Saheenbaug’s ‘sheroes’ and Bollywood “Dangal”girl Zaira wasim show Muslim women think on their ownBy Mohammed Hussain siyasat.net
There is a widespread myth that Muslim Women’s are subservient to their men’s whims and fancies and that they do not have mind of their own and cannot think on their own feet.
Though, Indian Muslim women’s emphatically shattered this myth when they came out in large numbers and lead the protests across the country against the CAA and NRC. They proved that they are not any less free, active, assertive and conscious about their democratic rights than their Non Muslim sisters.
The stereotype image of Muslim women who wear Hijab and practice Islam is that they do it not by their own volition rather under duress due to their male relative’s pressure.
Many Non-Muslim liberals and Rightists not only believe this myth rather they perpetuate it deliberately. They refuse to acknowledge that Muslim women not only in India but across the world do practice Islam and wear Hijab in quest of their spiritual journey without being forced by their men folk.
Unfortunately, Muslim intellectual had a tedium attitude towards women’s persecution allegation. Efforts to present the reasons were dismissed as patriarchal male’s point of views. Muslim Women’s point of view in such an important issue was more or less missing.
Zaira Wasim, the versatile young actress of Hindi movies “Dangal”, “Secret Superstar”, “The Sky is Pink” – each one critically acclaimed got her either a National Film Award or Bollywood’s Oscar equivalent Filmfare Award for her superb performances – has clearly given a peek of her mind in her Instagram Post about the reasons behind her decision to quit Bollywood to pursue her religious quest refuting the skeptics’ off repeated narrative that Muslim women are being oppressed and persecuted.
“Five years ago I made a decision that changed my life forever.” Writes Zaira Wasim about her shocking announcement on 30th July, 2019 to quit Bollywood which stunned the Nation.
In her Instagram post, she further states: “I was projected as the gospel of the idea of success and was often identified as a role model for the youth.”
Zaira admits that since the day she set her feet in Bollywood, it opened doors for her fame and she became a “prime candidate” of public adulation.
Had there been any truth to the perceived threat to her and her family members’ lives, she could have shifted from Srinagar and lived comfortably with her family in Mumbai given her stardom, acting prowess and promising career in Hindi Film Industry where she had a mentor like Amir Khan.
About her spiritual quest, she unambiguously admits that the material success was not something she was longing for and candidly asserts: “Worldly success was never something that I set out to achieve”.
Zaira goes on to narrate her identity crises giving a peep of her mind over her dilemma about her star identity saying: “As I complete five years today, I want to confess that I am not truly happy with this identity i.e. my line of work. For a very long time now it has felt like I have struggled to become someone else. As I had just started to explore and make sense of the things to which I dedicated my time, efforts and emotions and tried to conform to my new lifestyle. It was only for me to realize that though I may fit here perfectly, I do not belong here.”
Regarding her internal conflict to either persist with her newly acquired stardom, fame and wealth or to give all up to conform to her religious beliefs, she declares: “This field indeed brought a lot of love, support and applaud my way, but what it also did was to lead me to a path of ignorance, as I silently and unconsciously transitioned out of Imaan (Islamic faith). While I continued to work in an environment that consistently interferes with my ‘Imaan’, my relationship with my religion was threatened(sic).”
“I was constantly battling with my soul to reconcile my thoughts and instincts to fix a static picture of my ‘Imaan’ and I failed miserable, not just once but a hundred times. No matter how hard I tried to wrestle to firm my decision, I ended up being the same person with a motive that one day I will change and I will change soon. I kept procrastinating by tricking and deluding my conscience.” she admits in her post.
“As I continued to ignorantly pass through while I kept trying to convince myself that what I was doing is okay and isn’t really affecting me, I lost all the ‘Barakah’ (auspiciousness) from my life.” She adds.
Her emphasizing the term ‘Barkat’ shows her deep religious beliefs. “Barakat is a word whose meaning isn’t just confined to happiness, wealth or blessing, it also includes the idea of stability, which is something I always strived for.” she concludes.
(The author is freelance journalist)
(www siyasat.net is Ahmedabad,Gujarat,India based website)
