TORONTO — Zarqa Nawaz is no stranger to satire, particularly the kind that makes people uncomfortable.
Consider her 1995 debut “BBQ Muslims,” a fictional short about two Canadian Muslims who discover their barbecue has exploded and are then suspected of being terrorists. Inspired by the Oklahoma City bombing, the actual terrorists turn out to be a group of white environmental activists.
Several satires followed, poking at everything from racial profiling to oppression and in 2007, Nawaz created the groundbreaking sitcom “Little Mosque on the Prairie,” which ran for six seasons on CBC.
A comical look at a Muslim community living in Saskatchewan, it was the rare series to give a Muslim family living in the western world the sitcom treatment.
“Jameela Green Ruins Everything,” her second book and first novel out Tuesday, is her latest satire. This one follows an American Muslim woman who finds herself in a plot to infiltrate a terrorist organization not unlike the Islamic State militant group, ISIS. Nawaz’s version is dubbed “DICK,” naturally.
“Muslims have been struggling with our image in the media,” says the former journalist from her home in Regina.
“When ISIS came about, I thought, ‘We don’t need this right now.’ But for a lot of non-Muslims, the thinking was, ‘This is a part of Muslim culture, they all become radical jihadis who try to destroy the world, it’s in their blood.’”
In hopes of bringing context to the issue, Nawaz set about writing the novel, partially inspired by Tunisian-Canadian author Monia Mazigh’s fight to free her husband from a Syrian jail post-9/11.
“Some of my editors suggested I tone it down, and all I could think was why? These things have happened to people, this is not a crazy out-of-the-world story,” says Nawaz.
She adds that she had trouble finding a publisher, with her original editor having dubbed it “too much.”
Nawaz ended up writing it on spec, spending six years trying to perfect it, eventually finding a home with Simon & Schuster.
“I feel like this book could not have been published at any other time in history,” she says.
“Particularly in Canada with the trucker convoy and the rise of right-wing supremacy, we can see the danger of the narrative of looking at Muslims as the dangerous ones.
“White radicals have shifted the narrative away from vilifying Muslims and they’re changing the way we view terrorism in this country.”
Nawaz writes about religion and faith in an easily digestible way with each chapter preceded by her characters’ prayers to God that read like silly stream of consciousness, à la Judy Blume’s “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” She says it offers a peek into each character’s spiritual journey while humanizing them.
“Anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia are still very high,” she says, referencing the 2021 killing of a Muslim family in London, Ont., and the 2017 Quebec City mosque shooting.
“This hatred and violence against people of colour is very strong. There’s no more critical time than now to have stories that show us as human beings.
“Some people get angry with me when I say I want to humanize us because they say we’re already human.
“But the fact is, to some people, we’re not and the only way to cross over is through mainstream media. Nobody else is going to tell our stories.”
That’s where “Little Mosque on the Prairie” came in. A decade since the series wrapped, Nawaz name checks FX’s “Ramy,” CBC’s “Sort Of” and British series “We Are Lady Parts” as just a few comedies to have centred on Muslim characters.
“For Muslims, it’s always either the refugee experience, the immigrant experience or first generation battles, while 99 per cent of our stories are not being told about ordinary people doing ordinary things,” she says.
“Those are the things I want to talk about. We’re starting to see more progress, and we need to if we’re going to start shifting that needle when it comes to representation.”
Next up for Nawaz is her own webseries, “Zarqa,” set to premiere May 13 on CBC Gem.
It follows a Muslim woman building a wellness empire that functions as a reverse Goop, packaging brown culture and selling it to white women the same way they have appropriated her traditions. That’s all while getting caught in a love triangle.
“I’m really attracted to female protagonists who are flawed, impulsive and ambitious but are two steps forward, one step back,” says Nawaz.
“This woman will do whatever it takes to get ahead with her business. And I thought it would be really hilarious to see a Muslim woman in a romantic triangle because you don’t see that.
“Women in hijab are seen either as passive victims of terrible men, wives of terrorists or abused, and I’m like, ‘Why can’t a Muslim woman in hijab go out and seduce the imam?’”
She says that comedic approach will always be her go-to because “the sadder and more difficult the subject, the funnier it is for me.
“My brain is trained to look at things through a comedic lens, and that’s also because it’s a coping mechanism. It helps you process and digest experiences.”
And, she adds, it’s the ideal way to share those with people who may not have grown up living the same culture.
“Somebody who won’t necessarily see things from your point of view, they might laugh with you and it lowers their defences and allows them to let your message in so they can understand where you’re coming from. Comedy is just a great communication tool.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 7, 2022.
Sadaf Ahsan, The Canadian Press