‘All right, all right. Why are you getting angry?’
Riziya turned silent. She realized that Tahirul had felt a bit offended. She turned something over in her mind. After a few moments, she said, ‘I have a question, Hujur, may I ask?’ And then, without waiting for a reply, she continued, ‘Why aren’t women allowed to enter the mosque? Are they impure?’
‘That’s the custom.’
‘Is it really a custom? But sometimes I, too, feel like going to the mosque and offering prayers. What you just said – that if I had attended the Jumma prayer – can I go to the mosque to offer the Jumma prayers if I feel like? My Ma died ages ago when I was little. I used to go to the mosque during Eid. And once I grew older – it’s because I’m a girl that I couldn’t go there any longer. But we don’t feel the same delight when we go to the Eidgah.’
‘When it comes to women, even if there are many dos and don’ts, they can step outside under certain conditions. Can’t they?’
‘Do those dos and don’ts apply only when it comes to the mosque? What about the Eid field? Although we aren’t allowed to go to the Eid field in the morning, we are allowed to go to the mela in the town in the evening. So where do the dos and don’ts go then?’
‘After all, the shariat can’t be blamed for that, can it! Our society is to blame. That’s the responsibility of the elders.’
‘And what about people like you?’
‘How far can we go?’
Everyone was listening open-mouthed to this conversation between Tahirul and Riziya. Sabina was astonished. How could Riziya dare to talk to the imam in this way! She looked with admiration at this educated girl and wondered, how do you know so much, Rizi darling? Was it by reading?
Tahirul was amazed too. He had been performing his duties as an imam all these days, and except for Maruf and Farid, no one had ever argued with him on religious subjects. But that was a different matter. However, as he talked with Riziya he realized that, even if one viewed society as seemingly moribund, the flame of knowledge kept burning. It occurred to him that this flame could be concealed, but it could never be extinguished. All these questions by Riziya were actually doors to knowledge. And so he explained in his own way. This conversation between them was a source of pure joy. He thought that all his religious education would bear fruit if he had such an inquisitive student.
Although Riziya was devoted to and respected her Chhoto Mama, Salaam, she loved her Mami much more. Her Mami, too, was quite pleased to be ‘Rizi’s Ma’ even though she hadn’t given birth to her. Everyone in the neighbourhood called her by that name. Not like a co-wife’s daughter, or a sister’s daughter, no, she wanted to hold this distantly related sister-in-law’s daughter close, like she were her own. It was her encouragement that made Riziya pursue education and be of an independent deportment, different from others. But it was Salaam Miya himself who often became the reason for Riziya’s unhappiness. Riziya did not express those feelings. And when she felt an acute sense of hurt, she wasn’t alone. She went at once to Reshma Bhabi. Nazir’s wife, Reshma, talked to her like an intimate.
She did not remember her own Abba. But what about her birth mother? After all, it was by focussing on Riziya that she had wanted to make her life as a widow easy and simple. She had not got any share of her father-in-law’s house. If a son predeceased his father, his heir would get nothing. That was farayez law. When Riziya’s Abba died, his father was still alive. That was why Riziya’s Ma, Jamila Begum, had put up at the house of this cousin from her father’s side. The face of her Ma whom she had with her till she was eight years old, often floated into her consciousness. A sad, sick face. Bedridden, dying. Muttering in a feeble voice and saying so many things to Chhoto Mama. The little girl Riziya hadn’t heard anything. But she did realize one thing: her Ma would no longer be alive. It was her Chhoto Mami who then became her refuge, whom she loved and trusted. She had unwittingly fallen asleep next to her Mami’s bosom in the adjacent room. Hearing the sound of shouting and weeping in the morning, she had woken up. The first morning of the orphaned Riziya. When she went and stood in front of her dead mother, her body had already been laid out, supine. She was entirely covered with a white sheet. Turmeric dust on all sides marked the boundaries of the supine figure. Incense smoke at the head side. One woman had moved the shroud cloth near the face to show Riziya. The intensity of all the upheaval of grievous weeping denied Riziya a chance to see the face properly. Her Chhoto Mama had pulled her away firmly. Her Boro Mama, Kalu Miya, had declared that he would raise her. But it was as if her Chhoto Mama had never heard that. She had been with this family ever since then.
