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Fatima
Surya Bajiya
Bajiya
belongs to an endangered species. Having imbibed the classical heritage
of Indo-Muslim literature, Islamic history and puritanical etiquette on
one hand and such profane interests as playwriting on the other, she is
someone who is likely to find herself equally at home with the younger
generation as with the old.
"I
am more hopeful of the present generation than I am of my own," she
says. "Apparently, the previous one has got more to do with
whatever is going wrong today. Maybe, it’s because of the great
migration that took place, people had to look for means of livelihood, a
place to live, and so on. The people who were already settled here also
had to suffer the consequences. In that struggle, nobody had the time to
care about preserving the cultural framework."
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The
grand migration of 1947 is a theme she can hardly avoid whether speaking
of religion, drama, literature or morality (which are all very close to
her heart). She spent half the interview emphasizing the affinity
between those who migrated and those who received them. "We don’t
have any problems, actually. Biases exist everywhere but we are the only
ones who have earned a bad name.
"After
all, what are the English and the Irish fighting over for the last 40
years? Catholicism and Protestantism! What is happening between the
Blacks and the Whites in America? True, they have made certain
legislative provisions to secure some rights for everyone but see what a
tough time they now have even to sort that out. I think Pakistan is the
best nation in the world..."
This
over-emphasis betrays an urgent sense within her – conscious or
unconscious – that if she does not try hard things might be understood
differently, maybe by her own self as well. Her most ideal statement
would be a reminder that the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) never
ordered a partition between the Muslim areas of Madinah and the Jewish
quarters, and therefore all partition is, after all quite unnatural and
superficial. At her most pragmatic, she will say: "To say that we
are only Pakistanis is hypocrisy. Why can’t someone say that I am
Punjabi as well as Pakistani, or I am Baluchi as well as
Pakistani?"
Bajiya’s
stand on the nationality issue is again rather classical. She quotes the
fifteenth century Muslim sociologist and historian lbn-e-Khuldun who
defined asbiyat (roughly translated as ethnic identity) as a building
block of communities as well as individuals. She goes on to distinguish
between this asbiyat and tassub (roughly translated as racial or other
prejudices), which is a threat to the integrity of communities. To
achieve a balance between both is her ideal.
Her
popular drama serials, which mark her public identity more than her two
low-profile novelettes and several stage plays, are just another way of
bringing out her cultural philosophy. She finds no need to disown the
Hindu heritage of what is today the Islamic society of India and
Pakistan. In fact, the famous (and sometimes long-winded) marriage
rituals portrayed in her drama serials have often been criticised for
imbibing Hindu ceremonies and promoting a pagan culture. On this issue,
Bajiya is unshakeable: "Islam is a religion, not a recipe for
setting up a new culture. The term culture itself is a foolish term in a
way, because people adapt to their geography, changing their clothes as
well as modes of expression to suit their geographic conditions. This is
irrespective of religion, which is something different. Islam was not
revealed to create a new culture, because there were already so many
great civilizations existing on the face of earth at that time – the
Romans, the Persians as well as the great Indian civilization, which
provided perfumes, scents and a sense of beauty to the whole world.
Islam came out, as the last religion, to provide the right beliefs but
also to bring together all the different cultures of the world – to
accept them and benefit from them as you come across them."
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