December 23-24, 2023: Hamza Suleiman’s Guest Post on Mohja Kahf

[Hamza Suleiman is a Physican Assistant major at King’s College, class of 2027,who aspires to be a PA radiologist. Born and raised in America, hecurrently lives in Clifton, New Jersey. His parents are immigrants fromPalestine. He writes: “My family and I are proud Arabs, and we all follow theIslamic faith. In ‘The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaquah, Iowa,’ MohjaKahf addresses stereotypes about the Arab and Muslim communities, with themesaimed to educate both American and minority groups. Kahf’s story and messagesresonated with me, as they are important and clear up misconceptions about mycommunity.”]

Learning Islam in a Different Light andDebunking Stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims in “The Spiced Chicken Queen ofMickaweaqua” by Mohja Kahf

“I can’t believeshe is still wearing that wrap around her head; her life is so sad” is a commonphrase people would say when they see a Muslim woman wear the hijab. This isone of the many racist beliefs that Americans have about Muslims. The hijab isa religious obligation that Muslim women wear as commanded by their God, Allah.However, people fail to take the time to be educated about the Islamic practiceand Arab culture, stirring hatred and biases towards Arabs and Muslims. In “TheSpiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaqua”, Mohja Kahf debunks myths aboutArabs and Muslims through the parallel of two distinct Muslim married couples,along with portraying themes relevant to all her readers.

Mzayyan and Ranaserve as foil characters in “The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaqua” tocontrast the reality of Muslim women versus how they are perceived by in theAmerica. Mzayyan is married to an abusive husband and originally appeared offas scared to get her husband in trouble. When Mzayyan is expressing herconcerns to Rana over the phone, Rana replies, “‘Mzayyan!...His beating you isthe digrace, Mzayyan. It’s un-Islamic. This is what you tell them at themosque: it’s contrary to the teaching of the Prophet’” (Kahf 145). Ranaexplains to Mzayyan that Muslim men mistreating their wives is against theIslamic religion. In Islam, there are obligations that a Muslim man must followregarding his wife. A widespread misconception is that is normal for Muslim mento oppress their wives because that is what their religion entails. However, inIslam Muslim men are prohibited to hit or abuse their wives. In fact, Muslimmen are supposed to be the protectors of their wives, providing them safety andtaking care of them financially. Additionally, Muslim women have rights inIslam, such as the right to work. While Mzayyan did not have a job in thebeginning of the story and seemed to be deprived of freedoms, Rana was workingas a diligent physicist, referred to as Dr. Rashid, at a nuclear power plant.Dr. Rashid is a prime example of how Muslim women are allowed to enroll inschool and pursue higher education to get their dream career. Likewise, despiteMzayyan appearing as helpless, she was secretly rescuing herself from theabusive marriage and created an entrepreneurship for herself. When Dr. Rashidwas trying to get Mzayyan’s husband convicted, Mzayyan gave Rana a stack ofpapers to give to the INS and informed her, “‘Here are tax returns for the lasttwo years. He’s a great con artist...Do you think...I could have the title tohis property transferred to my name’” (Kahf 147). Through Mzayyan’s actions, itis evident that she was never defenseless, but has been plotting her freedom byherself for a while. She was conducting a plan for her husband’s conviction andaspired to have her own business. In the end, her goal was reached, and sheowns her husband’s store selling spiced chicken. Even before, the strength forMzayyan was always there when she defended herself during one her husband’sattacks. This contradicts the normal beliefs of the West that when a Muslimwoman is abused from her husband, that she accepts it and is submissive. No,this is false because Muslim women are intelligent and strong and are supposedto go against their abusive partners in Islam. All in all, through thecomparison between Rana and Mzayyan, the readers unlearn about themisconceptions of Islam and are enlightened with the truth about Muslim women.

Similarly,Mzayyan’s husband and Rana’s husband Emad, act as foil characters to displaythe truth about Muslim men compared to the Western’s beliefs about them. Emadand Rana are both Muslims and are of Syrian-descent. Emad earned his Ph.D andis a cardiologist. He is very well respected by his family and has had asuccessful career and life. As a matter of fact, Emad and Rana have a veryhealthy relationship with each other. When Emad arrives home one day, heexcitedtly tells Mzayyan, “‘Picked up your apricots at the farmers’market...Organically ripened to perfection’” (Kahf 141). Emad’s benevolentgestures to his wife represents the truth of how Muslim men treat their wivesin Islam. Emad is never seen harming his wife or even disrespecting her. Hecares for her by doing these acts of kindness to show his love, respect, andpride over his spouse. Vice versa, Rana loves her husband and confides in himover matters that are serious to her. More so, he is outraged by the way Mzayyan is being treated by herhusband. When Rana tells Emad about the situation between Mzayyan and herhusband, Emad replies, “‘So why didn’t she call the cops?’” (Kahf 140). Emad isclearly against Mzayyan’s husband’s actions and wants Mzayyan to get herjustice. In addition, him wanting Mzayyan to stand up for herself proves thatMuslim men are not misogynistic. In addition, more bigotry towards Muslim menarises in the story after the 9/11 incident. For instance, Emad’s brother wasquestioned from the FBI about why he named his son Osama. The FBI interrogatinganyone who they see as Muslim or Arab looking is racist and generalizes a largegroup of people based off on a few actions of others. Kahf incorporated thisscene in her story to resemble the real-life discrimination towards Muslims.NBC news recently published an article “For Muslim Americans, a spike in hateincidents feels reminiscent of post 9/11 Islamophobia” where they described ahate crime done by an Illinois man “after he demanded that two Muslim men getout of the country and threatened to shoot them” (2023). This hateful incidentis a reminder that Islamophobia is still prevalent today in the United States.This parallels with Emad’s brother and his son as they are real life examplesof how Arab men are targeted, due to similar physical characteristics with thehijackers of 9/11. Overall, Kahf created Emad’s character to demonstrate thecorrect Muslim men representation in contrast with Mzayyan’s husband, alongwith refuting prejudice ideas about Muslim men post 9/11.

