The Taqwacores Literary Elements

Fictional Novel.

The setting of the novel is New York and the story has been written in the context of misconceptions regarding Islam and Muslims.

The narrator of the story is a Pakistani Engineering Student, Yusef, who was living in New York with other Muslim students. The story has been narrated from his own point of view.

Thought provoking, Optimistic, Solemn, Revealing.

The protagonist in the book is Yusef who was a Muslim student in America. The antagonists in the book are the westerners who judge the Muslims based on false assumptions.

The major conflict in the book is between Muslims and the American society. The Muslims are misunderstood by the white Christians and they judge them on the basis of their appearance.

The climax in the story comes when Yusef decides to live with Muslim community instead of living with non-Muslims in the dorm.

The comparison of Islam with punk culture foreshadows the diversity in Islam.

The understatement in the novel is that Muslims are not extremists as they are usually taken by the western society. Instead they are normal human beings with diverse ideas and thoughts. The author has also understated that Islam is a very beautiful religion whose teachings only provide benefits to its followers and it promotes goodness and well being of others.

There are allusions to Islamic teachings, Masjid, Stereotypical views about Muslims, physical relations, boundaries of Islam, prejudice against Muslims, punk culture, punk rock music and taqwa.

There are images of Muslims offering prayers and reading Koran. The author has portrayed the lives of Muslims in western society and the prejudice that they face in their educational institutions. The author has conveyed the images of Rabeya wearing abaya and following her religion. Then she has been depicted as giving logical arguments regarding her religious views.

The paradox in the story is that the Muslims are considered as orthodox and conservative people but in reality they possess liberal thoughts. They are open-minded and normal human beings. Another paradox in the book is regarding the views of Americans regarding Islam. The author has demonstrated that Islam is not a religion of extremists instead it is a complete code of life with amazing teachings.

There is a parallelism between Muslims and western culture. The arguments of Rabeya demonstrates this parallelism.

An example of metonymy is Rabeya who stands for all Muslim girls. She represents the women who follow religion along with excelling in the world. An example of synecdoche is punk culture, which alludes towards the diversity in thought and the deceptiveness of appearance.

Religion has been personified in the book.