Abstract
The politics of representation has changed with the end of colonization.
In the past, black people were depicted with dehumanized features. For
the black man there was only one destiny and that was to be like the
white man. Now the black has become the brown: portrayal of Muslims
as the contemporary other is at the helm of racial discrimination. The
task of misrepresentation is given to the native informers who claim to
have an expert knowledge of their native cultures. They misrepresent
their own cultures in order to serve interest of the imperial power, the
U.S. and also to secure their own material benefits. The aim of this
paper is to develop a critique of Nadeem Aslam’s prejudiced
representation of Islam in his novel Maps for the Lost Lovers. Aslam is
a native informer who has misrepresented Islam in the novel. He
criticizes Islam for oppressing women. He has shown Muslims as
backward and diabolic in the novel. Islam is portrayed as a primitive
religion. However, his criticism is prejudiced and also reveals his
limited knowledge about Islam. He is inspired with Eurocentric ideas
such as free sexual relationship between a male and a female out of
wedlock. He is charlatan and a self-loathing Muslim who questions
Islamic practices through characters who do not have any belief in
God. He as a native informer justifies brutality and humiliation
inflicted on Muslims. According to the native informer the only way of
salvation for the Muslims is to adopt Western culture. Being a selfloathing Muslim, Aslam (2012)does not articulate voice of the Muslims.
Waheed Ahmad Khan, Muqaddas Ullah. (2019) Voice of Dissent: A Critique of Nadeem Aslam’s Representation of Islam, The Dialogue, Volume 14, Issue 2.
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