Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah Themes

Shafana & Aunt Sarrinah is a play about the different ways people conceive of their own religious faith. Both Shafana and Aunt Sarrinah are Muslim women, but they have very different ideas about what this identity means. For Aunt Sarrinah, Islam is a “fundamental” part of who she is, but it doesn’t inform every aspect of her life. Shafana, on the other hand, embraces a more all-encompassing form of religious devotion, as evidenced by the…

One of the central issues at stake in Shafana & Aunt Sarrinah is the relationship between identity and self-presentation. Aunt Sarrinah worries about Shafana’s decision to wear a hijab because of the message she fears it will send to other people. Aunt Sarrinah is afraid that ignorant people who are prejudiced against Muslims will see her niece not as an individual human being, but as a representative of the entire Islamic faith—which unfortunately includes…

Shafana & Aunt Sarrinah acknowledges the prejudices many Muslims face in Western societies. More specifically, the play looks at what it’s like for Muslim women to move through the world with the constant awareness that everyone around them is somehow judging or assessing them. Aunt Sarrinah has dealt with this ever since migrating to Australia, where she has always felt it necessary to keep relatively quiet about her religious beliefs. In fact, in the wake…