![]() ![]() Juxtaposed with Islamophobia is the theme of antisemitism-prejudice or hostility against Jewish people. Ironically, Amir reveals that he holds Islamophobic ideas himself: to counter Isaac's and Emily's "well-intentioned" but "naïve" embrace of Islamic traditional art, Amir launches into a lengthy explanation of the brutality he sees as inherent to the Quran, and says that, "The next terrorist attack is probably gonna come from some guy who more or less looks like me." Amir's Islamophobia is complicated further when he supports his argument by admitting that hateful aspects of Islam still live within him despite his efforts to root them out, and that he felt a blush of pride when the Twin Towers fell because it meant Islam was "finally winning." With this paradoxical element of Amir's identity established, Akhtar invites the audience to question whether Amir's negative reading of Islam is based on a good-faith interpretation of the Quran or a fear of the crueler tendencies Amir perceives within himself. The pervasive suspicion Muslims face also leads Hussein to change his name to Abe, an allusion to Abraham Lincoln. Akhtar introduces the theme early in the play by having Emily and Amir discuss how a waiter stared at Amir the night before Emily interprets this example of the everyday racism that Muslim-background characters experience as exposing the gap between what the waiter assumed about Amir and who Amir "really is." Because of the Islamophobia that pervades American culture as a result of the "war on terror" the Bush administration launched in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Amir changes his name to obscure his Muslim background, worrying he will be associated with terrorism and refused opportunities to advance in his career. Islamophobia-a fear, dislike, or prejudice against the religion of Islam and its Muslim followers-is one of the central themes in Disgraced. With this contrast, Akhtar illuminates one of many stark differences in how Muslim-minority identities and white Americans experience daily reality in the post-9/11 era. In response, Amir reveals that he submits to the added scrutiny at airports by giving himself over to officials for questioning whenever he flies. While the characters of Muslim background face dire threats to their freedom, Isaac-a white man-complains about heightened security measures at American airports, which is how he experiences the negative impact of the Patriot Act. ![]() In Disgraced, Imam Fareed is prosecuted under the Patriot Act under suspicion of funding terrorism similarly, the FBI questions Abe after his friend Tariq utters inflammatory threats at a Starbucks, and Abe suspects the FBI is going to pressure him into cooperating with the FBI by entrapping extremists at his mosque. Congress passed the Patriot Act, a controversial set of laws that saw dramatic increases in the rights of government bodies to surveil, investigate, detain, and prosecute civilians in the name of counter-terrorism-particularly civilians with Muslim backgrounds. Within two months of the attacks, the U.S. Set in New York City in 20, approximately a decade after the Septemterror attacks that brought down the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan, the play shows characters living in the shadow of the traumatic event. The central conflicts in Disgraced are generated by the prejudices that characterize American culture and politics in the post-9/11 era. ![]()
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