Representing Muslims: A Postcolonial Study of Mohammed Hanif's Red Birds

Abstract

This research study highlights the role of Mohammed Hanif as a native informer in representing his own culture and religion, Islam, in his novel, Red Birds (2018). Edward Said's postcolonial theory, as presented in Orientalism (1979) and Covering Islam (1997), is applied as a tool to analyze the novel textually and contextually. The research methodology is inductive and exploratory. According to Said (1979), political knowledge may influence a state's policies about a region, as is evident in Red Birds. Hanif (2018) uses Major Ellie and Momo in the novel as his mouthpieces in depicting and representing Muslims as backwards and savages. This approach of Hanif's (2018) towards Muslims serves the narrative of the Neo-Orientalists. As Dabashi (2011), argues that Neo-Orientalists have historically used diaspora authors for their purposes. Hanif, as a native informer, has misrepresented Islam in Red Birds (2018). Hanif (2018) portrays Islam as an outdated religion. The modern world need not propagate any religion or culture negatively. Instead, we need flexibility and acceptance for peaceful co-existence.