It took Tahirul quite a long while to learn about all this, bit by bit. It occurred to him that Riziya was actually a woman of misfortune. For all her outward exuberance, she was grieving to death inside. Tahirul developed a weakness towards her in empathy. The girl had found a place in his heart. A feeling of love was created. But this love was wrongful! It was a major offence. So Tahirul became perturbed. One ought not to drill a hole in the plate one was eating from. Sadnahati was the place of his livelihood. He did not want to embroil himself in any kind of trouble or scandal. After all, it was not any ordinary man who had this weakness towards Riziya, it was an imam. Tahirul reflected that he simply had to remain virtuous. He would not allow a blot on his character. There was no beautiful variety in a clear, blue sky. Rather, the little blots of white or dark clouds lent beauty to the sky. Tahirul’s life was simple and serene. Free of blots – a religious life shorn of variety. But was the colour of life an everlasting one? That changed too, in step with time. The tale of Adam and Eve was constantly rewritten in the lives of men and women.
seventeen
Suman’s father was the sole government employee in the village of Sadnahati. He was known to everyone as ‘Naren Master’. After he died, Suman’s mother received a pension. But that was not enough to run her household. Suman’s goal was to get a government job. Having completed his MA, he was engaged in giving tuitions now. That was not because he was the son of a teacher; there was simply no private tutor other than Suman in this locality. That’s why he had a horde of students. The earnings weren’t bad. But although that saw him through the days, it was no life. That’s why he appeared for job-related examinations. He had to read various books for the exams. And in this regard, Suman was most dependent on Maruf. He thought that Maruf could easily obtain a job if he tried. But that urge never dawned within Maruf. He did not need a job to get on with his life; yet Suman was of the view that Maruf’s intellect was of a high calibre. He couldn’t quite figure out Maruf.
Suman gave tuitions all day, in three shifts. There were more female students than male ones. He knew what the village of Sadnahati was like. He did not have the kind of student that one could devote oneself to teaching. It was only the student by the name of Riziya who he thought possessed an intellect. But her uncle had decided to discontinue her education after Class Nine. Suman had spoken to Salaam Chacha at the time and persuaded him otherwise. That had yielded results too. Riziya performed well in both the Secondary and Higher Secondary exams.
He paid special attention to her. That angered some girls who were envious, and Suman knew that.
Although they belonged to a different religion, Sadnahati folk felt a deep kinship with the people of Jogipara. The religion, society and culture – everything – of the Muslims affected them. But that did not take away their individuality. There were people of different persuasions among the Hindus as well. Suman’s family were followers of the Nath sect. Although brahmin, they were somewhat looked down upon. In the course of discussions with Maruf, Suman had observed that he was of a conservative bent. He, too, shared that feature. Suman followed the conservatism of the Nath community. He therefore did not believe in idol worship. He tried to present himself as a sacred-thread-wearing jogi or ascetic brahmin. Suman too had studied a lot. Through conversations on the subject of religion with Maruf, Suman had realized that religion denoted orderliness. A person living in a society needed an orderly life. That’s why religion had come up. He used to tell Maruf, ‘All the people of the world ought to be differentiated first in terms of two categories, believers and atheists. Then you divide the believers into two categories, those who are idolatrous and those who are not. The non-idolatrous can again be divided into two, that is, those who are monotheistic and those who are polytheistic. Viewing things in this way, it would seem that religions came up precisely to meet the needs of each age.’
‘You are entitled to think the way you want to, but we Muslims depend upon faith. On belief. Very often, reason doesn’t work here.’
‘But I don’t deny that belief is the core of religion.’
‘So?’
‘Look, some idolatrous customs have remained in Islam, you know. Although these have been assimilated within Islam, they nonetheless remain.’
‘Like?’
‘Like, say, that Haj of yours. It was from you that I heard about the two lengths of white cloth that ought to be worn during Haj. Isn’t that a lot like the koupeen? The loincloth worn by our ascetics? When an elder dies, we wear two pieces of cloth and shave our heads in order to deal with impurity. Haj too requires shaving of the head. Or look at the practice of circumambulating the Kaaba seven times. Hindus, too, have this notion of a sacred bond through circumambulation seven times. Isn’t it?’
