Ahmed Ali Presented by Siti Fatimah Md Yusof Husna Ahmad Nasarudin Rudiana Razali

1. Ahmed Ali Presented by Siti Fatimah MdYusof Husna Ahmad Nasarudin RudianaRazali Muzdalipah Mohamed Edited by Dr. Md. MahmudulHasan International Islamic University Malaysia 2010

2. Ahmed Ali’s Biography • He was born in Delhi in July 1910. • He was the first son of Ahmad Kaniz Asghar Begum and Syed Shujauddin Ali, a civil servant in British India. • He grew up during the emergence of Indian nationalism. • He was married to Bilquees Johan Begum, a painter and writer. • He died in January 1994 in Karachi, Pakistan.

3. Life • He read a volume of children’s fables and began writing fiction around the age of eleven. • Then he started reading British writers like James Joyce, D H Lawrence and T S Eliot. • His youth was gloomy with disturbances, as India struggled to free from British colonialism.

4. Education • He started formal education at the age of five by learning Qur’anic recitation. • In 1922, he started studying English at Wesley Mission High School, Azamgarh. • In 1925-1927, he studied science and matriculated from Aligarh Muslim University. • Then, in 1930, he took BA in English Literature at Lucknow University. • In the following year, he pursued his MA in English Literature at the same university. • He graduated with first-class first in the order of merit in both BA (Honours) in 1930 and MA in 1931.

5. Career • After graduating, he became a Lecturer in English at Lucknow University. • He also joined the Bengal Senior Educational Service as Professor and Head of English Department at Presidency College, Calcutta. • He served in the British Broadcasting Corporation’s New Delhi office during the Second World War. • In 1947, he went to China as British Council Visiting Professor of English at National Central University of China, Nanking. This experience enabled him to facilitate diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China in 1951. • He then started his career in Pakistan Civil Service as Director of Foreign Publicity for the Government of Pakistan.

6. LITERARY CAREER • He wrote in Urdu and English. • Among Indian Muslim writers, he was the first to accept Western ideas in writing. • He was a poet, novelist, short story writer, essayist and translator.

7. Timeline of Ahmed Ali’s Works

11. 1932 – Ahmed Ali and his three friends, Rashid Jahan, Sajjad Zaheer and Mahmud uz Zafar published Angare (Burning Coals), an anthology of 9 short stories. • In Angare: • Ali contributed 2 short stories including Mahavaton ki ek Rat. • A short story by Zaheer about a Muslim clergy who falls asleep on a prayer mat and has a wet dream created a controversy. • The British colonial government banned the book. • Then, the four friends established the All India Progressive Writers Association in 1936.

13. Ahmed Ali’s most famous novel. • Theme: Freedom from British rule. • The second most significant work in English by a Muslim writer after Rokeya’s Sultana’s Dream (1905). • The British colonial government banned its publication in India, as it contains rebellious contents toward British rule in India. • 1940 - Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster had it published from the Hogarth Press. • It has been translated into several languages, such as, French, Spanish, Italian and Urdu.

14. SUMMARY PART 1 • Description of Delhi • Built, destroyed, rebuilt many times. • The city of kings and monarchs, of poets and story tellers, courtiers and nobles. • Shah Jahan built the city. • It carries symbols of life and death. • The story of Mir Nihal and his family • Wife: Begam Nihal - Asyfaq: Mir Nihal’s nephew • Youngest daughter: Mehru Zamani - Bilqeece: Asghar’s beloved & • Youngest son: Asghar Bundoo’s sister • Masroor: cousin’s son - Begam Waheed: Asghar’s sister • Dilchan: maidservant • Bundoo: Asghar’s friend & Mirza’s son.

15. Cont. • Mir Nihal and Begam Nihal talk about the marriage of their son, Asghar (22) and daughter, Mehro (14). • One day, Asghar goes to his friend’s house and accidentally meets Bilqeece and falls in love. • Mir Nihal does not approve the friendship between Asghar and Bundoo because of the class/ caste difference. • However, Asghar is sad because he knows that he cannot marry her because of his father’s strict notion of class hierarchy. • Reasons why his parents will not approve the mariage: • Bilqeece’s father was a Mughal but Asghar’s father is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. • Somewhere in Bilqeece’s family line, someone had married a prostitute or maidservant. • His father’s pride of blood.

