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Tahmimaanam's the Good Muslim: a Peep Into the Post-War Bangladesh

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Tahmimaanam's the Good Muslim: a Peep Into the Post-War Bangladesh TahmimaAnam’s The Good Muslim: A Peep into the Post-War Bangladesh Dr. Liza Nanda Assistant Professor GGD SD College Chandigarh India About the Author Dr. Liza Nanda completed her PhD in 2013. Her area of specialization is South Asian Literary Studies and Indian writing in English. Her research has been on Muslim writers of the Indian Subcontinent and South Asia. Abstract: Wars have never left a positive impact on its survivors. History is witness to the fact that the war survivors undergo a mental change which is a result of the events they often encounter. The paper explores in detail the post-War period of Bangladesh as depicted by Tahmima Anam in her novel The Good Muslim (2011), and the eventual psychological change the peopleof Bangladesh undergo. The pre-War period, War and the post-War is explored through the novel. The paper also explores the concept of identity, identity of a Bengali Muslim vis-à-vis the post-War psychology. The history of Bangladesh becoming a nation is also studied in detail. Keywords- TahmimaAnam, The Good Muslim, War, War psychology, identity, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder www.ijellh.com 120 Identity has been largely rendered by scholars of various subjects as geographical, ethnic, cultural, and racial-physiological (genetic). The Bengali Muslims have always been caught in the dilemma of identifying as a Bengali or Muslim or both. Tahmima Anam, through her literary works, has brilliantly drawn their identity caught in the web of Urdu- Bengali language, cuisines and customs. Her first novel A Golden Age(2007) draws the identity of the pre-WarBangladeshis and the War period while The Good Muslim(2011) questions the identity of a Bengali Muslim of the post-War era. The novel vividly draws the picture of citizens of Bangladesh who feel disoriented and perplexed in the post-War period. The story wavers between 1984 and 1972, a crucial decade when the people of Bangladesh were trying to settle down in a newly won country. It is through the narration that Tahmima remarkably depicts the socio-political differences of the pre-1971, the War and the post-1971 era. The Good Muslim projects not only the effects of the pre-War period on the post-War society but also highlights the changes it brought inevery minute existence of the people. Maya and SohailHaque remarkably reflect the dilemma of the citizens caught in the nuances of the ‘new world’. While Maya deals with the ‘national’ change positively Sohail becomes a prey to the War. Second in the proposed trilogy, The Good Muslim brings to light the revolutionaries, Maya and Sohail, their mother and their friends of A Golden Age who would feel proud at being recognized as a Bangladeshi. Their love for Mao-Tse, Lenin, Mujib, had made them guerillas with the patriotism flowing in their hearts. After winning the War, the characters appear happy and victorious. The Good Muslim however opens the window to the post 1971 era whichreflected/reflects radical religious idealism (contemporary Islamic identity) vis-à- vis the historical revolution. The dichotomy of being born in an essentially Islamic environment with overarching shadows of pre-1971 revolutionary principles gets reflected through the siblings, Maya and Sohail. It is here that the question of identity – an Islamic or a secular comes into question. The post-War era thus asks as to ‘Who would be a Good Muslim?’. It is through Maya that much of the metamorphosis of the War and the country, and the ‘identity’ of the people post-War as such is revealed. Her absence for seven years working as a doctor in the countryside is juxtaposed with her presence back to her house. The house ‘Shona’ appears a different house altogether. The strong demeanor that all the three, Rehana, Sohail and Maya had held during the War seems to have taken a new identity. Rehana, a concerned mother of the pre-War period now has left the post-War silence of her www.ijellh.com 121 son to its fate. Her reaction to Sohail’s silence and his becoming amaulana, the changing of Shona to a Jamaat, her grandson Zaid’s upbringing, cite the post-War effect wherein an individual is portrayed as tired of life, tired of struggle. Sohail’s going into silence and not revealing the picture of the War days to Maya renders astounding alarm. The siblings of the pre-War and War period had shared a connection; a connection that was more than familial. Sohail and Maya had been revolutionaries and had shared the pains of War but now they seem torn apart. While Maya remains the same, carrying the struggle and victory