Netflix drama 'Elite' features a Muslim girl and explores Islamophobia in Europe!
Have you ever been a victim of Islamophobia and the Muslim Discrimination, as though you are a completely distinguished entity? Well, a new show has been launched recently and there is no reason for you not to be interested!
Elite, a new Spanish drama which premiered on Netflix in the start of October, explores prejudice and Islamophobia targeting Muslim students in high school. As far as the character of the Muslim student Nadia is concerned, the co-writer Dario Madrona told Arab News:
“We wanted to work with this character because it’s something that is happening in Europe. This is the reality that we see every day.”
Played by Mina El-Hammani, Nadia is an ambitious Muslim-Palestinian girl in the show. The story is based on a prestigious private school in Spain where the status quo is disturbed by three newly enrolled working-class students. In the first episode, Nadia is ordered to remove her hijab by the principal or else face expulsion, in a scene that plays heavily on the debate over whether to ban hijab in schools that has gripped European region since the past few years.
If we go back In 2004, France banned the wearing of all noticeable religious symbols in public schools, which affected those wearing headscarves in schools. Moreover, in 2016, a young Muslim woman missed a week of classes because she refused to remove her headscarf. There was also widespread controversy when a primary school in London banned pupils from wearing the headscarf earlier this year only to later back down from the ban. Also, the blind Paralympian, Miftahul Jannah from Indonesia, was disqualified for wearing the hijab at the 2018 Asian Paralympic Games’ judo tournament this month.
In all these contexts, the show’s co-writers sought to use Nadia’s character to highlight the challenges some Muslims face when integrating into European society. During the series, Nadia also encounters with hateful comments from her fellow classmate Lu, played by Danna Paola, who refers to her as “Taliban.” The co-writer also Madrona added:
“Nadia reflected the idea of what Muslims have to face in Europe every day. Because you are part of a different culture, you don’t know if you can integrate. People look at you funny sometimes”
The Discrimination Issue
The challenges facing Muslims in Europe are not limited to schools and hijab, as the show clearly highlighted discrimination at workplaces as well.
In this series, Nadia’s brother Omar, played by Omar Ayuso, faces a challenge to find work. His friend Samuel gets accepted while Omar is rejected, though they submitted their resumes together. This implies how the decisions due to the religious backgrounds are weighed differently.
Aside from Islamophobia and ethnic discrimination, the show also explores the identity crisis some teenagers go through in high school. Adding that she has also been facing Nadia’s challenges during her real life, El-Hammani said:
“My parents are from Morocco, they are Muslims, so I know what it is like to live in a closed environment. Nadia is from Palestine so it’s different, but the same clash of cultures can be felt in both cases.”
The female lead states similarities and further added on, saying:
“I have had a childhood that was very similar to what Nadia has lived (through). Although I was born in Spain, when I go back to Morocco I am a Spaniard and when I am in Spain I am the Moroccan girl. So, you always wonder, ‘Who am I?”
According to the Union of Islamic communities (UCIDE), Muslims make up 3.8 percent of the Spanish population, 40 percent are Spanish and the remaining 60 percent are immigrants. Muslims in Spain are mostly from Morocco, although there is a significant presence of Pakistanis and Senegalese Muslims in cities such as Barcelona, Valencia, and Logrono. In the Holy Quran, Allah(SWT) says:
O you who have believed, seek help through patience and prayer. Indeed, Allah is with the patient.” (Surah Baqarah:153).
May Allah(SWT) gives us and our fellow Muslims the strength to face difficulties with Patience! We pray that such discrimination for Muslims and the issue of Islamophobia decreases overtime. Ameen.
