The Strongest Vow is an interfaith love story by Hasan Ahmed Ashrafi. Harris was focusing on going to college, but his father had different plans. When he found out that one of his friends was going through hard times and needed someone to tutor his teenaged high-school daughter, Harris’ father volunteered his son. Harris didn’t want to do it at first, and the daughter Hareem wasn’t excited about it either. She hates all boys, specifically Non-Muslim ones, and she is determined to fail everything until her parents choose another tutor for her. The more time the two spend with one another, the more that like each other. Soon, they are considering dating each other. But Muslims aren’t allowed to date non-Muslims, so Hareem would be going against her beliefs by dating Harris. Even though Harris is completely dedicated to her, the strength of their relationship may not be strong enough to cross the religious barrier.
I enjoyed this novel. I rarely get the chance to read interfaith love stories, so I was excited to be able to try this one out. I actually had no idea that non-Muslims were not able to date Muslims, but it was interesting how this was addressed in this short romance story. Crossing religious barriers when dating can be almost as difficult as crossing racial barriers, and Hareem and Harris are trying to do both.
Harris and Hareem were sort of close, but I think that their relationship might fail if they were truly allowed to be together from the start. Every time that one of them has the smallest disagreement with the other, they don’t talk. At one point in the book, Harris doesn’t talk to Hareem for seven months. Seven months? And they still think that they are “perfect” for one another. It simply doesn’t add up. But since they are both only teens, I could see them possibly working in the future.
My main issue with this book was the grammar. This book really needs to be edited by a professional. It would be far easier to read if it was. The book is filled with grammatical errors and broken sentences. If this book was edited by a professional, I would say that it is a great read. Since the grammar errors are so prevalent, I would say wait until this book has been properly tweaked.
After it has been tweaked, I would recommend this novel to anyone looking for a new YA interfaith romance novel.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 books
