‘No, Sir. I can’t do that. Is the shariat like a toy in a child’s hand?’
‘But I’ve heard that this happens in the Arab countries.’
‘Rubbish! They are wahabi. Outside the established schools of Islam. Forget about them. They only follow the Koran and the Hadith. They don’t believe in theological congresses or an individual’s declarations. Are we wahabi?’
Maruf had been listening quietly all this while. He now said, ‘What do the Arab people do, Hujur? I mean, is there a Hadith regarding conducting a second marriage as a correction in the case of a divorce?’
‘It is there. But Caliph Omar…’
‘So then what’s the problem, Hujur? Do as it says.’
‘After all, we can’t go outside our religion.’
‘Can the Hadith be outside the religion, Hujur? It has to form some part of the religion. What’s the problem?’
‘Don’t you understand, Maruf Bhai? It’s a very complicated matter. We shall act according to the rules of the religion we belong to, Inshallah!’
‘Hujur, you had mentioned crafty halala marriage, and you said it wasn’t the law but a loophole in the law. So we can rather consider the single talaq utterance as a similar loophole and conduct the marriage again. It will be less of a problem. They will get back together as well. Why should we get into meaningless complications?’
‘No. You can do what you like. I’m not involved in this any more. You should rather go to the Muftis, who are experts in Islamic law.’
Salaam Miya had just stepped into Dilu’s tea shop after completing his Isha prayer when some young men began signalling one another with their eyes. Salaam Miya assumed they were engaged in some obscene conversation among themselves. When they fell silent as soon as they spotted him, he was actually pleased. So the young boys of today hadn’t forgotten about being respectful towards elders! He bought a dozen eggs and four scented zarda paans in a pleased mien. Dilu’s was a tea shop in name only. Actually, it was a provisions store. People made fun of the amazing range of things he stocked in his store. But Dilu didn’t mind that at all, rather his chest puffed out with pride. There was another reason for his pride. Dilu Bhai was quite an informed person. He was quite popular. He had all the credible news regarding the locality.
There were no elders at the shop after Isha. Youths took over the shop. They puffed cigarettes luxuriously, they chatted about films. And if they got any juicy news from Dilu Bhai, they engrossed themselves in that.
One youth asked, ‘Why do you need so many eggs, Chacha? Are your in-laws visiting?’
‘No. No one’s visiting.’
‘Didn’t the son-in-law come to visit today?’
‘Son-in-law? Whose son-in-law?’
Everyone burst out laughing at his query. It was a kind of offensive laugh. Blood rushed to Salaam’s head. It didn’t look good. What were the boys trying to say? He left the place.
He felt restless after he returned home. After a while, he went back to the shop. Finding it empty, as soon as he pressed Dilu to tell him what was going on, he spilt the beans. Salaam Miya was furious at what he heard. He couldn’t brush away the matter. What had he heard! With the Imam Saheb of the mosque?
Salaam Miya considered the situation. That was it! He did come frequently and sit for long in the name of teaching! He spoke to the girl too. How terrible! He had never viewed that matter in such a light!
He suddenly felt a profound rage against Riziya’s obstinacy and do-as-you-please ways. But the very next moment, he thought, is Riziya alone to blame! Weren’t they also to blame? Wasn’t ‘Rizi’s Ma’ Salaam Miya’s wife? He felt most angry with her. After all, if it was true, then it was them that people would blame more than the Maulana Saheb! A girl who could make the Maulana Saheb lose his head was indeed a deadly one! How would he show his face to people? Had it been right on their part to indulge a strapping young man so much! That’s what people would say! Salaam Miya was filled with remorse. It scorched him.
But whenever he thought about Tahirul, he couldn’t believe it at all. He was an imam, who always spoke politely and respectfully. How could he do this! He thought that some people must have slandered him. People loved to slander hafez and maulana folk. A stain on dirty clothes was not visible but the tiniest drop of ink that splashed on white garments stood out. Finding flaws in scholarly people was a matter of amusement for many.
What was he to do! While lying in bed at night, he shouted at his wife in anger and regret, ‘I used to tell you that you were raising a poisonous snake with milk and bananas. That turned out to be true, didn’t it!’
‘Why, what’s happened, eh? Why are you shouting like this at bedtime?’
‘What more can happen! Our faces are scorched. As it is, there’s tension on account of Fulsura’s talaq. And now to hear this on top of that. Chhee, chhee!’
‘Why don’t you first tell me what’s happened?’
‘Your Rizi is studying in college, but I didn’t say anything. I was suspicious, but I thought that perhaps she was carrying on with someone in college itself. Now I hear that she’s carrying on with … Ooh! What face do we have left!’
‘What’s happened? With whom? What are you talking about?’
Salaam Miya suddenly lowered his voice. He said, ‘With the Maulana Saheb of the mosque. I’m hardly at home, but you are! Shouldn’t you keep your eyes and ears alert? It’s because of you that she has become so audacious! Gone beyond control!’
‘Yes, all the fault is now mine! Did I ask her to love the Maulana Saheb?’
Salaam Miya kept roaring in anger. He soliloquized: ‘Women ought to be like women. I just heard it being talked about that the day Fulsura was divorced, no one went, it didn’t seem to matter to anyone. But Rizi brazenly went all by herself to Fulsura’s in-laws’ house. Why did you let her go?’
‘She didn’t tell me she was going there. And, so what if she went? It’s what she said that everyone listened to, isn’t it?’
‘“So what if she went”! You are the one getting her to do all this. It’s because of you that she and the Maulana Saheb…’
Riziya’s Mami was stunned to hear her husband’s words. She wept a bit, too, at being vilified like that. But she realized that her husband’s reproach was merely an outward expression of his anger, so she didn’t take it to heart.
Salaam Miya was in a state of turmoil. He sat beside the window with a paan in his mouth. His wife was sitting on the cot. She said to Salaam Miya consolingly, ‘But I saw Riziya and Maulana Saheb standing at the main entrance arguing about the talaq matter. Whatever you might say, though, our Rizi knows a lot. They were talking about the Hadith and suchlike! Even you menfolk don’t know what our Rizi knows. But it didn’t strike me then that there was anything between them! It really didn’t! Girls can’t deceive their mothers’ eyes so easily.’
‘That’s exactly what happened! Just think about it. We menfolk don’t have the courage to talk to the Maulana Saheb about the shariat. But she was arguing with him. Where did she get such pluck?’
‘But it wasn’t the Maulana Saheb alone! Maruf was there, Fulsura’s Mama, Lawyer Dada, had come. Rahman was there. They were discussing the talaq matter.’
‘They met in my house, and I didn’t hear about it?’
‘It wasn’t in our house. They sat in Kalu Miya’s part. You weren’t at home yesterday, so how would you know?’
