Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero

Faruqi’s novel centers on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. On the morning of September 11, 2001, men identifying as Muslims hijacked airplanes. Two airplanes crashed into New York City’s Twin Towers, causing the large structures and surrounding buildings to collapse. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, DC, and the fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania after passengers fought the hijackers and regained control.

As Madison tells Yusuf, “2,996 people died in the attacks” (175), making it the deadliest attack in US history. The attacks upset and confound Yusuf’s uncle Rahman in 2001, and they have a similar impact on Yusuf in 2021. The organization responsible for the 9/11 attacks was Al-Qaeda, which trained in Afghanistan, and the US declared war on Taliban-led Afghanistan in response to the attacks. However, Al-Qaeda wasn’t an official part of Afghanistan’s government.

In the novel, when Ethan calls Yusuf “Osama,” or when people call the members of Rahman’s community “Osama,” they’re referring to Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda. Bin Laden was wealthy because his father was an affluent builder in Saudi Arabia. A few of Bin Laden’s family members were Westernized and educated in American schools, but Bin Laden used his money to fund attacks against the US.

US President George W. Bush identified Bin Laden as a terrorist, and after 9/11, he launched the War on Terror, permitting the US to attack imputed terrorists in predominantly Muslim countries. In Precarious Life: The Powers of Mourning and Violence (2014), the contemporary American theorist Judith Butler grapples with the label terrorist, arguing that the US uses it to justify its violence and delegitimize the violence of its adversaries. Faruqi’s novel doesn’t overly question the use of the word terrorism, but it shows how all sorts of behavior can be terrifying, and after Ethan pulls off Saba’s hijab, Yusuf implies that Ethan is a source of terror.

The 9/11 attacks created an atmosphere of menacing suspicion for Muslims. Yusuf and Rahman discuss the Patriot Act, a 2001 law intended to prevent terrorist acts that spawned a vast apparatus in the US that Rahman describes as “secret surveillance. Wiretapping. Search warrants” (240). In this era, suspected terrorists were detained and interrogated at a US military facility in Guantanamo, Cuba, and the use of torture techniques prompted investigations by international organizations including the Red Cross. Yusuf’s mother, Abba, alludes to this situation when she tells Rahman, “You stay inside as much as possible, Rahman. Or you may disappear one day too” (271). As Abba’s statement indicates, anti-Muslim prejudice continues to endanger Muslim Americans.