American Dervish

In 2012, Ayad Akhtar wrote the novel American Dervish, a coming-of-age story about a Pakistani-American boy in 1980s Milwaukee. Akhtar, a Pakistani-American writer and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, explores love of God and love of others through the prisms of religion, family, and romantic love in this novel. This guide refers to the hardcover first edition. 

Plot Summary

The Prologue introduces narrator Hayat Shah, a college student whose mother’s best friend Mina has just died of cancer. The body of the novel occurs years earlier, beginning in 1981, as ten-year-old Hayat endures his parents’ rocky marriage. Mina and her son Imran arrive in to live with the Shahs. Hayat, instantly infatuated with Mina, learns about Islam from the devout Mina. After she tells him about a hafiz, a person who memorizes the Quran in its entirety, Hayat begins memorizing the holy book. 

At a family barbecue, Nathan Wolfsohn, a colleague of Hayat’s father Naveed, connects with Mina. The two fall in love and prepare to marry, to Hayat’s dismay. To satisfy Mina’s parents, Nathan must give up his Jewish religion and convert to Islam. At the local mosque, Hayat, Nathan, and Naveed listen to the imam proclaim divine judgment upon Jewish people.