Questions of Authoriality and Literary Meticciato in Scrivere di Islam: Raccontare la diaspora

Shirin Ramzanali Fazel’s short story “The Guest,” included in this collection, can be seen as representative of the author’s body of work for at least four reasons. First, it does not spectacularize the Eastern African reality; it references a commonplace episode.1 Secondly, it problematizes racism, discussing East African prejudice against people with darker skin color (in this case, the family of a young woman, Ayah); in her previous literary works, Lontano da Mogadiscio (Far from Mogadishu, 1994) and Nuvole sull’equatore. Gli italiani dimenticati (Clouds over the Equator: The Forgotten Italians, 2010), Fazel addressed the subject of racism in Italy and in the Italian colonies. Thirdly, “The Guest” portrays Muslims who do not follow the norms of their religion, namely to follow through on a promise of marriage. Hilal’s desertion of Ayah can be seen as either an act of vengeance, or an act committed by a man who is truly in love with Ayah, but feared his family would have disowned him had he followed through in marrying her. Having discussed, in other contexts, the importance of Islam in her life, Fazel aims to show the contradictions in the ways in which people practice religion or fail to follow its tenets.