FRAMING MUSLIMS AS NEW RACIST AND STEREOTYPED CONSERVATIVES IN POST 9/11 WORLD: THE STUDY OF KAMILA SHAMSIE’S HOME FIRE

Abstract

In post 9/11 world, the Muslim identity in the west is framed and stereotyped as unenlightened outsiders who live in the west. The current study explores Kamila Shamsie’s novel Home Fire (2017) in this perspective of Peter Morey and Amina Yaqeen’s views about Muslim identity in the west (2011). The study also discusses the concept of ‘House Muslim’ propagated by Hamid Dabashi (2011) in which House Muslims assimilate themselves in the white Britain culture by dislocating their roots from Islamic identity. The study is qualitative in nature and the method of textual analysis and close reading is applied for collecting evidence from the novel. The novel confirms the concept of farming and stereotyping of Muslim identity in the west in post 9/11 scenario in which Muslim representation of identity like beard; hijab and prayers are mocked as signs of ignorance, backwardness and extremism. On the other hand the ‘House Muslims’ are portrayed as enlightened and civilized entities for they follow the western norms.