Ryhaan Shah
Ryhaan Shah is an Indo-Guyanese writer born in Berbice, Guyana. She is active in Guyanese public life as the President of the Guyanese Indian Heritage Association.
Shah's first novel, A Silent Life, which won the 2007 Guyana Prize for Literature First Book Award, combines strong social themes in the context of memories of 20th-century Guyanese history from the point of view of Muslim women of South Asian extraction, with a narrative that explores mythic patterns through elements of the other-worldly. Her second novel, Weaving Water,, deals with Guyanese history in a comparable way, but from a Hindu point of view and with a more chronological treatment.
In November 2009, Shah was chosen one of the "500 Most Influential Muslims in the World" in a publication by the Prince Al-waleed Bin Talaal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding of Georgetown University, Washington DC, in conjunction with the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman, Jordan.
Recently, Shah has come under criticism for race baiting in Guyana's 2015 election. It was found that her editorials, published in various news outlets, were deeply laced with racist undertones and incited the violence of the country's perilous post-colonial voting history. Shah's racial separation theories and promotion through her literature brought on many critics, who declared her words "a reckless misuse of an esteemed platform". The introduction to the publication states that it "provides a window into the movers and shakers of the Muslim world. We have striven to highlight people who are influential as Muslims, that is, people whose influence is derived from their practice of Islam or from the fact that they are Muslim. We think that this gives valuable insight into the different ways that Muslims impact the world, and also shows the diversity of how people are living as Muslims today."
