The perusal
of ‘Ibn ul-Vaqt’ drew my attention to how Nazir Ahmad has skillfully employed aspects
of everyday life to demonstrate how these play the role of instruments of
exile. These phenomena include religion, lifestyle, education, family, identity,
career, food, and furniture. It is amazing how these elements have captured the
intricacies of Eastern and Western values, which give rise to the conflicts
that underlie the theme of exile.
Initially
recognized by the community as an ‘orthodox Muslim’ [1], Ibn ul-Vaqt gradually becomes more and more
negligent of his religious obligations. He ceases to be committed to the
voluntary aspects of faith after his exposure to the English through Noble
Sahib but it is after his complete endorsement of the British lifestyle that he
fails to conform to even the fundamentals. This change in Ibn ul-Vaqt is
outlined in detail through an emphasis on the ‘namaz’ in Chapter 13 of the
book, with the narrator believing ‘English education’ to greatly influence the ‘destruction
of the edifice of religion’. [2] This
process is one of the spiritual means by which the exilic figure is created.
Additionally,
Ibn ul-Vaqt has to face great animosity from his family after he agrees to help
the British in their mission to reform the Indian Muslims. One depiction of
this is in his aunt’s disapproval of a mere lunch at Noble Sahib’s house. [3] The irony is that he was
unable to successfully achieve his goals as a reformer because the Indians no
longer saw him as a role model – his adoption of British culture had bred
suspicion and labeled him as an outcast.
His lust for
power and connections had made increasingly indulgent and he engaged in a
variety of British hobbies to achieve this end. He went on walks and
participated in cricket, billiards, hunting and parties [4]. All these activities left no time to spend in prayers
[5], reiterating religion
as one of the instruments of exile.
Food also symbolizes
Ibn ul-Vaqt as an exiled character. This is illustrated in his vocal yearning
for simple, traditional dishes when highly feverish [6]. From another perspective, he had exiled himself to
the extent that he was no longer anxious about ‘being accused of drinking’ [7], an act forbidden in
Islam, only abstaining from alcohol for medical reasons.
The enormous
amounts of money Ibn ul- Vaqt spent on his new bungalow’s furniture also left
it indistinguishable from the ‘house of an Englishman’ [8] , reinforcing his exile from the Indians.
Ironically, he later has to suffer homelessness because of his extravagant
lifestyle, which further cuts him off from the British too, reinforcing his
exile.
These facets
of existence that we usually take for granted have the power to create exilic
figures as demonstrated by Nazir Ahmad’s apt description of the relationship
between an initially ‘shareef’ Muslim male and the English nobility and the
dynamics of the transforming cultural interactions between them. They act as a
catalyst in the metamorphosis that takes place in the character of the
protagonist and the story exhibits the multitude of links between them.
[1] pg 112
[2] pg 114
[3] pg 64, 65
[4] pg 123
[5] pg 113
[6] pg 128
[7] [8] pg 114
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