Hali, the feminist Maulana

Maulana Altaf Husain Hali (1837-1914) is the most articulate and enlightened global voice on two subjects: Islam and Gender. It is tragic that the world no longer knows his momentous work. This is true even in India, the land of his birth. About his love for India, Hali wrote this famous couplet:

Teri ek musht e khaak ke badley
Loon na hargiz agar bahisht miley

For a handful of your dust
I would refuse paradise

For this “Hali-oblivion” our generation is to blame. I am beholden to Rajmohan Gandhi for his foresight in bringing this voice before an international audience.

In this piece I will write on two most important and contemporary subjects which have convulsed the world and on which Hali has written his best pieces. Islam, which is globally misunderstood, vilified and denigrated, for which we Muslims are also to be blamed, and VAW, which after recent horrific events has reached a breaking point.

Hali’s voice is that of a prophet. He imbibed the Quran like no other scholar, and he was a feminist before the word entered our vocabulary. One has to understand the context and see how he broke every norm of his society by speaking for women, sometimes in the voice of women.

How did his understanding of gender injustice begin?

There was the incident of a 10-year-old girl, a child widow, who took shelter in his family home (in Panipat, Haryana) with her mother after the mass killings of 1857 referred to by the angrez as the “Indian Mutiny”. The girl’s wide questioning eyes earned her the name “Bi Mutterya” (the girl who mumbles to herself). Hali was twenty years old when this child widow entered their home, where she lived all her life.

Later he wrote lines for his great-granddaughter, Syeda, my father’s younger sister, after whom I was named. Composed in simple language, these verses, here given only in English, are profoundly impactful:

Syeda, what a lovely child you are,
Beautiful and wise beyond your years.
Only two years old, yet full of life,
Discerning right from wrong, so clear.

Hali’s affection for all children was matched by his empathy for girl-child issues. He doted on his granddaughter, Mushtaq Fatima, my grandmother. In 19th-century Panipat, girls’ education was confined only to learning the Quran. But Mushtaq had a private longing. Inspired by Hali, she had developed a passion for reading and writing. Secretly she crafted a pen from charcoal. She practiced writing on the cement floor of their terrace at night.

Soon she was caught red-handed.  Hali overheard his elder sister-in-law, Mushtaq’s grandmother, scolding her mother: “Congratulations, now your daughter will write letters and bring fame to the family!”

Hali remained silent. Mushtaq feared her grandfather's reaction. Then Hali spoke. His soft words opened out the world before the child’s eyes: “Write openly, my child, without fear. Your passion for writing is commendable.” The next day, Hali bought her an ink pot and a quill.

That day marked the beginning of formal girls' education in Panipat.

One day, people saw Hali engaged in conversation with a homeowner near his residence. It was about rent. Word spread quickly through the qasba.

“A girls' school is opening in Panipat, and Maulana Hali is spearheading the effort!”

The school's inauguration sparked a revolution. Initially, only relatives' daughters enrolled. Soon, friends' daughters followed, and the school filled up. Thus was the torch of knowledge lit for the girls of Panipat.

KNOWLEDGE IS A HUMAN RIGHT

Hali constantly championed women's rights. He penned powerful verses about women’s status in society and condemned every form of gender oppression. To men he explained, “A nation cannot progress until women acquire knowledge.” To women, he said, “Your status is high; you are a mother, sister, daughter; you shower love, you serve all, but always remember you are an individual with needs and rights. Most of all, seek knowledge, for it is your entitlement. Islam decrees that seeking knowledge is a human right.”

He staunchly opposed child marriage and condemned societal norms such as discouraging widow remarriage.

His earliest work, Majalis-un-Nisa (Assemblies of Women) has been translated by the renowned scholar, Gail Minault. The copy I have in hand was inscribed by Minault in 1986 to my aunt Saliha Abid Husain, who was Hali’s great-granddaughter and also his biographer. The book offers 10 Majlises, or teaching sessions. In simple language, it outlines an ideal education and upbringing for girls. Buried in the fifth Majlis is Hali’s indictment of violence against women, for which he quotes Quranic injunctions. He adds:

“There was a time when the Arabs customarily buried their newborn daughters alive. What could be a worse evil than that? The custom of female infanticide still exists in India… God and the Prophet gave widows permission to remarry. But among Muslims here it is considered an evil worse than adultery.

“If you tell people that widow remarriage is enjoined in the Quran and Hadith… they cannot disagree. But if you want them to change what they do, you are powerless. In sum, it is as difficult to uproot a custom from someone’s heart as it is to extract a nail from the flesh of a living finger.”

Its simple, sweet language made this book a curriculum staple in many schools. Majalis-un-Nisa was written in prose. Hali later conveyed the same thoughts in Chup Ki Daad (In Praise of the Silent), an immortal poem that flowed from his heart. If the world today adopts this poem as its anthem and makes its message compulsory learning in every school, it will benefit humankind. Every verse of this poem is an assertion of women’s rights.

Ai maaon behnon betiyon
Duniya ki zeenat tum se hai
Mulkon ki basti ho tumhi
Qomon ki izzat tum se hai

O mothers, sisters, daughters,
You bring refinement to the world
You’re the life of nations
And the source of Dignity.

