Partisans of Allah -- Jihad in South Asia

By Ayesha Jalal

Published by Sang-e-Meel Publications, 2008

Pages 373

Price Rs 695

Ayesha Jalal is a very well known scholar and her books have received critical appreciation throughout the world. Her latest book on jihad, 'Partisans of Allah' is also a thoroughly researched work that has explored the concept of jihad which is considered by many to be the justifiable reason for spreading the word and fighting people who are not co-religionists. This debate is very relevant because it is seen by many as the basis of what they call terrorism, the use of violence in settling matters, whether ideological or political.

Ayesha Jalal, being a historian, has placed the concept of jihad against the perspective of history and it is evident at the very outset that the concept has had differing interpretations in different eras. It has swung from jihad-e-Akbar which Islam signifies as a war against one's baser self, to jihad understood in the more conventional sense of taking up arms for a righteous cause.

One of the main causes for confusion and lack of proper definition of the terms has been the lack of a sense of history. The concepts, the values and the tenets are seen in absolute terms as static with unvarying application in all conditions, and not seen as either applied differently in different conditions or being the very products of history themselves. Being the products of history, these terms and values have to be within their specific historical context. This brings out the multiplicity of their meaning which is not otherwise readily available. The concepts have been dealt with a great deal of flexibility.

Basically the book covers the era in South Asia from the decline of the Muslim Rule after the reign of the later Mughals and runs right through to the independence struggle and the end of the colonial rule in the sub continent. In this period of about two hundred years the concept of jihad has been examined and how it was made to work by various forces and intellectuals, both political and religious in the period when the Muslims were losing power and partially regaining it albeit after independence under very different circumstances.

India in any way was a distinct example because during the Medieval period a Muslim minority ruled a much bigger non Muslim majority and that too for a very long period. Technically this stretched from the 11th century to the 19th century with extended periods when the central rule was extremely powerful and effective. For extraordinary situation called for extraordinary measures and the policy of Sulah-e-Kul was formulated. This of course raised hackles in the more orthodox quarters of the faithfuls as they raised objections, agitating and were even incarcerated. But these orthodox objections were allayed by the general success of the policy, and only when the political power started to decline and things started to fall apart these issues were reopened and various interpretations started to synch in.

She is of the view that the insistence on Islam by many of the scholars of the medieval period was more driven by it as a demarcator of faith, as identity between Muslims and non Muslims rather than on Islam as an ethical and humanistic religion for all mankind.

Even when a battle was waged for religious purposes the ethical dimension should have remained paramount but as had been observed time and again these ethical high standards were relegated to a secondary position under the compulsions of political expediency. When the only undisputed jihad was launched by Sayyid Ahmed Barelvi his jihad against the Sikhs could hardly avoid being influenced by temporal factors. His jihad showed the slippage between theory and practice. Sayyid Ahmed Barelvi was not only constrained to seek help from Hindu rulers, financiers and warriors but more painfully to fight against fellow Muslims on the North West frontier.

In the beginning when Islam started to gain a foothold the rest of the world did not follow the faith so it was simpler to wage war on the principle of spreading the word of God but as a major part of the civilised world became Muslim the issue became much more complicated. The meaning of jihad had to be given a new twist to meet with the emerging political, social and cultural realities And so, according to her, during the years of colonial servitude for Muhammad Iqbal though armed struggle was part of his repertoire for jihad he was more focused on the internal jihad -- the struggle with the self. He realized that armed jihad without the self strengthening achieved through leading an ethical life had no religious meaning. Instead of heeding the mullahs, Muslims should listen to their own hearts, ijtehad, the jihad of the mind, was for him the moving principle of Islam.

Ayesha Jalal has treated the issue as open-ended for there has been a lack of clarity during the entire course of the history of the Muslims. It had led to vigorous debate in the past and underscores the imperative of continuing the debate in the present and future.

It is interesting how Ayesha Jalal has interpreted the very stylised verses of Urdu notably of Ghalib to narrow it down to his intellectual distancing and cool responses to the calls of jihad in the 19th century. And this leads us to the problem of quoting from translated sources of the texts that should be referred to in the original. Since we have been distanced from the Arabic and Persian sources most of it has come down to us in translations or translated forms and the spin of the translator's bias, or his individual understanding or simply incompetence cannot be discounted. This distancing from our original sources has been responsible for mudding the waters over such crucial concepts as jihad as well as the scholarly discourses on them in the present times.

