Most of us have little or no difficulty in understanding our heritage and what it means to us in terms of our belief systems as we usually have the example of either our parents or the community around us to go by. However, what if one of your parents comes from a culture that's not part of the majority and that person has never been part of your life? It may take a while, but sooner or later you're going to start to notice you're different from everyone around you, and eventually you might start to become a mite curious as to what you've inherited from your absent parent.
Aatish Taseer was born in Delhi, India as the result of an affair between his Sikh mother and his Pakistani Muslim father. While his mother never kept from him the truth about his heritage he grew up surrounded by cousins his own age wearing the turbans emblematic of their faith, making his uncovered head feel very conspicuous and out of place. It's not until he's 21 that he finally makes the journey across the border to visit his father for the first time. While he is welcomed by his father's wife and children with open arms, the man himself is far more reticent. Salmaan Taseer is an important political figure in Muslim Pakistan, and the knowledge he has an Indian son who may or may not be Muslim could create difficulties.
"However, as Taseer describes it in his new book from McClelland and Stewart, which is partially owned by Random House Canada, Stranger To History, even if his father is reluctant to recognize him in public, at least by the end of his first visit he begins to feel they have developed the basis for a relationship."
Like many other Pakistanis, Salmaan is a secular Muslim, so the fact that his son is a Muslim in name only shouldn't make any difference to him. (In Islam the father's religion dictates that of the children.)
However when Taseer, now a journalist in England, writes an article about second generation Pakistani immigrants becoming fundamentalists and extremists because of estrangement and failure of identity, his father takes him to task in a letter for not understanding what it is to be a Muslim and for spreading anti-Muslim propaganda. Taseer is confused; how can the man who once said "the Koran has nothing in it for me" be offended as a Muslim by what I had written? It's obvious his father is right when he says that Taseer has no understanding of the Muslim or Pakistani ethos as he can't understand his father's apparently contradictory attitude. What does his father mean when he calls himself a "cultural Muslim"?
Article comments
1 - Christy Corp-Minamiji
And yet another book to add to my "I want" list. Nice review.
2 - John Lake
In the past and even today in many parts of the world, religion is the fundamental issue. This is true, in fact, in many parts of the United States. In remote areas, atrocities are being committed in the name of religion. The Muslim religion seems to answer many questions, and to give guidance to people, but young people today are beginning to think, perhaps rightfully so, that any religion is in fact flawed; any irrational belief is counter- productive to rational pragmatism. Every society must give its members reason beyond law to behave in a socially acceptable manner. Given only the law, many would see no reason not to follow their personal greed, or lasciviousness, to the destruction of that society. So, we have an impasse. If we are being constantly watched by an all-powerful figure, capable of reward, or punishment, we will comply, and yes, the world will be better for it.
But this dream of a better world has been tinged and tainted. Many with little else to live for try to expand these religious ideas to fill the hours and years of their lives. Personal drives become a factor and, over generations, the zealots begin to see this supreme judge actually wanting them to do things destructive to all society. Superior people, who have devoted more time to their study of religion, feel they must force their beliefs on others.
In any case, I have seriously digressed. My purpose here is and was to address the changes taking place in Pakistan. A religious person assumes that the changes are hinged on belief and idealism. A more pragmatic person may suspect an economic motivation. If I were to undertake to criticize the Pakistanis, I would look for an economic issue. I would involve the American Secretary of State, and her overwhelming belief that money will solve all the problems of the world. She gives away millions of dollars of more, and bitterly accuses those accepting her money of wanting still more. It wouldn’t be surprising if that very money were at the core of the current upheavals.
I don’t have enough insight into the world of Pakistan to create an intelligible article. Perhaps you do. If someone could outline some of the crucial issues, it would be a meaningful step in their resolution.
I might apologize for my long-windedness. I am hopeful that someone can give a clear, rational explanation or interpretation of the ongoing developments in Pakistan.