The conflicts between the secular and the religious in Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim
This paper discusses the relationship between the ideologies of the secular and the religious in the process of nation-building as presented in Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim (2011). It centres around the conflicts between the Haque siblings, Maya and Sohail as they navigate their ways in life af...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2018
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| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17657/1/28481-89263-1-PB.pdf |
| _version_ | 1796932693807595520 |
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| author | Amrah Abdul Majid, Dinnur Qayyimah Ahmad Jalaluddin, |
| author_facet | Amrah Abdul Majid, Dinnur Qayyimah Ahmad Jalaluddin, |
| author_sort | Amrah Abdul Majid, |
| collection | UKM |
| description | This paper discusses the relationship between the ideologies of the secular and the religious
in the process of nation-building as presented in Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim (2011).
It centres around the conflicts between the Haque siblings, Maya and Sohail as they navigate
their ways in life after the Bangladeshi Liberation War of 1971. The novel portrays how
Sohail’s submission to extreme dogmatism which has led him to neglecting his son, Zaid, and
Maya’s inability to tolerate her brother’s transformation, result in their estranged relationship,
eventually leading to a devastating family tragedy. Using Talal Asad’s (2003) definition of
the secular as an ideology that brings together different concepts and practices, and which is
neither a break from religion nor a continuity of it, this paper suggests that the skirmish
between the siblings is a metaphorical representation of a conflict between the secular and the
religious in the efforts towards nation-building. This formulation foregrounds the importance
of establishing an intricate balance between the secular and the religious, which also has the
social implication of destabilizing the binary that is often drawn to differentiate between a
‘good’ and a ‘bad’ Muslim. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T04:36:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | ukm.eprints-17657 |
| institution | Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T04:36:21Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ukm.eprints-176572021-11-24T00:41:53Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17657/ The conflicts between the secular and the religious in Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim Amrah Abdul Majid, Dinnur Qayyimah Ahmad Jalaluddin, This paper discusses the relationship between the ideologies of the secular and the religious in the process of nation-building as presented in Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim (2011). It centres around the conflicts between the Haque siblings, Maya and Sohail as they navigate their ways in life after the Bangladeshi Liberation War of 1971. The novel portrays how Sohail’s submission to extreme dogmatism which has led him to neglecting his son, Zaid, and Maya’s inability to tolerate her brother’s transformation, result in their estranged relationship, eventually leading to a devastating family tragedy. Using Talal Asad’s (2003) definition of the secular as an ideology that brings together different concepts and practices, and which is neither a break from religion nor a continuity of it, this paper suggests that the skirmish between the siblings is a metaphorical representation of a conflict between the secular and the religious in the efforts towards nation-building. This formulation foregrounds the importance of establishing an intricate balance between the secular and the religious, which also has the social implication of destabilizing the binary that is often drawn to differentiate between a ‘good’ and a ‘bad’ Muslim. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2018-11 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17657/1/28481-89263-1-PB.pdf Amrah Abdul Majid, and Dinnur Qayyimah Ahmad Jalaluddin, (2018) The conflicts between the secular and the religious in Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 18 (4). pp. 26-41. ISSN 1675-8021 https://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/issue/view/1146 |
| spellingShingle | Amrah Abdul Majid, Dinnur Qayyimah Ahmad Jalaluddin, The conflicts between the secular and the religious in Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim |
| title | The conflicts between the secular and the religious in
Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim |
| title_full | The conflicts between the secular and the religious in
Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim |
| title_fullStr | The conflicts between the secular and the religious in
Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim |
| title_full_unstemmed | The conflicts between the secular and the religious in
Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim |
| title_short | The conflicts between the secular and the religious in
Tahmima Anam’s The Good Muslim |
| title_sort | conflicts between the secular and the religious in tahmima anam s the good muslim |
| url | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17657/1/28481-89263-1-PB.pdf |
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