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A new genre of Muslim writers emerged who believed in attacking
with renewed energy the multidimensional ills prevalent in
Muslim society in Bengal. Through a mass of new literature
written in Bengali and through their literary organisations,
these Bengali-Muslim writers "attempted to eliminate the
illiteracy, prejudice, sectarian conflict, lack of faith in
Islamic religion and other related barriers likely to retard the
progress of their community". It would be prudent to
mention that these Muslim literati sought simultaneously to
unshackle existing Muslim religious ideas from superstitious
accretions through the revival, recreation and reinterpretation
of existing Muslim tradition, through the literary
recapitulation of early Muslim glory via biographies and through
historical writings. This inspired Kaikobad’s Mahashashan
kabya, Shiv Mandir and Mahram Shareef, Mazammel Haque’s
Hazrat Mohomed, Ismail Hossein Siraji’s Spain Vijay
kabya Hamid Ali’s Qasimbadh kabya, Jainaludhar kabya,
all sought simultaneously to present the past as an ideal, to
create an emotional hankering in readers for bygone days; so too
Mir Mosharraf Hossein’s Vishad Sindhu, Hazrat Umarer
Dharmajiban Labha, Hazrat Belarer Jibani, Hazart Ameer Hamzar
Dharmajiban labh, Madinar Gaurav, Moslem Viratta and Islamer
Jay. While the former group of literary publications had
basically a historical background and the latter group a greater
propensity towards fiction, the underlying aims of both were the
same.
Upon the firmament
of intellectual and social ferment there appeared a colossus to
champion the cause of Muslim women’s emancipation and
intellectual advancement. She was none other than Rokeya
Sakhawat Hosain, herself a victim of the suffocating practice of
purdah since the tender age of five. A pioneer of the women’s
movement in Bengal, she was a writer, an educationist, social
worker and a visionary who worked unceasingly for women’s
education which she considered the first pre-requisite for
emancipation. Undaunted by narrow-minded, stifling prejudices
and practices, Rokeya not only established the Sakhawat Memorial
Girls School in 1911, in Calcutta, but also ensured she had
enough students for the school to function effectively. She
personally went from door to door, entreating guardians to send
their wards to school, guaranteeing security and purdah by
offering covered transport for the girls. Rokeya’s bold
formulation of women’s emancipation as laid down in her
numerous writings, especially in Street Jatir Abanati (The
Degraded Condition of Women) and Ardhangi (His Other
Half) is as relevant today, almost 70 years after her demise, as
it was earlier. To her, women’s emancipation meant the
establishment of equal rights for women in educational, economic
and political spheres. And, ultimately, Rokeya won despite her
orthodox Muslim detractors. Men and women from the Brahmo Hindu
and Muslim communities from all over India congratulated Rokeya
and lent her support. The Amrita Bazaar Patrika, along
with liberal Muslim dailies and periodicals, supported the cause
of women’s education. These included the Mussalman,
Nabanoor Mohammadi, Al-eslam, Sadhana, Bulbul and Saugat.
In a nutshell the entire gamut of issues pertaining to women
such as purdah, polygamy, widow remarriage and the empowerment
of Muslim women came up for redressal and were influenced by
reformist ideas stimulated by the social and cultural transition
and intellectual ferment in countries as far off as Turkey,
Egypt and Iran.
Be that as it may,
the pleasure of perusal of Ashoke Kumar Chakraborty’s book is
marred continually by glaringly incorrect grammatical formations
and sentence constructions. He should avoid convoluted prose and
concentrate on an uncomplicated and cohesive literary style.
Given his knowledge and vocabulary, I have no doubt that he can
develop a stylistic literary finesse sans prose formation which
will not in any way obloquy his literary merit.
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"SOCIAL
structure provide crucibles in which identities are forged and
interests developed. However, social patterns are not monolithic or
static; by selectively highlighting certain elements within given
cultures, political organisations may reinforce or reshape dominant
patterns. A key instance is provided by the way that political
organisations interpret the place of women: upholding women’s
traditional roles often places inherent limits on the potential for
radical change. Conversely an organisation that appropriates
emancipatory themes from subaltern traditions stretches the limits
of the possible in ways that go beyond conventional leftist
agendas".
