MOVING FROM NONENTITY TO ENTITY: A STUDY OF SABEEHA REHMAN'S MEMOIR THREADING MY PRAYER RUG:ONE WOMAN'S JOURNEY FROM PAKISTANI MUSLIM TO AMERICAN MUSLIM

The genre of memoir was initially considered as a domain reserved for male writings as men used the genre to pen down the official historical accounts which they witnessed due to the fact that they only played an active role on the stage of history: "Memoirs are frequently composed by a high-ranking, famous person as a chronicle of actions and draw much of their value from the fact the author was an eyewitness to the events" (Spongberg et al. 331). However, the genre of memoirin the hands of women developed a different sensibility and served a different purpose as "The gender consciousness that is prevalent in the majority of women's memoirs distinguishes them from the texts penned down by their male counterpart" (332). Breaking free the shackles, Muslim women have also widely explored the genre to publicise their life experiences and opinions in order to assert their identity and these writings by Muslim women move towards "conscious acts of rebellion. Writing and publishing one's life history was moving beyond secret rebellion to announce one's reasons for breaking the gender code" (Conway 87). Sabeeha Rehman is one such contemporary Pakistani Muslim woman memoirist who through the genre of memoir writing attempts to re-establish her identity as a woman in Pakistan, and a Muslim woman in America where Muslims especially Muslim women are looked upon as victims of religious fetters and violent patriarchy. This paper attempts to unfold the struggles and clashes that Sabeeha Rehman encounters being a Pakistani Muslim woman and also her encounters with the West which forced her to reassert her identity as a Pakistan-based Muslim woman in America.