A Narration of Melancholic Elation

In the spring of 03′ I took a course for Third World Studies called “Islam and the Modern World”. During its duration, I realized how interested I was in the religion, its teachings, and for it being an anti-western idealogy, like Marxism. Sure, socialism and islamism have many flaws in their current states, but they both provide an alternate route from consumerism, capitalism, westerization, and materialism.

Each morning at 6:00a.m. in Karachi, I awaken half-way to the AZAN from the nearby mosque. AZAN is the call made by the Muezzin to summon Muslims to pray five time daily. It’s been incredible to see the piety expressed by people over the past few days. A deep piety that is rooted in a spiritual grounding. In the late afternoons I have sat and watched the cook do her prayers. The concentration and meaning that she puts forth as her forehead touches the ground each time, going back to child’s pose. As she whispers the prayers, I feel how deeply involved and dedicated she is with this daily ritual. I admire this.

I want to read the Qu’ran and understand why over a billion and a half people in our planet revere this text. Why is it so beautiful and why is it said to be so prefect? Like my grandfather, Anant, I find some beauty in all religions and I’m not sure if I will ever profess to strictly one. I like to say that I am agnostic, but we’ll see where I end up… I am currently reading “The Meaning of the Qu’ran”- By S. Abdul A’la Maududi. Muslims must read the Qu’ran in Arabic (as it was originally spoken by Muhammad) in order to interpret it’s fullest, most powerful meaning. But many Muslims speak and read another language: Urdu, Farsi, Russian, etc etc… Therefore, in order to grasp its full meaning, most Muslims read the Qu’ran in Arabic, which they do not understand. Hmmmm…
My Nani-ma said that she too was one of those people reading the Qu’ran without understanding the meaning, until she met Anant, who knew it inside out. “It was Anant who helped me truly understand the Qu’ran.”

My Grandfather grew up in Kerala, India where he was born into a Brahmin family- Brahmins are members of the Hindu priestly caste. He was force-fed their teachings and so he dismissed its qualities early on. When he was seven, he visited the Haji Ali mosque in Bombay and asked to be converted to Islam. He was fascinated by the people and its religion, more-so than the hierarchical system of the Hindus. Despite his intrigue with Islam, his first wife was Catholic. His love for his family had been forsaken by Islam? And his fascination with Islam had been taken over by his love for an English woman named Daphne? Perhaps… I’ll discuss his life more in another post, right now we’re just talking about Islam in Karachi.

I saw a French opera the other night with some friends of Anant’s: Moen and his wife, Marish. The following evening we went to a play funded by the British council. The issue that the play discussed was “Honor Killings” and the goal was to raise awareness and provoke discussion regarding it.
Wikipedia describes Honor killing “as the practice of males killing their female relatives or spouses when the female relative or spouse is considered to have damaged the family honor through unwarranted sexual activity. The males involved in the sexual activity, which might have been a rape, are not adversely affected, in general. The execution is considered to be a private matter within the affected family; rarely do non-family members or the courts become involved.”
“Islamic law prescribes severe punishments for zina’ (extramarital sex) by both men and women; premarital sex may be punished by up to 100 lashes, while adultery is punishable by stoning. The act must however be attested by at least four witnesses of good character, punishments are reserved to the legal authorities, and false accusations are themselves punished severely. The term “honor killing” refers specifically to extra-legal punishment by the family against the woman, and as such is forbidden by the sharia.”
“Interpretations of these rules vary. Some Arabs regard it as their right under both tradition and sharia (by the process of al-urf), though this contradicts the views of the vast majority of Islamic scholars (fuqaha). Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran has condemned the practice as “un-Islamic”, though the punishment under Iranian law remains lenient. In Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, honor killings are unknown, as also in Muslim parts of West Africa. According to Sheikh Atiyyah Saqr, former head of the al-Azhar University Fatwa Committee (one of the oldest and most prestigious in the Muslim world):
“Like all other religions, Islam strictly prohibits murder and killing without legal justification. Allah, Most High, says, “Whoso slayeth a believer of set purpose, his reward is Hell for ever. Allah is wroth against him and He hath cursed him and prepared for him an awful doom.” (An-Nisa’: 93) The so-called “honor killing” is based on ignorance and disregard of morals and laws, which cannot be abolished except by disciplinary punishments.”[4]
After the play finished, audience members got in line to comment and question the actors on the material and of the details regarding honor killings. This was intense. Most people gave their point of view, which was more-or-less on the side that “Honor killings are bad. Do away with them.”
But one guy stood up and said, “Well, its very political. You must account for the politics of this and why this is happening to women.”
This got an already emotional old lady to stand in tears, shouting “Don’t mix women and politics!” From there she rambled in an emotional rage and people had to eventually grab the mic from her hand like a bad freestyler who thinks he/she can flow well. People were definitley passionate about the topic and had strong opinions about its current state and legitamacy.
All in all I was impressed with the Urdu play. I couldn’t believe how progressive the Muslims were in Pakistan. Ouch…Yes, I was making a mistake. I was thinking that these elite, progressive Muslims of Karachi, were the Muslims in all of Pakistan. It was analagous to living in the San Francisco Bay Area and thinking that these like-minded individuals spoke for the United States. I would have to make a better observation and analysis later.

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