The Conflict between Secularism and Islam in Ayad Akhtar's Disgraced

Disgraced (2012) is a one-act play written by the Pakistani American dramatist, Ayad Akhtar, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2013.  The play discusses critical topics such as Islamophobia, racial and religious prejudices and the identity of minorities living in the USA.  The main topic discussed in this paper is the conflict between Islam and secularism in Disgraced which revolves around Amir Kapoor, a Pakistani corporate lawyer who was born in the US and who "has tried to obliterate his Pakistani roots.  He has left the Muslim religion, which he castigates as primitive, and even adopted a new last name so he could pass for Indian" (Feldberg BL1).  Akhtar who shares the same cultural background with his protagonist, explains that Amir is "pre-emptively trying to make himself in the eyes of the American majority – and his rejection of Islam is operating as a kind of card-carrying membership of being Western" (Nestruck par. 5). The Islamic identity does not, in Amir's point of view, help people enjoy their American citizenship.  Therefore, Amir falsely believes that leading a secular life would, probably, protect him against the religious discrimination which notably increased after 9/11 events.  Disgraced introduces different concepts of secularism through Amir, all of which are opposing Islam