As a disclaimer, this is mostly my own interpretation and everyone is free to interpret it as they see fitting.
One of the fascinating aspects of Kamala’s family is how each of them is shown to differ with regard to their thinking as a Muslim. Of course each of them identifies as being a Muslim, though like any Muslim, each of their individual understandings of their religion vary to some degree.
This becomes especially clear when Kamala sits down to eat dinner with the rest of her family. Prayer at various times during the day as well as prior to meals is common among Muslims. Still, Kamala’s father comments on her brother and an argument nearly begins. From Kamala’s interjection, we know this isn’t the first argument they’ve had on the topic, suggesting this is more of a long-term issue about Aamir’s job-hunting (or potentially, lack thereof).
It appears that Aamir is particularly pious (perhaps slightly holier-than-thou) and, judging from his mother’s expression in the final panel above, she is proud of how critical he is about the type of job he wants. On the flip side, Kamala’s father appears to be more practical. One can’t comment about how pious he may or may not be since there have been unseen discussions about Aamir’s situation that likely influenced his comments.
And then we have Kamala. During a recent Q&A with G. Willow Wilson, it was stated that Kamala fell somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. While Wilson stated that Ms. Marvel won’t necessarily be a comic that’s explicit about the inner workings of Islam, it is definitely a component of Kamala’s character and identity. Inner conflicts about resolving her identity while being American is something that we’re already seeing in the first issue.
I think one of the key things to remember while reading Ms. Marvel is that Muslim characters are diverse in their thinking and their actions. Already we see a variety between Kamala, her family, and Nakia, her friend. Perhaps one might have imagined Kamala to be different, her family to be different, and her friends to be different and that’s understandable. We often have expectations about characters and want the final product to match those expectations. Despite this, I don’t think it’s fair to claim a character isn’t “Muslim enough.” There isn’t a checklist that exists that determines if you’re Muslim enough and if you don’t do X thing, you don’t make the cut. Muslims exist in a spectrum, each with their own attitudes, their own struggles, their own motivations. While there’s definitely room for lots of overlap between different Muslims, at the end of the day, each Muslim is on their own journey. It’s refreshing to see this conveyed so early on in a series and I’m both pleased and excited to see where the series will take us.
