Adil Najam
An Islamabad-based reader alerted me to the news about Shagufta’s tragic death at the hands of her father and brothers; but really at the hands of societal ignorance and superstition. This is a story of ‘jahalat’ in its truest, deepest, most shameful, and most repulsive form.
Why was Shugafta axed to death - and later burnt - by her family? (Her father, three brothers, and her younger sister were all differently involved.) because they all believed that she was possessed by demons!
And why would they think so? The story has layer over layer of complications and meaning about what is wrong, not just here but in too many places: supposed ’spiritual mentors’ (pirs) instigating hatred, regressive beliefs and customs, the pressures of a postponed marriage, possibly incest, and more.
There is so much that is sad here, so much that should be analyzed, so much that needs to be put right. But, for now, let me leave that to you and just reproduce the news item from Dawn (December 10, 2006):
Shagufta, alias Surrayya, the ill-fated girl killed by her father and brothers in a Harappa village on Wednesday was normal. This was learnt during a visit to the village on Saturday.
Surrayya, 22, was axed to death by her father Jamal Arain, brothers Ashraf and Sharif after being instigated by her younger sister Razia in their house at 1-10L village on Wednesday. Jamal, a vendor, has now three sons - Ashraf, Sharif and Aslam - and a daughter, Razia. All family members, including the arrested Jamal and his two sons, seemed to be insane. They repeatedly claimed that Surrayya was possessed by demons that wanted to kill all the family members.
They said Razia had found a ring outside a seminary where she learnt the Quran. They said she took the ring as of gold and placed it on fire to test the metal. They said there was a burst and demons started coming to their house. They said demons possessed Surrayya, who was leading a normal life just a week ago and was considered to be the most responsible member of the family by the villagers.
Jamal told Dawn that the demons inside Surrayya tried to kill him and his family members. He said he had no choice but to kill her. Her brother Sharif claimed that his spiritual mentor Sain Khoi Wala addressed him through Razia and told him that there were demons inside Surrayya and advised him to kill them. “I and other family members helped the father in killing the demons and not Surrayya. We did it to save our family,” he said.
When asked, the villagers said that Jamal and his family members were a little unsocial but they never observed any abnormality in them in the past. They said Surrayya was a sensible girl and she used to do household chores like any other normal girl. They, however, said Jamal and his family members were superstitious to the core and they believed in black magic as well.
A few days ago, they said, they observed some abnormal practices in Jamal’s house. Qari Zahid, who teaches the Quran to Razia, told Dawn that Sharif asked him two days before the murder of Surrayya to recite the Quran in his house along with two dozen people. He said he did so. He said Sharif told him later that his sister Razia informed him that Allah had selected him (Sharif) as (Haji) and now all people should call him as Haji Sharif. Razia had also informed Sharif that Surrayya was possessed by demons, Zahid said.
On Wednesday night, he said Jamal’s neighbours took him to his (Jamal’s) house and he heard noise inside. “We found the door of the house locked from inside. Some people climbed the wall of the house and saw Sharif and Ashraf manhandling their sister.”
“We saved her and called out police. Harrappa police officials snubbed male members and warned them. Locals and policemen left at around 1:30am.” On Thursday morning, Zahid said the locals saw smoke billowing from the house and Jamal sitting outside. They called out police who found the charred body of Surrayya inside the house. Qari Zahid said the conduct of Razia after the incident was strange. He said she was his student and had never acted the way she was behaving.
The reporters also saw her holding bricks into her hands. She reportedly killed two goats with the bricks on Saturday. Jamal’s wife Naseem Akhtar, alias Laddu, said Surrayya’s Nikkah had taken place six months ago. She said the family wanted to hold a joint wedding ceremony of Surrayya and Sharif, who was engaged. His in-laws reportedly broke the engagement. It was learnt that the delay in her marriage upset Surrayya and she burnt her dowry in protest. Her father and brothers got mad at her and cursed her.
Sharif said their (the family’s) spiritual mentor Sain Khoi Wala, who lives in Chichawatni, told them that Surrayya had been unlucky for them and they started hating her for this reason. Meanwhile, Jamal, Sharif and Arshad were sent to the Sahiwal Central Jail on a 14-day judicial remand.
The paintaing at the top of the post is a famous oil canvas by Sadequain.
@Shah
Last post…
Please also point me to the law/s your refer to in this statement:
“What the laws target is open advertising of it, and the people who are sitting in specialized shops practising it, and that’s it! With this, the State can get to the people claiming to be the â€Â? عامل جادوگر â€Â? Amils, and crush them severely.”
What is a definition of Amil jadoogar in your eyes? Is the purported law also applicable to pirs (whatever their qualification), fake hakeems, palmists, the parrot card readers, the mohalley ke massi that teaches young women mantars and verses to enamour their husbands? There are literally hundreds of ways that people practice superstitious acts or go to their chosen faith healer. Will the police go after all of them? How can you tell people not to go and pay a certain pir when they believe he has mystical qualities?
I will give you my opinion on why this happens. Since the state has failed miserably in providing a vast majority of Pakistanis with education, healthcare and good governance, many people have no other choice but to seek other avenues for answers to their social and health problems. Coming back to this gruesome case of poor Shagufta, if there was a decent community health clinic in Sahiwal or Harrapa which had diagnosed her mental problem properly and provided treatment and counseling for her family this crime may have been prevented.
