Once a Muslim Always a Muslim: The Rise and Fall of the Muslim American Protagonist in Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced

Abstract

The post 9/11 atmosphere of terror made Muslim Americans highly visible in the U.S.and they have been viewed as potential terrorist suspects. Therefore, in the light of these circumstances, Ayad Akhtar’s Play Disgraced is most apropos to be revisited as his works focus on the existence of Muslims in America as a post-colonial contact zone. In fact, the play puts the interracial marriage of Amir, and his wife Emily, a White American woman on center stage and makes it fall down before our eyes. Despite the fact that Amir’s credentials qualify him to be a model minority citizen, and reach the American Dream, he falls out of grace as soon as he appears in court to show support as a pro bono lawyer to a Muslim Imam who is tried for raising fund for a mosque in the Middle East. This paper belabors the reasons that led to the reversal of the hero’s fortune from prosperity to misery in the wake of the collapse of New York twin towers.