Instruments of Exile: The Cult of Modernity

Class discussions on the character of Ibn-Ul-Vaqt have established him as a protagonist who is essentially pitiable.  Central to our understanding of his patheticness is the assertion that through the influence of British colonial ideology, Ibn-Ul-Vaqt becomes estranged from his own culture and religion. He is, in consequence, a figure in some sort of exile. The exact nature and definition of his exile require a whole other blog post – but for our purpose it will suffice to say that even though he does not undergo a physical re-location, he still experiences what Said characterizes as ‘‘solitude experienced outside the group: the deprivations felt at not being with others in the communal habitation” (177).

At the crux of Ibn-Ul-Vaqt’s exile are the ideas instilled in him by Noble Sahib – the very ideas that provide him with a pseudo-rational narrative of supposedly inherent British superiority and Indian superiority. The most valid example of this is in Chapter 8 of the book where Noble Sahib attempts to make a reformer out of Ibn-Ul-Vaqt. The point of his entire speech is to chart human progress in the fields of science, technology and rational thinking – the conception of progress that is deeply problematic because it is entrenched in Western notions of celebrating modernity. The ‘’limitless power’’ of the British is due to their ‘’reflection and research’’ while the Indians are ‘’ignorant of the new sciences’’ (59). Not only is it wrong to impose the Western paradigm of progress upon India, but Noble Sahib goes as far as to naturalize differences between the English who possess ‘’daring spirit’’ and ‘’courage’’ and the Indian who is ‘’jealous’’ and will ‘’start crying over’’ if a family member is shipped to Burma (58). Another trope used by Noble Sahib is the invocation of religion – ‘‘God willed the welfare and progress of the people of Europe’’ (50). With this, Noble Sahib has convinced Ibn-Ul-Vaqt that there is only one conception of progress which is Western, the Indians lack progress because they are naturally deficient in some qualities and lastly that there is also a divine element responsible for the progress of the British. These powerful ideas are central to understanding the desire of Ibn-Ul-Vaqt to denounce his own culture and these are the very ideas that serve as instruments of his exile.   

Lastly, what is interesting about this entire speech is that it seems to be structured according to the same values of rationality and empiricism that it espouses.  He starts off with a claim – ‘‘..the greatness of the Europeans lies not in their ruling an empire’’ and goes on to state supposedly inherent qualities of the British while providing constant analogies to the archetypal Indian. Each point is followed by examples. After building up this step-by-step argument, he concludes with a reassertion of his hypothesis.