Exile in relation to Ibn ul Vaqt refers to the feeling of
being away from the homeland or community. Ibn ul Vaqt from the start of his
political endeavor feared the loneliness it may bring as he wasn’t relatively
close to anyone except his Aunt. As he feared, his reproduction of the British
lifestyle to his way of living did leave him completely estranged. This book is
an example of how an individual might end up when his behavior is far different
from his community.
So what led him to this estrangement? I believe it was his
sense of base. The move away from a Muslim locality to an English one was a
massive cause of turmoil Ibn ul Vaqt faced. With few links in the Muslim community
the river of rumors that flowed at his initial onset of his English lifestyle
couldn’t be disfigured. People thought and talked about Ibn ul Vaqt as they
felt. While this did not affect Ibn ul Vaqt directly, it did affect the image
him that existed in the minds of Muslims in his community.
While Ibn ul Vaqt planned to be the rectifier of the Muslims
in India, he became so distant from his community that towards the end he
failed to be even, a part of it. The physical home wasn’t the only thing which
was relocated. Ibn ul Vaqt was now away from mosque as noted by Hujat ul Islam
during his visit. Mosque was not only the place of prayer but it was a place of
congregation. Spending time with fellow Muslims wouldn’t have just enlightened
Ibn ul Vaqt to talk of the town, but he would also have picked up various
habits.
His servants at home also, in addition, displaced him from
his community. His servants were accustomed to the English way of living, and
accommodated Ibn ul Vaqt to the English lifestyle. It should be noted that
there were none that reminded him of his prayer times. In the paragraph where
the narrator tells of the kinds of foods Ibn ul Vaqt desired and the kind that
his servants served, it seems that Ibn ul Vaqt was forced to eat what his
servants provided. Regardless of Ibn ul Vaqt being the sahib, he couldn’t even
eat what he wanted at his own home. As he grew closer to an English way of
life, he deviated away from the Muslim way of life.
In the end, he did not remain an Indian, neither was he an
Englishman. Hujat ul Islam’s reentry into the story tells us of how far
displaced Ibn ul Vaqt. The story is a reminder to all of us, that we should
never forget our roots or start to differ too far from the community.
No comments:
Post a Comment