By Mariam Mushtaq - Daily Times - Pakistan
Saturday, April 8, 2006
LAHORE: Sometimes all it takes for decades-old prejudices to melt away is a car ride and an open mind. No one would agree more than Dr Fatima Hussain, eminent Indian scholar, who first visited Pakistan in April last year at the invitation of the World Punjabi Congress.
A perfectly safe drive around the streets of Lahore that deposited her and her luggage intact at her destination was enough to quell such fears. Moreover, finding a noticeable lack of the burqa-clad female forms she had been expecting to see, it did not take long for Dr Hussain to realise how similar Lahore and Delhi really were.
Stereotypes do not sit well with Dr Hussain in any case, which is probably why she found it so easy to discard her own. Born and raised within New Delhi’s Muslim community, she became used to having her progressive outlook challenged by outsiders who expected her to behave a certain way because of her religion. Her choice of attire, often western, her career and her forthrightness became cause for many a raised eyebrow but that did not deter her from building a formidable resumé.
A masters degree in History from the Delhi University was followed by a PhD from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, dubbed the Harvard of South Asia by some. Her doctoral thesis was a study of sufism during the Delhi Sultanate. She has also published two books, The Palestine Question: A Historical Perspective and Relations between the Sufis and the Sultanate as well as numerous articles and reviews in international academic journals.
Dr Hussain finds it easy to forgive her detractors because she realises that their biases stem more from insecurity than anything else. “Muslim societies all over the world are susceptible to stereotypical thinking and the major factor for this is the rivalry between the East and the West that can be traced back to the golden age of Islam”.
The unity displayed by the Muslim world can also be a cause of insecurity, says Dr Hussain. “That acts of namaaz and Haj, that bring together Muslims across all divides, are examples of our solidarity and can often cause unease among outsiders.” The answer, according to her, lies in setting minds at ease and tackling mutual insecurities by keeping one’s faith to oneself, and not brandishing it like a sword at the slightest provocation. She heard her views echoed by President Musharraf while attending a conference in Lahore, where he proclaimed that we needed to emphasise the essence of Islam and not its ritualism, and was more than a little impressed.
In town to attend an international conference on the sufi poet Shah Hussain organised by the WPC, she stresses the importance of sufism in bringing about peace between the two countries. The subject is specially pertinent in the context of bridging the gulf between the Muslim and western worlds. “The beauty of sufism is that it transcends formal religion. Islam might be perceived as orthodox and regimented by some but Sufism, despite being a part of Islam, is more open and inclusive. And its message, of love, humanity and peace, is universal.”
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
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Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Say it with sufism
By Mariam Mushtaq - Daily Times - Pakistan
Saturday, April 8, 2006
LAHORE: Sometimes all it takes for decades-old prejudices to melt away is a car ride and an open mind. No one would agree more than Dr Fatima Hussain, eminent Indian scholar, who first visited Pakistan in April last year at the invitation of the World Punjabi Congress.
A perfectly safe drive around the streets of Lahore that deposited her and her luggage intact at her destination was enough to quell such fears. Moreover, finding a noticeable lack of the burqa-clad female forms she had been expecting to see, it did not take long for Dr Hussain to realise how similar Lahore and Delhi really were.
Stereotypes do not sit well with Dr Hussain in any case, which is probably why she found it so easy to discard her own. Born and raised within New Delhi’s Muslim community, she became used to having her progressive outlook challenged by outsiders who expected her to behave a certain way because of her religion. Her choice of attire, often western, her career and her forthrightness became cause for many a raised eyebrow but that did not deter her from building a formidable resumé.
A masters degree in History from the Delhi University was followed by a PhD from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, dubbed the Harvard of South Asia by some. Her doctoral thesis was a study of sufism during the Delhi Sultanate. She has also published two books, The Palestine Question: A Historical Perspective and Relations between the Sufis and the Sultanate as well as numerous articles and reviews in international academic journals.
Dr Hussain finds it easy to forgive her detractors because she realises that their biases stem more from insecurity than anything else. “Muslim societies all over the world are susceptible to stereotypical thinking and the major factor for this is the rivalry between the East and the West that can be traced back to the golden age of Islam”.
The unity displayed by the Muslim world can also be a cause of insecurity, says Dr Hussain. “That acts of namaaz and Haj, that bring together Muslims across all divides, are examples of our solidarity and can often cause unease among outsiders.” The answer, according to her, lies in setting minds at ease and tackling mutual insecurities by keeping one’s faith to oneself, and not brandishing it like a sword at the slightest provocation. She heard her views echoed by President Musharraf while attending a conference in Lahore, where he proclaimed that we needed to emphasise the essence of Islam and not its ritualism, and was more than a little impressed.
In town to attend an international conference on the sufi poet Shah Hussain organised by the WPC, she stresses the importance of sufism in bringing about peace between the two countries. The subject is specially pertinent in the context of bridging the gulf between the Muslim and western worlds. “The beauty of sufism is that it transcends formal religion. Islam might be perceived as orthodox and regimented by some but Sufism, despite being a part of Islam, is more open and inclusive. And its message, of love, humanity and peace, is universal.”
Saturday, April 8, 2006
LAHORE: Sometimes all it takes for decades-old prejudices to melt away is a car ride and an open mind. No one would agree more than Dr Fatima Hussain, eminent Indian scholar, who first visited Pakistan in April last year at the invitation of the World Punjabi Congress.
A perfectly safe drive around the streets of Lahore that deposited her and her luggage intact at her destination was enough to quell such fears. Moreover, finding a noticeable lack of the burqa-clad female forms she had been expecting to see, it did not take long for Dr Hussain to realise how similar Lahore and Delhi really were.
Stereotypes do not sit well with Dr Hussain in any case, which is probably why she found it so easy to discard her own. Born and raised within New Delhi’s Muslim community, she became used to having her progressive outlook challenged by outsiders who expected her to behave a certain way because of her religion. Her choice of attire, often western, her career and her forthrightness became cause for many a raised eyebrow but that did not deter her from building a formidable resumé.
A masters degree in History from the Delhi University was followed by a PhD from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, dubbed the Harvard of South Asia by some. Her doctoral thesis was a study of sufism during the Delhi Sultanate. She has also published two books, The Palestine Question: A Historical Perspective and Relations between the Sufis and the Sultanate as well as numerous articles and reviews in international academic journals.
Dr Hussain finds it easy to forgive her detractors because she realises that their biases stem more from insecurity than anything else. “Muslim societies all over the world are susceptible to stereotypical thinking and the major factor for this is the rivalry between the East and the West that can be traced back to the golden age of Islam”.
The unity displayed by the Muslim world can also be a cause of insecurity, says Dr Hussain. “That acts of namaaz and Haj, that bring together Muslims across all divides, are examples of our solidarity and can often cause unease among outsiders.” The answer, according to her, lies in setting minds at ease and tackling mutual insecurities by keeping one’s faith to oneself, and not brandishing it like a sword at the slightest provocation. She heard her views echoed by President Musharraf while attending a conference in Lahore, where he proclaimed that we needed to emphasise the essence of Islam and not its ritualism, and was more than a little impressed.
In town to attend an international conference on the sufi poet Shah Hussain organised by the WPC, she stresses the importance of sufism in bringing about peace between the two countries. The subject is specially pertinent in the context of bridging the gulf between the Muslim and western worlds. “The beauty of sufism is that it transcends formal religion. Islam might be perceived as orthodox and regimented by some but Sufism, despite being a part of Islam, is more open and inclusive. And its message, of love, humanity and peace, is universal.”
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