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
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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
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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,
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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?
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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. Studying the socio-political circumstances in Kashmir, they say, ‘…people and places related to the original event [as a] major avoidance mechanism (85.17%) [is] an important factor that yields to alienation among people who suffer from post-War trauma (2006:S45).’It can be said that the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) seems to have inhabited Sohail’s personality leading to his alienation from his people. Perrytoo stresses the fact that memories trigger the past emotional pain and thus the individual avoids, ‘…any reminders of the trauma…[that triggers] the mentalmechanisms of numbing and dissociation [and while] these children are present in body, their minds may be ‘off inanother place’ – dissociated, trying to avoid the painful reminders of the original trauma (2003:7-8).’ Sohail’s and Rehana’s silence/non-reaction to Maya’s queries about the post-War times establish the fact that the trauma of War had seeped-in deep in their characters. While Maya wishes to dig into the post-War, Rehana and Sohail disregard her ‘the answers’. The post-War situation not only affects the Haque family but the people of Bangladesh too.Piya’svisit to Sohail’s place and the reminder of a sour past incidence, that made her run away in the middle of the night, further substantiates the study of most of the psychologists who study the War times. She is a true persona of the victims of the War, the women who had been sexually assaulted and rendered into a world of darkness. Joy, a revolutionary, too seems alien. The War heroes and the ‘Bangla Spring’ had been forgotten too. There is stark contrast between the swarm of people who had celebrated the Victory on the roads and in their houses when they had won the War in 1971and the derisory bouquet of flowers at the Victory Memorial at the Anniversary, ‘…there should have been a bigger crowd, thousands of people carrying children on their backs… (43).’ It is disheartening to see the indifference of Rehana and Sohail towards the Independence Day, their absence at the War memorialand silence towards the celebrations. The change is also reflected in the lingua franca of Bangladesh. Bangladeshis who had fought the East Wing (Pakistan) on grounds of declaring Urdu as the national language had incidentally started using Urdu. Maya is taken aback when the vegetable seller asks her to take the money back because she had asked him why he loved using Urdu much. Her mother too had started using religious phrases while blessing someone. It is perplexing for the reader to understand why the newly won country of Bangladesh was suddenly retreating
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to religion and the Urdu language. The question then arises whether every citizen was becoming a ‘good Muslim’ by being religious? Or whether the religion was taking over the minds and hearts of the people? If yes, was it becoming necessary to prove that by usingUrdu and a dress code that reflected the influence of Islam, the people were becoming ‘good Muslims’; and if they were during the War ‘bad Muslims’? Were they declaring themselves good Muslims by acting in a manner that resembled their brethren from the East Wing? The Islamic influence is not only seen affecting the characters but the nation as a whole. Maya brings to us a Bangladesh that is no more a green landscape tugged in the warmth of the Delta but a concrete city. The Parliament appears stony, emotionless – a building, a place which they had fought for. Despite its arrangement as a lotus in the water surrounded by trees, it appears a huge stony structural design. Maya is also shocked to learn that the general public was not allowed to enter the building; even the ones who had fought for its freedom were not allowed to enter. Tahmima brings out the emotional twinge it brings to the ‘revolutionaries’ of 1971 to see that they were not allowed inside ‘their’ Parliament. The aftermath of the War eventually leaves the characters looking for an identity which they had dreamt about. The narration further brings to light the political and materialistic metamorphosis that the country had undergone. Corruption had seeped in. Maya’s joining the newspaper as a journalist to highlight the criminals living as free men does not hold importance anymore. Tahmima brilliantly hints at the influence the dictator holds as nothing revolutionary takes place even after the publishing of Maya’s article, except that she goes to jail once and loses Zaid forever. There is the presence of the Dictator who is virtually present in every tapestry of Bangladesh, giving the nation an identity similar to the pre-War period. There is also a streak of anger against the collaborators who support the criminals and the Dictator who uses ‘…Allah between every other word…(119).’The revolutionaries of 1971 find it difficult to accept the nation sheltering the criminals who had raped their women, who had killed their fathers and sons. The narration vividly brings out a sense of ‘compromise’ and ‘acceptance’ as Bangladesh takes the form of an Islamic state. Maya finds it difficult to survive in an era that is highly influenced by Islamic doctrines – something against which they had fought in 1971. The narration also brings out the emotional trauma of the women who were widowed by the War or raped or given the seed of the enemy. It is bizarre to note that Sheikh Mujib
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had declared that he did not want such children to fill his country. Tahmima brings out the agony of these women through Maya who informs us that on reaching the hospital for an abortion, women would often refuse to go ahead with the operationor after the abortion wouldask for their dead children to be induced back into their wombs. Was Mujib doing the right thing by declaring his rejection towards such children? The profession Tahmima gives to her character Maya remarkably brings to light the atrocities that the War had done to the innocent girls and women. Were all these acts of their leaders and the government triggering people to shift to religion? Were their identities lost in the space once known as Bengali- Islamic arena? The corruption had not only affected the political scenario but religious institutions as well. The narration shows how religion that was becoming Zamzam for the people of the War days had corrupted the maulanas and the mullahs.Zaid’s character brings to light the post- War period that is stained with the falling moral values. Maya’s non-believing attitude strengthens when she finds out that the Huzoor at the madarssa makes ‘children lie’. It is ironical to see Zaid sodomised by the mullah while his maulana father was busy teaching morals and ethics to others. An institution believed to inculcate morality and ethics in children and making them believers was today stooping to a criminal act. It breaks our heart to see how Bangladesh, a country for which the youth had fought for as muktibahini, was caught in the web of religious doctrine. It is however strange to note that Maya, who does not believe in Sohail’s newly accepted religious life starts to believe in it when Rehana, their mother, is detected with cancer and is undergoing the treatment. The holy thread Rehana’s friends give her is accepted by the family. The incidence of giving Rehana water from the Well of Zamzam when she is on death bed, which saves her life (which the believers believe) surprises the readers. Maya who had maintained a fragile relation with the upstairs, with the Jamaat, questions whether it was the Holy water that saved her mother or the science? In her interviews, Tahmima says that people have often questioned her on the title of the book – The Good Muslim to which she has often answered – ‘I leave it for the people to decide.’ So has their identity been Islamic or Bengali or both? Will turning to religion wash the ‘sins’ of the War? It is to be noted that the criminals were enjoying the freedom while the guerillas, the muktibahini or the freedom fighters were living with the ‘guilt’ and considered themselves murderers. So will Sohail stop calling himself a murderer? The ‘…God of
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comfort,…God of consolation (2007:162) had become a recluse for some and for some had become an exit. Tahmima’s novel truly questions the identity of post-War heroes still caught in the conflict of recognizing themselves as citizens of a country they had fought for.The Good Muslim is a true graph of the post-War Bangladesh.
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References Anam, Tahmima. The Good Muslim. New Delhi: Hamish Hamilton, 2011. Print. Anam, Tahmima. A Golden Age. Great Britain: John Murray, 2007. Print. B.D. Perry. ‘Effects Of Traumatic Events On Children.’The ChildTrauma Academy. 2003. Web: 25 August 2015
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In South Asian Region: Experience From Kashmir.’ JK-Practitioner,2006: 13(Suppl1). Nasrin, Taslima. Lajja. Trans. Tutul Gupta. New Delhi: Penguin, 1994. Print. Robert T. Muller. ‘The Invisible Trauma of War-Affected Children’. Talking About Trauma. The Trauma & Mental Health Report. 2013. Web: 26 August 2015
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