Hanif Kureishi (born 1954) is a British Pakistani writer, screenwriter and director. Kureishi is the son of a British mother and a Pakistani father who came to London in 1950 to study law. Kureishi’s father belonged to the first generation of Pakistani immigrants. Later he worked for the Pakistani embassy. Hanif Kureishi discovered his penchant for literature at an early age. He studied philosophy at King’s College, London, wrote screenplays, and became known in 1985 for his nominated screenplay for the film “My Beautiful Laundrette”.
Central themes of his works include identity conflicts, racism, discrimination and homophobia. His work “The Buddha of Suburbia” is about a bisexual men, who grows up in a suburb surrounded by people who think he is of less worth. In other works, the author describes what it feels like to have grown up in Britain as a Briton, but to be seen by others as a stranger in his own country.
On March 28, 1994, the short story “My son the fanatic” was published for the first time in the US magazine “The New Yorker”, and in 1997 the story was published as a book. In the same year, the story was made into a film. In relation to “My son the fanatic”, Kureishi asked the central question of how a young person born in the UK with a well-integrated parent can radicalize himself. Since the 1990s, Hanif Kureishi has been dealing with the problem of fundamental Islam. This was triggered by the riots following the publication of a book by Salman Rushdie, a friend of Kureishi.
After the Second World War, Britain experienced an economic boom and new jobs had to be created in the textile industry. As a result, many migrants from India and Pakistan immigrated. Pakistani immigrants came to Britain since the 1950s. There are now more than a million people of Pakistani origin living there. In times of economic recessions, many immigrants lost their jobs and migrant neighbourhoods became problem areas. Immigration was made more difficult in the following years by requiring migrants to prove they had a job and making it more difficult to acquire British citizenship.
The low educational level of Pakistani immigrants and the high unemployment rate were problematic. Tensions rose between families like Hanif Kureishi’s and white families. The term “Paki-bashing” describes provocative attacks on Pakistani immigrants or people of Pakistani descent. However, some Pakistani immigrants have been able to integrate successfully. Nevertheless, young people who do not feel accepted in the Western world are often radicalised and join radical, terrorist groups.
The fundamentalist stance in the book “My son the fanatic” can be traced back to various attacks by Islamist organisations, such as the attack on the London Underground in July 2005. In the course of the publication of “The Satanic Verses” there were riots and demonstrations by British Muslims who felt attacked in the book by Salman Rushdie. This resulted in an Islamic legal opinion [dt.: Rechtsgutachten] by Ayotollah Khomeini, the religious leader of Iran, which demanded that the author be killed for blasphemy.
“My son the fanatic” is a short story about young man who is influenced by the Islamic religion and begins to strictly abide by the rules of the Koran. The story is set in the 1990s and depicts the conflict between the taxi driver Parvez and his son Ali.
Parvez is integrated into British society, he is comfortable and does not live according to the Koran. Young Ali, however, isolates himself from public life and turns to the Koran and Islam. He prays five times a day, grows a beard, ends his relationship with his English girlfriend and isolates himself from social life. His father, who is not religious, notices this change and initially wonders what has happened. Parvez tries unsuccessfully to communicate and sympathise with his son, however their relationship continues to degrade.
The son becomes more and more disgusted with his father for his non-religious lifestyle which involves excessive alcohol and pork consumption. Ali denounces [dt.: verurteilen, anprangern] his father when they are at a restaurant. Ali criticizes the lives of the English and tells his father that he wants to live his lifestyle like the jihadists. Parvez is horrified by Ali’s words and tries to talk to a prostitute friend named Bettina. She explains to him that Ali’s age is not an easy time in life to handle.
However, all efforts are in vain, instead Bettina is insulted in her attempt to reconcile father and son. In the climax of the story, the father beats the son in a drunken rage while the son does not respond or defend himself. The son then calmly asks the father “So who’s the fanatic now?”.
This short story is an example of a clash of cultures, a clash of generations and a lack of integration. Kureishi points out the discrepancy as to whether a migrant should adapt to new cultural values and society, or whether, despite living in a foreign country, original habits and values should be maintained. Ali’s behaviour is to be interpreted as a rejection of the aims and values of Western society and of his father. The short story also shows what can happen when integration fails and the second generation is looking for a hold and an identity because they don't really feel at home in either culture. In the country they live in, the second generation is always seen as "different" and "foreign", but they have hardly any connection to the country and culture of their parents, which creates a feeling of "not belonging". Ali turns to Islamic fundamentalism and is even willing to engage in jihadist activities.
The father-son conflict as depicted in the beginning between Parvez and Ali is not uncommon considering Ali’s age. In their teens, young adults form their own judgement and no longer accept the beliefs of their parents. For Parvez and Ali, however, mutual incomprehension does not turn into insight and de-escalation, but into distancing and condemnation. Parvez’s behaviour turns radical and violent against his extremist son, this suggests that there is more than one way to be fanatical.