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The Bad Muslim Discount by Syed M. Masood

Contemporary fiction

The Bad Muslim Discount

by Syed M. Masood

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Quick take

Brimming with heart and biting humor, a novel chronicling the lives of two Muslim immigrant families in San Francisco.

Good to know

  • Illustrated icon, Romance

    Romance

  • Illustrated icon, Family_Drama

    Family drama

  • Illustrated icon, Forbidden_Love

    Forbidden love

  • Illustrated icon, LOL

    LOL

Synopsis

It is 1995, and Anvar Faris is a restless, rebellious, and sharp-tongued boy doing his best to grow up in Karachi, Pakistan. As fundamentalists in the government become increasingly strident and the zealots next door start roaming the streets in gangs to help make Islam great again, his family decides, not quite unanimously, to start life over in California. The irony is not lost on Anvar that in America, his deeply devout mother and his model-Muslim brother are the ones who fit right in with the tightly knit and gossipy Desi community. Anvar wants more.

At the same time, thousands of miles away, Safwa, a young girl suffocating in war-torn Baghdad with her grief-stricken, conservative father will find a very different and far more dangerous path to America. These two narratives are intrinsically linked, and when their worlds come together, the fates of two remarkably different people intertwine and set off a series of events that rock their whole community to its core.

Free sample

Get an early look from the first pages of The Bad Muslim Discount.

The Bad Muslim Discount

The Opening

Anvar

I killed Mikey.

It sounds worse than it actually was. You have to understand that I didn’t kill Mikey because I wanted to do it. I killed him because God told me to do it.

I don’t suppose that sounds much better.

It helps, I think, to know that Mikey was a goat. He had bored brown eyes with rectangular pupils that made him seem a little creepy. Loud and obnoxious, he shat tiny round pellets all over the cramped garage he shared with three of his brethren. He was probably the only one of them who had a name. I know my parents didn’t name their goats, and my brother, Aamir, said that naming animals was stupid.

Mikey was the only pet I ever had. He was mine for about a week. I fed him dry straw, brought him buckets of water and asked him if he really wanted to be slaughtered for the sake of Allah at the upcoming Eid because, quite frankly, that seemed like a poor career choice. He remained stoic in the face of his grim fate, at least so far as I could tell.

Eid al-Adha marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca. The name of the celebration translates to “the Festival of Sacrifice.”

Yes, Islam has a marketing problem.

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Why I love it

Readers who dip into the YA world may recognize the name of Syed M. Masood, author of a young adult rom-com that came out last year. Now Masood is quickly back with his adult debut: the charming, serious, hotly anticipated book, The Bad Muslim Discount.

This is a story that follows two young people from their preteen years to adulthood. Anvar, a son of Muslim-American immigrants (and a self-titled “Bad Muslim”), is a young man doing his best to juggle classic coming-of-age issues (girls, school, etc.) with his parent’s expectations. Azza, a young woman growing up in Baghdad, is facing her own trials: a strict father, a bad suitor, and their eventual move to the United States. Soon their paths cross, which is when the book—already a page-turner—really takes off.

Emotionally insightful, occasionally ironic, and full of warmth for its characters, Masood tells two stories in parallel while also crafting a sharply observed narrative about Islamophobia, sexism, and violence. The result is a book about love, identity, and family that is honest, incisive, and unforgettable.

Member ratings (2,824)

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View all
The Last One at the Wedding
The Night We Lost Him
Madwoman
Hum
Family Happiness
Husbands & Lovers
Same As It Ever Was
Jackpot Summer
The Lion Women of Tehran
Did I Ever Tell You?
Real Americans
The Reappearance of Rachel Price
Just for the Summer
All We Were Promised
Hard by a Great Forest
Family Family
Northwoods
Mercury
The Second Chance Year
A Winter in New York
Check & Mate
What We Kept to Ourselves
The Leftover Woman
While You Were Out
Evil Eye
Just Another Missing Person
Family Lore
Little Monsters
The Connellys of County Down
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women
Paper Names
Divine Rivals
Hang the Moon
The Last Russian Doll
Maame
White Horse
The Family Game
The Fortunes of Jaded Women
When We Were Bright and Beautiful
You're Invited
Marrying the Ketchups
Part of Your World
The Good Left Undone
The Verifiers
The Unsinkable Greta James
Don't Cry for Me
Black Cake
Olga Dies Dreaming
The Family
The Book of Magic
Sankofa
Everything We Didn't Say
Apples Never Fall
The Sweetest Remedy
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina
We Are the Brennans
Skye Falling
Last Summer at the Golden Hotel
Things We Lost to the Water
Libertie
What's Mine and Yours
The Bad Muslim Discount
The Push
The Chicken Sisters
In a Holidaze
White Ivy
The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany
Practical Magic
Head Over Heels
The Vanishing Half
All Adults Here
The Kingdom of Back
I Have No Secrets
Saving Zoë
Color Me In
Past Perfect Life
Things You Save in a Fire
There's Something About Sweetie
All That You Leave Behind
The Other Woman
Small Fry
The Winter Sister
The Rules of Magic
& Sons