Guest Post by Omer Alvie
[This satirical account is inspired by the real-life drama about the Ajoka play Burqavaganza in the Pakistan capital; See The News Editorial; Gulf News op-ed; a Daily Times report on the original play, and other press coverage.]
So this is how it all happened. Ajoka, a non-commercial theatre group committed to the cause of social change in Pakistan, unveiled its new play Burqavaganza last month in Lahore. The satirical play, written by Shahid Nadeem, addresses the issue of the burqa (veil) and highlights the double-standards and hypocrisy of the feudal/tribal mindset. The aim was to use humour and satire to challenge the cultural status quo and to provoke people to think for themselves.
The audience thoroughly enjoyed the show and the play received positive reviews in the press. But the most surprising response to the play came from a rather astute group of individuals belonging to the MMA (more popularly known as Mullah Military Alliance). Inspired by the success of the Burqavaganza, five extremely talented MNAs decided to perform their own impromptu over-the-top ‘dramaâ⠂¬Ëœ in the National Assembly. The play imaginatively titled Fanativaganza (by yours truly), was a staged rebuttal to the Ajoka group’s play.
Substituting the use of satire, the inspired MNAs opted for provocative language and violent hand gestures to ridicule the writer of Burqvaganza and the Director of the Ajoka theatre group. Apparently, to these five highly sensitive and pious individuals, the Burqavaganza play was clearly un-Islamic, enough to be classified as blasphemous. Although, it has to be clarified that these days, any critique, criticism, aspersion, censure, swipe or nitpicking of the norms and practices of these religious extremists will likely lead to a blasphemy charge, even if it is a comment regarding the general unruliness of their beards.
One minor clarification here, they cannot be called religious fundamentalists. This is because they fail to grasp the fundamentals of the religion they claim to be following. ‘Nuttersâà ¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ is more appropriate and generally my preference.
The MNA performed drama did not get a positive response from the public or the press, but it did manage to get a standing ovation from the Minister of Culture, who subsequently announced a government ban on the Burqavaganza play to show his appreciation for the drama queens of the national assembly. He was so moved by the MMA performance that he additionally promised further government actions against the key members of the Ajoka Theatre group. I have to admit, as a Pakistani citizen, hearing this news brought a lump to my throat. It wasn’t that I was emotional, it just happened to be part of the process of me regurgitating my last meal, as I got sick to my stomach.
It is clear now that the government’s attempt at promoting ‘enlightened moderation’ in reference to religion has not been very successful. Actually, that is an understatement; it has been an unquestionable, resounding failure. I do admit though that they have managed to create an era of (religious) ‘moderated enlightenmentâ€℠¢. When your faith is judged by the size of your beard or measured by the length of your veil, you are in serious, serious trouble!
Omer Alvie is a Pakistani residing in the UAE and writes, often satirically, on his blog The Olive Ream. He also writes about the Pakistani blog scene at Global Voices. This post was first published at The Olive Ream.
Now where did i ever say that Farhat Hashmi was sitting in the parliament ?
“i can think of Farhat Hashmi for one and so many of the MMA ladies sitting in the parliament.”
The word AND separated Ms Farhat Hashmi from the MMA ladies.
sheesh ! talk about skimming through and making hasty comments !
[quote post=”712″]What in your opinion is the yardstick for judging a scholar?[/quote]
My Yardstick is “Quran and Sunnah of Muhammad[saw]”, what’s yours? and mind you, these are not my words. My Prophet(saw) told muslims 1500 years back in His(sAW) last sermon that He(saw) was leaving behind Quran and His(SAW) Sunnah for Ummah. As long as followers lead life according to them, they are safe. Look, I repeated several times all 4 Imams of Sunni Fiqh clearly ordered their followers to reject anything in their teaching if it’s not according to Quran and Sunah. When those great scholars said something like this then what’s the worth of others?
It was very basic thing and I think every one who claims to be a muslim should have idea about this.
[quote post=”712″]What do you think about the burqa. Does Islam prescribe it or is it a distortion of religion[/quote]
Quran talks about a generic term “Sattar” and Allah clearly explained the Sattar of Both men and women. Quran was sent for all times not for time of Muhammad(SAW) only. This is something which is unlike Bible was sent for Children of Israel only and basically talks about things happened at that time. No where in Quran Allah said that muslims should wear typical Arabic dress otherwise they are not muslims because Allah knew more than us that people of different culture will accept Islam and they would follow their cultural dresses as well. So Allah came up with a generic term to cover the body for both men and women. So whether one wears jeans or Shalwar, Burqa or modern style Ibaya and Hijab, as long as they are compatible with rules of Allah, they are acceptable.
Same generic concept was given for age of marriage as well. No where in Quran or Sunnah mentioned that a girl should marry after x age.Islam gave a generic rulet hat girl should marry when she reaches to puberty which I think called “Balooghat” in urdu which means that a girl is able to get married after that certain image,the least limit. This is the reason you don’t find a uniform age of marriage in all states of America(Ref:,http://www.coolnurse.com/marriage_law s.htm) because climate plays a major role in this process. At the time of Muhammad(saw), arab women used to carry babies at age of 60s and 70s which is not common these days. Non-muslims who tries to offend our Prophet(saw) and called him pedophile due to His marriage with Ayesha(RA) are too ignorant about this puberty process. The prophet(saw) didn’t violate any scientific and Islamic law at the time when he got married
with Ayesha(RA).
So those who think that Islam is not compatible with modern era or laws given 1400 years back are not compatible with modern times are “ignocent” as they are not aware about the things which they try to discuss on public matters
Very funny and nicely written
Though I wasn’t planning on jumping into the middle of this fight, but in order to understand the points of view on both sides, I have a couple of questions for both Adnan and Nasir.
* What in your opinion is the yardstick for judging a scholar?
* What do you think about the burqa. Does Islam prescribe it or is it a distortion of religion?
I am asking the above questions to understand your views, so I hope you guys will try to answer (if you choose to reply) to the questions without putting me under any lables like liberal, mullah etc.
Jitna nuqsaan apnon se pauhncha hai kisi aur se nahi pauhncha…