Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San
Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic
novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America.
**"Masood's novel presents a stereoscopic, three-dimensional view of
contemporary Muslim America: the way historical conflict in the Middle
East lingers in individual lives, the way gossip travels in a close-knit
immigrant community." --The New York Times Book Review
**
It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued
boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalism
takes root within the social order and the zealots next door attempt to
make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to
start life over in California. Ironically, Anvar's deeply devout mother
and his model-Muslim brother adjust easily to life in America, while his
fun-loving father can't find anyone he relates to. For his part, Anvar
fully commits to being a bad Muslim.
At the same time, thousands of miles away, Safwa, a young girl living in
war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find
a very different and far more dangerous path to America. When Anvar and
Safwa's worlds collide as two remarkable, strong-willed adults, their
contradictory, intertwined fates will rock their community, and
families, to their core.
The Bad Muslim Discount is an irreverent, poignant, and often
hysterically funny debut novel by an amazing new voice. With deep
insight, warmth, and an irreverent sense of humor, Syed M. Masood
examines universal questions of identity, faith (or lack thereof), and
belonging through the lens of Muslim Americans.