Below is my translation of another verse, although I would have loved to share the original as well.

In joy and sorrow, you bring comfort.
You are the hope for the afflicted,
Strength for the weak,
Wealth for the destitute,
Solace in hardship.

And then the lines, given in both languages here, which I feel should become an anthem of the world:

Paida agar hoti na tum bera na hota paar yeh
Cheekh uthte do din mein agar mardon pe parta bhaar yeh

If you hadn’t been born, our boat wouldn’t have found a shore
Had men borne your load even for two days they would have screamed

Then the final verses:

Jab tak raho tum ilm o danish se rah mahroom yahaan
Aiyee ho jaisi be khabar waisi hee jaao bekhabar
Jo ilm mardon ke liye samjha gaya aab-e-hayaat
Thehra tumhare haq mein woh zehr-e-halahal sar ba sar
Aata hai waqt insaaf nazdeek hai youmul hisaab
Duniya ko dena hoga inn Haq talfiyon ka waan jawaab

As long as you live, remain deprived of learning, education
Ignorant as you have come, go just as ignorant
That learning which for men is considered the elixir of life
For you it is poison, bitter, lethal and rife
The time for justice draws near
The Day of Judgment is nigh
The world will have to answer for dispossessing you of rights

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His other feminist poem is The Widow's Prayer (Bewa ki Munajat). It's remarkable how 150 years ago Hali, a Maulana, who had imbibed each word of the Quran, identified with the plight of a widow. He spoke in a widow’s voice. That was the time when Sati (widow immolation) was acceptable among Hindus. Although Sati did not exist among Muslims, widows had to endure a living death.

Even at the threshold of our 21st century, as a Member of the National Council of Women in India, I investigated a case of Sati in Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh. An old woman was burnt on her husband’s funeral pyre.

One hundred years before that heinous incident, a compassionate voice had risen from a sensitive heart. That voice strongly advocated widow remarriage to his community, and to whichever community that cared to listen. The poet took on the persona of a widow and used simple, gentle words to plead with the Creator. His poem’s simple words, Hindi and Urdu in combination, made it accessible to anyone who bothered to read.

Why must I suffer thus?
Why have family and society imposed hardship upon me?
Was my life meant only to endure cruelty and sorrow?
Oh Almighty, wise and just
I am your helpless bandi at your doorstep.
I’ve endured immense suffering, am weary of the world.
My heart bears scars too numerous to count.

Every word of the long poem is precious. The last two lines draw tears:

I'm not alone in sorrow, millions share my fate.
But who pauses to consider our plight?
No one holds our hands to give solace and strength.

Once Gandhiji sought his friend Maulvi Abdul Haq’s advice on the book he should read to learn Urdu. Maulvi Sahib replied, “Read Hali’s Bewa ki Munajat. If this unfortunate country had any common language, it would have been the language Maulana Hali used in this poem.”

MAGNUM OPUS

Hali’s magnum opus, Musaddas-e-Hali, was originally titled Madd-o-Jazar-e-Islam, or The Ebb & Flow of Islam. It’s a must-read not only for every Muslim but also for every person who cares about his/her future when the term “Islamic terror” is bandied across the world.

Hali gave a clarion call to Muslims to emerge free from the pulls of fundamentalism and obscurantism. He exhorted them to keep in step with the fast-paced world, seize every opportunity to educate themselves, open their minds to winds of change, become gender sensitive, and develop the ability to impart to the world the real teachings of the Quran. In his Preface to the first edition of Musaddas he writes:

“Learning is dead and even though faith still exists, it’s only in name. Every household is penurious, most bellies are empty. Morality has been ruined and its decline continues; black clouds of bigotry overshadow the qom. Custom and tradition have shackled each one’s feet. All are weighed down by ignorance and blind imitation of the past. The power-elite who might have been able to help are oblivious and carefree; the intellectual elite who have a great stake in reform are unaware of the need and impulse of the times.”

Then with his characteristic pragmatism the remedy is prescribed:

“During such trying times there are two thoughts which cross the mind. One, that we cannot do anything. The other, that we ought to do something. The first is impotent and produces nothing. The other has been known to produce miracles.”

Madd-o-Jazar-e-Islam was popularly known as the Musaddas of Hali. Musaddas means six-line stanzas. The poem, written in 1879, contained 584 stanzas in all. No one anticipated the impact it would have. There was no flowery language, no complexities of style. Some reviewers were critical, even contemptuous.

“Is this poetry? So plain, dull, so unrefined. Hali is no poet.” Some critics dismissed the poem. “Moralising, like a schoolteacher's lectures!” Hali’s contemporaries used complex, artificial, and colourful words to create allure in their poems and ghazals.

But he effortlessly used idioms and proverbs that others considered inferior.

