Toronto author Sadi Muktadir's debut novel transports readers to a Muslim boarding school
Muktadir's book Land of No Regrets tells the story of teenage Nabil and his friends
Sadi Muktadir's debut novel takes the campus novel somewhere it's rarely ever been before — a madrasa called Al-Haque Islamic Academy in rural Ontario, a boarding school dedicated to teaching students about the Muslim faith.
Land of No Regrets follows Nabil's fast friendship with three other misfits and the chaos that ensues when they start pulling pranks and rebelling against the difficult and often violent teachers. One day, the boys find the diary of a student who lived in the same halls when it was an all-girls Catholic schoaol, a discovery that connects them to times past and encourages them to hatch a plan to escape.
Muktadir joined Ali Hassan on The Next Chapter to chat about his own experience at madrasa, writing about violence and bridging gaps between different communities.
So at the beginning of the book, Nabil is sent from his public school in Scarborough to Al-Haque Islamic Academy. What is that transition like for him?
Well, it's difficult. He doesn't want to go. And he really doesn't have a choice. But he realizes that he doesn't really have the tools or ability to rebel against his parents or anything. So there's a lot of consternation and a lot of frustration. And he's probably, I hesitate using the word "depressed," but he's probably pretty down in the dumps about having to go. But, like many kids that age when you don't have a lot of choice and your parents or the powers that be force you to do something, you sort of just make the best of it.
So you were sent to a madrasa as well and only lasted a week. Can you tell us what happened?
Yeah, a little bit less than a week. I was around a similar age, like 13 or 14. My parents wanted me to be a better person than I am today. But we were touring madrasas in Ontario and trying to find a suitable place for me to go become a boarding student. And I sort of found an excuse for each and every one of them. I really didn't want to go. And then finally my parents sort of relented and they were like, "Okay you can go to this day school in Scarborough instead, at least it's sort of close to home and you're gonna go there every day."
And at the end of the week, I begged my mom. I was like, "I can't do it. I'll do anything before school, after school. Just let me go back to public school."
My parents had a lot more mercy on me. I feel like they regret the decision today. They're probably like, "We should have been harder on him." But they relented in the end. And I was able to go back to public school and eventually really pursue my true vocation or whatever I wanted to do.
There's this aspect of violence that the boys experience at the madrasa. What was your reasoning for including that in part of the madrasa life?
Well, the violence happened and nobody is saying anything about it. Quite simply, these things are happening and these are things that people have been through in North America. This isn't something that happened in the far past in a different part of the world.
This is a very North American experience, right? You grow up, you cheer for the Leafs, you play basketball, you play video games, you go to school … And then sometimes you go away to madrasa and then all these other crazy things also happen to you which are violent in nature.
Did you ever have any concerns or conversations around how this discussion of the violence would affect your family or the community or what their reactions might be?
That's one of the things that haunts me. And that's one of the things that I still struggle with is trusting readers and putting enough faith in readers to understand that this is an honest portrayal of my community. But it shouldn't be how my community's seen, in this violent way.
This is an honest portrayal of my community. But it shouldn't be how my community's seen, in this violent way.- Sadi Muktadir
And I did not have a conversation with my family or my friends from that community. The reason I didn't is because when they found out that I was writing a book like this they made their feelings and opinions known.
It was more like me listening to them and they were sort of like, "Hey, you're saying a lot of things about our community that might make life more difficult for us." And I understood that, but for me as a writer, I sort of felt a little bit pissed off because I knew that what I was saying, to me, felt necessary and also like my responsibility.
One night, the boys find a diary of a young girl named Cynthia Lewis. She's a girl who lived on the school grounds when it was an all-girls Catholic boarding school. They become enthralled with the diary and they read a little bit when they can sneak away. Where did you get the idea to include that diary?
So I always knew that I was going to have to include something to help a Western audience. I don't mean that in an insulting way, but just, I knew that I wanted to reach as many people as I could with this story. And I knew that I wanted to include as many different narratives as well in the story to show how similar they were.
I needed to show how similar these faiths are to one another so that readers understand how similar we all are.- Sadi Muktadir
So for me, when I was growing up in Canada, in a public school, I heard often about the Catholic faith — you learn about Christmas and all that stuff. So I heard a lot about something called Catholic guilt. When I heard about Catholic guilt, I was like, "That's nothing compared to Muslim guilt," but I get it. I understand that concept. And it was the same thing when I read James Joyce and some of these other famous Catholic or ex-Catholic writers.
So I knew that when I wrote this book, I needed to show how similar these faiths are to one another so that readers understand how similar we all are.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
