Muslim author encourages children to express themselves creatively

Muslim women are too often portrayed as oppressed and subjugated in modern literature, according to British author Ayisha Malik.
Malik, a British Muslim, is the author of the critically acclaimed Sofia Khan Is Not Obliged, in which the protagonist, a single Londoner, is asked to write a book on the Muslim dating scene for her publisher.
"The basis of the book was always going to be a Muslim Bridget Jones. It's about a single woman in her 30s navigating her way through the concrete jungle that is London," she told Khaleej Times. "She's given up on finding a husband after her sort-of boyfriend asks her to move in with his parents once they get married."
"There wasn't any one message I wanted to send," she added. "Rather I wanted to use Sofia as a vehicle to show the ordinary life of a Muslim woman in London who sometimes happens to face some quite extraordinary and funny situations."
Malik - who was born and raised in South London - says that the novel, her first, stems from a desire to address the lack of Muslim heroines in popular fiction, and to convey a more authentic characterisation of modern Muslims.
"This is in part to do with there not being enough Muslim women writers," she said. "As a community we're not really encouraged to have creative professions. Perhaps there's also a reticence to publish literature about Muslim female protagonists that doesn't involve oppression or some kind of crisis of faith/identity."
Additionally, Malik lamented the lack "of a variety" in literature of the experience of Muslims in the West.
"We're not a homogenous group but are often shown to be oppressed or escaping some kind of subjugation," she noted. "The first step towards rectifying this is recognising that we don't all suffer - that our trials and tribulations are very much like any other human trial."
"My main concern in books with Muslim women is that they always seem to want to escape their identity," she added. "It's quite possible that their identity is already in place, but we don't often see that in books."
Literature, she remarked, is an excellent way to clear such stereotypes.
"By creating multi-faceted heroines with multiple identities you're creating something unique and also relatable," she said. "People who only see Muslim through the lens of the media can witness something different and hopefully develop a sense of empathy that is very specific to literature and reading."
Malik also encouraged the parents of British and European Muslims to push them to express themselves creatively.
"This begins at home," she said. "Parents should encourage their children to use more creative outlets to voice their opinions."
- bernd@khaleejtimes.com

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Bernd Debusmann Jr.

bernd@khaleejtimes.com