An immigrant family in turmoil
What would you do if you discovered the details of a terrorist plot in your child’s computer? Who would you call? And who would you blame?
Belief is the story of an immigrant family in Malton, just outside Toronto, whose lives turn upside down when Abdul, trying to improve his computer skills after losing his office job at an auto shop, finds incriminating emails on his son Rafiq’s computer.
As the rest of the family waits for Rafiq to return home from work, Abdul calls over his only friends, a neighbouring Sikh family who bring along their police officer nephew. So begins their unexpected entry into the confusing world of the criminal justice system.
Set in 2008, the same year that firsttime novelist Mayank Bhatt arrived in Canada from Mumbai and two years after the Toronto 18 were arrested for plotting terror attacks, Belief details the life of a Muslim family who fled India after the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992-93.
Rafiq is a loner, wary of the “white Canadian establishment” — raised by a friend of the family, an honorary and devout “aunt.” He naively finds mentorship online through Ghani Ahmed, the plot’s mastermind, who persuades him to take on the cause of the oppression of Muslims around the world. Rafiq sees his own family’s life harshly: not only were they “hated by mainstream Canada” after 9/11 but immigrants like them “had to be satisfied with half-lives — unfulfilled lives.” To Rafiq, “every adjustment marginalized them, and they were sidelined ruthlessly.” But as he begins to collect information on potential bombing sites — such as the Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga — he has second thoughts about the killing of innocents.
As Rafiq tries to figure out what has happened to him, his family has to come to terms with what their life has become. Abdul is “defeated by Canada,” losing the self-confidence he once had as a secular trade unionist in India. He sees his wife Ruksana, a former activist-turned-security guard who has stopped trying to “adjust,” as hopelessly religious. Despite Abdul and Ruksana’s duelling temperaments, they rely on their pregnant daughter Ziram and her Trinidadian husband Jameel to guide them through the crisis.
Belief has a matter-of-fact style that is almost too detached from its subject matter; Bhatt fits in as many backstories as possible.
It is an uneven book, but one that tries hard to highlight the difficulties of making a home in a place where one is unsure of one’s acceptance. Still, Bhatt shows promise: the climax of the book is tender and emotional, showing that Bhatt has it in him to completely engage with his subject. Piali Roy is a Toronto writer.