Islam and Islamophobia Theme Analysis

Part of Dave Eggers’s purported goal in writing Zeitoun was to introduce a “normal” Muslim family to American readers who, almost a decade after 9/11, might have a limited or even prejudiced view of the religion and of Muslim cultures. By portraying a Muslim family and tracing its beliefs and practices, Zeitoun seeks to counter these limitations and suggest that being Muslim is entirely compatible with being American—indeed, it is just one facet of American diversity. Eggers describes in detail how Kathy Zeitoun, the protagonist’s wife, came to convert to Islam after having grown up in a Southern Baptist community. By showing how the small-mindedness of her Christian pastor contrasted to the openness that Kathy found in an imam she went to visit, Eggers inverts stereotypes about Islam and humanizes the religion. At the same time, we also learn how Kathy faced confusion and discrimination after converting to Islam—from her family lashing out at her for wearing a hijab (headscarf), to customers of her husband’s construction company cancelling their orders after learning that the employees were Middle Eastern. Zeitoun, meanwhile, draws on his religious beliefs throughout the novel as a source of strength in difficult times. For him, Islam is also linked to his family’s heritage, and is a regular part of his daily life. Anti-Muslim prejudice, however, is portrayed as a major reason for Zeitoun’s arrest and detention without reason. Guards who witness him and his friend Naseer praying five times a day (in accordance with Islam) immediately distrust them.

To combat this kind of suspicion, Eggers tries to make some aspects of Islam more understandable to non-Muslim readers. Long quotations from the Qur’an introduce readers to its beauty, while some passages—especially one about a massive flood—show that there are many similarities between Islam and the Judeo-Christian tradition. While Islamophobia never goes away in the novel—at the end, the Zeitoun couple continues to struggle to recover from their debacle—what remains is a certain confidence that knowing, understanding, and empathizing with those from other cultures and religions is the only way to decrease suspicion and discrimination.