‘The customs are different in the two cases. The belief is different too.’
‘Yes, different, but there seems to be a similarity in some respect.’
Maruf was a bit perturbed by what Suman said. He seemed to be saying that despite religious diversity there were signs of unity. A parallel in regard to core belief and customs between two completely different religions. Maruf tried to explain according to his own understanding. But Farid arrived just then. Maruf asked him to sit with them. He gestured that he would talk to him later. Suman’s words echoed in his head. Maruf replied in a grave tone, ‘Since you raised the matter of resemblance, let me respond. The core is the same, Bhai, why shouldn’t there be a resemblance? We believe that we are all the offspring of Adam. The origin of the human species has been explained very simply in Islam. This belief is not confined merely to Muslims; the Jews and Christians believe the same. And Adam, the first man, was also the first Prophet of Islam. There was no idolatry among his offspring in his lifetime. This came up much later. There came a time when, in their ignorance, people fell victim to the shoytan’s trickery, they forgot about the Creator, Allah. They continued to regard some great individuals, the prophets, as people who were very close to Allah. Subsequently, when those who were dear to Allah passed away, people made up a form, as a memorial. They made their idols and displayed great devotion to them. After a time, they too passed away – leaving for their next generation all these idols made of stone, wood and brick. That new generation thought – since our forefathers were devoted to these idols, that must surely be a sacred act, which is essential for us. Later, they began to display even greater devotion and started worshipping these idols, considering them to be the controllers of their destiny. That God could never be of such shape and form was entirely forgotten. They were devoured by ignorance.
‘But it was not that most people believed these idols themselves were Allah. They thought that a medium was required between Allah and his servant. All these gods were such a medium, the precious idols of their forefathers. Like many ignorant Muslims think that Pirs or auliyas are an important medium of communication between Allah and man. Many Christians nurture a similar belief in regard to the Pope.’
‘Maruf, I did not want to hear about all this, and because I, myself, do not worship idols, drop this matter. I was talking about the parallels between ancient customs. There’s a majesty somewhere in our Hindu religion too. That can’t be denied. It’s like everyone is somehow part of the same thread.’
‘Yes, that’s what I’m telling you. Listen to me attentively first, after all I can only speak on the basis of what I know.’
‘Okay, speak.’
‘So most people think that a medium is necessary for a spiritual union between God and a devotee. Not just a lifeless idol, often even a dead person is considered to be a medium. You’ve seen how a majar sharif erected over a dead man’s body becomes a medium. Actually, the seed of idolatry lies in the human mind itself. That’s the promise of the shoytan, Iblis! That he will mislead the offspring of Adam. The human mind is actually an imaginative one. People envision God inwardly. But is that really possible? And that’s what we have seen; the envisioned idol of God has been fashioned according to how that was imagined. Sometimes there’s submission, and sometimes ghastliness.
‘This condition became most dire at the time of Ibrahim, the founder of the faith. That’s why he built a strong movement against it. He fought against idolatry, together with his father, Azar, and the then king, Nimrod, in order to establish tawhid.’
‘Is that so? So what is “tawhid”?’
‘The oneness of Allah. That there is no true Divinity other than Allah. Tawhid means possessing an unshakeable conviction in that.’
‘I understand. And then?’
‘Although Prophet Ibrahim was not completely successful, nonetheless in keeping with Allah’s wishes, he was able to create two lines of descendants. One of which was his son Isaac’s descendants. This was the line to which the ancestors of the Jews and Christians belonged. Meanwhile, in the line of his other son, Ishmael, was born the greatest of all, and the last and final prophet, Muhammad (PBUH). He was successful in mounting a major revolution against idolatry. It was through Prophet Muhammad that the Islam preached by the first man, Adam, and then Ibrahim, was brought back to life once again. Prophet Muhammad was not the founder of the religion of Islam. Although many think that is so. But that’s absolutely incorrect. He was a prophet and a reformer. And Islam is the religion chosen by Allah. But on the instigation of Iblis, various religions were born from this.’
‘I understand. But I disagree with something you said. I’ll tell you that later. Carry on, I’m listening.’
