Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Arts - Department of English

In the past few decades, the international War on Terror initiated by Western countries following the 9/11 attacks has caused several debates about Islam and immigration to the West. Controversial issues like Islamophobia and multiculturalism represent predominant discourses that have occupied centre stage. Muslims in the West are faced with the need to fight stereotyping that classifies them as extremists and terrorists. Muslim identity has been imposed on many writers even if they have chosen to define themselves otherwise or have rejected any definition altogether. Fadia Faqir (1956- ) and Leila Aboulela (1964- ) are two influential Arab Muslim writers in contemporary Britain. Their writings are mainly preoccupied with representations of Muslim characters in quest of identity in the midst of the ongoing conflicting discourses of Islamophobia and multiculturalism. This dissertation conducts a comparative study of selected novels by the above mentioned writers, representing the middle and latest stages of their fiction. These novels are Minaret (2005) and The Kindness of Enemies (2015) by the Sudanese writer Leila Aboulela, and My Name Is Salma (2007) and Willow Trees Don't Weep (2014) by the Jordanian British novelist Fadia Faqir. In examining the representations of Muslim identity, the study scrutinises a number of issues. First, it explores such predominant conflicting debates that have constituted the cultural/political scene in contemporary Britain and shaped the writing of the selected novels. Second, the study examines the writers{u2019} motives for writing their novels, the development of their lines of thought from one novel and one historical moment to another, and their viewpoint of Islam. Third, the study compares and contrasts the writers{u2019} discourses. Utilising an interdisciplinary approach, the dissertation combines cultural studies, postcolonial and trauma theories

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