16. Cont. • Asghar seeks the help of his older sister, Begam Waheed. • BegamWaheed became a widow at 19 after the birth of her second child and lives with her in-laws. • She manages to change her mother Begum Nihal’s view on this marriage. Begum Nihal talks to Mir Nihal about the possibility of the marriage. • Mir Nihal becomes extremely angry and threatens to disown Asghar if he marries Bilqeece.

17. Cont. • Begam Waheed advises Asghar to come with her to Bophal (Where she lives) and let mother manage things quietly. • Bilqeece’s mother Begam Shahbaz accepts the proposal. Begam Nihal and Begam Waheed decide to have meelad as thanksgiving. Asghar recites from the Qur’an and story of the life of Muhammad. • After that, Begam Waheed and Asghar depart from Delhi and go to Bhopal. • He is happy and full of hope.

18. SUMMARY PART 2 • Preparation of Asghar’s marriage is going on and the bride’s clothes are being sewn. • Mir Nihal finally gives his consent to Asghar’s marriage. • Mir Nihal loses his mistress and some of his beloved pigeons. • He then gives up pigeon-flying and sells the pigeons. • He becomes very sad but life must go on. • He tries to resume normal life and accept fate. • Coronation of George V.

19. THEMES • Love • Asghar’s love of Bilqeece. • Mir Nihal’s love of his mistress, Babban Jan. • Marriage • Asghar and Bilqeece. • MehruZamani • Hindu influences on Muslim social practices • “BegamWaheed decided to live with her late husband’s people. For though Islam permitted her to marry again, the social code, derived mostly from prevailing Hindu practice, did not favour a second marriage.” page 27 • Superstitious elements • “I tell you, I shall get you a charm which will act like magic.” page 26 • “That BegamShahbaz has cast some spell on my boy.” page 43 • “[I]f you put a broom under the leg of a bed, the wind storm abates….” page 45

20. THEMES 5. Supernatural forces • “Hamid went mad because some fairy or jinn had fallen in love with him. Others said it was some evil spirit which had possesed him.” Page 38 • Class system • “ It’s blood that matters. Their blood and ours can never mix well.” page 43 • “[T]hey would never allow the marriage, he said to himself. For not only her father was a Mughal….” page 26 • “The different race and caste ( his people came of Arab stock and prided themselves on being Saiyyeds, direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad).” page 26 • Women’s strength • In their culture, a mother is given a power of choosing her daughter’s husband and her son’s wife. • Begam Waheed managed to survive after her husband’s death. • “But you have been very brave and have fought all through your life courageously. God will reward you for your suffering and sorrow.” page 35

21. ELEMENTS OF ISLAM • Azaan • Several times mentioned in the novel. • “[A]zaan carried forth a message of joy and hope, penetrating into the by-lanes and the courtyards, echoing in silent atmosphere.” page 13 • “A moazzin from a nearby masjid raised his voice, calling the faithful to the evening prayer.” page 23 • Salah • “Asghar performed the ablutions and began to offer his prayer…. Bari also joined him.” page 23 • Reading the Qur’an • “Begam Nihal had already got up, and having finished her prayers, sat on a small wooden couch reading the Qur’an in rhythmic tones….” page 15

22. Summary: Part Three • Preparation for Asghar’s wedding - house-full guests - borrow neighboring house to cook • Customary tradition for the bride-to-be - Putting pindis on palms by near relatives - Ubatna smeared on bridegroom's face

23. Cont. • Verses read by friend comparing the bride to the moon and bridegroom to the sun. • Bridegroom sent things to bride’s house - including jewelry, ornaments, - fluffy rice for good omen.

24. Summary: Part Four War between India and German erupted. - thousand are killed. - disease everywhere. The death of Bilqeece - Asghar is grief-stricken. - builds grave painted with red and green. - goes to her graveyard every day and sits there for hours. - remembers her deep and sincere love for him.

25. Cont. • Asghar and Zohra fall in love. • Zohra is a sixteen-year old beautiful girl. • Zohra feels shy for her feeling towards her brother-in-law. • Begam Nihal agrees when Asghar mentions his intention to marry Zohra. All in both the families agree.