Religious Discrimination in the Quranic Story of Ashab Al-Kahf and Shakespeare's Comedy the Merchant of Venice: A Comparative Study

Racism, in all its forms, has always been a prevailing theme in many works over the decades. This study aimed to compare and analyse aspects of religious discrimination in the Qur'anic story of Ashab Al-Kahf and in Shakespeare's comedy The Merchant of Venice. In addition, this study examines the psychological effects on characters due to this phenomenon and the ways they either coped with or resisted it. The approach employed here was qualitative, and the study was conducted from Bhabha's postcolonial perspective. The findings showed that both Ashab Al-Kahf and Shylock experienced identity crises related to religious discrimination, which they resisted through hybridisation and withdrawal subsequently. Not only would this study be beneficial to researchers in literature, but it would also be so to others in sociology, psychology, and forensic studies. However, this study is limited to one theory of analysis, and the sample was insufficient, especially on the part of the story of Ashab Al-Kahf. This study recommends a reading of the story of Ashab Al-Kahf and Shakespeare's comedy The Merchant of Venice from psychoanalytic perspectives. Article visualizations: