Muslim English Literature is a double-blind peer-reviewed open access journal published by the English Literature Department, Faculty of Adab and Humanities, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University of Jakarta. It specializes in Southeast Asian Muslim Literature in particular, and Muslim World Literature including US-Muslim and British-Muslim Literature in general, and is intended to communicate original research and current issues on the subject. This journal warmly welcomes contributions from scholars of related disciplines, including Linguistics and Cultural Studies in the Muslim world. It publishes biannually (June and December). Muslim English Literature has been accredited SINTA 2 by Ministry of Research and Technology / National Research and Innovation Agency SK.No.2/C/C3/KPT/2026
Unmasking Indonesian Neo-Orientalism in Kipandjikusmin’s Langit Makin Mendung
This research aims to unveil colonial discourses in the Langit Makin Mendung (LMM) works. To achieve this, it employs Orientalism concept and incorporates Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), initially using the deconstruction method. Through the concept and methods, colonial ambivalence is revealed through the perspective of God, Muhammad, Gabriel, and his family in narrating the boundary between heaven and earth. Heaven as a place of wealth and intelligence, while earth is portrayed as a place of laziness, ignorance, and moral decay. This dichotomy reflects colonial attitudes, positioning heaven as the superior colonial space and earth as the inferior colonized space. The story's ironic elements highlight the undecidability and delayed meaning in the identity of earth's inhabitants. By deconstructing these binary oppositions, the study reveals the persistent influence of colonial discourse in shaping Indonesian literature and society. Additionally, the findings reveal neo-orientalism symptom, where colonial identities and perspectives continue to adapt and re-emerge in new forms, reinforcing dominance through subtler and more covert mechanisms. Ultimately, this study contributing to the field by expanding orientalism concept to Indonesian literature and highlighting the persistence of colonial discourses within postcolonial narratives, filling a critical gap in the understanding of neo-orientalism beyond Western or Middle Eastern contexts.
Copyright (c) 2026 Dwi Rezki Hardianto Putra Rustan, Wahyu Gandi G, Hanita Hanim Ismail https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Unhomely Experiences and Cultural Integration in Umm Zakiyyah’s Muslim Girl
This study investigates how unhomely experiences shape the process of cultural adaptation and identity negotiation in Umm Zakiyyah's Muslim Girl., focusing on the protagonist, Inaya, a Muslim girl who moves from Saudi to America. This study examines how Inaya’s unhomely experiences lead her to negotiate identity and develop strategies for cultural integration. Employing a descriptive qualitative approach, this study analyzes textual data drawn from the novel. Two theories are used in this research: the first, Homi Bhabha's concept of the unhomely, which reveals how Inaya feels alienated in society; and the second, John W. Berry's acculturation theory, which explains how the prominent figure accepts and adapts to the new culture through integration. The findings reveal that Inaya’s unhomely experiences manifest as awkwardness, uncanniness, incoherence, and instability. These conditions are shaped by cultural differences, religious visibility, and social interaction in the host society. However, these experiences do not remain unresolved. Inaya gradually develops coping strategies through school participation, social recognition, and identity negotiation, which lead her toward cultural integration. With several experiences, Inaya's growth has involved being an open minded, adapting to new environments, participating in social events, achieving academically, and respecting others. This research demonstrates that unhomely experiences transform into an integrated identity through the negotiation of a hybrid identity while maintaining her religious faith. Thus, this research contributes to diaspora studies, Muslim identities, and modern intercultural communication.
Copyright (c) 2026 Nur Asiyah, Muh Arif Rokhman, Lilik Istiqomah, Hidayatul Nurjanah, Nafila Azzahra https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Breaking and Believing: The Reflexive Journey of Muslim Identity in Mafi’s A Very Large Expanse of Sea
In an era saturated and disrupted by persistent Islamophobia and cultural polarization, nuanced representations of how diasporic Muslim youth navigate and negotiate their subjectivities are increasingly critical. Through the lens of Anthony Giddens’s reflexive modernity, this study demonstrates the selective reconstruction of the Muslim identity in A Very Large Expanse of Sea (2018) by Tahereh Mafi. Using qualitative textual analysis and thematic analysis, the objective of the study is to examine how Shirin negotiates her identity in terms of religion, the hijab, cultural participation, and interpersonal relationships. The research reveals that Shirin’s identity is not merely inherited nor entirely rejected; she reconstructs it selectively, using cultural and religious practices as a means of self-assertion against the structural constraints of post-9/11 Islamophobia and the surveillance of her high school. The further analysis depicts her identity formation marked by the moment of continuous tension between resistance and negotiation, revealing the multiple realities of diasporic experience in late modernity. This study extends the previous literature on Muslim identity by employing Giddens’s reflexive modernity to argue that Muslim identities are selectively reconstructed in and through everyday practice instead of mainly through resistance or hybridity. It contributes to current literary and cultural studies by foregrounding young adult literature as a site for representing complex Muslim subjectivities.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ellita Permata, Yinghuei Chen https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Framing Halal Certification in Indonesia: A Diachronic Corpus-Assisted Discourse Study on Republika.co.id
The implementation of Law No. 33 of 2014 on Halal Product Assurance (JPH) has transformed Indonesia's halal certification system and signaled a broader shift in the halal discourse from religious authority to state governance. This study aimed to investigate the themes and framing changes in news coverage of halal certification before and after the enactment of the JPH Law, and to examine how the media constructed the issue in two periods: 2010–2014 and 2015–2022. The study uses a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) framework and the Text Linguistic Approach to Framing, and utilizes the online corpus tool Sketch Engine. The corpus consists of 1,131 halal-related news articles published by Republika.co.id from 2010 to 2022, totaling 470,404 tokens. Results show major changes both in thematic focus and media framing. The coverage between 2010 and 2014 focused on halal products, non-governmental actors (especially the Indonesian Ulema Council/MUI), and chemical substances; the coverage between 2015 and 2022 focused on government programs, state-affiliated actors, and religious issues. Regarding framing, halal certification was framed in terms of authority legitimation, consumer protection, and product quality in the earlier period, and in terms of mandatory compliance, government programs, and economic development in the latter. Overall, the implications of this study suggest that Indonesia’s transformation of its halal certification system is accompanied by a corresponding shift in halal discourse. The transfer of authority from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to the government has altered how halal is perceived and justified in public discourse. The media plays a key role in reflecting and reinforcing these shifting power dynamics among the state, religious leaders, and the marketplace.
Copyright (c) 2026 Taat Budiono, Suhandano, Aris Munandar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Tracing Intertextuality Between “Aisyah Istri Rasulullah” and Umdatul Choirot’s Al-Madh Li-‘Aisyah Binti Abi Bakr
This study investigates the intertextual dialogue between the viral song "Aisyah Istri Rasulullah" and Umdatul Choirot’s poem, Al-Madh li-‘Aisyah binti Abi Bakr. By applying Julia Kristeva’s theory of intertextuality, the research explores how Choirot’s poem serves as a critical response that effectively reconstructs the representation of Sayyidah ‘Aisyah in the wake of the controversy sparked by the song’s lyrical choices. Utilizing a descriptive qualitative framework, this inquiry navigates the layers of textual space, creative practice, and ideological shifts through a rigorous close reading of both the song’s lyrics and the poem’s verses. The primary dataset, complemented by relevant scholarly literature, serves as the foundation for this comparative analysis. The findings reveal a stark divide in how the two texts engage with the subject. While the song constructs the image of Sayyidah ‘Aisyah primarily through romanticized and physical descriptors—a portrayal that generated significant socio-cultural friction among Muslim audiences—Umdatul Choirot’s poem functions as a deliberate textual transformation. The poem acts as a corrective, repositioning Sayyidah ‘Aisyah not as an object of affection, but as an intellectual, pious, and morally authoritative figure. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that intertextuality operates as more than mere textual interplay; it is a profound exercise in ideological negotiation, deeply rooted in religious ethics, gender perspectives, and the rich traditions of Islamic literature
Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammad Ziyad Hubbillah, Ahfa Rahman Syah, Muhammad Faidhur Rahman https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Contesting Western Dominant Narratives of Terrorism in Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin and Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire
This research examines how Shiver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin (2003) and Shamsie’s Home Fire expose Western double standards in representations of terrorism and reveal how anti-Muslim bias constructs Muslims as inherently associated with terrorism. The motivation for the study is the continued link of Muslims with terrorism as opposed to sharply contrasting portrayals of non-Muslim perpetrators of comparable atrocities. It explores how these novels deconstruct the supposed neutrality of the War on Terror rhetoric by revealing the ideological assumptions and double standards that inform portrayals of terrorism. The current study applies Edward Said’s theory of Orientalism to scrutinize the Western biases in the depiction of terrorism in both novels. It also uses Critical Terrorism Studies to examine how the concept of terrorism is formed through hegemonic Western discourses. This study used a qualitative approach to conduct a close textual analysis of the tales of Parvaiz and Kevin, exploring how their differing representations reveal underlying ideological prejudices. The findings suggest that Western representations of terrorism disproportionately link Muslim identities to terrorism and that white perpetrators are more likely to be explained in terms of individual or psychological factors rather than being labeled as terrorists, even when their actions meet widely accepted definitions of terrorism. These differing portrayals show that the vocabulary of the War on Terror is ideologically informed, rather than consistently applied across cases. Ultimately, the two books question the assumption that this discourse is neutral or objective by showing the racialized and unequal frameworks through which terrorism is represented.