'Ma'asar Shairi' Dec 2007-March 2008

Editors: Saeed Ahmad and Talish Kamal

Published by Saeed Ahmad

Pages: 240

Price: Rs. 200

The current journals are essentially a different phenomenon. There was a time when the litterateurs were divided into 'Funoon' and 'Auraq' groups. It was an outcome of manipulative power of editors. Added to it was the ideological conflict between the progressive writers and the modernists -- a polarisation getting diluted with time. Our new editors are quite relaxed about their self projection and display flexibility in attitude, refusing to use their projects as a claim to fame.

'Ma'asar Shairi' is a recent Islamabad based journal edited by Saeed Ahmad and Tabish Kamal. Its 3-4th issue hit the stands a couple of months ago. The current issue is richer in content involving a broader range of poets throughout the country. It may be recalled here that the journal is devoted to poetry and its criticism. The opening section, on the long poem, accommodates the offerings of Aftaab Iqbal Shamim, Abdul Rasheed and Saadat Saeed. Somehow, despite extensive research, we are yet to establish a categorical definition of a long poem. Hence we have to accept the length or number of pages as a criterion. In the past, we have seen huge poems being created as a poetic compulsion and each one not only justified the length but also stood out as an enchanting prominent piece. 'Hassan Kozagar' by Rashed possesses the accumulated wealth of a rich tender life he lived. 'Bagh-e-Duniya' by Jilani Kamran is a metaphysical excursion while 'Aadhi Sadi Kay Baad' by Wazir Agha is a captivating account of a subjective travelogue. The long poems included here are not of the stature of memorable poetry but remain good offerings -- Abdul Rasheed doing better than the rest.

Munir Niazi (1921-2006) is one of the most significant poets of THE post-partition era. His poetry is replete with imaginative excellence and offers an inner distinction. It has a compactness with a tone and vocabulary specific only to him. His discrete, pretty and fresh poetic vision earns him an unprecedented stature in modern Urdu poetry. His works are a balanced blend of romantic spontaneity and classical lucidity. With more than a dozen collections he displayed an enviable variety of through and creative experience. Fateh Mohammad Malick, a celebrated critic and scholar, in his too brief an article published here restricts Niazi as a poet of religious metaphor. He claims that his entire work revolved around this question of new Pakistani identity. To document his argument he quotes few of his couplets from 'Na'at' and poetry written during Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. It's simply a hurried and superficial opinion. Malick goes as far as equating Niazi with Iqbal! It may be observed here that Niazi is perhaps the only poet bearing literally no resemblance to any major poet of the past. It can't be denied that a part of his poetry does address the elements Malick pointed out but it's illogical to generalise a part over a life time work. Great poetry speaks of the times in which it is created but its prime force is its timelessness. A more focussed and serious study is required to unfold the phenomenal poetry of Munir Niazi.

Dr. Ziaul Hassan in his article gives us a retrospective account of criticism done on ghazal as a form-since 1857. Its an informative essay. He states that ghazal is in another transition to come to terms with what he calls 'Pak-American civilization.'

Donald Hall (1928-) an American author is picked to represent foreign literature. His article 'Poetry and Ambition' addresses the basic questions surrounding the direction and conduct of poets.

His lucidity enables him to interpreter the social fabric to which the poets belong -- especially the great ones. Interestingly he advocates that a new poet must aim at achieving greatness alone. To achieve this he must identify and study great works and closely understand the life such great litterateurs lead. He condemns the quest for an immediate applause and recognition. He observes that poets need other poets to share, communicate and learn from each other. It's an interesting and easily readable article. The translator Mahnaz Zainab is an English language teacher doing her Ph.D on 'comparative study of T.S.Eliot and Iqbal.' She has very competently translated and deserves special applause.

While reading poetic offerings one cannot help feeling that most of the poems/ghazals resemble each other. This time some new names are included in the prose poetry section -- Naheed Qamar in particular who is a reputed author of metric poems and ghazals. Yasin Aafaqi is another new entrant.