Instead what a majority of people (including educated ones in urban areas) get are bad doctors, poor healthcare, fake medicines, poor and/or highly expensive schools, and to top it off no justice. Hence, they fall back to the only thing they know of or what has been told to them by well meaning but ignorant friends/neighbors. They go to pirs, hakeems, palmists, exorcists. Anyone to bring them out of their misery (at a reasonable cost) and provide some relief to their real life issues.
By pronouncing that we should follow Islam or ‘education’ sounds good on paper, but who is going to provide the education and when? The local maulvi or the ghost school ustad?
Meanwhile, let’s focus on the case of becharee Shagufta and let her murderers free on the basis of qisas and diyat laws which the Supreme Court agrees is the fairest application of justice for the victims of Pakistan.
[...] a tale of fiction and one of the real world. [...]
@Shah saheb,
First let me make it clear that in no way am I condoning or approving of superstitious practices. What I am saying is that it is futile to try to police certain “stupid” or “jahalat bharee” practices unless it can be proven in a court of law that these caused harm to another human being. Since proving such harm would be impossible therefore in the interest of freedom of religion and expression you cannot deny someone their right to believe in any deity or practice.
Like you, I abhor such practices and I am fully aware of the Holy QUran mentioning these acts and God’s warning against them. My point is simply that you cannot legislate or police what people believe in no matter how repugnant their practice to you or I. The only time the state can come in is when there is proof of harm to an individual or society at large.
As far as your divine statement of no law can be made against the Holy QUran or Sunnah, no where have I suggested that a law be made to ALLOW the practice of jaado tona, palmistry, taweez, etc! In fact if you or someone else can come up with an enforecable solution to stop a person sitting in his home from reading a ‘mantar’ to harm his neighbor, obtaining a taweez to curse his wife, or people going to palmists/astrologers/sanyasi babas then please do enlighten me.
Constitutionally, there is freedom to practice religion in Pakistan(Article 20). If a non-Muslim Pakistani believes in jaadoo or palmistry or fire worshipping then who am I or you to disallow him/her the right to practice that no matter what Muslims believe in? Will you have the police giving certificates to non-Muslims that its OK for them to practice it but not for a certified Muslim? I hope you see where this is leading…..
I think the ONLY solution to DECREASE such crazy acts is EDUCATION, people need to be educated
Now for those innocent people who like to “have some fun�, they can do whatever they like in their own houses, or even have a swinger party, as long as they do not become notoriously famous for it, and attain a status of a shop, or lets say a “magic mekka�. The State does not have a right to interfere in the peoples homes, as long as they are not complained of (and that will only happen if you become famous for what you are doing, which is against the laws of the country).
@zamanov
I dint deny in any manner that these are not practised, but YES, they need to be suppressed, which seemingly you do not agree to.
I also did not deny the existence of the constitution, in-fact I feel that we only accept the constitution if it suits us, otherwise reject it. This is a problem of the educated people of Pakistan.
But I don’t know which constitution you are talking about, maybe the American. As in ours, nothing can be implemented contrary to the Quran and Sunnah (if laws are not respected/enforced, that’s another matter, but a detailed law structure is there)! This being another matter, but if even the Act of India 1935 is implemented fairly in its purity, the society would be a paradise, but this “educated elite�, which we so like to support, has and will not let it happen.
Here you suggest your own understanding of implementation of laws (as I neither mention nor support it) and then seemingly deny it yourself in the end. What the laws target is open advertising of it, and the people who are sitting in specialized shops practising it, and that’s it! With this, the State can get to the people claiming to be the ” عامل جادوگر ” Amils, and crush them severely.
[quote comment="16914
Would the police go about knocking on everyone's door to put an X on the kala jadoo households or jail people innocently reading palms to have some fun?
As I said before, you may not like something I practice, but constitutionally and morally you cannot deny me the practice of my 'custom' unless there is proof of harm to another human being![/quote]
Now for those innocent people who like to “have some fun�, they can do whatever they like in their own houses, or even have a swinger party, as long as they do not become notoriously famous for it, and attain a status of a shop, or lets say a “magic mekka�. The State does not have a right to interfere in the peoples homes, as long as they are not complained of (and that will only happen if one becomes famous for what one is doing, which is against the laws of the State).
I am surprised that educated peoples have believe in kala jado tawez and other type of act by pious.I am surprised that if anyone found thieft in his house he never blame to jinn,Jin created with Fire how it is possible that jinn controlled over man or women and ride on him.can a man and a woman can bear jinn weight.There are many famous personality fomoused with the myth of controll over supernatuaral power had died and no one can save them .Allah knows about that a tinny drop of water can break fast how He does not know that His beloved creator in trouble who has powered to disturb his earth.Most powerful jinn and power is satan and we all know that Satan cant do any thing but whisper in your ear and you act as per his desire leave all ways of satan he scared you with his follow and you scared and do all which not ordered by Allah but the desire of Satan ,Kala Jado,dum tawez all the shape of these,there is no proff of any success of jado and remedies of jadu in whole life of Holy Prophet And His Campanion.
Being a muslim we should believe only on Allah and beilieve that never can happened without His permission.This is for our belief that no one can do any thing either he is pir Amil or any one.There is no power in kala jadu tawez and any dum.Second for honour of women if any one found to disgrace her should be prisioned,killed and any maximum action can be taken against him at every cost however he/they are week or powerful personality,No compromise and No favour to him.