Isam Shihada
Al Aqsa
University, Gaza Strip, Palestine
Abstract
This
paper examines how Muslims are harshly treated after the backlash of 9/11 in in
Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist and how they become victims
and legitimate targets of hate crimes, negative media stereotypes, physical
beatings, disappearance, racial profiling, interrogations at American airports,
and detentions in secret places. It addresses how such treatment sheds light on
the questions of Muslim integration in the American society, citizenship,
multiculturalism, identity, and alienation, belonging, and national
affiliation. It also disrupts the dominant American official discourse, which
links Islam with terror and portrays Muslims as potential terrorists and a
threat to America and values of Western civilization. I also argue that Hamid’s
The Reluctant Fundamentalist offers a counter literary response not only to the
American public rhetoric but also to the dominant literary discourses that
prevailed after 9/11, inflamed the American sentiments, and consolidated
stereotypes against Islam and Muslims. The study concludes that Hamid’s The
Reluctant Fundamentalist renders a stark warning message, through its character
(Changez) that the harsh treatment of Muslims, American domineering policies,
and the blind War on Terror will force many ordinary Muslims to relinquish the
American Dream, like Changez, and turn into radicals. The study also reveals
that the American reaction toward Muslims after the tragic attacks on 9/11 have
been blind, indiscriminate, and disproportionate to such an extent that the
very concept of multiculturalism on which the American society is based is
threatened. The American society will be prone to internal fissures and
disintegration if they fail to accept the “Other” and fail to stop blaming all
Muslims for few isolated tragic incidents that they are not actually
responsible for. Finally, the research concludes that the mistreatment of
Muslims, promotion of Islamophobia, and the War on Terror that followed 9/11
may lead to the exclusion and alienation of Muslims in America, disintegration
of the American multicultural society, and the rise of Islamic radical groups
such as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Keywords: Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Muslims, post-9/11
fiction, War on Terror
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