‘TWICE BORN’ MUSLIM: NAJWA IN LEILA ABOULELA’S MINARET (Pages 118-127) by Dr. Rupali Gupta in THE ENGLISH INDIA / ISSN: 2321-1172 (Online); 2347-2634 (Print)

Arab-British Leila Aboulela is a celebrated Islamic Feminist across the globe. Aboulela’s second novel Minaret (2005) moves between 1984 and 2004 chronicling Najwa’s pre-exile and post-exile attitudes towards the people around her. The novel plots two parallel narratives of an upper class Sudanese girl, Najwa who experiences the trauma of exile in her youth. The first plot narrates the story of Najwa, the spoilt and ignorant Westernised university girl whose luxurious life relies on her father’s controversial political career. Najwa cherishes Westernised high-profile parties and enjoys companionship with her peers and has vague thoughts about women beyond her social circle. The other, is that of a deserted and exiled Najwa who works as a maid to an upper class family in London. The paper explores that Najwa being born Muslim never realised her religion’s importance and sanctity in Sudan but in London when Anwar refuses to marry her she becomes a devout Muslim. Keywords: Islamic Feminist, pre-exile and post-exile attitudes, parallel narratives, social circle, etc.