Testing the limits of a mother’s love and faith

Mirza Waheed's new novel depicts the slow unravelling of a Muslim family under the shadow of Islamist terrorism in contemporary Britain

- Somak Ghoshal

A protest against racism in Walthamstow, UK, in August 2024.

(GETTY IMAGES)

Mirza Waheed’snew novel, Maryam & Son, tells the story of Maryam Ali, a 46-year-old school chef of British Indian origin living in East London, and her search for her son, Dilawar.

The story opens with her discovery of her 20-year-old boy missing from home. Since his father Ashfaq, or Ash, died suddenly when Dilawar was a teenager, Dil (or Dilly), as he is called by his family, has grown up under the attentive care of his mother. A quiet and introverted boy, he is good with computers and has made a career out of this talent, making a living through remote work. When he doesn’t return home for three days, his mother thinks of the worst—a possible racist attack—and goes to the police, sick with worry. Only for the case to take an unexpected turn.

On this scaffolding of a domestic tragedy, Waheed hangs a tale of grief and loss, intersected by questions of identity and belonging. As it turns out, Dilawar is suspected to have defected to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), where he is allegedly helping terrorists carry out their violent missions with his acumen for information technology. Days after his disappearance, a grainy video appears on the internet showing a young man, his face partially covered, holding a sword, standing among a group of terrorists. As per AI imaging analysis, it bears a 72% resemblance to Dilawar, though his mother refuses to corroborate it. But, for the powers that be, “the Swordsman’ is all the evidence they need to frame the Ali family into a web of intrigue and intimidation.