Nonsecular Thirdspaces in Ayad Akhtar’s American Dervish and Homeland Elegies

The increase in the number of Muslim Americans today, particularly those born and brought up in the US, has resulted in the production of literary narratives that highlight the exclusion of the Muslim diaspora from American society and the state’s discriminatory practices against Islamic institutions. One such prominent and visible symbol of worship and community building for Muslims is the mosque which constitutes a real and imagined thirdspace given the hybridity of its functions. The purpose of this chapter is to discuss the literary representations of the mosque as a nonsecular thirdspace, as a place of hospitality, and as a borderland, as well as exploring its role in shaping attitudes toward Islam amongst the first- and second-generation diaspora, through a close reading of Ayad Akhtar’s novels. The intergenerational attitude toward Islam in the novels highlighting the differences between Muslims inside the community is discussed. The struggles of first-generation immigrants to build a mosque in the US and the exclusionary obstacles and disruption created by the dominant group are examined in both the novels. In doing so, the functional and formal aspects of the mosque as a space traversed by feelings of fear, the unknown within, and a place within the nation-state but not fully of the nation for non-Muslims are explored. The literary analysis is juxtaposed with sociological analysis to better illustrate the inclusionary and multipurpose role of the mosque for contemporary American Muslims and the exclusionary responses toward this important structure and symbol of Islam in the wake of 9/11.