By Agron Gjekmarkaj

The novel "I am Muslim" by writer Ben Blushi, published by "Onufri", represents one of the most controversial works of contemporary Albanian literature! It does not only aim to tell a story, but to raise questions about the relationship between the individual, religion, identity and freedom! He uses writing as therapy for Albanian crossroads, searching for the origins of misunderstandings, the comedy of clashes that should be taken seriously!

From Aristotle, who in his work "Poetics" defines literature as mimesis - the artistic imitation of human action - to modern theorists such as Terry Eagleton and René Wellek, literature has been seen not simply as a reflection of reality, but as a creative form that interprets, transforms and puts it into question with the aim of further enriching human experience.

In this sense, Ben Blushi's novel "I am a Muslim" does not aim to mechanically reproduce Albanian reality, but to reconstruct it through allegory, symbolism, and a narrative that combines the artistic dimension with philosophical and social reflection.

From the very first pages, it becomes clear that the author is not building a realistic world in the classical sense. The characters, events, and dialogues are not created just to tell a story, but also to convey ideas and symbols.

“The Street of Kavaja” is not simply an urban space of Tirana, but a metaphor for today’s Albania, where modernity, tradition, religious influences and cultural tensions coexist. It is a fortunately narrow two-lane road! Plums bloom for everyone equally! It unites the mountain with the sea, closure with openness, isolation with perspectives.

One of the most prominent artistic features of the work is the use of a first-person narrator. The narrator is not a cold observer; he intervenes with comments, irony, memories, and philosophical reflections. This brings the novel closer to the tradition of the essay-novel, where narration and meditation run parallel.

From a stylistic point of view, Ben Blushi uses an erudite, dynamic and fast-paced language. The sentences alternate realistic description with irony, satire and hyperbole. The author creates scenes with a strong visual charge, almost cinematic, where humor and tragedy coexist.

A fundamental element of particular interest is the construction of the character of Ali Baba. He is not presented as a linear figure, but as a complex character where faith, patriarchal authority, human weakness and personal tragedy coexist. Through him, the author avoids the simple division between “good” and “bad”. The complexity of human nature is there caught between inheritance and actuality that imposes exchange and communication.

Civilizations are not so hostile to each other! He encourages the will to seek human common ground.

A fundamental characteristic of the novel is the allegorical system. The characters function not only as individuals with personal histories, but also as bearers of ideas, mentalities, and the history of faith.

The author uses irony as the main artistic tool, leading to the grotesque. Irony is not only directed at religion or fanaticism, but also at the modern intellectual, transformed into a “cook”, social hypocrisy and human weaknesses. This makes the text more complex than an ordinary pamphlet. In places, areas of “disgust” are noticeable. However, the novel is not immune to criticism. The main aesthetic dilemma remains the tension between literature and argumentation. At some moments, philosophical and political reflections take precedence over the development of characters, bringing the work closer to the polemical essay. The direct message can weaken the space for artistic interpretation.

Another controversial point is the treatment of the figure of the author's grandfather. As long as he comes as a vision, as a character in the novel, he must be taken as part of the literary universe. But beyond this, believers and deniers are ready for an uncompromising clash over the role of the intellectual formed in the West, accused of having served the ideological dogmas of the East in literature for many decades.

However, Blushi distances himself from communist writers through ridicule but maintains ethical bias towards the President of the Writers' League!

Linguistically, the novel remains one of the author's most important achievements. The language is vibrant, colorful, and carefully chosen by the artisan, while the dialogues and descriptions create an atmosphere that is sometimes mystical, surreal, and inexplicable in a rational way, just as man often knows himself.

"I am Muslim" is a novel that requires an active reader with a cultural foundation. It does not offer ready-made answers, but raises questions equipped with context!

This ability to stimulate debate is one of his most important artistic merits. But this is not a simple, banal, journalistic stimulus, but an intellectual, historical, social and civilizational one, perhaps as a hypothetical possibility for the modern Albanian, who is constantly running towards hypothetical truths as towards the bridge of the Kaaba.

From a literary perspective, the work has several indisputable qualities: Ben Blushi demonstrates broad culture, a journey through history as a reader and as its creator, which helps him synthesize contemporary life. This work is a legacy for tomorrow, both utopian and tangible. Blushi demonstrates competence and love in mastering the Albanian language and the ability to build a literary universe with a unique identity.

We leave the rest to the readers to seek help from Roman Jakobson, who teaches us that "the object of literary science is not literature in general, but literaryness, that is, what makes a work literature." This book has that subject; to leave a taste of good literature, so necessary when the cultural drought increases.

But in the end, in terms of the usefulness of the books and the author united in one, regardless of the above argument, it is very unfortunate. Although an opponent, his place in the Albanian Parliament has been taken over the years by intellectuals "who are on the rope", who, paradoxically, always win, even against writers of rank or learned people, with their jungle style.

The 12-year-old Yemeni girl's marriage to Ali Baba looks like their marriage to Albania, which has no power to whip them like the minor daughter of literature!