Amina's Voice

Amina’s family is at a family friend’s house. Amina’s mother has forced her to wear a pink shalwar kameez for the occasion. Amina finds the garment scratchy and uncomfortable. The family they are visiting has two children who are similar in age to Amina and Mustafa. The younger sibling is a girl named Rabiya. She has an older brother named Yusuf, who often treats Rabiya poorly.

After the four children play a video game called Just Dance, Rabiya and Amina converse in Rabiya’s room. Rabiya tells Amina that she should ask to sleep over one more time, although her mother, whom Amina calls Salma Auntie, has already vetoed the idea on the grounds that the girls “always stay up too late and are tardy for Sunday school” at the Islamic Center as a result (38). While Rabiya looks forward to Sunday school, Amina does not.

Amina listens to the adults’ conversation as a Bollywood film plays in the background. Mr. Khokar expresses anxiety about his brother’s upcoming visit. “You know there’s some bad feeling in this country toward Muslims, and all this negative news these days” (39), he says. Mr. Khokar is worried that his brother’s long beard and kufi will make him a target for harassment, but