The Representation of Islam in Alice Walker’s ‘ Everyday Use’

Abstract:

Alice Walker offers a contextualized portrait of Islam formed by the interplay of the different characters and incidents of ‘Everyday Use’. This image covers: the way basic Islam is introduced and received, the Muslim community and its ethos, and the Muslim Individuals as torn between their commitment to Islamic tradition, and  simultaneously falling under the spell of  trendy black social movements to which they also belong. It also sheds some light on the connections between Islam and Black Americans at the time. With all his faults and limitations, ‘Hakim a barber’, the black Muslim remains committed to core Islamic values like offering  traditional Islamic greeting of peace, abstaining from eating pork, and adopting the Islamic attitude of showing courtesy to women. The Muslim community is seen through the Christian narrator’s eyes as the apotheosis of African- American values of pride and empowerment. They toil in herding and farming and callously foster and defend their community interests.