I Am Malala: Epilogue Summary & Analysis

The epilogue begins in Birmingham, in August of 2013. Malala explains that her family has moved from the apartment Asif Zardari set up for them to a rented house. Nevertheless, everyone in Malala’s family is highly conscious of being far from home, and all their possessions are back in Swat. Malala’s family eats well in Birmingham, though Tor Pekai feels guilty about being so well fed when there are starving children in Pakistan. Malala notes that her mother is very lonely—she finds it difficult to make friends with English-speakers, and spends long hours on the phone talking to her friends in Mingora.

Malala’s father has adjusted to life in Birmingham somewhat more successfully than Tor Pekai, but he misses his school in Pakistan. He spends much of his time attending—and sometimes speaking at—panels on education. He travels through Europe and praises Malala for her bravery and talent.

Malala attends school in Birmingham. She finds it easy to keep up with the information in her classes, and loves being able to use computers and electronics, but continues to struggle with physics. Like her mother, she’s often very lonely. Her Birmingham classmates recognize her as an important activist, whereas her Mingora friends thought of her as a close friend. She communicates with Moniba via Skype, and tells her that England is a peaceful place, where women have considerable rights, and there’s no violence between the government and the military.

The man who shot Malala is believed to be Ataullah Khan, a Taliban soldier who has claimed responsibility. This man hasn’t been apprehended yet. Malala continues to have flashbacks to her shooting. One of her worst flashbacks occurred while she was in Abu Dhabi, preparing to make her pilgrimage to Mecca (a requirement for all loyal Muslims). As she walked through a mall, looking for a burqa to buy, she sensed that one of the hundreds of men around her was preparing to shoot her. Afterwards, when Malala was finishing her pilgrimage to Mecca, she was shocked to see that the Kaaba—the most sacred place on Earth, according to Islamic tradition—was surrounded by piles of garbage.

Malala notes that her world has changed enormously. She’s received dozens of awards from around the world, and has even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, making her the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Nobel Prize. Although she’s always happy to receive an award, Malala treats her awards as reminders of how much work she has left to do before all the people of the world receive the education they deserve. This realization influenced the speech Malala delivered at the United Nations on her sixteenth birthday. In this speech, Malala encouraged the children of the world to be strong and have hope.

Since Malala’s rise to global fame, she’s been praised by many. Nevertheless, there are those in Pakistan and Afghanistan who still attack her character. They suggest that she’s guilty of a “teenage lust for fame.” Malala doesn’t listen to these attacks—she believes that her critics are so cynical because they’ve been trained to expect as little as possible from politicians and other leaders.

One of Malala’s most surprising experiences since her relocation to Birmingham came in the form of a letter. The letter was from a Taliban soldier, Adnan Rashid, who had attempted to kill President Musharraf in 2003. Rashid tells Malala that he was shocked to hear of her shooting, and wishes that he could have warned her beforehand. Still, he argues that the Taliban have targeted Malala because of her attacks on Islam, not because of her support for free education. He adds that the Taliban will surely forgive Malala, provided that she returns to Pakistan and wears a burqa. Although many advise Malala to write an open letter back to Rashid, she refuses to do so—Rashid has no right to tell her how to live, she thinks.

Malala wonders what she will do in the future. She often says that she wants to return to Pakistan, but her father, in particular, encourages her to stay, recover, and educate herself at English schools. Malala grudgingly admits that Ziauddin is right—she should be taking full advantage of her time in England, reaping the benefits of education that she praises so highly. Then she’ll be able to use her training to better defend the rights of the uneducated and the impoverished in the future.

While Malala resides in England, the situation in Pakistan continues to deteriorate. Schools are blown up and women are murdered for throwing away their burqas. There are other problems as well, as US drone attacks continue to kill Pakistanis. But in spite of the violence afflicting Pakistan and the Swat Valley in particular, Malala continues to love her home.

Malala looks in her mirror. She remembers how once, she’d asked Allah to make her a few inches taller. Instead, she realizes, Allah made her “as tall as the sky,” giving her an international platform from which to express her views. Allah, she concludes, has given her an incredible gift, one she intends to use: she’ll lobby world leaders for free education. The book concludes, “I am Malala. My world has changed but I have not.”