by Qandeel Shaam
What is patriotism but the love of the food one had as a child – Lin Yutang
There are many questions I struggle to solve – for instance, does the soul weigh 28 grams, why 72 virgins and why not just 1? Is Lichtenstein a country? Why do the Brits call private schools ‘public’, why is the green tea pink? How does Kamran Khan always manage to look like a very sad and cynical koala bear?
But there is one question that has persistently sat like a shrapnel in my mind: What does it mean to be Pakistani, what is Pakistaniat?
I’ve yo-yoed between Pakistan and Europe all my life, and with the passage of time this question has come to mystify me more and more. Moments of reflection over what your national identity is, and what it means, usually occur when you’re not in your home country. Maybe it has something to do with being labelled a “Pakistani” or feeling like an outsider, but living in the West can really intensify one’s ethnical awareness. This often results in an exaggerated sense of national identity where you see Pakistanis in the West acting more Pakistani-like than those living in Pakistan! For a brief time I was also overcome with a disposition to jingo, but then I moved to Pakistan….
Now you have to understand: for a Pakistani to move back to Pakistan after having proudly performed a stint of patriotism in the West can be quite a shocking experience. Whatever you thought was Pakistani can very quickly evaporate into the coiling miasma of confusion that shrouds our country. The contretemps first jolts and then disillusions you, because you slowly come to the realization that Pakistan is positively mired in an identity crisis.
You have the Western-wannabe’s and the religious extremist-wannabe’s. An extant grey zone that falls in between is either too small or too muted to buffer these two extremes. The Western-wannabe’s are primarily concerned with being liberal without embracing liberalism: for example, aunties who mull for hours when deciding just how deep they should let their plunging necklines plunge before it starts to look too inappropriate for a charity fundraising event to help emancipate the poor. The same aunties are also dedicated to ensuring that the only ‘liberty’ their maids ever see is a market in Lahore.
On the other hand you have the religious extremist-wannabe’s. Their narrow, retrograde interpretation of Islam creates new lines – and intensifies old ones – of demarcation based on belief, sect, creed, even beard length (!). It preaches Islamic unity but is practiced on the paradoxical premise that intolerance (even violence) against people with differing isms is condonable.
Western- and religious extremist-wannabes have their own sets of insecurities and prejudices and view everyone through such a discriminatory prism. These groups and the forces they exert deserves exclusive attention, but for the purposes of this article it is suffice to say that the dichotomy of Westernism and religious extremism in Pakistan has caused more friction between Pakistanis, propelling the drift away from a core Pakistaniat, a sense of oneness.
So when I moved back to Pakistan I found that oneness to be lacking; after years of living up to the facade of a “Pakistani” in the West I found Pakistan itself to be devoid of any such identity. I think that generally speaking Pakistanis have always had a clique mentality, but it’s augmented and intensified. So you see now multiple little groups all bopping their heads against one another.
And yet we speak of being Pakistani and Pakistaniat. We don’t just speak of it we feel it as well. When I am in Europe I again feel Pakistani. How can we feel something that doesn’t really exist?
The article opened with a quote from the Chinese writer Ling Yutang,
“What is patriotism but the love of the food one had as a child”
. I interpret this as memories of our childhood and the nostalgia they bring, and how it’s from these memories and nostalgia that there emanates a sense of self identity. So if I’m in Europe and eating samosa chaat or listening to a Pakistani song or qawali that was popular in my youth, it will almost always invoke a warm feeling of nostalgia that reminds me of where I come from. I’m not sure whether I should consider it a tragedy that the only vestiges left of the Pakistaniat I used to feel and know have become hazy reminisces, or whether I should feel glad that the feeling is not lost all together.
Photo Credits: Photos for this post are taken from flickr.com
Imao Pakistaniat is in the heart. I am living in US and visit Pakistan regularly. I don’t find any difference being here or there. I love Pakistan by heart, so my opinion doesn’t change whether I am in Pakistan or not. I agree Pakistan has problems but it doesn’t mean one can ask questions about Pakistaniat.
For the other Islamic debate my two cents:
Every Muslim(man or woman) is equal in the eyes of Allah. So don’t worry Allah will give reward to every one. Whoever thinks that only one sex has the right to go to heaven has to get his or her basics straight:D
Salamalikum,
Sister Tina, even though the article talked some about religion, I don’t understand why you raised this topic of women in hell/heaven, despite your faint attempt to relate it to “Pakistaniat” at the end of your comments. With all due respect, you misconstrued the truth here and didn’t try to do some sort of research before sharing your views. If you had researched this issue, you would have found answers to your questions inshaAllah.
First, you said: “Apparently the men in Paradise enjoying their 72 virgins will be not in the least disturbed by the thought of where all their wives, sisters, and mothers are.”
Now, if you had looked into this matter, you would have known a woman in Jannah will have the choice to pick the husband she wants (in case she had more than one husbands in her lifetime). This is according to one opinion and the strongest opinion I think. The other opinion is the woman will be with her last husband. Allahu Alam…so, your Muslims brothers have nothing to be “disturbed” about. The women who never got married, then I will have to look into it because I don’t know about this scenario. But, rest assured Allah will provide them with the best.
Second, You said the maulvi said that “there will be very few or no women there.” and the maulvi also said that “womankind in almost her entire number will be going to Jahannam (Hell).”
