Homeland Elegies: A Novel

As a disheartened Ayad leaves Scranton, he flashes forward to his introduction to Riaz Rind in 2012. Rind—a Muslim American hedge fund owner who developed his capital brand by believing Muslims would only be welcome in America if they were able to “shape not only the nation’s policy but also its governing personnel” (122)—is impressed by Ayad’s play, Disgraced, and wishes to meet him. After paying “$20,000 for house seats and a visit backstage” (124), Rind obsesses over Ayad’s accurate portrayal of Muslims and their struggles in America. Ayad introduces Rind to Emily, the lead in the play, and the man charms her with his opulent lifestyle. Two days later, Ayad listens as Emily retells her time with Rind to a friend, Julia—the idea of a powerful Middle Eastern man being attractive to the latter. Julia entices Ayad into a rough sexual encounter, and he subconsciously notices how powerful it feels to possess a white woman as a dark-skinned man.

Six months later, Rind resurfaces with a congratulatory email regarding Ayad’s recent Pulitzer win. The emails continue as Rind finds similarities between his and Ayad’s life as Muslims in America. Soon, Rind educates Ayad in buying and restructuring debt—the same process through which he made his millions. At a fundraiser gala for a local Sufi order, Rind shares that his main goal is to “get a different image of Islam out there” (138) to try to overcome white Americans’ preconceptions of Muslims. From interviews with white Americans around the country, Rind discovers that most only associate Islam with fear and negative terminology. Rind believes this notion can be overcome by presenting the best of Islamic people at every turn: By “shov[ing] the best” of Muslims “down their throats” (140), he thinks successful Muslims like he and Ayad can truly belong.

Rind points out that Muslims are at a disadvantage because of their beliefs regarding distribution of assets after death: Whereas Europeans invested in accrued capital over centuries, Muslim inheritance laws dictate that all assets be distributed among one’s wives and heirs, sabotaging any possibility of investment. In turn, Rind’s business is devoted to overturning centuries of financial instability and establishing a secure monetary foundation for Muslim Americans to be able to compete with their white peers.

Eventually, Rind asks Ayad to join the board of his foundation, Avasina, and the overwhelming power of money and privilege lures him into the lavish lifestyle. Ayad soon rubs elbows with celebrities and politicians alike, and it redefines his perception of himself: Suddenly, Ayad feels like he deserves “this vision of the good life” (151), a vision only available to those with money. This vision could never materialize for Americans with debt—the kind that companies like Rind’s buy and sell a hundred times over.

When Fatima dies in 2015, she leaves Ayad $300,000, and Rind offers to invest the money for him. Upon learning that Fatima left another $300,000 for a local mosque, Rind shares his past: His family faced great discrimination for being Muslim back home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to the point where it ruined his father and destroyed their family capital. Ayad now understands why Rind built a life in which he is “never at anyone’s mercy” (161). Ayad’s inheritance buys him 125,000 shares in Rind’s new venture, Timur Capital; within a year, the shares exponentially grow in price, leaving him a multimillionaire when he sells.

Unbeknownst to Ayad, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Timur Capital for “shorting” their own securities, thereby making billions from betting against their own investments. An investigator shows up at Ayad’s door to question him about his relationship with Rind, and through her questions, he discovers that most of the companies Rind swindled relate to Scranton and numerous other municipalities across the country where Muslims are discriminated against. In this regard, Ayad, too, is a victim of Rind’s swindling and questions his own benefit from the situation. However, he realizes that Rind capitalized on preexisting corruption—which is unscrupulous, but not illegal.