Representations of Violence and Terrorism
Western Dominant Narratives of Terrorism
Copyright (c) 2026 Nada Syifa Fitriani, Hasnul Insani Djohar, Nada Tayem https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Inner Conflict and Moral Consciousness in Qamar al-Zamān: A Freudian Psychoanalytic Interpretation
This study analyzes the dynamics of the personality structure of the characters in the tale " Qamar al-Zamān ibn al-Malik Shahramān” in Alf Laylah wa-Laylah using Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic approach. In contrast to previous studies that focused on the protagonist, this study broadens the scope of analysis to four central figures: Qamar al-Zamān, Princess Budūr, King Shahramān, and Princess Ḥayāt al-Nufūs, to reveal the interrelation of psychic conflicts that build narratives. This research uses a qualitative descriptive method with hermeneutic textual analysis techniques. The research findings show that: (1) Qamar al-Zamān undergoes a transformation from an intellectual defense mechanism to a mature Ego integration; (2) Princess Budūr manifests a shift in instinctual energy from Thanatos (aggression) to Eros (obsessive love); and (3) King Shahramān represents the rigidity of the external Superego that triggers an existential crisis. The study concludes that narrative stability in classical literature is highly dependent on the achievement of psychological equilibrium of its characters. The story's conflict is proven to be not merely an external event, but an externalization of the failure of the Ego's mediation function in reconciling the Id's urges and the demands of reality.
Alf Laylah wa-Laylah; Conflict Dynamics; Literary Psychoanalysis; Personality Structure; Qamar al-Zamān.
Copyright (c) 2025 Muhammad Raihan Azzamsyah, Rd. Siti Sa'adah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
A Conceptual Metaphor Analysis of Reports on the Killing of a Hamas Leader, Yahya Sinwar
This study investigates the conceptual metaphors in The New York Times and Al Jazeera’s news reports on the murder of Hamas Leader, Yahya Sinwar. The reports were published in both media outlets within a month after the assassination in October 2024. This study attempts to compare the conceptual metaphors utilized in the two media outlets and to identify how they influence discourse in a manner that reveals media bias toward the opposing parties. The study maintains Lakoff and Johnson’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory and adopts the metaphor identification procedure to identify metaphorical lexical units. The collected data are further examined using Chateris-Black’s Critical Metaphor Analysis to discover the way conceptual metaphors influence discourse to convey media predisposition. The results show that both media outlets utilized three parallel target domains: THE MURDER, THE CONFLICT, and YAHYA SINWAR. However, the source domains display divergent results indicating bias, with The New York Times leaning toward supporting Israel, while Al Jazeera chooses to uphold the positive image of Yahya Sinwar. Further research could investigate the utilization of contextual metaphors across a broader selection of articles and the degree to which media outlets deliberately utilize the metaphors in their reports.
Al Jazeera Media; Conceptual and Critical Metaphor Analysis; The murder of a Hamas Leader; The New York Times; Yahya Sinwar
Copyright (c) 2025 Dewi Hajar Rahmawati Ali, Marti Fauziah Ariastuti https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Muslim Identity Construction in Nadine Jolie Courtney’s All-American Muslim Girl
This research examines the construction of Muslim identity in the main character of Nadine Jolie Courtney’s All-American Muslim Girl. This research used a qualitative textual analysis with a content analysis approach, focusing on how identity is represented through the character’s dialogue, actions, and internal thoughts. Data were collected by systematically coding narrative units in the novel that reveal aspects of Allie’s identity formation. The theory of character and characterization from DiYanni is used to analyze Allie’s character, while James Marcia’s four identity status framework is used to interpret the stages of identity construction. The findings reveal that Allie develops a passive American Muslim identity, shaped by her gradual learning of Islam and practice of religious rituals. Her identity’s construction follows Marcia’s stages: (1) identity diffusion, where Allie hides her Muslim identity while benefiting from her white appearance; (2) foreclosure, where she avoids Islamic practices due to family judgement; (3) moratorium, marked by exploration and confusion in her spiritual journey; and (4) identity achievement, where she embraces her muslim identity, commits to continue learning, and chooses to stand up for Muslim rather than conceal her faith.
American Muslim; Identity Construction; Identity Formation; Muslim Identity Crisis
Copyright (c) 2025 Dhea Faridatul Fahira, Elve Oktafiyani https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Understanding Theoretical Frameworks in Gender Studies: Feminism, Postfeminism, and Islamic Feminism
This paper discusses feminist movements from the first wave, second wave, third wave, and post-feminism and highlights Islamic feminism. Feminism occurred in the 19th and early 20th centuries and focused on fighting for women’s rights. These feminism concepts are highly important to see the ongoing phenomenon within society engaging with gender issues such as gender inequality, discrimination, and violence against women. This research provides a deeper understanding of the growth of the feminist movement and related issues in social, cultural, and political contexts as well as current issues that are connected to it. This highlights the theoretical developments and its critical debates. This paper was written using a systematic literature review method to find out how the feminist movement develop from the past to the present time. The aim of a literature review is to acquire a theoretical foundation that can help resolve the study challenge and strengthen the researcher's analyisis on gender issues. Discrimination against women was pervasive and affected women’s life particularlt for gender constraints. Still, women's place in society was seen as inferior and unequal. Through developing feminism, women are able to stand up for their rights, achieve their goals of gender equality and justice.
