Book Review: In the Name of Honour: A Memoir by Mukhtar Mai

Mukhtar Mai’s book is a true, bitter and inspiring account of her struggles in life. Her name came to surface in June 2002 when journalists wrote about her. She was gang raped and punished for an honor crime allegedly committed by her brother. The accusation against her brother was never proved. After Mukhtar Mai was gang raped she intends to commit suicide. Instead, she went against the local custom. She took her rapists to court. The true story in this book revolves around Mukhtar Mai who faces stiff resistance. Despite all odds she fights the powerful, establishes a school in her village and helps other women under oppression.

Amna Buttar who supports Mukhtar Mai very strongly is threatened by one of Pervez Musharraf’s closest friend Brigadier Ijaz Shah. Referring to a planned visit by Mukhtar and Amna to New York, Ijaz says: ‘We can do anything. We can just pay a little money to some black guys in New York and get people killed there.’

Mukhtar belongs to the peasant Gujar caste. Her rapists are from the powerful Mastoi clan. They initially accuse Mukhtar’s brother Shakur of having relation with Salma, a woman from their clan. They rape the 12-year-old Shakur. Later a local panchayat (tribal court) declares that a woman from Shakur’s family be made a symbol of punishment. Mukhtar Mai is chosen, and raped by a group of men. At first Mukhtar was depressed, but she stood up and took the rapists to court. Mukhtar says that: “In our villages, most peasants cannot afford to hire a lawyer, so people prefer to appeal to a jirga because the government’s justice costs too much”.

The author regrets that if she knew how to read and write then everything would have been much easier. Moreover, she says that in Pakistan it is difficult for a woman to prove that’s she has been raped, since she is legally required to provide four male eyewitnesses to the crime. On August 31, 2002, the court delivers its verdict stating six men condemned to death and fifty thousand rupees in damages and costs.

Mukhtar already in the news opens her first school with the help of the government by the end of 2002. The little girls start calling her Mukhtar Mai ‘respected big sister’. Later Mai befriends Naseem in whom she finds comfort. Further in the book the author explains the marriage customs, her own marriage and her divorce. In addition to that she talks about the different women who approach her and address her with their own grievances. Mukhtar mentions the case of Dr Shazia Khalid, who was raped in Balochistan and who had no choice but to leave the country with her husband, leaving her son back home. Mukhtar believes that she will not give up her identity and will work to provide relief to her country which faces many issues. Despite all odds Mukhtar Mai fights the powerful, establishes a school in her village and helps other women under oppression.

Read More

Book Review: The Eye of the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

The Eye of the Prophet is another interesting book by Kahlil Gibran. It is brief, but it touches upon topics such as life, youth, woman, love, social relations, slavery, law, understanding, music, art, religion, wisdom etc. I quote here some of Gibran from this particular book.

He says: “The man who does not feel friendship towards himself is a public enemy, and he who finds no confidant within himself will dies of despair.” At another place he writes: “…for he who has never looked at suffering cannot claim to see joy”. On life he says: “Life without rebellion is like the seasons without spring. And rebellion without rights is like spring in a barren desert.” On woman Gibran writes: “The woman of yesterday was a happy woman, but the woman of today is a wretched mistress”. Writing about love Gibran espouses that “Hell lies not in torture. Hell lies in an empty heart.” Regarding mother Gibran thinks: “The mother is everything in life. She is the consolation in our sadness, the hope in our distress, the strength in our weakness. She is the source of compassion, she is love and grace. He who loses his mother loses a breast on which to lay his head, a hand that blesses him, a gaze that protects him.”

On courage he says: “The moth that flutters round the fire until its own death is more admirable than the mole who lives in a dark tunnel.” He further writes in the book: “To die for liberty is more noble than living in the shadow of cowardly submission.” On Truth Gibran mentions: “Truth is like stars: it shows only in the darkness of the night.” The whole elaboration under ‘Earth’ is really fascinating.

Some of his other quotes are:

• Friendliness with an ignorant man is just as absurd as discussion with a drunkard.
• Before teaching others begin by educating yourselves. Teach by example before teaching by words.
• Knowledge makes your seeds germinate but never sows them.
• Understanding forms, the only set of riches which tyrants cannot take away from you.
• The true riches of a nation lie not in its gold or silver but in its aptitude to educate itself and in the degree of integrity possessed by its children.
• The riches of the mind embellish the face of a man and earn sympathy and respect. The mind of a being is reflected in his eyes and in all the movements and gestures of his body.
• The people of the cities pretend to be wise and knowing. But their imagination remains unreliable, for they are none other than experts in imitation.
• Beauty is not in the face. Beauty is a light in the heart.
• Poetry, today, is a consumer product and not a breath of immortality.
• Ask counsel from people wrinkled with age. Their eyes have looked the years directly in the face, and their eyes have listened to the voices of Life. And even if their counsel were to displease you, do not fail to give them a little of your attention.
• Is faith not the sense of the heart just as sight is the sense of the eyes?
• Remember that a single just man causes the demon more trouble than a thousand blind believers.
• Tomorrow is conceived in the womb of yesterday.
• Do not call me wise, unless you call all man wise. I am merely an unripe fruit still hanging on the branch, only yesterday I was still a flower.