Poems by Naseer Ahmad Naser, Shahin Mufti, Zeeshan Sahil, Iqtidar Javed, Salim Shahzad, Saeed-ud-Din, Fahim Shanaz Kazmi and Syed Kashif Raza are captivating and outshine others. Sara Shagufta was a notable modern poetess. She tilted towards psychopathology and consequently committed suicide in Karachi more than a decade ago. Since than she is often portrayed as a victim of male chauvinism -- an opinion debatable by many who knew the facts. Arshad Meraj writes a poem on her, beating the same line. Zulfiqar Aadil keeps his individuality by remaining subtle in his expression while Kashif Hussain Ghayr consolidates upon his neo-classical tone in ghazals. Shehzad Azhar's ghazals are impressive too.

Its customary to reserve the closing pages of almost every magazine for the letters to the editors where contributors register their comments and frequently attempt to please the editor with flattering exaggeration. 'Ma'asir Shairi' has initiated a new tradition here. A visionary writer is invited to review the previous issue in entirety and the write-up is the closing article of the journal.

Children of famous personalities often fail to establish their individual identity. Dr. Javid Iqbal's case, however, is different. After a lifelong struggle he has been able to establish himself as an independent scholar. He has written more than twenty books on various subjects but he still sees himself as a failure. This is because he aspired to be known as a playwright. More than sixty years ago -- as a student at Government College, Lahore -- he wrote plays some of which were broadcasted by All India Radio, Lahore.

He continued writing plays after the Partition but, as he now puts it, the cultural and intellectual atmosphere of the city of Lahore had changed. Radio and stage managers refused to oblige him, forcing him to give up his dream of becoming a successful playwright. He is presently working on the concept of ijtihad which, he insists, is vitally important for the regeneration of the Muslim world.

The Lahore chapter of the Pakistan Academy of Letters arranged an evening with the learned doctor where he talked about his literary and intellectual pursuits, his books, his failures and achievements as well as his plays that were based on the philosophies of Maulana Rumi and Allama Iqbal but were never aired by the television authorities.

The current 524 page issue of the 'Takhliqi Adab' carries about thirty six valuable articles that can keep a serious student of literature engaged for several weeks. The journal is published by the Islamabad's National University of Modern Languages and is edited by the retired Brig Dr. Aziz Ahmad Khan who is also the rector of the university. Its board of editors consists of the famous fictionists Dr. Rashid Amjad and Dr. Abid Sial.

The latest issue of the journal opens with an informative article of Dr. Tabassum Kashmiri, discussing the problems of the historiography of literature. According to him the tradition of literary historiography in Urdu is not quite old. It began in 1927 when Prof. Ram Babu Suksena's 'A History of Urdu Literature' was published. A number of books have been published on this subject since then. Dr. Tabassum Kashmiri asserts that our writers of literary history, with the only exception of Dr. Jamil Jalbi, have never discussed the conceptual foundations of their works.

The June 2008 issue of the monthly 'Takhleeq' carries four pieces of Dr. Anwar Sadeeq besides a letter in which he has pointed out Tabasum Kashmeri's audacity to call him Baba-e-Adab. The title, he says, is fit only for the late Ahmad Nadim Qasmi.

You can also find some of the interesting short stories written in Urdu during the current year in the 61st issue of 'Angaray' which also carries three new poems of Abdul Rasheed.

Guess who is the brave daughter of Punjab? Professor Aashiq Raheel names Indian Punjabi fictionist Ajit Kaur for the title. In his article 'Bahadar dhee Punjab dee' published in the June 2008 issue of the Punjabi language monthly Lehran he has apprised the literary works of the fiery Indian writer.

Paulo Coelho is mostly known for his novel 'The Alchemist' in our corner of the world. Published during the second half of the 1980s, it has been translated into Urdu. The Brazilian author wrote eighteen other books and is one of the world's best-selling writers whose 'Veronika Decides to Die' sold some 300 million copies all over the world.

As a teenager Coelho spent some time in a mental asylum in Rio de Janeiro from where he managed to escape and befriended the musician Raul Seixas. Together they composed many hit songs. But he dreamt of becoming a famous novelist, a dream that eventually came true.

Fernado Morais, a journalist, has written the novelist's biography to be published next year. He claims that Coelho had gone to the extent of making a pact with the devil to make his dream come true. Morais has not revealed how much Coelho was 'helped' by the Devil in winning the status of a world-renowned writer. A newspaper report has quoted Morais asserting that Coelho, now a UN Messenger of Peace, led a wild life full of "violence, sex, religion, rock and roll and Satanism."