The construction of Muslim female identities in Leila Aboulela's ‘The Translator', 'Minaret', and 'Bird Summons’

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyse the construction of Muslim female identities living in diaspora in three novels: 'The Translator' (1999), 'Minaret' (2005), and 'Bird Summons' (2019 by the contemporary writer Leila Aboulela. The purpose is to shed light on the unique experiences of female Muslims in diaspora that are often shadowed by bigotry and sterotypes. 'The Translator' explores the traversing of cross-cultural relationships as it follows the relationship between Sammar, a Muslim Sudanese translator, and Rae, a Scottish atheist scholar for whom she translates. As a result of their opposite identities, the novel unveils the impossibility of Islam’s entire translation in the West as Sammar, a translator in the double sense of the word, fails to integrate herself in Aberdeen. 'Minaret', on the other hand, follows the story of Najwa who manages to discover a deep connection with Islam once she moves to London from Sudan. This reconnection occurs because of migration as well as personal trauma which inevitably forms in the face of loneliness and self-reflections. Finally, 'Bird Summons' delineates a progress in Eastern communities as it introduces the independent Muslim woman traveller. Through an exploration of Aboulela’s use of magic realism in the narrative, the fluidity of the identities of Salma, Moni, and Iman is analysed in the treatment of the journey as a test.