[Reader-list] Aadab In A Time Of Allah Hafiz

Mon Jul 18 17:56:19 IST 2011

Dear All,

Sorry I'm a bit late in responding. Was away with erratic internet access.

Thanks Ambarien for your response and (your defence in response to Javed's comment :). I think that it is indeed critical that there is a conversation about these issues, a verbalisation of thoughts that may not always seem perfectly formed. The article was written in that spirit. To recognise that there are multiple stories and multiple layers in every story. As for the burkha, of course, there are stories of how it can become an empowering tool. Women managing to use it to get out of the house, or to do things they would not be able to do otherwise. Stories also of eroticism and romance. But I see this as a negotiation. And while I believe that women should be free to choose what they wear, we have to also recognise the context of that choice. So, yes, just as a pair of jeans does not necessarily embody progressiveness, a burkha may not embody regressiveness. But for me, that does not translate into the burkha being something more. I can accept it as a negotiation but I cannot accept it as an act of liberation. I guess that's where I draw my line.

Javed, you're right in making the correction. It is indeed assalam aleikum - "asak" as it is being used on sms and email. But in spoken interactions, syllables often run into each other and are not distinctly uttered. That may, of course, in your opinion, disqualify many others from being Muslims "worth their caps". And, while I stand corrected on the transliteration into Roman, I hope that detail does not preclude you from the larger argument of the piece which is to push for more inclusiveness even as we retain particularities. This may never be an easy balance but it is what I believe we need to work towards.

Best,
Samina

Oh the thinks you can think up
If only you try
			- Dr Seuss

Samina Mishra
saminamishra at gmail.com
264/1, Gulmohar Avenue, Jamia Nagar
New Delhi 110025

On 14-Jul-2011, at 10:39 AM, Ujwala Samarth wrote:

