Answering to “Muslim” language, country, and religion in Zahia Rahmani's “Musulman” roman

SynopsisIn the very title of her recent publication “Musulman” roman, Algerian-born writer Zahia Rahmani calls attention to the complexity of Muslim identity. Placing “Muslim” in quotation marks–and in the masculine form–and juxtaposing it to the generic classification of novel are movements that establish a distance between the female narrative voice and the labels applied to her. The autobiographical text draws from various crucial moments from her past to point to the reasons why the writer is compelled to address her linguistic, national, and especially religious belongings in the present. While international current events and political tensions are only evoked in metaphorical terms, it is nonetheless clear that the post 9/11 global climate, and specifically the treatment of Arab prisoners during the war in Iraq, have prompted this work. Defining herself in the light of recent historical developments, Rahmani answers to the name “Muslim,” but with an informed hesitancy. Her innovative prose draws from sources as diverse as the Koran, oral tales from her native Berber tongue, and children's books in French to present a composite image of an idiosyncratic heritage that cannot be fully encapsulated in the assignation “Musulman.”