Feminism; First Wave Feminism; Islamic Feminism; Second Wave Feminism; Third Wave Feminism; Postfeminism
Copyright (c) 2025 Andhina Qaddis Fithratana, Bunga Aminah Salsabila, Ida Rosida https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Beyond Orientalist Binaries: Domestic Praxis and Muslim Womanhood in Contemporary South Asian Fiction
This study interrogates the persistence of binary representations of Muslim women within Orientalist discourse. It examines how contemporary South Asian English fiction, authored by writers from the Indian subcontinent, actively subverts these reductive paradigms. Drawing on postcolonial feminist theory and Islamic feminist studies, the research employs a comparative qualitative analysis of selected novels: Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire, Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age, and Nazia Erum’s Mothering a Muslim. Close readings of character development, narrative voice, and symbolic motifs reveal that these works reconceptualize Muslim womanhood through articulations of agency, resilience, and intellectual autonomy. Key findings demonstrate that the veil emerges as both a marker of cultural identity and a site of resistance; that wartime and postcolonial traumas are reconfigured to foreground female subjectivity; and that other narrative strategies operate as critical tools for challenging patriarchal norms. The study concludes that such literary interventions dismantle Orientalist binaries—East/West, secular/religious, traditional/modern—and offer nuanced articulations of faith-inflected feminist praxis. By bridging postcolonial and Islamic feminist frameworks, this research advances the field of Muslimah literature and contributes to broader debates on representation, agency, and intersectionality in global Anglophone fiction.
Muslimah Agency; Muslim Feminism; Muslimah Veils Representation; Muslim Womanhood; Postcolonial Feminism.
Copyright (c) 2025 Md Samiul Azim, Md Akidul Hoque, Farida Parvin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Muslim Stereotypes, the “Other”, and the Consequences in Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire
This study examines the stereotypical portrayal of Muslims in Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire as the “Other” within an Orientalist framework. Stereotyping is understood as a prejudiced, exaggerated, and often inaccurate set of beliefs attached to particular groups, while Orientalism refers to the Western tradition of depicting the East as inferior, backward, and threatening. The novel reflects these intersecting paradigms through its representation of Muslim characters particularly the Adil Pasha’s family, and, more specifically the treatment on Parvaiz Pasha after his involvement with a militant organization. Despite his British citizenship, Parvaiz is denied burial in Britain, symbolizing his repositioning from citizen to outsider. The textual analysis undertaken in this study, grounded in Allport’s (1954) theory of stereotyping and Said’s (1978) theory of Orientalism, reveals how Muslims are framed as inherently suspect, dangerous, or undeserving of equal rights. The research demonstrates that Shamsie’s narrative exposes deeply embedded Western biases that continue to shape the experiences of Muslim communities in diasporic contexts. Ultimately, the study highlights how the novel challenges the dominant Orientalist discourse by foregrounding the human consequences of stereotyping, marginalization, and exclusion.
Muslim Representation; Orientalism; Otherness; Prejudice; Stereotyping
Copyright (c) 2025 Mira Utami, Jawad Akbar https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Urdu Diaspora in Canada: Unveiling the Transnational Experiences through Jawaid Danish’s Hijarat Ke Tamashey
Urdu Diaspora can be defined as the socio-cultural formation of the Urdu-speaking community in transnational spaces, which has migrated chiefly from the Urdu-speaking regions in India and Pakistan to various global destinations, including the EU, the Americas, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, African countries, and Gulf nations. The present paper endeavours to provide a concise overview of the global Urdu diaspora with special reference to the South Asian and specifically Indian Urdu-speaking Diaspora community in Canada. It also intends to describe the fundamental characteristics of the Urdu diaspora in relation to the other classical patterns of global diasporas. It applies literary analysis to the transnational experiences of the South Asians as depicted in the works of Indo-Canadian writer and playwright Jawaid Danish's literary work – cum – performance, Hijrat Ke Tamashey (Plays of Migrations). It is a collection of various plays based on the lives of immigrants in Canada. Danish is also popular for his solo play “Dastan Hijraton Ki” (Story of Migration). This story is a Dastan/goi, a traditional form of Urdu storytelling. The present qualitative research seeks to shed light on the multifaceted aspects of lived experiences, memories, the anguish of displacement, notions of belonging, and the challenges encountered by Indian and Pakistani Urdu-speaking communities during the transition into a different socio-cultural setting. It aims to draw parallels between the American dream and the Canadian dream, as well as the hardships associated with both. Furthermore, this study seeks to underscore the pivotal role played by the diaspora in preserving and promoting the Urdu language, literature, identity, and cultural heritage in transnational space concerning Canada.