> 
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: ambarien qadar <ambarien at yahoo.co.uk>
> Date: Thu, Jul 14, 2011 at 6:37 AM
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Aadab In A Time Of Allah Hafiz
> To: Javed <javedmasoo at gmail.com>
> Cc: reader list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I don't know what 'any muslim worth his cap means'! I also don't think that it is important to know the difference between 'assalam-walaikum' and 'salaam'. Both to me mean 'may peace be upon you'.Most crucially, why should it be more important to someone born in a muslim home?The article is charting out a very crucial terrain of the transition that has occurred  and we would be fools if we were not to accept it. And perhaps that's why the author chose to use the transition of Aadab to Salaam and left the metaphor open ended for us.And because it was open ended, it let me raise some of my own confusions and doubts.Let us not close the space for dialogue, whatever of it is left, by closing ourselves.thanks, ambarien.
> --- On Wed, 13/7/11, Javed <javedmasoo at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> From: Javed <javedmasoo at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Aadab In A Time Of Allah Hafiz
> To: "Ujwala Samarth" <ujwala at openspaceindia.org>, ambarien at yahoo.co.uk
> Cc: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>, "Samina Mishra" <saminamishra at gmail.com>
> Date: Wednesday, 13 July, 2011, 21:39
> 
> While I enjoyed reading parts of this piece, I am intrigued by one
> very basic knowledge of the author. (And I know everyone on this list
> is going to chide me for my being too much of a purist.) While I
> appreciate her use of Adab and Khuda Hafiz as an inclusive salutation,
> she continues to write the salam as  “assalam waleikum” which any
> Muslim worth his cap would know is a faulty word. The correct word is
> assalamu-alaikum, and there is no "wa" before alaikum. I am amazed
> that the author grew up as a Muslim in a Muslim family knowing an
> incorrect word which is a very basic understanding in any Muslim home.
> In reply to the salam you do say wa-alikum salam, but there is no such
> thing as salam walekum.
> 
> "We Muslims" usually make fun of non-Muslims who ignorantly use the
> word salam walekum, and try to correct them. Most people on this list
> would say, how rude you are by making fun of this. But I simply ask:
> how would you react if someone ignorantly (and seriously) said
> manaskar instead of namaskar or manaste instead of namaste. Won't you
> try to correct the person?
> 
> thanks
> 
> Javed
> 
> On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 11:28 AM, Ujwala Samarth
> <ujwala at openspaceindia.org> wrote:
> > Language, especially the words and colloquialisms we use in our everyday
> > interactions, is a sharp but subtle indicator of changing mores, shifts in
> > socio-political realities and the collective 'pulse' of a community...In
> > this article written for *Open Space/CCDS,* Pune, Samina Mishra reflects on
> > the trajectory from “adaab” to “asalam waleikum”, from “khuda hafiz” to
> > “Allah hafiz”,  and on why people feel the need to group around markers of
> > identities…
> >
> > *http://www.openspaceindia.org/express/articles-a-essays/item/749.html
> > *
> >
> > *Aadab In A Time Of Allah Hafiz*
> >
> >
> >
> > Some months ago, I was chastised by a woman for saying “adaab”, instead of
> > “assalam wa leikum”, the latter being the “the proper Islamic greeting” in
> > her opinion, to be exchanged between Muslims. I grew up as a Muslim and
> > learnt to say “adaab” when I met someone and “khuda hafiz” when we parted
> > ways. Originating from a North Indian Islamicate high culture, “adaab” as a
> > form of greeting was imbued with a certain class hierarchy. It was a
> > familiar greeting even in many elite non-Muslim households in North India,
> > households that were closely associated with that cultural space. Among many
> > other Muslim populations, the Arabic greeting “assalam wa leikum”, meaning
> > “may peace be upon you” was also used. But, there was no formal dictum about
> > the usage while I was growing up and there could be overlaps. So, as a child
> > I often replied with an “adaab” to someone who came in saying “assalam wa
> > leikum” and it was not considered inappropriate. As for “Allah hafiz” (may
> > god keep you safe), I did not hear the term until about a decade ago. The
> > word “khuda” originates from Persian but because it is used in other
> > languages too, it can be seen as a more embracing word for God than Allah.
> > The latter is a more specific reference to god in Islam and is confined to
> > its Arabic origins, at least so far. Thus, although they emerge from a
> > specific North Indian Muslim culture, “adaab” and “khuda hafiz” have had a
> > more inclusive history.
> >
> >
> >
> > Today, these terms are being given up by many Muslims in India, from
> > different class backgrounds, in favour of the more unambiguously Islamic
> > “assalam waleikum” and “Allah hafiz”. For those of us who seek to draw
> > attention to the complicated greys that lie between the uncompromising
> > blacks and whites, this notion of unambiguity is naturally problematic. But,
> > in this trajectory of change from “adaab” to “asalam waleikum”, from “khuda
> > hafiz” to “Allah hafiz”, there are other stories too, stories about why
> > people group around markers of identities, about what gives people a sense
> > of security and comfort, about what creates new groupings. So, even as I
> > feel uncomfortable about puritanical Islamic practices creeping in around
> > me, I recognise that our lives are composed of many overlapping stories, as
> > the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche has so eloquently spoken about, stories
> > that need to be told to avoid what she calls “the danger of the single
> > story”.
> >
> >
> >
> > So, in the context of adaab and khuda hafiz, what are these other stories?
> >
> >
> >
> > Consider some of these:
> >
> >
> >
> > In the late 1960s, a young girl joins a college hostel and as the lone
> > Muslim girl, she is made to eat separately in the dining hall and put her
> > used dishes apart from the rest.
> >
> >
> >
> > In the 1980s, one Muslim family loses 56 members to communal rioting,
> > including the murder of an uncle at the hands of his best friend.
> >
> >
> >
> > In the 1990s, a woman from a small town in UP with a BA, MA and BEd moves to
> > Delhi to teach in a school. She moves back within a month – “I wear a burkha
> > and the whole environment there was not suited for me…”
> >
> >
> >
> > In the years since 2002, a dynamic young woman, founder of an NGO to help
> > poor and dalit Muslims, stops telling people her real name while travelling
> > on trains because of being looked at with suspicion.
> >
> >
> >
> > In the mid-2000s, a teacher attends a workshop in which participants are
> > asked to introduce themselves by talking about their biggest fears. One
> > participant shares that hers is that her son will marry a Muslim - because
> > they are dirty.
> >
> >
> >
> > In 2008, a young girl, who likes going to school and does well at studies,
> > wonders why the school celebrates Holi and Christmas but not Eid.
> >
> >
> >
> > In 2009, a media person who offers her neighbour the use of her flat during
> > wedding festivities is told by colleagues that she should not have done so
> > since the groom was a Muslim man from Azamgarh. The same woman remembers a
> > Muslim boy who worked for a while in her office – “He was referred to as
> > jihadi!”
> >
> >
> >
> > This is a sample of stories that I have encountered in the course of a
> > two-year research project on Muslim women and their experiences of education
> > in parts of western UP. It is only a sample and it is only one person’s
> > encounter. What, I wonder, would a more comprehensive collection reveal?
> > But, even in this sprinkling of voices, there is a larger narrative of
> > exclusion. A story of people being grouped together, in both subtle and
> > direct ways. People are identified by the religion they practise or are born
> > into. Not in itself a bad thing since human beings choose a variety of
> > groupings - around class/caste/religion, schools, football teams, movie
> > stars, work ethics, fashion statements, job aspirations. The list is
> > endless. But when that identification becomes the sole defining identity, it
> > presents itself as the natural order of things instead of the construction
> > that it is. It becomes a wall that seeks to make itself invisible.
> >
> >
> >
> > And when the cloak of invisibility falls off and the wall shows up – in the
> > form of a veil, a riot or a separate greeting code – who is the one who
> > built it? The ones who sought to keep out? Or the ones who chose to stay in?
> > And what of those who wanted windows instead of walls? Continuing to say
> > “adaab” and “khuda hafiz” is my way of acknowledging that while there is a
> > wall, it can have an open window.
> >
> >
> > --*Samina Mishra is a documentary filmmaker and media practitioner based in
> > New Delhi.*
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Ujwala Samarth
> > (Programme Coordinator, Open Space)
> >
> > www.openspaceindia.org
> > www.infochangeindia.org
> > http://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-Space/116557125037041
> >
> > B-301, Kanchanjunga Building,
> > Kanchan Lane, Off Law College Rd,,
> > Pune 411004
> > (020-25457371)
> > _________________________________________
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> Critiques & Collaborations
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Ujwala Samarth
> (Programme Coordinator, Open Space)
> 
> www.openspaceindia.org
> www.infochangeindia.org
> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-Space/116557125037041
> 
> B-301, Kanchanjunga Building,
> Kanchan Lane, Off Law College Rd,,
> Pune 411004
> (020-25457371)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 