Overall this book presents a reflection of Kahlil Gibran inspiration and wisdom.

·       

Read More

Book Review: The End of India by Khushwant Singh

The End of India is a thought provoking book about the crisis which continues to haunt India even today. Based on five chapters, this book includes the problems of Gujarat, communalism and religious fanaticism in India.

Singh writes that he won’t be surprised if the Muslims living in Gujrat start paying jaziya which medieval Islamic rulers imposed on their non-Muslim subjects. Ahmedabad, Gujrat’s capital was built by a Muslim ruler in the middle ages. In 1998 the author observed that milestones on the main highway leading to the city had changed and turned into Amdavad, with state-sponsored help.

In the second chapter Singh says: “Both speech and silence are pregnant with hate…” This sentence has a very strong and deep meaning which I cannot refuse to mention in this review. According to the author Hindu nationalism’s birth took place in Renaissance Bengal in 1886 with the Hindu melas. The main objective of these melas were to train young Hindus in martial arts, use of swords, daggers and lathis. Non-Hindus were not allowed to participate in these events. Soon after the British overthrew the Mughal empire, the rise in Hindu separatism began to accelerate. Hindu and Sikh warriors like Prithviraj Chauhan, Guru Gobind Singh and Shivaji who resisted the Muslim rulers, were portrayed as national heroes.

Later, after the death of Gandhi the RSS, VHP, BJP and RSS offshoots like Bajrang Dal and Vanasvasi Kalyan Ashram have been implicated in various communal riots all over the country. Discussing communalism, the author believes that BJP is more dangerous as it uses democracy to camouflage its fascist agenda. Tracing the history of communalism Singh mentions that after Buddhism when Brahminical Hindusim gained favor again with ruling dynasties, especially in the ninth and tenth centuries, Buddhists were persecuted and their places of worship demolished. Later, in the reign of many Muslim rulers, Hindus were discriminated against and their temples destroyed. He further adds that when the British came to power they divided people not on religious lines, but on racial lines.

The author of this book mentions his personal experiences at the time of partition. He writes that in Lahore gangs from nearby Mozang had started marking out Hindu and Sikh homes for loot and forcible occupation. Discussing Indian politics Singh argues that the communal problem perfected by the BJP began under the Congress. He believes the Congress party won its landslide victory on a wave of anti-Sikh sentiment generated by it. Writing about political parties he suggests that “One should not judge political parties by the labels they wear on their lapels of by the high-sounding manifestos issued by them, but by their actions.”

Moreover, Singh believes that the first step towards securing the Indian future would happen, once the villain within themselves is identified. He says: “The need of our times is to revive the Nehruvian notion of secularism”. The author writes that after Gandhi and Maulana Azad respect for all religions was a mere display of religiosity. He stresses that if you were a devout Hindu you went to a Muslim dargah or threw an Iftar party to prove you were secular. If you were a Muslim, you celebrated Diwali with your Hindu friends. Secularism was reduced to a sham display.

The last chapter tries to present a solution to the looming threat of Indian society. Making his case for the creation of a new religion Singh mentions Bernard Shaw in the last chapter. Bernard Shaw had said that every intelligent man makes his own religion though there are a hundred versions of it. Singh says that our religion should make provision for the future. It should incorporate family planning. He espouses that permanent graves should not be allowed. The author says that: “good life is the only good religion”.

Read More

What is Corona Virus?

Last Saturday on the 14^th of March 2020 I was sitting with a small group of people at Melody Market Islamabad. Our conversation had just begun, when I saw a middle aged man of around 40, who directly approached us. 

He straight way objected me wearing a mask and did not engage with the others sitting next to me, as they were not wearing masks. Quickly without wasting any time, he asked me if I knew the origin of Corona Virus. When I asked him what exactly was the root cause, with a grin on my face (which certainly he could not notice). He instantly replied that Pakistani boys who go to China lick Chinese girls and when they come back to Pakistan they transfer it here via girls. This is what Corona is! He insisted.

Further he added that all those who do not wear a mask clearly show that their belief in God is strong (Imaan paka hai). As he left noticing our lack interest in extending the discussion, he said: “Mask laganay se kuch nahe hota. Musalmano ko kuch nahe hoga”.  When this untimely guest left. I said to all the others in the group: “This is the state of affairs here.”