Copyright (c) 2025 Muslim English Literature https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Bule Barbie’s YouTube Channel and Religious Commodification: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis
Commodification refers to the process of something that is given a market value and traded. Various aspects of life can be commodified, including religion. This study investigates how Bule Barbie’s YouTube content represents the commodification of Islam by employing Multimodal Discourse Analysis (MDA), as proposed by Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen, along with Karl Marx’s theory of commodification. This research aims to explore how religious elements are transformed into commodities on social media platforms, particularly YouTube. The analysis focuses on five multimodal systems: linguistic, visual, audio, gestural, and spatial. Bule Barbie's videos are deliberately presented engagingly and cheerfully to attract viewers, reflected in her friendly persona. The findings reveal that the commodification process can be observed through the use of Islamic expressions such as Alhamdulillah, Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, and Allahu Akbar; the mention of Islamic practices such as fasting, takjil, and Eid al-Fitr; her use of religious attires such as gamis and hijab; and her visits to mosques. These elements show how all five multimodal systems are utilized to convey and commodify Islamic values in the content. The implication of this research is to raise awareness about how religious symbols and practices can be commercialized in digital media, prompting further discussion on the ethical boundaries of spiritual representation in online content.
Copyright (c) 2025 Alfi Syahriyani, Pingky Theresya, Radya Rakha Mahendra, Salsabila Benj Arafat https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
A Binary Oppositions in Atia Abawi’s A Land of Permanent Goodbyes
This research explores the binary opposition between the East and the West in A Land of Permanent Goodbyes and analyzes how these oppositions reinforce Edward W. Said's Orientalism. The method of the research is using a qualitative descriptive method by identifying, interpreting, and describing specific passages from the novel to examine the depiction of Muslim identity in the limited frame of Western perceptions. Said’s theory serves as the theoretical framework for this research. The findings reveal that the binary opposition between the East and the West creates stereotypes in which the East, often associated with Islam, is portrayed as inferior, while the West is depicted as superior to maintain white supremacy. This aligns with Said’s argument that Orientalist discourse creates a biased understanding of the East, positioning the West as the standard against which the East and, by extension, Islam are measured in old-fashioned ways. As a result, the narrator appears to adopt an Orientalist viewpoint, representing Islamic traditions as backward while portraying the West as a symbol of rationality and progress to maintain colonial manners. Such representations lead to a perception in which the Islamic world is seen as falling behind the West in terms of both culture and civilization. These stereotypes, rooted in Orientalism, also affect how Muslims view themselves in Western society.
Copyright (c) 2025 Meka Mona Ghazali, Elve Oktafiyani https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Muslimah Mimicry and Cultural Adaptation in Hala Film (2019)
This research examines the functions of mimicry in cultural adaptation strategy in the Muslimah or Muslim woman character in the Hala movie (2019). The study employs a qualitative research approach, analyzing the film’s narrative, dialogue, and visual elements through Homi K. Bhabha’s postcolonial theory of mimicry and Jens Eder’s theory of film character. The findings of this research are that Hala, as a Muslimah protagonist and a second-generation Pakistani Muslim Immigrant living in America, used the language, attire, behaviour, and mindset of American culture to balance the freedoms of American society. However, her imitation results in Muslim cultural ambivalence, as she is neither fully American nor entirely Muslimah Pakistani. This duality creates internal conflict, familial tensions, and an identity crisis. The study highlights mimicry as a survival strategy and a source of psychological turmoil, contributing to the broader discourse on second-generation Muslimah immigrant identity and postcolonial studies.
Copyright (c) 2025 Rahmatun Nisa, Nina Farlina https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Writing the Sacred from Within in Richard Burton’s A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah
The West has shown the utmost curiosity for the Middle East's culture, tradition, society, and the Hajj pilgrimage. This region was considered the least explored on the world map until the nineteenth century. Over the decades, a handful of adventurers and explorers have undertaken various perilous journeys to find answers and satisfy the inquisitiveness of a larger, knowledge-thirsty populace. Travel writing, Hajj pilgrimage travel writing, can still not be considered an established area of study. This paper aims to highlight the pilgrimage travelogues of the nineteenth century by drawing scholarly attention to the genre of Hajj pilgrimage travel writing, its significance, and the need for more academic attention. The paper critically analyses Sir Richard Burton’s travelogue A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah (1855), which recounts his journey to the cities of Mecca and Medina and the Hajj pilgrimage from the nineteenth century. He undertook the Hajj pilgrimage in disguise as a Muslim pilgrim, a journey fraught with numerous challenges and dangers. The paper primarily critically analyses the motivations of this so-called pilgrim from the West, his reflections on the Oriental society, culture, religious sites, and life in the Middle East, along with the challenges he faced during this perilous journey. It also critically examines how he attempted to reconcile his Englishness with an adopted Muslim guise or identity and its impact on the narration and description in the travelogue.
