Speaking for the Muslim world: popular memoir and the ‘War on Terror’

Abstract

This essay analyses two prominent memoirs by authors from Muslim backgrounds who use their writing to critique Islamist extremism: Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (2006) and The Islamist by Ed Husain (2007). The memoirs respond to an increased demand for narratives about Islam in the post-9/11 global book market. Although they offer valuable insights, they problematically position themselves as gatekeepers to the so-called ‘Muslim world’, a sweeping term frequently used in news reportage to refer to vast and diverse swathes of the globe. By taking on this role, the texts reinforce precisely the kind of ‘us vs them’ identity binaries that they ostensibly seek to challenge, and which have frequently underpinned dominant discourse about the ‘War on Terror’. This reinforcement of binaries is partially enabled by the memoirs’ heavy reliance on a ‘coming-of-age’ narrative style (borrowed from the literary form of the Bildungsroman), which sometimes creates an equivalence between the attainment of personal maturity and the adoption of what the authors describe as Western values. Through a comparative reading of the memoirs, the essay aims to challenge these authors’ claims to speak for a monolithic ‘Muslim world’ in the context of the ‘War on Terror’.