Book review of Children Of Dust
Jennifer Kleps
21 November 2019
Children of Dust
Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan. Ali Eteraz. New York: HarperOne, 2009. 339 pages. ISBN: 978-0-06-156708-7.
The harrowing struggles of a first-generation immigrant are dissected and uncovered in Ali Eteraz’s autobiography, Children of Dust: A Memoir of Pakistan. The novel is a troubling yet satirical account of a young Muslim man’s experiences growing up in Pakistan and later moving to the U.S. The protagonist wrestles with temptation and fear while trying his best to remain devoted to his Islamic faith. His journey of finding individual identity and establishing control through reflection and reform are described in “A Portrait of The Muslim as a Young Man.” The author, Ali Eteraz, was born in Lahore, Pakistan and grew up in the Caribbean and the United States. He graduated from Emory University and later Temple Law School. Eteraz has won 3 Quarks Daily Arts & Literature Prize and continues to work in San Francisco.
Children of Dust is divided into five books, of which their titles represent the many names the narrator gives himself throughout his chronological journey of self-identity as a Pakistani Muslim. The books are first-person narratives of the protagonist’s life from his Islamic childhood to early adulthood. His offbeat sense of humor allows readers a light-hearted escape from the traumatic encounters of Eteraz’s childhood in the slums of Pakistan. Throughout the books, the protagonist faces emotional distress brought on by the conflicting demands of spiritual faith and self-liberation. A common theme in all sections of the memoir is Eteraz’s ceaseless attempts to become an “authentic” Muslim. “The narrator’s transformations have the effect of calling into question the very idea that there is a definitive Muslim subjectivity…”(Yaqin 195).
The autobiographical structure and first-person narrative create a sense of personal tenor when describing Eteraz’s first-hand experiences which he embarks on during his path to enlightenment. In book one, the author learns of his predetermined destiny as a young boy. His father made a mannat or covenant with Allah that his firstborn son would become a servant to Islam. His full name is Abir ul Islam which translates to “Perfume of Islam.” Meaning he was born to spread Islam and become a religious leader. The idea that his life purpose is foreordained strongly connects to the narrative’s theme of a life-long identity crisis. The narrator’s decision to change his name is symbolic of his attempt to regain sovereignty over his existence. The five different sections of the novel reflect five different representations of the western world's stereotypes of Muslim people.
When the protagonist arrives in America, he decides to change his name to the American Amir because his peers at his American high school mock his name and refer to him as “A Beer.” His teenage experiences created an immediate mistrust of the Western world, yet he inadvertently welcomes the concept of American individualism. After high school, Amir goes to college in Manhattan where he becomes an Islamic fundamentalist named Abu Bakr Ramaq. It is during this phase the protagonist begins to analyze the way he views sexuality in terms of religion. Abu has strong sexual desires but cannot go against his religion and begins an urgent search for a Muslim wife. He has little luck because most women in New York have been westernized and his parents would never approve of their marriage. When his homophobic friend speaks about his disgust for the LGBTQ community, he reflects on his similar feelings as a distraction from his unbalanced sexuality. “And the more Moosa talked about homosexuals, the more Muslim I felt too” (2009: 150). “This technique of familiarity and alienation offers a way of challenging the narrative of authenticity and ‘truth-telling’ promised by the memoir” (Yaqin 202).
In theological terms, Islam means the submission of the human will to the divine will. In Children of Dust, the narrator's encounters with Islam in Pakistan give perspective on the way religion is lived differently in different countries. Growing up in a poor village in 1980’s Pakistan, religion governs every aspect of the protagonists’ life. The idea that his life purpose was to be a servant of Islam was instilled in Eteraz since birth. As a child, the narrator was sent to a madrassa (Islamic school) where he is expected to memorize the Quran. When he fails to remain reluctantly obedient to his school teachers he is disciplined with brutal beatings and isolation. “Religion must yield its place to science and social progress” (Haque 250). In Pakistan, Islam is the basis of the entire political culture and it is used as a source of control over the Muslim community. When Eteraz returns to Lahore as an adult he is rejected by his former neighbors because of their anti-American ideologies. “I was not apart of the ummah, the universal brotherhood of Muslims” (Eteraz 220). The traditional orthodoxy of the Islamic faith is oppressive to women, minorities, and creates a state restricted by dogma. Eteraz’s experiences with Islam in Pakistan are an honest representation of the relationship between religion and social control.
When the narrator moves to this United States, his life-long struggle with authenticity and personal identity begins. “Although Muslims have been a major presence in the changing religious landscape of the United States, Islam is far from being considered an established American religion” (Bassiri 339). In contrast to the anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, there is an opposing anti-Muslim prejudice that exists in the western world. After 9/11, the protagonist begins his journey as the reformer as he seeks to save Islam from terrorists and extremist beliefs. Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists portrayed an untrue and violent perception of Islam which since has manipulated the identity of other Muslims in America. “Islamic fundamentalism is similarly understood as the rejection of democratic and secular forms of governance as adopted by the west” (Raffie 69). Western stereotypes are harmful to Muslim-Americans and have led to the creation of the term “Islamaphobia.” Eteraz paints an honest image of the trials and tribulations faced by young Muslim men in America.
It is difficult not to appreciate the author’s vulnerable and self-critical accounts of self-discovery. Coming of age is difficult for all people regardless of gender, religion, or birthplace. The religious expectations placed on Abir ul Islam before he was even born greatly influenced his struggle with identity and his obsession with being seen as a “real” Muslim. The narrator recounts his internal and external struggles of identity as a multicultural Muslim Pakistani-American. Children of Dust gifts readers with an intimate and unparalleled perception of life as a Muslim man seeking identity in America. Ali Eteraz’s memoir is a heart-rending novel entailing the seemingly endless internal-conflict of the individual in a complex world.
Works Cited
Al Raffie, Dina. “Social Identity Theory for Investigating Islamic Extremism in the Diaspora.” Journal of Strategic Security, vol. 6, no. 4, 2013, pp. 67–91. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26466750.
Anonymous. "Shelf Indulgence." New Statesman (2009): 44-48,50-53. Web.
Bashir, Huma A., and Mei Tang. "Understanding Contributing Factors to Cultural Identity of Pakistani Americans." Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development 46.4 (2018): 264-82. Web.
Bergen, Peter, Bruce Hoffman, and Katherine Tiedemann. "Assessing the Jihadist Terrorist Threat to America and American Interests." Studies In Conflict & Terrorism 34.2 (2011): 65-101. Web.
GhaneaBassiri, Kambiz. The Journal of Religion, vol. 81, no. 2, 2001, pp. 339–340. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1205585.
Haque, Ziaul. “State and Islam in Pakistan.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 23, no. 6, 1988, pp. 250–251. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4378075.
Waterman, David. “Ali Eteraz’s Children of Dust.” Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan
Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, 2010, pp. 48–50.
Yaqin A. (2018) From Islamic Fundamentalism to a New Life in the West: Ali Eteraz and the Muslim Comedy Memoir. In: Yaqin A., Morey P., Soliman A. (eds) Muslims, Trust and Multiculturalism. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
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