To Veil or not to Veil: Tracing the Hijab in Contemporary Muslimah’s Writings
This research examines the constructions of Muslimah or Muslim women's identity through the lens of religious clothing, specifically the hijab, as depicted in two contemporary Muslimah literary texts. Randa Abdal Fattah’s Does My Head Look Big In This? (2005) is a bildungsroman told from the perspective of a sixteen-year-old Australian-Palestinian Muslim girl who makes the life-changing decision to wear the hijab. The second novel is Leila Aboulela’s Minaret (2005), tracing the journey of a young female Sudanese immigrant in London who finds herself struggling socially, economically and culturally in a foreign country after leaving behind a life of affluence in Sudan. Using theories such as Homi K Bhabha’s Cultural Hybridity and Miriam Cooke’s Islamic Feminism, the article analyses the protagonists’ choice of veiling and the internal and external factors that influence this difficult decision. The analysis suggests that female hybrid identities in Western diasporic contexts are uniquely configured through religious and cultural markers like the hijab that forge feminist bonds and reignite connections to the Homeland and God. The decision to wear the hijab also helps counter Western stereotypes related to Islam and Muslim women. The hijab has also become a contentious issue in recent times. It is thus imperative to look closely at contemporary Muslimah literature that addresses this topic, especially those written by Muslimah authors. This research helps to reduce mainstream misrepresentation and contest stereotypes, thereby making space for newer ways of reading Muslim identities and feminist tendencies.
Copyright (c) 2023 Muslim English Literature
Existentialist Feminism in Etaf Rum’s A Woman is No Man
This research aims to provide a qualitative study into existentialist feminism in Etaf Rum's novel A Woman is No Man (2019). The writers examine Arab American women from a three-generation family who emigrated from Palestine to America, which affected them in determining their meaning of existence under Arab American patriarchal culture: Fareeda as the first generation, Isra and Sarah as the second generation, and Deya as the third generation. This research used Simone de Beauvoir’s existentialist feminism theory. The findings show two out of the four Arab American women refused to break out from the Arab patriarchal culture, while the other two achieved their transcendence. The existence of Arab American women in the novel is not fully achieved based on Beauvoir’s idea of claiming their transcendence. In conclusion, the four Arab American female characters were influenced by generational differences when they were exposed to Arab culture in Palestine. Fareeda and Isra have more anti-assimilation toward American culture than Sarah and Deya, born in America. Sarah and Deya find meaning in their existence because they achieve their transcendence by becoming what they want to be, namely, working and independent women. Meanwhile, Fareeda and Isra find meaning in their existence in the realm of the patriarchal culture, which defines them as the Other since neither of them has ambitions for themselves but has always strived to submit to the Arab culture. Thus, Fareeda and Isra defined their meaning in existence as being mothers and wives.
Homesickness in Dur E Aziz Amna's American Fever
This study discusses the main sources of homesickness among the characters as the loss of family and culture, the unattainable dream of returning home, and the challenges of adapting to a new environment. The research reveals factors causing homesickness experienced by diaspora characters, as seen in the protagonist of Dur e Aziz Amna’s American Fever. The researchers analyze the issues of homesickness with diaspora literary perspectives. This study engages with diaspora studies, especially Stuart Hall's theory of cultural identity and diaspora. The result shows that diaspora individuals typically have expectations and admiration of their cherished homeland to overcome their homesickness. The cultural differences, the expectation for home, and the unfamiliarity with the home create a longing for the homeland's homesickness. The more the characters spend time in the United States, the more they realize how distant it is from what they had expected about the beauty of their homeland. Thus, they keep admiring their homelands and accept the differences and unfamiliarity to overcome their homesickness.
Muslimah Hybrid Identity in Amulya Malladi’s The Sound of Language
This study analyses Amulya Malladi’s novel The Sound of Language using a postcolonial and Islamic feminist approach. The paper explores how the novel reflects identity, Otherness, the imperial situation, and the experience of alienation in the diaspora. In The Sound of Language, the author portrays the main character's life in the Muslim diaspora. It depicts the subject's journey towards a multicultural identity and her mission to understand who she is and where she fits in the global community. This study examines how a Muslim subject develops their identity in a postcolonial European setting and analyses the problems raised by how the writer presents the character in the book. This research especially explores Malladi's identity-making process, engaging with concepts of Ngugi wa Thiongo's Language and Identity, Homi K. Bhabha's Hybridity, and Fatima Mernissi's Muslim women's liberation. In addition, this investigates how the author explores the connection between language acquisition and identity formation, examining how natives influence non-natives and the extent of Danish society's acceptance of Afghan culture and languages. The study reveals that Muslim characters in occidental societies, like Raihana does when she moves to Denmark, will develop a hybrid identity that incorporates both her Muslim background and the contemporary free-thinking society of the West. This article presents two subsections of a study: the Postcolonial and the Islamic feminist approaches. Both sections explain how Raihana formed her hybrid identity as a Muslim woman in a European country.
