Islamophobia, Oppression, and Institutional Racism Theme Analysis

Disgraced highlights the widespread discrimination that Muslim Americans face on a daily basis. Amir and his nephew Abe fear discrimination to the point that they change their names to mask their Muslim heritage—and the play suggests that such fears are actually justified, since all of the Muslim characters in the play experience institutional racism. For instance, Muslim cleric Imam Fareed is wrongly accused of funding terrorists after he collects charity money for his community, showing how Muslims are often unfairly targeted in the United States. Then, a newspaper article quotes Amir (who renounced his Muslim faith a long time ago) as supporting the cleric, which has a detrimental impact on his career as a lawyer. In another instance, the FBI interrogates Amir’s nephew Abe after he stops hiding his Muslim identity. Through these instances, the play highlights how widespread Islamophobia and systemic oppression severely inhibit Muslim Americans’ abilities to be visible and participate in American society.  

Two of the characters in the play change their names to sound less Muslim, implying that it’s common for South Asian Americans from Muslim cultures (whether they’re practicing Muslims or not) to be so fearful of prejudice that they feel they have to mask their identities to avoid discrimination. Amir changes his last name from Abdullah (which is Arabic) to Kapoor (which is Indian) to make himself seem Hindu instead of Muslim at work. The fact that he does this implies that Islamophobia is rampant even among educated professionals like his colleagues, likely as a result of people’s prejudice toward Muslim Americans. If Amir had kept his Muslim last name, it’s possible that he would have faced discrimination in his career. The fact that an Indian name is more accepted than an Arabic name further suggests that Muslim Americans are specifically discriminated against because of the way other people automatically associate them with Islamic terrorism. Similarly, Amir’s nephew changes his name from Hussein (a traditional Islamic name) to “Abe Jensen.” This choice implies that society treats him with suspicion if he’s open about his culture and religion, implying that oppression of Muslims is so widespread in the United States that many live in debilitating fear of discrimination. They feel like they have to mask their true identities just to participate in American society.

The play’s South Asian characters do end up facing outright discrimination within the legal system and the workplace, demonstrating the systemic oppression that Muslim Americans face—and proving that their fears are justified. Toward the end of the play, Abe changes his name back to Hussein and starts wearing a Muslim skullcap. One day, Hussein and his friend Tariq are at a restaurant when Tariq annoys a waitress. The waitress notices Hussein and Tariq’s skullcaps and asks them if they support the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, suggesting that she associates Muslims with terrorists. The waitress calls the police, likely mentioning her suspicions, and FBI agents show up. The agents ask Hussein and his friend questions like, “Do we believe in jihad? Do we want to blow stuff up? How often did I read the Koran?” Their questions reinforce the idea that Americans treat Muslims with suspicion because they wrongly associate Islam with terrorism. This outcome this suggests that Hussein actually did need to mask his identity to avoid being harassed by the authorities. In addition, a Muslim cleric named Imam Fareed is wrongly imprisoned for collecting charity money for his mosque, as he’s accused of using the donations to fund terrorists. In this instance, a Muslim American person is unfairly targeted for an ordinary activity that wouldn’t be interpreted as criminal if someone from a different religion or ethnic group was doing it. Given that Hussein was unfairly targeted as well, the play implies that it’s common for Muslim Americans to be unjustly oppressed by authority figures like the police or the FBI. When a newspaper quotes Amir as defending the Muslim cleric, Amir is terrified—and his fears ultimately prove to be justified. Amir’s bosses read the article, grow suspicious of Amir, and run a background check on him. The background check uncovers that Amir’s real family name is Abdullah. The name is clearly tied to the Muslim faith, as it means “servant of Allah” (Allah is God in the Islamic tradition). This makes Amir’s bosses uncomfortable because they’re prejudiced against Muslim people, and so they begin to distrust him—even though he renounced his Muslim faith years ago. They end up passing up Amir for a promotion, giving the position to his less-qualified colleague Jory instead. This incident shows that the prejudice Muslim Americans fear is a real threat—one that can affect people’s very livelihoods.

By presenting such a wide range of avenues in which Muslim people (or those simply perceived to be Muslim, like Amir) are discriminated against, Disgraced points to just how pervasive Islamophobia is in the 21st-century United States. Many of the non-Muslim characters in the play unfairly associate all Muslim people with Islamic extremist terrorism, and this prejudice bleeds into every aspect of American society and fuels systemic oppression. With characters ending up wrongfully distrusted, questioned, or even imprisoned, readers are left wondering how Muslim Americans are supposed openly participate in a society that treats them so unjustly.