‘Ibn ul-Vaqt’
is a novel that vividly illustrates how imperialism and the cultural values it propagates
invoke sentiments of exile in those being subjected to colonial rule. These victims
of exile commonly suffer from a loss of identity and a deprivation of a sense
of belonging. Nazir Ahmad is one of
those esteemed writers who through the notion of exile undertook efforts to ‘lend
dignity to a condition legislated to deny dignity’ [1], his literary works nourishing those who had been
denied a proper identity.
The life of this
one man and the trials and obstacles that challenge him on his journey to
achieve a transition from an Eastern to a Western lifestyle highlight how the
British regime in India was ensuing in locals becoming alienated from their
ideologies, origins and customs. Though Said himself argues that being in a
state of exile actually results in heightened awareness and broadened horizons [2] , his essay ‘Reflections
on Exile’ elucidates that he is never oblivious to the ‘nomadic, decentered,
contrapuntal’ existence it produces [3]
. He advocates Simone Weil’s view on the need ‘to be rooted’ as ‘the most
important and least recognized need of the human soul’ [4] emphasizing
that identity is crucial to the entities of individuality and character.
Said also
focuses on Weil’s view that ‘isolation and displacement’ result in
‘narcissistic masochism’ that hampers all efforts undertaken with the goals of
‘amelioration, acculturation and community’ [5]. Weil’s perspective is evident in a multitude of
instances described in ‘Ibn ul-Vaqt’ including the one in which the Head Maulvi
does shake hands with the British official but later washes it with dirt, signifying
the animosity the Indians felt at being ruled by foreigners.
Another
observation is that when a person accustoms himself to the circumstances
brought about by the state of exile and concedes to developing a new identity
through a fresh set of loyalties, he becomes a victim of persecution and antagonism
by the society he has his roots in. Nazir Ahmad exhibits this phenomenon in the
very opening lines of his novel ‘What made Ibn-ul-Vaqt so prominent was the
fact that he adopted the English lifestyle at a time when even to learn English
was considered blasphemy and to use English goods an act of apostasy’ [6].
In a
nutshell, ‘Ibn ul-Vaqt’ , employs the relationship between the British rulers
and Indian subjects to endorse the natural tendency of humans to cling onto the
fundamentals of their religion in addition to the norms they inherited from their
ancestors in a desperate attempt to preserve some semblance of their pre-exilic
identity even if they are simultaneously struggling to come to terms with the
metamorphosis in national identity that imperialism has caused. As Nazir Ahmad
puts it, ‘Live in the river, but at war with the crocodile!’[7]
[1] Said , Reflections on Exile, 175
[2] Said , Reflections on Exile, 183
[3] Said , Reflections on Exile, 186
[4] Said , Reflections on Exile,183
[5] Said , Reflections on Exile, 183
[6] Ahmad, The Son of the Moment, 1
[7] Ahmad, The Son of the Moment, 2
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