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.
Acha hai dil kay paas rahay paasbaan-e-aql
Laikan kabhi kabhi isay tanhaa bhi chorr day
[quote comment=”16550″]@Ahsan
So what do you exactly mean, I am hoping that you are not trying to equate this behaviour with Islam,
Are you also implying that(ایمان)Iman negates reason!?[/quote]
I think that Iman by definition is the opposite of reason. Not to say that everything in life should be based on reason alone; one has to reasonable about using reason.
The News did an editorial on this on Monday, Dec. 11, 2006
Who will help the ‘possessed’?
The incident of a young woman being burnt to death by her father and two brothers, on a so-called faith-healer’s advice, is heart-rending and most tragic. It reflects society’s general reluctance and unwillingness to acknowledge the fact that hundreds of thousands of people suffer from mental illnesses in Pakistan and that what the victims suffer from is treatable through medical treatment and/or psychological and psychiatric counselling. Both the latter are fairly undeveloped fields in Pakistan and most practising psychologists and psychiatrists are restricted mainly to the three largest urban centres of Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad.
In this particular case, a 30-year-old resident of a village near Sahiwal used to have fits but those around her took that to mean that she was possessed by an evil spirit. Reportedly, she was engaged to be married but had refused the second step and had also burnt her dowry — both not very good things in Pakistan’s overwhelmingly patriarchal society. The woman’s family was goaded in this misplaced thinking by a faith-healer who also advised the woman’s family that they should deal with the evil spirit by attacking him and this they could by burning him. The faith-healer said that this tactic would drive away the evil spirit but would not harm the young woman. The power of superstition and ‘jahalat’ is such that the woman’s family members did not bother questioning the faith-healer if the fire wouldn’t also mortally injure the woman, given that one does not need formal or even basic education to know what the response of human skin is to a burning fire. In any case, since the family seemed bent on ‘driving’ out this evil spirit, the next time the woman had a fit, her father and her two brothers got to work. They ‘attacked’ the spirit with an axe and then set ‘it’ on fire. Obviously, the illiterate father and brothers did not realise that they had just axed their own sister and burnt her as well. It wasn’t too long before the woman succumbed to her burns — most district-level hospitals lack quality medical healthcare, especially requisite facilities to treat second- or third-degree burns.
The only positive thing out of this whole grisly episode is that at least the three assailants have been taken into custody by the police. Had they known that the reason why their daughter/sister used to have fits was because of a medical condition known as epilepsy and that it is treatable through medicines, the poor woman’s life could have been saved. The whole episode also tends to reflect the perception of most Pakistanis — rich or poor, illiterate or even educated — that people have mental illnesses are basically mad or ‘pagal’. This is the worst thing that can happen to someone who suffers from such an illness because it takes away a family’s support, which could have a healing effect on such a person and help him or her feel a valued and normal member of society. Unfortunately, this does not happen in most cases and our society by and large shuns such people with their families abandoning them and sending them away to a half-way house or at the mercy of an Edhi shelter. In many cases, those who do not suffer the misfortune of being sent away and are instead kept in the home are still made to feel as if they are ‘untouchables’ and never allowed to mix with guests or outsiders. Ironically, it’s not as if the saner among us are all that sane. The incidence of rage and anger is quite common and most people often tend to take non-rational approaches to resolving even minor or petty conflicts. Unless we as a society try and understand that not everyone who suffers from a mental illness is crazy, the plight of around 10 per cent (estimates by medical experts) of the population will not improve.
@Ahsan
So what do you exactly mean, I am hoping that you are not trying to equate this behaviour with Islam,
Are you also implying that(ایمان)Iman negates reason!?
It is a horrible story. How one can burn his own daughter or sister in the name of some black demon or on the advice of some pious person? Indeed there is jahAlat involved in it, but it is neither the only nor the basic cause. We know that in Pakistan many rich and educated people also commit unreasonable and horrible acts. Some of them are only perpatuated by them, like marrying a girl to the Holy Book.
All religious communities are based on Faith or AymAn (Iman). Even if we accept that the foundation of Pakistan is not the religion, the fact is that it is an Islamic Republic and people are getting more and more religious minded. So, the great majority of Pakistanis (educated included) consider that Belief or AymAn (Iman) is the Truth. They never REASON to find the TRUTH.
You can give all the education to Pakistanis nothing will change unless you teach them that they should apply reason to find the truth. Who will dare?