When the Islamic fundamentalist movement ripples out from the cities to the village, it carries with it the opportunity for moral regeneration and for the young to focus energies. It also provides opportunities to avenge old slights and satisfy personal ambitions. In the Name of God becomes a classic revolutionary tale of perverted ideals and lust for power, property and revenge. The traditional is overthrown. Historical artifact is razed in the name of principle.
Education is curtailed and civil rights rescinded.
The novel is violent and wrenching. But it's also compelling and thought-provoking. It offers a fascinating read, if you're willing to swallow whole the murky-brown sauce of Arabic prose style. Despite the exaggerated emotion, adjectival effusion, swarms of characters participating in unmotivated action, and an uncontrolled narrator privy to just bloody everyone's thoughts, you come to care about this village and what it represents. And you long to take revenge on the dwarf.