Please tell the name of this maulvi and the book. I think it must be you who thought that the maulvi said that almost the entire womankind will go to hell! The term used in ahadith text can be translated as “majority”. Now, if you think majority has to mean near 100% (i.e. “almost entire”) then I believe a lesson in mathematics is on cards. It’s true that no authentic hadith, as far as I know, is there that says women will be in majority in Jannah but nowhere does it say that almost all will be in hell either. In fact, had you read up on this issue you would have known that this matter is not so clear-cut and there are some discussion among your very own “biased”, “men” ulema including ibn Hajr (in his sharah of sahih al-Bukhari when talking about the hadith about majority of women being in hell), Imam al-Nawawi (in his sharah of sahih Muslim when talking about the hadith about majority of women being in hell), ibn Kathir (in his tareekh) and a more contemporary scholar in Anwar Shah al-Kashmiri (in his sharah of sahih al-Bukhari). I listed four, and of course there are many others. They say two basic things:
1. Women (as a population) will (or have) outnumbered men (i.e. they are more in numbers)
2. Women will be the majority in hell initially (because they outnumber men anyways) but it’s known that Muslim women (and men) will be eventually moved to Heaven so eventually women might outnumber men in the Heaven as well…i.e. women will be in majority both in hell and heaven. Allahu Alam
So, this is an opinion based on qiyas held by several ulema such as those I listed (rahimhumAllah) but they address it as a possbility using the facts (like women outnumbering men and that those Muslims who won’t go directly to Jannat would spend their due time in Hell and then eventually moved to Jannat). However, the scholars can’t be sure because there is no ayat or authentic clear hadith stating that women will be in majority in the heavens as well.
My point is: Please don’t extrapolate things. I’ve asked you the name of the “maulvi” and his book because I highly doubt he would say something like the entire womenkind will be in hell because such a notion is not from Islam and would like to see the “textual support” that you mention. If you have doubts, then ask a scholar or read up yourself if you don’t trust today’s scholarship. But, please refrain from painting a false picture (intentionally or unintentionally).
Akif Nizam,
Of course solitude is costly, who is asking you to stay aloof
from 1.5 b with whome you share every thing, Pakistan
facing the worst disastor of caste consienciousness
borrowed from your neighbour Hamdard Dawakhana.
Luxurious imitations cost a lot, you would’nt like to
go back to a 5th grade citizenship among Brahmans.
Tina,
some Maulivi in Lahore can be exploited in thousands
ways and tactics. I can quote hundreds of imposters and
humanrights champions who are disguised missionary
thugs, who only 50 years ago favoured slavery and
“civilizing “the negro population in whole Africa, they are converted now to secularism and hidden behind NGOs.
Don’t use only one eye !
For me my feelings of pakistaniat are rekindled by my Indian friends when we argue about political events of past and present. Sometime I wonder what it is like not having these Indian friends around here in US?
Akif I agree…
We have spent sixty years defining Pakistaniat as ” not being India”.
Qandeel, the article did touch a nerve for me as well. I have always thought that Pakistan’s experience is unique in that we have no friends. We are all alone in the commity of nations; we can’t relate to anyone: no one speaks our language…….or dresses like us…..or plays cricket with the same passion…….or loves mangoes like we do…….or celebrates the weddings like we do.
Well, actually ….there is one other country who we share all these things with and that’s our bitter “enemy”. So there you have it in my opinion. We have spent sixty years defining Pakistaniat as ” not being India”. There is nothing else that binds Pakistanis but this slogan. And for sixty years, we have successfully run a nation on this conceited idea.
IMHO, the reason why we all feel the notion of Pakistaniat eroding is because of the recent progress of India, both domestically and on the global scale, the stupid comparisons which validated our identity and even existence for all these years are being rendered invalid with every passing day. For a while we waited in anticipation, hoping that this will an ephimeral phenomenon but it was not to be. India, as you may have noticed, is not in the news anymore. No more comparitive studies, no more mentions of things that we are only second-worst at.
And how do we go about distancing ourselves from this long-held ideology? …..of course, by re-discovering an old one……i would say about 1500 or so years old. Why compete in the real world when an imaginary world promises so much? We can block out our failures if we can block out thought altogether. And that’s the prevailing rationale these days in my homeland.
And so, my friends, the idea of Pakistaniat is evolving still; unfortunately, it’s evolving at the same rate that most species evolve. I certainly hope and wish that the final outcome will be more like a “sapien” and not a “saurus”.
Loved it… especially the comment on Kamran Khan! LOL!!!
Good comment about the aunties. The English word is hypocrite, you know.
I also second what Social Mistri says.
However as the post shows there is some thinking going on, which cannot help but be a good thing. So there is always hope.
Actually the question of the 72 virgins bugged me for a long time as a woman because what is promised to women? Not much; the Muslim paradise is a man’s world.
After some years a maulvi in Lahore gave a sermon in which he claimed that there is no question of what women need in Paradise because there will be very few or no women there. Women, he explained, are not only responsible for their own sin but almost all the sins of men can be traced back to women as a cause. So womankind in almost her entire number will be going to Jahannam (Hell).
The maulvi was so pleased with this insight (for which he gave a great deal of textual support, by the way) that he wrote a book on this topic, and even an English version was printed up. This book can even be seen in masajids in the United States.
Apparently the men in Paradise enjoying their 72 virgins will be not in the least disturbed by the thought of where all their wives, sisters, and mothers are.
If I tell people about this their reaction is of course very indignant but they do not have a better answer unless its one they made up themselves. They can never back it up with anything specific.
When Jesus was asked about men and women in Heaven, he replied that there will be no male or female there and no marriage so the issue does not arise. I am not a Christian but this answer does have the advantage of being somewhat logical and thought out.
I think this is all very sad, but the fact that a maulvi can sit in a respected masajid in Lahore and preach that all women are going to hell by merely being female while the men get infinite sex partners as a reward shows one of the things that is wrong with the so-called “Pakistaniat”……
I am glad for gatherings/sites like this where things are open for discussion, I am only afraid it’s too small a segment of Westernized people talking to each other. It doesn’t reach into the heart of the society.