust in God, but I 'd want to know from you, as a NEUTRAL person whether that is realistic or attractive to a Non-Muslim. Ya, Non-Muslims wouldn't like it but will they bother enjoy it? E.g. we read many Christian fiction. It may be against some of ours opinions, but the message is strong enough to overcome that part. Do you think, that a message could be strong enough to accomplish this? If no, why?

Please give your opinions and suggestions.

If faith is the message, then she should die in the second manner. For her to die the first way, as a miserable atheist, would not carry the message of redemption, only of how a person might die in the absence of redemption.

As an atheist with a strong moral code, I'll try not to take exception to the portrayal of the first ending. :)

Thanks Cogito. Thanks for being a neutral ;)

I also vote the second manner...although I don't know how neutral I am being a fan of stories about redemption.

I think it depends on how your character is redeemed. Does she accept that Islam is not how she perceived it, and therefore converts back? Or does she accept that religion in general is not all bad, but instead of converting back to Islam, she simply adjusts her lifestyle to accommodate a "higher" moral code?

I don't think either is a better option than the other necessarily, but if your character has had an extremely negative perception of Islam her entire life, perhaps she would not so readily accept it? If I were her, I would look at what Islam, or religion in general, attempts to teach, and then at what it succeeds at teaching. If the disparity is great enough, perhaps she might look somewhere other than religion for redemption?

That said, I am neither you nor your character, and her choices all depend on what you've made her; in essence, is she naturally cynical, or a skeptic, or does she intrinsically desire to find the good and right in everything?

Cheers.

Thanks Scavenger. Your advice provides much insight into the matter.