Impurity In 'Ramy' Season 2 Presents Consequences, Chance for Growth

Ramy Hassan (Ramy Youssef) and Zainab (MaameYaa Boafo) in a scene from the second season of the Hulu show “Ramy.” Photo via A24 Twitter.

(REVIEW) Season 2 of the Hulu original “Ramy” opens with its title character at an all-time low: “I only ever think about me, and I hate it,” he tells his new sheikh in a teary confessional. 

Ramy Hassan (Ramy Youssef) is a young Muslim living in Jersey City who wants to figure out how to practice Islam in a way that also allows him to enjoy the world around him, something he ultimately fails to do. 

He knows the difference between what’s halal and haram — pure and impure — cares more personally about Islam than his family seems to at times, and holds other Muslims to the Quran’s purity standards. But being fully halal would mean Ramy would have to give up sex and porn, two things he is unwilling to sacrifice. 

Season 1 shows Ramy attempting to date women in the way he wants to. He ends up failing in a variety of ways, but the most damning involve universally inadvisable affairs: one with a married woman, and one with his cousin Amani on what’s meant to be a spiritual journey to Egypt. 

Back from Egypt, addicted to porn and living with no purpose, Ramy decides to pursue Sufism, a mystical practice of Islam that involves more direct contact with God. He forms a bay’ah — a spiritual oath — with Sheikh Malik (Mahershala Ali) in the hopes that it will reconnect him with his faith and set him on the right path. 

As he goes on to tell the sheikh in his initial confession, “I don’t want to want anything. I just want God.”

It sets up the idea that it’s impossible to live in the world nonreligious people live in and the world that Muslims are taught to live in at the same time — if he wants anything else, he can’t want God. Many Muslims have praised “Ramy” for its realistic depiction of a Muslim who’s neither hero nor villain, as Ramy is just a young man who wants to be religious but struggles with sin. But the severity of Ramy’s actions suggests that trying to blend his own desires with the message of the Quran isn’t something that’s advisable. 

Soon after committing to the bay’ah, Ramy approaches his practice of Islam with a renewed vigor. He invites a homeless veteran, Dennis, to come work at the Sufi mosque — choosing not to mention the fact that Dennis suffers from severe PTSD and had killed his friend while stationed in Iraq. And in a fit of rage, he attacks a peaceful protester outside of the mosque who later dies from his injuries. 

Ramy has already violated the bay’ah by lying, and now he faces the consequences: Dennis is in jail, a man has been killed, and the mosque has lost funding from a very wealthy donor. To teach Ramy the importance of responsibility and trust, the sheikh puts Ramy in charge of caring for Dennis’ dog Boomer, whom he first must rescue from Dennis’ filthy car outside of town.

If there’s one thing good to come of it, it’s that the fallout allows Ramy to grow close to the sheikh’s daughter Zainab (MaameYaa Boafo), whom he soon begins to court for marriage. Zainab seems to be the answer to Ramy’s problems. She has kept herself pure and insists on doing the same in her relationship with Ramy.

Ramy begins reading the Quran again, and he continues actively pursuing God even when his friends and family aren’t nearly as enthusiastic. Both Ramy and Zainab say on multiple occasions that their relationship encourages them each to be better Muslims, which is what they’re both working toward. 

It’s also the first time Ramy is fulfilled in a romantic relationship. There may not be the sexual passion normally contained in his affairs, but he and Zainab are genuinely happy together and use their relationship for spiritual growth. 

Here, it seems especially clear: there is reward in purity. 

But Ramy’s mother invites Amani to the wedding, and Ramy again succumbs to his desires and sleeps with her the night before the ceremony. Earnestly, on their wedding night, Ramy confesses the affair to Zainab and proposes that they consider him marrying other women in the future. (As an argument, he presents that Muhammad had more than one wife, and cites from Surah 4 that says a Muslim man can have up to four wives. Polygamy is not a widespread practice in Islam, though some do still practice it.)

It is no surprise that Ramy wakes up the next morning alone. Ramy’s pride and lust have escalated an amount that no longer seems reasonable. The sheikh is waiting instead, and he berates Ramy for his selfishness and for breaking Zainab’s heart. 

With nowhere to stay, he returns to Dennis’ car with Boomer, and finds only a few filthy cans of food in it. As soon as he turns on the car, instruction on the wudu — purity rites completed before prayer — plays over the speakers. Dennis had been listening to a “How to be a Muslim” tape the last time he was in the car. The speaker goes on to quote from Surah 2 of the Quran: “Truly, Allah loves those who turn unto Him in repentance and loves those who purify themselves.”

It serves as a haunting reminder of where Ramy has failed — or maybe it’s an encouraging reminder that it’s never too late to start over. Either way, Ramy has exactly what he asked for. He has nothing, and is too horrified by the consequence of his wanting to try and pursue anything else. All he has is God, and the tape reminds him that’s all he should want. 

It’s whether or not he chooses to want God alone that’s going to make all the difference for his faith.

“Ramy” seasons 1 and 2 are streaming on Hulu. 

Jillian Cheney is a Poynter-Koch fellow for Religion Unplugged who loves consuming good culture and writing about it. She also reports on American Protestantism and Evangelical Christianity. You can find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.