In “The SpicedChicken Queen of Mickaweaqua Iowa”, Mohja Kahf offers themes that are relevantto the reader, despite ethnicity. These themes include preserving one’sculture, seeking help, and eliminating biases towards minority groups. In thestory, Rana and Emad were friends with an Arab couple named Joseph and Jocelyn.Joseph and Jocelyn are obvious non-Arab names. It is explained in the story how“so many generations removed from the slightest hint of Arabic accent or whiffof cardamom, that no one would notice if you dropped the ‘Arab’” (Kahf 143).Kahf offers a specific theme aimed towards ethnic groups of the importance ofholding onto one’s roots, despite the racism. Joseph and Jocelyn were normalArabs that lived a simple life. Unfortunately, their parents gave themdifferent names and they removed their cultural aspects to appear American.People carrying this mindset is detrimental because everyone should feel proudof their ethnicity and visibly show off their heritage, culture, and religion.If this keeps up for multiple generations, then there would be no need for afamily to hide their background because all cultural traditions would be longlost. Moreover, the more people accept who they are and portray themselves astheir native background, the more it will help normalize all minority groups.If Joseph and Jocelyn showed themselves in their town as Arab, then it would beanother positive representation causing more people to be less biased. Anotherprominent theme for all people is to seek help whenever trapped in a toxicrelationship. Kahf utilizes Mzayyan to give all other abused women strength andcourage to rise over their partner and leave to make a better life forthemselves. There are multiple cases in America, where the couples are notarab, where a partner is being mistreated and assaulted. Therefore, the bestsolution is for the partner to recognize their worth and leave therelationship. Lastly, Kahf used a variety of Arab countries to emphasize themultitude of different cultures in the Arab regions. For example, Rana and Emadare Syrian, Mzayyan and her husband are Omani, and Joseph and Jocelyn areLebanese. Many people assume that Arabs all come from one country, but thereare Arab countries thatcomprise of four hundred and fifty-six million people. Additionally, not everyArab person is Muslim as they are a large Christian and Jewish population.Therefore, it is absurd to put Arabs under one category because there arenumerous distinct cultures and practices within the Arab nations. Tying it alltogether, Moja Kahf teaches to her audience multiple messages that are relevantto all people despite their background.

By contrastingthe two Muslim couples in “The Spiced Chicken Queen of Mickaweaqua”, MohjaKahf was able to shed light about the truth and beauty of Islam, whileeliminating stereotypes and problematic assumptions that people make aboutthem. Emad represented how Muslim men are to their wives, while Mzayyan’shusband is what Americans think how Muslim men are to their wives. Also, Dr.Rashid and Mzayyan are both strong independent women who have their careers andfreedoms, just like any other individual. Most importantly, Kahf has three Arabcouples from different countries to highlight the large nation of Arabs and howthey all come from different backgrounds. Thus, it is crucial to not generalizeArabs because they all come from different cultures. It is important to note aswell that not all Arabs are Muslims and not all Muslims are Arabs. This can bean issue when the American media is discussing a crime that an Arab man did,and everyone assumes that he is Muslim, when he is not, and is fed into theirIslamophobia. On a large scale, Kahf addresses serious issues that apply toeveryone, such as seeking help from Domestic Violence and maintaining one’sculture, no matter the ethnicity. Kahf leaves her readers with a call to actionto end racism towards, not just Muslims and Arabs, but for all minority andethnic groups around the world.

References

Venkatraman,Sakshi, and Mirna Alsharif. “For Muslim Americans, a Spike in Hate Incidents FeelsReminiscent of Post 9/11 Islamophobia.” NBC News, 31 Oct. 2023, www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/muslim-americans-spike-hate-incidents-feels-reminiscent-post-911-islam-rcna122570.

[Holidayseries starts Monday,

Ben

PS. Whatdo you think?]