Muslims living in the West face
numerous challenges, including the
western assumptions, different
types of stereotypes and communal
prejudices that influence Muslims’
lives. Consequently, Muslims in the
West live in between two
spaces/third space, constantly
negotiating their identities. The
post-colonial narrative has
contributed to the transfer of this
living reality, especially with
regards to the issue of identity and
the presence of "self" as opposed to
the "other". Thus, this paper pivots
on examining the crisis of Islamic
identity in Muslim Girl (2014) by
Umm Zakiyyah from the USA,
exploring the postcolonial key
concepts of identity, third space and
de- Eurocentrism. The purpose of
this paper is to explore the
challenges that the main character,
Inaya Donald faces as a Muslim in
a Christian school. Thus, this paper
attempts to explicate how diaspora,
religious discrimination and
imitating the "other" influence her,
exploring the reasons and how she
negotiates her identity. To do so,
this qualitative and non-empirical
research has conducted in a
descriptive-theoretical analysis,
using the selected novel as a
primary source and library and
online critical materials, such as
books and journal articles, as
secondary references. The analysis
shows that Umm Zakiyyah
emphasizes that religious identity
in diaspora can be unstable due to
the cultural displacement of
characters, living between two
religions, the displacement, a sense
of alienation, racial and religious
prejudgments and a sense of
nostalgia. These reasons have
contributed to resulting hybridity
and identity negotiating. However,
this hybrid identity enabled Inaya
to move from the margin to the
center; which means that living in
the third space is a sign of strength
and resistance rather than
weakness.
Publication Date
5/17/2022
Publisher
مجلة أنساق للفنون و الآداب و العلوم
Volume No
3
Issue No
2
Keywords
Hybrid Identity, religious discrimination, third space, deconstructing Eurocentrism
د. نضيرة بريوة | Dr. Nadira Brioua | 8946