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The Conflict between Secularism and Islam in Ayad Akhtar's Disgraced

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

Subjects

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Tags

اللغــة الانجليزيــة وآدابها

Abstract

Introduction Disgraced (2012) is a one-act play written by the Pakistani American dramatist, Ayad Akhtar, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013.  The play discusses critical topics such as Islamophobia, racial and religious prejudices and the identity of minorities living in the USA.  The main topic discussed in this paper is the conflict between Islam and secularism in Disgraced which revolves around Amir Kapoor, a Pakistani corporate lawyer who was born in the US and who "has tried to obliterate his Pakistani roots.  He has left the Muslim religion, which he castigates as primitive, and even adopted a new last name so he could pass for Indian" (Feldberg BL1).  Akhtar who shares the same cultural background with his protagonist, explains that Amir is "pre-emptively trying to make himself in the eyes of the American majority – and his rejection of Islam is operating as a kind of card-carrying membership of being Western" (Nestruck par. 5). The Islamic identity does not, in Amir's point of view, help people enjoy their American citizenship.  Therefore, Amir falsely believes that leading a secular life would, probably, protect him against the religious discrimination which notably increased after 9/11 events.  Disgraced introduces different concepts of secularism through Amir, all of which are opposing Islam. 

DOI

10.21608/jarts.2019.81808

Volume

79

Article Issue

عدد اکتوبر لغة 2019

Related Issue

12313

Issue Date

2019-10-01

Receive Date

2018-04-12

Publish Date

2019-10-01

Page Start

1

Page End

30

Print ISSN

1012-6015

Online ISSN

2682-485X

Link

https://jarts.journals.ekb.eg/article_81808.html

Detail API

https://jarts.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=81808

Order

1

Type

عروض الکتب فى مجالات الآداب واللغات الإنسانیات العلوم الاجتماعیة

Type Code

1,223

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

مجلة کلية الآداب . القاهرة

Publication Link

https://jarts.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

The Conflict between Secularism and Islam in Ayad Akhtar's Disgraced

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023