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Fictional Islam: Moral Imagination in Contemporary Muslim American Literature
Abstract by Dr. Hina Azam On Session V-30  (Disciplinary Epistemologies)

On Friday, November 3 at 1:30 pm

2023 Annual Meeting

Abstract
Fictional worlds are moral worlds. That is, fictional narratives function according to moral logics, and those logics, in turn, suggest both moral critique and moral vision. A story’s exploration of moral themes can be discerned in numerous aspects of any story’s telling -- world-building, setting, characterization, plot, dialogue. The particular moral logic embedded in a fictional work may reflect the social, political, or cultural milieu of the work, the personal experience of the author, or theoretical sources such as religion, philosophy, or ideology. In the body of fiction being produced by Muslim American writers, these embedded moral logics often draw on Islamic religion, Islamicate cultures, and Muslim experiences. Aspects of religion – such as piety, doctrine, morality, ritual, etiquette, speech, and community, among others – are interwoven throughout these works’ discourses and become vehicles of moral exploration. At the same time, through the elements of storytelling, these authors configure and reconfigure aspects of Islamic religion – including morality – in new ways. Through their creative work, Muslim American fictionists are contributing to the moral logics of Islamic religion. In my presentation, I explore religious and moral discourse – that is, moral themes, critiques, and visions – in a few Muslim American novels that are amenable to such analysis: City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty, The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami, The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood, Mornings in Jenin by Susan Abulhawa, and American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar. I aim to show how attention to the specifically religio-moral discourses of these stories allows us to the see the work that they do in shaping Islamic morality.
Discipline
Literature
Religious Studies/Theology
Geographic Area
Islamic World
North America
Sub Area
None