March 6, 2005

IN an article on Ismat Chughtai, Saadat Hasan Manto quoted Patras Bukhari who once wrote about her,

“It seems that a powerful and seasoned editor (this refers to Salahuddin Sahib) also wants to keep men and women in separate compartments in the realm of literature. He says that as far as women writers are concerned Ismat Chughtai has the same stature among them that George Eliot had in English literature, as if literature is like a tennis tournament where men and women play matches separately. What should be investigated is whether there is any essential distinction that makes literature produced by women different from that produced by men.”

(Translated by M. Asaduddin)

“Let a woman become George Eliot or Ismat Chughtai,” writes Manto in his article assessing Ismat Chughtai as a bold and audacious writer and yet being “a mere woman, after all”. “That does not mean that one should ignore the impact of gender on the literature produced by her. Will Patras Sahib offer the same insight in the case of literature produced by transvestites?” Manto says. The analogy seems strong but the message is well put across.

Though the above reference is a diversion from the discussion on how male writers have contributed to the feminist cause or issues, due credit deserves to be given to many male writers who helped in creating an avenue for women to expose their sufferings.

The reason I used the word ‘helped’ is because many male writers of yore had written prolifically on women’s issues, but much of their writings were more rhetorical on ‘corrective behaviour’ for women. They wanted women to follow the path that men had carved out for them.

One can then ask, have male writers fathomed the feminist cause well enough? Have they also pursued them as a mission? This article is not meant to gibe at men who jumped into the women’s world. It presents a cursory look at what role male writers have played in portraying and writing about women.

One finds that there have been two kinds of male writers. The lot that patronized privileged (or those who live in the comfortable and secure environs built by men) women and preached corrective behaviour — the virtues of an obedient daughter, a submissive wife, a sacrificing mother and a generous woman in general. The other that has shown images of women, who were maltreated, molested, murdered in honour killings, deprived of their rights, etc.

Back in the latter part of the 18th century, the Muslims in pre-partition India woke up to the realization that they needed a major cultural facelift, which also included women’s education on their agenda. Thus the emergence of ‘Islamic modernism’, largely conceptualized by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. He may not have been an ardent supporter of female education but the platform he provided for the Muslims helped women as well.

Mumtaz Ali, a follower of the Aligarh movement, was among the first male writers to take the lead in supporting women’s education and journalism at that time. He wrote the book, Tahzibun Niswan published in Lahore in 1898, about the rights of women. He contended that women were not inferior to men and that they should receive education to be able to make better wives. While men didn’t seem to be ready for such a revelation, women thought it to be too scholastic and far-fetched.

Quite a few other male writers who flourished and were acclaimed at that period, adopted the same moralizing and reforming style in their writings. Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi wrote the famous book, Bahishti Zewar, published in 1905, which became a ‘cultural asset’ for daughters to take with them in their dowry. Deputy Nazir Ahmad wrote almost seven novels, following the same reformative pattern. Syed Ahmed Dehlvi (Nazir Ahmed’s son), Rashid-ul-Khairi, Bashiruddin Ahmad, Abdul Haleem Sharar also wrote on similar lines.

Mirza Ruswa’s Umrao Jan Ada, published in 1899, was a turning point in the portrayal of women in Urdu literature as it brought to the fore a different colour of womanhood, changing the course of moralist and reformation writing. A courtesan, who was kidnapped in her childhood, returns to her parents only to find that the gap between them forbids her to do so. The sophisticated housewife/daughter living in the secure confines of her husband/father’s home was confronted with a courtesan who was equally sophisticated but out in the open and on her own. The famous critic Dr Saleem Akhtar considers Umrao Jan Ada one of the most powerful novels in Urdu literature and also a trendsetter with a psychologically sensitive strain running through the story.

This almost unleashed a genre of women writers, some starting their writing careers under a male pseudonym. They employed a language construct that wouldn’t distinguish them from male writers. But soon the ‘Lala-o-gul’ metaphor and the ‘Persianized poetry depicting women as objects of male love, incomparably beautiful, but void of any personality’, yielded to a new kind of woman who was exploring her own self.

The progressive writers movement was instrumental in giving both male and female writers a platform to vent their feelings and write about the suffering of men and women. Male writers like Premchand, Manto, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi and Rajhindar Singh Bedi are significant in this regard who wrote prolifically on women’s issues.

Dr Rasheed Jahan, a female writer and a cousin of Qurratulain Hyder, was one of the first women writers of ‘female progressive literature’. Valerio Peintrangelo quotes in his article on women writers in Urdu literature, that she belonged to an enlightened and progressive family that believed in and supported women’s education and issues. Her father, Shaikh Muhammad Abdullah, was the editor of the magazine, Khatun. “She was among the first ideologists of the All-India Muslim Ladies Conference who modified the traditional burqa and gharara and came out of purdah in 1923 when she joined the struggle for independence”.

Today, though Enver Sajjad, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Amar Jaleel, Abdul Qadir Junejo, Dr Afzal, Dr Saleem Akhtar and many others have written extensively about women’s sufferings, it may be difficult to pin down male writers writing strictly on women’s issues and following it as an agenda. A plausible reason for this, according to Dr Mohammad Ali Siddiqui, is the fact that “almost all progressive writers had women’s issues also on their agenda even when women were not aware of them”. Dr Anwaar Ahmad, dean of faculty of Islamic Studies and languages, Multan University, has conducted extensive research into women’s writings and issues. He points out that many senior creative writers experienced the agony and misery of the oppressed woman through the sufferings of their mothers. “Rashid-ul-Khairi’s father brought a stepmother for his child, when his own mother was alive. A serious student of literature knows well about the miserable past of Manto’s mother and the same is the case with Sahir Ludhianvi and Ghulam Abbas. There are, however, male writers also to whom a woman should remain female within the domain constructed by their masters,” he adds.

Dr Shershah Syed is a name that most women feminist writers know about. A doctor by profession, he has not only worked with the downtrodden women in the slum areas by trying to alleviate their sufferings, but has also written short stories depicting their dire straits. He has projected the hypocrisy of our society in educating women and then confining them to their homes. He is considered a radical more than a feminist and he agrees with it. “I have seen women being sold by their fathers, women dying during childbirth or suffering from extreme malnourishment but their husbands not budging an inch to help them recover. I have also seen women raped by their close relatives and secretly coming for abortions to save the family honour. All these miseries make ample food for writing stories,” he says. His collections of short stories include Dil hi tau Hai, Jis ko Dil Kehtay hein and Dil ki Bisaat.

Asif Furrukhi is committed to the feminist cause through writing. He was exposed to the literature produced by Fehmida Riaz, Kishwar Naheed, Attiya Dawood, Zahida Hina and many others and felt he was opened to this side of life. “Many men (who claim to support women’s emancipation) pay lip-service to the cause. We see hypocrisy at every level, be it social institutions, body politics or our social attitudes.”

Regarding the portrayal of women in Urdu literature today, he feels that we still haven’t the understanding to face the educated woman who has a mind of her own, who deals with life on an everyday basis realistically. She is the present reality. “I think male writers are afraid to portray such a woman. They will have to overcome this fear to help the cause.”

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