The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Ahmed, Nawaaz. Radiant Fugitives. Counterpoint, August 3, 2021. Kindle.

In the novel Radiant Fugitives by Nawaaz Ahmed, Ahmed argues acceptance and forgiveness are needed for unity in individual families and the entire world. Diagnosed with a fatal illness, Nafeesa Hussein travels to America hoping for a reunion with her daughters before she dies. Seema, the oldest daughter, was disowned by Seema’s father and Nafeesa’s husband, Naeemullah, when she came out as being homosexual. Tahera, the youngest daughter, has taken a different path and turned to extreme faith in their Muslim religion. Can the sisters accept each other’s differences, or will it take a tragedy to make them realize that their arguments are inconsequential?

As children, Seema and Tahera were best friends. Their relationship disintegrated when their father disowned Seema for telling him that she was in love with a woman. Tahera had no idea of Seema’s sexual orientation and did not understand what was happening when she arrived home to discover her sister was no longer there. Neither her mother nor father would tell her what happened. Years later, Tahera learned her sister was homosexual, a sexual orientation that is considered to be an offense against Allah. Tahera allowed herself to become further estranged from her sister.

Several years pass. Nafeesa has been diagnosed with a fatal disease. Seema, who had married a Black man named Bill, learned she has become pregnant by Bill during their final sexual encounter on the night they decided to divorce. Against her husband’s wishes, Nafeesa travels to America to be with Seema when she delivers the baby. Nafeesa arranges for Tahera to come to San Francisco. She hopes that she will be able to force her daughters to reconcile.

Nafeesa’s plan seems to be working when she wakes from a nap to discover her daughters have been talking to each other. Seema has asked Tahera to tell her what life was like for her in their home after Seema was disowned. Seema had earlier asked Tahera to be the emergency guardian for her baby. Tahera agrees to her sister’s request. Since Seema has been hiding from her mother and sister that she has a prospective girlfriend, Tahera assumes that Seema has denounced her homosexuality.

Things begin to go sour between Tahera and Seema when Tahera realizes that Seema’s friend Fiaz is homosexual when she happens to see him kissing another man. Tahera overreacts because she is already stressed. Back in her hometown of Irvine, Texas, the mosque she and her family attend has been vandalized. Someone also set fire to the playground where her son and daughter play every day at school. Even more disturbing for Tahera is her husband’s news that her son, Arshad, has attempted to take matters into his own hands by vandalizing non-Muslim churches in the area. Arshad and his friend were stopped before they could do major damage. However, Ismail fears that if their plans were discovered, the young boys would be labeled as jihadists.

Tahera feels she should be with her own family instead of cooking for Seema and her friends, who Tahera now realizes are homosexual. Tahera is even angrier when she catches Seema kissing Leigh and realizes her sister is still homosexual. Tahera helps her mother cook an Indian feast for Seema, Fiaz, and Leigh. She makes a show of praying before the meal, but she refuses to eat with them. Instead, she begins packing to go home.

When Nafeesa tries to calm Tahera and make her stay, Tahera admits to feeling that Seema is using her. She believes she needs to be home taking care of her family instead of celebrating with her sister’s sinful friends. Fiaz, who is generally even-tempered, becomes angry when Tahera belittles them. He reminds her that not everyone wants to practice their Muslim religion as strictly as Tahera does; but, it does not give her the right to condemn them for being less Muslim.

Seema asks everyone to leave her apartment. The narrator, Seema’s unborn baby, has already told the reader that Seema is suffering placental abruption. Seema locks herself in her room and goes to sleep. When she wakes, she is laying in blood where she has hemorrhaged. She tries to call for help, but she slips on the hardwood floor and hits her head on the bedside table.

Nafeesa calls Bill and the paramedics when she cannot get Seema to respond to her. Seema dies in the hospital shortly after the baby is born. The baby describes how the nurses and doctors try to force him to breathe, but he wants to believe he has a choice on whether or not he wants to live based on what he has experienced about life while in utero. In the end, the baby indicates that he never really had a chance because he was starved of oxygen as soon as the placenta began separating from the uterus.

Tahera, who had been waiting for a plane to go back to Texas, receives a phone call from Bill that her sister is in trouble. Tahera prays all the way back to the hospital, realizing the pettiness of her anger. When she arrives, she finds her mother and Bill, who is holding his deceased son. At this point, the baby narrates the importance of how the three adults who are left living react to one another. He believes their futures depend on whether they choose to comfort each other or push each other further away.