This added sweetness and charm to his poetry. In response to the diatribes, Hali wrote a couplet:

Kya poochhte kyun kar sab nuktacheen huey chup
Sab kuchh kaha unhonne par hum ne dam na mara

You ask me how the detractors were silenced
They said it all; silence was my only answer

Sir Syed Ahmed’s vision – the vision of the founder of what would become Aligarh Muslim University -- recognized the poem's global significance.  On June 1, 1879 he wrote to Hali: “From the moment the book reached my hand until the moment it was finished, I could not put it down. I do not have the power of expression to describe the elegance, flow and beauty of the poem. It is amazing how this factual theme which eschews exaggeration and artifice, hallmark of most poets, has been expressed by you so effectively and eloquently. I want Musaddas to resonate across the nation, be on every child's lips, sung by singers in gatherings, and recited by qawwals. Let people sway to its rhythm!”

Then Sir Syed wrote this oft-quoted line.  “When (after my death) Allah asks me, ‘What did you bring with you?’ I will say, ‘Nothing… but I got Hali to write the Musaddas.’”

As Sir Syed predicted, the poem resonated across the nation, was heard in school assemblies, was sung by singers in gatherings and recited by qawwals. Men and women, literate and illiterate, young and old, all read or listened to Musaddas. In qawwali gatherings, people requested verses from the poem.During Milad celebrations, verses from Musaddas about the Prophet's life were recited. People listened intently, often with flowing tears.

Woh nabiyon main rahmat laqab paane wala
Muradein gharibon ki bar lane wala
Museebat main ghairon ke kaam aane wala
Woh apne paraye ka gham khaney wala

Among all prophets who “mercy” was called
Who answered prayers of the wretched, the poor
Who helped strangers, their needs never stalled
Who shared in their sorrows, was one with their grief

It was the simplicity and truth of Musaddas that made Hali immensely popular. Nobody imagined that everyday language could be so captivating. Hali's heartfelt desire was fulfilled; he didn't want Musaddas to be limited to the educated elite. He wanted maximum people to read and benefit from it.Over a century has passed since Musaddas was published. It has fans not only in India but worldwide.It is said that Ubaidullah Sindhi, a brave freedom fighter, translated some stanzas into Russian.

Unlike authors and publishers who often dispute over royalties, Hali declined any payment. He said, “Take as many copies as you want, and benefit from it as you please.” Hali had no interest in material gain. If he had claimed royalties for Musaddas, he and his family could have lived a life of luxury.

Instead, he gifted not only Musaddas but also his other writings to the nation. His sole desire was for “that which brings benefit to the people, spreads knowledge, and awakens the nation.”

Hali’s daily routine continued as usual, but soon Musaddas’s verses echoed in streets and alleys. The stanzas praising the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) became the centre-piece of gatherings and assemblies.

His warning to fellow Muslims was unequivocal and strong

Hamara ye haq tha ke sab yaar hotey
Museebat mein yaaaron ke ghamkhwaar hotey
Sab ek ek ke baaham madadgaar hotey
Azizon ke gham mein dil afgaar hotey

Islam had taught us, “Show friendship to all
In times of hardship share each other’s grief
Extend hand to help, don’t allow him to fall
When friends are afflicted, partake of their pain.”

No one had ever warned Muslims in such simple, clear words:

You will face destruction and ruin.
Your ship will sink in the whirlpool, and none will survive.
Why don't you understand, you people, drowning in ignorance?

Ram Babu Saxena, a renowned figure in Urdu literary history, writes:

“Musaddas-e-Hali is a book that has shed light on the path of progress for the Indian nation. Its impact extends beyond the Muslim community; it has awakened the conscience of the entire Indian society.”

He goes on to conclude:

“Musaddas-e-Hali is a book that is revealed to prophets and avatars. It is a star that shone in the firmament of poetry, inspiring a new wave of poetry for the qom and watan. Its audience is not limited to Muslims alone, but encompasses all countrymen.”

Finally, a word about Hali’s Ganga-Jamuni vision for all women and men of his mulk. In several pieces of his poetry and prose, Hali wrote that all human beings are one family, regardless of religion, caste or class. One incident has been recorded in all his biographies which exemplifies this.

One day, while riding a tonga on a narrow Panipat gulley, he noticed a crowd bending and murmuring in hushed tones. Hali approached the scene. A child, son of a sweeper, had fallen into a filthy drain and was crying. Onlookers uttered sounds of sympathy but hesitated to rescue the child because he was untouchable. Hali entered the drain, lifted the child, cleaned his face and spoke these words:

“If you want to seek the divine, look into this innocent's face.”

Onlookers were shamed. Hali stepped out of the drain and handed the child to his mother. Hali’s poetry is replete with sentiments of one humanity. I will end by quoting one stanza which speaks for us all.

Tum agar chahtey ho mulk ki khair
Na kisi humwatan ko samjho ghair
Ho Muslamaan us mein ya Hindu
Bodh mazhab ho ya ho Sikh bandhu
Sab ko meethi nigaah se dekho
Samjho aakhon ki putliyaan sab ko.

If you desire your country's prosperity.
Regard no fellow citizen as an outsider.
Whether Muslim, Hindu,
Whether Buddhist, or Sikh.
Look upon all with a sweet glance
Consider them pupils of your own eyes.