The Badshah Begums: Interrogating Identity and Power in Mughal Fictions
The historical legacy of Mughal rule in India has never been devoid of the interplay of power politics and identity throughout its long history. Needless to say, the history of Mughal women abounds in instances of power struggle and hegemonic interplay of social position. This research paper intends to highlight Ira Mukhoty’s Daughters of the Sun and Indu Sundersan’s The Twentieth Wife, which explicitly throw light on this power exchange that inevitably occurred in the Mughal empire. The historical representation of Mughals has been surrounded by narratives of the central patriarchal seat of power. Besides, the paper intends to establish the dedication, intelligence, valor, and diplomacy of these Begums whose stories have never been part of the popular narrative. The catalytic role that these women played in building the Mughal empire, as Mukhoty says, needs to be studied as an essential aspect of the development of the Mughal kingdom in India. Considering popular theories of studying cultural theory, this paper questions the prevalent ideas of privilege, power, and position associated with the title of the Badshah Begum and reveals the true socio-cultural suppression that functioned in the background. This paper brings out how the Begums perceived the importance of the title themselves at the personal level, thus contributing to the growth of the domestic, economic, political, and academic levels.
Owning a home has always been a dream for every individual, and one’s life savings are invested in possessing a home, especially in the Indian context. Indian novelists have portrayed how their characters strive to build a ‘home’ for themselves, thereby asserting their identity. The present study explores the protagonist Fateema’s dire desire to own a house of her own in a mixed ghetto wherein people from different religions live together in peace and harmony. This elusive utopian thought is depicted poignantly in Ila Arab Mehta’s novel Fence. The cultural constructs in the Gujarati society described in the novel and the hegemonic influence portrayed in the novel are explored through the experiences of various characters. The food, clothing, language, and mannerisms of the Muslim society, as compared to the majority community in Gujarat of the late twentieth century, are portrayed in the novel as only cultural constructs leading to the subjugation of the Muslim community. Hence, an attempt is being made to study the novel Fence from the perspective of cultural studies and calls for a broader outlook in encapsulating everyone within a multicultural framework, strengthening the social fabric.
Freud's Mourning and Melancholia and Arissa’s Loss and Grief in Shaila Abdullah’s Saffron Dreams
This research aims to discover the mourning and melancholia that the main character, Arissa, experiences in Shaila Abdullah’s Saffron Dreams (2009). By using close textual analysis, we investigate the ideas of loss and grief as well as the struggles of Arissa lives in the US and how she solves her problems. This research engages with Sigmund Freud’s theory that discusses about mourning and melancholia in Abdullah’s novel. The findings reveal that Faizan's death was the beginning of the problems faced by Arissa. She felt unable to live forward because she felt her world collapsed immediately and her dreams had vanished together with Faizan's death. In this novel, Arissa's melancholia appears whenever memories of Faizan come, and it affects her mind. However, the relationship between mourning and melancholia is formed due to Faizan's sudden death in the 9/11 tragedy in the Unites States, and the birth and presence of Raian have relieved Arissa's sorrowful and miserable since Faizan's death. Moreover, Raian is a significant factor in eliminating Arissa’s mourning and melancholia in the novel. Thus, Abdullah’s novel can be used an example to understand Freud’s mourning and melancholia that the protagonist’s experiences and struggles to solve her conflict within herself and beyond as a Muslimah-American who struggles to survive because of mourning and melancholia after 9/11.
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Inspecting Zara's Advertisement Campaign amidst Gaza Conflict and Its Global Backlash
This study investigates the controversial Zara advertisement campaign released during the Gaza conflict and analyzes its global backlash. Using Kress and Van Leeuwen’s visual theory, the research explores its representational, interpersonal, and compositional dimensions. Text findings reveal that representationally, the advertisement features culturally significant symbols: a white cloth signifying death in Palestinian culture and a kaffiyeh symbolizing resistance. Interpersonally, it positions viewers as passive observers, evoking discomfort, and pity, while textually, it emphasizes symbolic representation with stark contrasts and strategic framing. The advertisement’s release during heightened tensions led many to perceive it as exploitative and culturally insensitive, despite some defenses of artistic expression. Public reactions, particularly on social media, highlighted the ethical challenges of such campaigns. The study questions the campaign for violating Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) principles by disregarding ethical considerations and societal well-being. It underscores the importance of cultural sensitivity in global marketing, advocating for ethical advertising that respect global diverse audiences.
The Negotiation of Egyptian-American Identity in Miral Al-Tahawy's Brooklyn Heights
This study aims to determine the problems and identity negotiations carried out by the protagonist, Hend, in the novel Miral al-Tahawy’s Brooklyn Heights. It is a qualitative research with descriptive analysis method by using Robert Stanton's Narrative Structure theory to show the main issues of the novel and Stuart Hall's identity theory to show Hend's identity negotiation. The results showed that the protagonist in her migration from Egypt to America experienced various identity problems, namely longing for the homeland, alienation, and identity crisis. All these problems encourage the protagonist to create efforts to negotiate between her past and present in several forms; using English to show her position as an American, carrying out dating traditions, drinking beer, dancing tango, and wearing open clothes. Hend's identity in America is not dominant to one side. She becomes half Arab and half American (a hybrid identity). The research also found that her romantic needs for an American man became the starting point of this American negotiation that can be considered as identity negotiation to claim her rights as an Egyptian-American, whose identity tends to be excluded from American citizens regardless the fact that she is American, but not white mainstream society.
