The Holy Woman

How many of us have heard of Holy Woman? It evokes an image of a nun, clad in black robe and scarf. Well, it’s not that! Holy woman or Shahzadi Ibadat, as in Urdu, is a woman created by the feudal lord who is married off to Quran or more exactly to the land in case there is no male heir, or if the men of the family do not want to marry off their daughters. I can sense surging anger already!

In her extremely stirring and exquisitely written book, Qaisra Shiraz weaves a plot where a drop dead dame is forcefully turned into a Shazadi Ibadat. The story starts with Sikander, a business tycoon from Karachi falling in love at the first sight with Zarri Bano, who has been rejecting many suitors in search of Mr. Right. However, Sikander is a guy who finally sweeps her off the feet. Soon, she gets engaged experiencing a new kind of love spell cast by Sikander. Period.

The tragedy starts when Jafar, Zarri Bano’s brother dies, and her father finds alleged reason to not let Zarri, a feminist, modern and well educated damsel from marrying. Crying bitter tears and not believing she was being brought in the lap of a tyrant, she was forced into doing something she had fought against all her life. She had pitied and crusaded for those oppressed girls but little did she know that once she herself will have to surrender under the pressure of her father, his izzat and Siraj Din’s love for the mere acres of land.

Shahzadi Ibadat is devoted to a life of worship and religious preaching. As the whole concept of Shazadi Ibadat unfolded, it seemed brutal, inhuman and downright ironic. Though outwardly, one gains respect, but the inner remains shattered, desiring human love. It shows man’s absurd sense of proprietary. He cannot allow another man’s gaze to set upon his daughter. It shows that though our society has outwardly made progress, women are still mere puppets, their strings in the hands of man who can pull and drop it on their whims. Their happiness and sadness are manipulated by their ideas. Qaisra showed how male can twist the logic by connecting the most natural and noble of things and feelings with innuendos and degraded remarks to blackmail and stop woman from going against their way.

One also questions the logic behind making her a Shazadi Ibadat, in which case she is forbidden to marry thus cannot bequeath the property to a legal heir. Her father said that the next heir, according to the tradition will be her sister’s child, then one questions why not allow Zarri to marry who might as well have passed down the property to her own son? Qaisra showed in the end that pulped down by whatever circumstances, human nature is indomitable. It retains its essence, as in the end Habib realizes the havoc he has played with his daughter’s life. Zarri Bano, though alienated from human feelings in the end assents to marry Sikander.

Another story that goes parallel with Zarri Bano’s is Chaudhrani Kaniz who plays the role of a tyrant mother. It is a typical plot where the Chaudhrani is against her son’s wish of marrying washer woman’s daughter, Firdaus. In a typical hyper theatrical style, he flits away from his house and Kaniz has no other picking but to yield to her son’s desire. It gets very humorous too, when both, soaked in their pride, spewed abuses at each other. In the end, she admits defeat and makes Firdaus her daughter in law.

At one point, it seemed the book has been unrealistically weaved into tragedy and melodrama. One almost starts crying at the heartlessness of parents when Ruby marries Sikander. At that point, the reader is teeming with hopelessness and disappointment. I would have loved the read more if Qaisra had not martyred Ruby and Habib, and instead showed that Zarri or her mother stood up against the injustice and gave the ‘happy’ ending to their lives. This way the story would have been a powerful lesson and an example for the entire women who have surrendered to their kismet, carved by their male bigots and their nonsensical traditions.

The language and flow of Qaisra is flowery as well as captivating. She has an intellectual conversational style. The dialogues are passionate, which makes the book an easy read and a page turner. It seems Qaisra deliberately and very astutely crafted a story intermingled with a fine humor and intense tragedy that makes reader cruise swiftly through the chapters.