along, her brother is alienated and detached. The brother-sister relationship also highlights the pain that Sohail carries. The ‘crimes’ he had committed as a revolutionary dances in front of his eyes day and night. The burning of the books (also resembles the burning of the books by Suranjan(Lajja1994)– reflecting the death of the morals), his visits to the madarssa, his becoming the huzoor, his distance from his people projects the ‘guilt’ that he carries, a sin which he wishes to wash with the suras from the Holy Qur’an. According to him, the Book ‘…explains everything’ (126) and sets you free. Religion becomes a savior for Sohail while Maya oscillates between calling herself a revolutionary and a believer. To establish the socio-political change Tahmima divided her novel into three Books. The books mirror the identity of the people and the nation. The Books reflect the decade that has passed and the present times. During this passage of timeTahmima refers to the Book – the HolyQur’an time and again. Sohail, a staunch revolutionary is changed to a staunch believer. People who knew Sohail as a guerilla now call him huzooror the maulana. He wears the holy cap, has become a strict follower of theHolyQur’anand theHadith, turns Shona to a Jamaat, restricts his son Zaid from various childhood activities; all reflect a different Sohail. The War seems to have left a sound impact on him as he ‘...[becomes] a man of few and exact words (66).’ Muller substantiates the effect a war can have on children: Children between the ages of 12-18, having had more years exposed to violent conflict, struggle to recover from years of compounding traumas. Interviews within refugee camps reveal pervasive feelings of depression, anxiety, hopelessness, grief, resentment, anger, www.ijellh.com 122 and fear among war-affected children (2013). Post-War Sohailholds a demeanor that resembles a believer who has turned his face to the world he had won, ‘[Maya] had known him all her life, and all her life he had been the opposite of a religious man. He had laughed and joked about it, and he had been angry at a religion that could be so easily turned to cruelty (158).’ It is painful to see a man who had accused religion at one point of time and during the War because, ‘…people were attached to the Book, or their idea of the Book, more than to each other, or to their neighbours, or to their country (92)’, turning to a devout. Within two years of the War he became a maulana.Probing further into Sohail’s identity brings to light the incidence of reading the HolyQur’anto him by his mother.Through the narration can be derived the fact that Rehana seems to accuse herself for providing her son the knowledge of the religion. Her silence towards Sohail’s behavior reflects her guilt of introducing her son to the Book. While she had wishes to provide Sohail an ambience of consolation, it indirectly proved fatal for Sohail ‘the guerilla’. Had she not introduced Sohail to the Book, then, may be, he would have turned to Mao-Tse or Tagore or become a professor at the University. The reader here is reminded of the mother from A Golden Age who had accused herself for, ‘…[not teaching] her children proper lessons about Jannat and the afterlife (2007:5). Sohail’s non-attentiveness towards his son, Zaid touches the heart of the readers. Zaid is painted as a character ignored by his parents – a shabby, little monster that he appears until Maya comes to his rescue. Zaid is allowed no toys, games, specifically card games, television, pocket money, photos, sandals and even school. He learns the ethics and morals at home by the Jamaat. It is disheartening to see a father who had played all these games and enjoyed pocket money restricting his son from the same.Sohail’s sending away his son to a madarssaprojects the dilemma of an identity that wishes to establish himself in the changed world. Talking to Maya he says, ‘I want, more than anything else, for him [Zaid] not to become like me. That is why I sent him away (262).’It is here that the reader is compelled to ask a string of questions. Is then Sohail’s pushing Zaid to a madarssa justified?; and if by such acts, is he trying to prevent Zaid from entering into ‘patriotism’? Is Sohail intending to wash his sins and saving his child from getting into what he was into?Was then all Sohail’s acts justified by the fact that he like others had fought the War and thus was now in a manner paying back? Was changing his identity from a revolutionary/guerilla to a huzoorwash his sins? www.ijellh.com 123 Mushtaq A. Margoob, Akash Yousuf Khan, and others in their research paper on post- War psychology impressively bring out the various traumatic criterions which have a deep effect on the psychology of an individual.
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