The Dark Sides of Immigrants in Laila Lalami’s Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits
This study focuses on the impact of immigration on immigrants, especially Muslim women or Muslimah, by engaging with a postcolonial study working within the framework of gender and immigration and using a close textual analysis. The researchers use a qualitative research method to reveal the reasons Moroccan women decide to illegally immigrate to Spain in Laila Lalami’s Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (2005), investigated to reveal what it means to be Muslimah immigrants crossing the Moroccan sea to live in Spain. The data collected is in the form of quotes, narratives, and discourse from the primary text and the secondary sources. The storyline of this novel revolves around unlawful (illegal) immigrants from Morocco to Spain. This novel is about the struggles of four Moroccan immigrants who have no place and space to live either in their homeland or in the host land. In this study, the theme of 'immigrant Muslimah' leads researchers to the conclusion that the novel uses the dark sides of being immigrants who have the desire to reject white officers and politicians who tend to blame immigrant Muslimah as a problem instead of the victim of global transitional capitalism and ‘patriarchism’.
The Imagined Ladyland in Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Sultana’s Dream
This study investigates the imagined Ladyland in Sultana's Dream to show Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s vision of women’s empowerment and emancipation. The Ladyland epitomizes the triumph of the scientific, righteous, progressive and benevolent ingenuity in women. It also serves as a symbol of women empowerment, and a critique of colonialism and patriarchy. In the Ladyland, there is no patriarchy, and only matriarchy prevails. While women avail all the rights, needs, and privileges, the women living in Rokeya’s society are deprived of all these. They are confined to the domestic domain whereas men work outdoors. Therefore, to take women out of their shells, the writer emphasizes the necessity of empowering women through modern education and social reform. This article employs a qualitative descriptive method to provide a detailed textual analysis of the Ladyland and the Feminist Literary Theory to analyze the portrayal of the Ladyland which advocates for the emancipation of women of colonial East Bengal and beyond from the clutches of patriarchy and other traditional constraints through their empowerment, to build up a more equitable society. This study continues to make a significant contribution to world literature, offering future researchers valuable insights, ideas, and viewpoints on the writer and her works.
Muslim Youth: Prejudice and Responses in Saadia Faruqi’s Yusuf Azeem is not a Hero
This research aims to investigate the prejudice experienced by young Muslims in the United States and examine their responses as portrayed in Saadia Faruqi’s Yusuf Azeem is not a Hero (2021). The writers use close textual analysis in analyzing the primary text to examine the prejudice and responses portrayed by the young Muslims in the novel. In doing so, the writers employ Gordon Allport's theory of prejudice to comprehend the prejudice experienced by young Muslims and Simpson & Yinger's theory of response to prejudice to examine the responses of young Muslims. The results of the analysis reveal that young Muslim-Americans experience prejudice in various forms, which affects their social lives and shapes their identities. Their responses to this prejudice also vary, depending on the specific situation, their personal experiences, and their understanding of the 9/11 tragedy. Thus, responses were seen in the form of resistance and negotiation of their identities. This study reveals that the 9/11 tragedy significantly impacted the Muslim community, especially Muslim youth who did not experience the tragedy but being subjected to discrimination and physical violence.
Utopia or Dystopia: Connecting Begum Rokeya and Bernardine Evaristo
This research paper attempts to bridge the voices of Begum Rokeya, a British Indian writer, and Bernardine Evaristo, a contemporary British writer. One of the primary texts is Rokeya’s “Sultana’s Dream,” and another is Bernardine Evaristo’s “The White Man’s Liberation Front.” This article follows the qualitative-descriptive method to analyze two primary texts with reference to Thomas More’s concept of “Utopia” and John Stuart Mill’s framework of “Dystopia.” Many scholars claim these stories to be feminist utopias. However, the purpose of the study is to create an analogy between these stories by pointing out some discrepancies in these utopias. Nevertheless, this research does not posit any anti-feminist stance and does not question the celebration of womanhood in the two stories. It shows that none of the stories expresses any ideal solution for equality and harmony. The stories present men and women in opposition to each other instead of narrating them as partners. The questions they raise on patriarch are correct, but that never means it ought to be replaced with matriarchy. This research does not defend patriarchy but finds that the models of women’s superiority presented in the two stories are dystopian. As the stories have a universal appeal with a similar essence, both of them create a bridge between the voices of local and global women’s rights. Still, the paper suggests the settings as dystopian because of the lack of a tone for equality.