Read More

Book Review: The Culture and Civilization of Pakistan by Kishwar Naheed

This publication which I read today is a version translated by Amina Azfar and published by OUP. The book is written by Kishwar Naheed who wrote it in Urdu. In the prologue Kishwar describes this book as the “vindication point” in her life and for “future generations”.

The author talks about literature, language, sports, attire and geography of the different areas of Pakistan. She gives a general overview and does not delve into details. I discovered some mistakes in her book. At one point she says that in Gilgit and Hunza there are twenty-two local languages but Urdu is spoken and understood everywhere. Wacholi language, which I did not know before to have existed, is spoken in Central Sind.

At another place Kishwar mentions that: “Because of the conflict with the army and the bureaucracy, the people of East Pakistan decided to establish a country of their own”. She does not even mention Bhutto’s role in this saga. In one chapter she writes about artists and musicians from Pakistan. While discussing historical place and shrines, she mentions many of the forts, mosques and other historical sites in Pakistan. Moreover, she writes about theatre, films and food in Pakistan. In the chapter on Cuisine Kishwar says: “From Balochistan to Gilgit and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, truck drivers to tribal chiefs are in the habit of stuffing their cheeks with snuff which they keep sucking.” I believe this is a very generalized sentence and she needs to revisit it. She has skipped the majority province of Punjab.

From there on she discusses festivals, sports and dresses in Pakistan. She covers a chapter on means of communication where she discusses the old transport methods in the country and later the airline industry in Pakistan. She writes that in 1961 the Family Laws Ordinance was promulgated. Following this, women were given the right to inherit and own agricultural land. At a point in the book the author states that: “The day women get rid of their mental bondage to men and learn to make their own decisions, our culture will change.” In the next chapter the men of Pakistan are discussed, starting from the Pakistan movement and the issues of unemployment they face. On page 126 Kishwar suggests that the population of Pakistan is 400 million. I believe this figure is not accurate. Her estimations seem very random. Furthermore, in the book issues of health care, education and languages in Pakistan are discussesd. Kishwar says: “In Gilgit Baltistan people speak Balti among themselves. Sheena, Wafi, Brushaski, Khawar, and Domki are also languages of Gilgit Baltistan but they are rarely written”. This reflects her limited knowledge regarding Gilgit-Baltistan region.

Kishwar adds chapters on fruits, vegetables and canal system in Pakistan. Khishwar writes that: “At the time of partition river water was also divided, under an agreement. It is known as the Indus Water Treaty. I reckon Indus Water Treaty took place in 1960. The last chapters of the book address novelists, poets, provinces and culture in Pakistan. Reading some part of the book made me think that it was for tourists and at a later stage I thought it was written to touch over all the aspects of Pakistan in one book. Most of the times, a story narrating style is followed.

Read More

Book Review: The Vision: Reflections on the Way of the Soul by Kahlil Gibran

The version of this book which I read has been translated by Juan R. I. Cole, with an introduction by Robin Waterfield. Gibran says: “Human beings unite in destroying the temples of the spirit and cooperate in building the edifices of the body”. At another place Gibran says: “I love you when you bow in mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit”. Further in the book the author writes: “Egotism, my brother, was the origin of blind competition, and competition generated group loyalty, and group loyalty founded political power, which in turn became a motive for strife and enslavement”. In the chapter my friend Gibran says: “Did you but know, my destitute friend, that the poverty that sentences you to wretchedness is precisely what inspires you with a knowledge of justice and allows you to perceive the essence of life, then you would be content with the destiny ordained by God”. In the same chapter he adds: “Coming generation will learn equality from poverty, and love from woes”.

In the chapter titled ‘The Philosophy of Logic’ Gibran writes that: “The beginning of wisdom is knowledge of the self”. At another place in the book the author mentions: “No, my brother, do not make inferences about the reality of a man on the basis of appearances, and do not take some saying or some deed of his as a token of his innermost essence”. In one of the ending chapters titled Vision, Gibran is of the view that: “I saw religion buried in the depths of a book while delusions took its place. I saw human beings condemn patience as cowardice, label forbearance laziness, and call kindness fear. I saw intruders at the table of good manners put on airs, while the invited guests remained silent. I saw wealth as a web of iniquity in the hands of a wastrel and as a motive for the people’s hatred in the hands of a miser; and in the hands of a sage I never saw wealth”.

This work of Kahlil Gibran addresses issues of close-mindedness, hypocrisy in society, and unjust politics. He creates his own ‘Anthem of Humanity’ by weaving together understandings from Buddhism, Eastern Christianity, Islam, American Transcendentalism and folklore of native Lebanon.

Read More