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My God is a Woman
Noor Zaheer, the author of My God is a Woman, is a woman of sheer grit, very much like Safia, the main character. Zaheer is a researcher and social worker who has written Mere hisse ki roshni, Surkh karwaan ke humsafar and Bad uraiyya. She has also been felicitated for her research work in different fields. She has written this book exactly 21 years after the introduction of the Bill for Protection of Muslim Women. For her it has been a long wait for justice since the decision of the Supreme Court was quashed in the Shah Bano case. But that justice seems to be elusive. She states that her discussions with Danial Latifi, Shah Bano’s lawyer, form the basis of this book. It is a platform to call a spade a spade and fight for what is right. The book takes us along the journey of Safia’s life. And tumultuous it is. From an orthodox Muslim family, she finds herself imbibing the alien ideologies of her husband and takes to them like a fish to water. Even for someone like her, the support of a male member was required before she could muster strength to take a stand in front of the whole family. The author puts across the position of women as that of silently bearing torment and carefully cataloguing each detail to pass it on to the next generation of women. Each generation tortures the next and derives pleasure in it. Safia breaks through that mould and becomes a precursor of change for the oppressed women, standing by what is right at whatever cost. Leading by example, it takes her an entire lifetime to bring about a change even in those women who are really close to her and seen that it is possible to exist on your own terms. She elucidates that change cannot be brought about by wanting to make a difference alone, but by getting up and taking control of the situation. She longs for a day when a religion will have a female prophet, a day when she can be more than the oil that feeds the flame that lights up the world. When her husband dies leaving her to fend for herself and their daughter, she realises that freedom comes for a price and that there can be no sureties. Thus begins the battle for survival that had already been set rolling by her husband’s foresight. The author uses the example of Shroopanakha, a vamp in the Ramayana, to make a point about the plight of women. When Safia’s husband dies or when she is disappointed in her best friend and daughter, the author does not raise a hullabaloo. She underplays everything and achieves an effect that is just not possible in a time when everything and everyone is glamorised. She portrays the extremes that men are capable of being. At one end is Safia’s husband who tries to push her to make something of her life, in spite of opposition, while at the other end is another man who is out to destroy all that his wife has toiled for just for the mere satisfaction of seeing her broken. One of the characters maintains that most women are reflections of their husband’s personality in a very cracked and abused mirror. While a lot of them settle with that image, others wage an unconquerable war. She is not very wide of the mark. The author, just like Safia, rallies in support of Shah Bano and feels that so should every woman. Only they can all women come together for a bigger cause, that of liberating themselves.
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EMPOWERING women would
ensure that the world is a better place, but this empowerment has been
unduly delayed as the power to make changes at the legal level rests
mostly with men.