Before I start writing about what I really want to say, I must make my stand very clear on hijab. I support the choice of women who wish to wear it, and I oppose any imposition of it. I am all for choices and the right to freedom.
But, that’s not what drove me to pen my thoughts today.
I am disturbed. Very disturbed. On 2 November 2024, a video went viral showing an Iranian female student, identified as Ahoo Daryaei from Tehran’s Islamic Azad University, stripped to her underwear allegedly in protest against the morality police’s enforcement of Iran’s strict dress code. And social media, as always, got flooded with opinions and reactions. They ranged from support and admiration to condemnation, criticism, scepticism, and intervention. Indians on X used hashtags like ‘#AhooDaryaei #Hero”, lauding her bravery, courage, heroism, defiance.
Iranian student’s daring stunt
I felt uneasy and troubled. Not because there is anything wrong in appreciating someone’s bravery, but we need to be sure. Did she do it because she felt courageous? Did she intentionally do it as a mark of dissent? Or was it something else? Exasperation? Trauma? Mental upheaval? Hopelessness? Did we ever think enough about the excruciating feelings inside her? Did we, even for a moment, think about the person, the sufferer in her?
I hardly saw anyone ‘concerned’ about Daryaei. I saw no one talking about the trauma and the desperation that made her walk semi-naked on a busy street, as if waiting for her nemesis. I saw no one noticing the disturbing death-like composure on her face when she knew the so-called ‘morality police’ were on their way to leash her. We, the selfish bunch of people, ran toward yet another maut ka kuan (well of death), and started enjoying the spectacle.
The Iranian student’s daring stunt, emanating from insult and frustration, immediately became a reason for entertainment, political jibes, and Islamophobia. So much so that I saw some of the sickening members of the ‘self-appointed moral police of India’, who, on occasions, have trolled bikini–clad artists or a girl in a pair of shorts, and celebrated and garlanded molesters and rapists, hailing Ahoo Daryaei as a ‘hero’. Can there be a bigger irony?
It’s unfortunate that we have started acting more as communities, tribes, societies, and mobs than human beings. It’s deplorable and utterly concerning that we have stopped feeling the pain of another person, as if the person doesn’t exist. The natural human reaction should be very personal. It should be full of empathy for another being rather than apathy toward them.
But, we hardly see that. Often, people project loyalty to the cause by floating hashtags on someone else’s misery. It’s quite convenient for people to validate their beliefs by labelling someone a hero when that person, often involuntarily, puts their life on the line. And, I find that sickening, to say the least.
Also read: Does India have a rape culture? Pick a newspaper, maybe a mirror
Glorifying sacrifices
The question we should be asking ourselves is, ‘Does anyone rejoice in attaining martyrdom? Do we?’ Sometimes someone ‘appears’ brave because one doesn’t have a choice. I am reminded of these lines from one of my favourite stories of Saadat Hasan Manto, Sahay.
After staying silent for a while and thinking, he (Mumtaz) started speaking again, “Maybe, my fellow believers would call me a martyr, but by God, if it were possible, I would tear open my grave and start screaming, I don’t accept this rank of martyrdom… I don’t want this degree for which I never took an exam. A Muslim killed your uncle in Lahore; you heard the news in Bombay, and you killed me. Tell me, what medal do you and I deserve? And in Lahore, what honour is your uncle and his killer entitled to… I would say, let the dying meet a dog’s death, and those who killed, they stained their hands with blood for no reason… absolutely no reason.”
Exactly! When will we stop glorifying sacrifices and start our efforts in the direction so that no one has to go through it? When will we stop fantasising about martyrdom and do enough and more to prevent it? Why is it that when something wrong is happening around us, we don’t counter it together? Why do we wait for one to start a revolution? Why do we have ‘some’ as political prisoners, ‘some’ as defiant individuals, ‘some’ questioning the wrong government policies, ‘some’ rising against hate, ‘some’ challenging the patriarchs, and ‘some’ questioning the moral police? Why can’t we all come together so that there are no more martyrs, dead heroes?
Whether it’s Gasht-e-Ershad (guidance patrols), the official moral police of Iran, the unofficial moral police of India, cow vigilantes, or ‘love-jihad’ vigilantes, we need to speak up against them together so that there is no Jina Mahsa Amini or Mohammad Akhlaq.
Now, can we please run some hashtags: #WhereIsAhooDaryeai #IsAhooDaryeaiSafe #ReleaseAhooDaryeai #EveryLifeMatters.
Sayema Rahman is a radio broadcaster and public figure. She tweets @_sayema. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)
लोग…! ख़ैर!!
💌🙌🪔🙌🧯🙌🎞️🙌📱: “The natural human reaction should be very personal. It should be full of empathy for another being rather than apathy toward them.” – 📝🙌🔥🙌📻
– #सा🤲#ये🙏#मा
Completely agree with the comments below. Ms. Sayema is the typical educated middle class Muslim. Someone who would use all kinds of specious arguments and rhetoric to defend the violence perpetrated by radical Islamists.
The fact that she was disturbed about the Iranian student’s protest but not by the plight of the Hindus in neighbouring Bangladesh speaks volumes in itself.
I am sure that she is not worried about the dangers posed by fundamentalist Islam and the resultant terrorism which has murdered thousands over the last two centuries. Neither is she worried about the inherent intolerance embedded into Islam for non-believers or the application of the bestial Shariah law.
Her only goal in life is to shift the blame for anything and everything on Hindutva and the RSS. And The Print is glad to provide her with a platform.
Perusing Ms. Sayema’s earlier articles on The Print, one can safely say that she is the ideal representative of the educated Muslim middle class.
The hallmark of this section of Islamic society is that it never unequivocally condemns Islamic fundamentalism and the resultant violence. It never stands up against Islamic fanaticism.
Rather it puts it’s secular education to excellent use by coming up with all sorts of arguments to justify Islamic terrorism. “Ifs” and “buts” are it’s favourite words and it is a master at whataboutery.
This Islamic middle class has benefited immensely from secularism in India and other nations but would never ever want Islamic majority nations to become secular. They want non-Muslim majority nations to be secular but Muslim majority nations to remain Islamic theological states.
Am sure Ms. Sayema is not disturbed by the ongoing anti-Hindu pogroms in Bangladesh.
Such articles simply reinforce the old saying:
Islamic extremism is the snake hiding in the grass, moderate Islam is the grass hiding the snake.
Moderate Islamic people (e.g. Sayema and company) will always fight tooth and nail for their fanatic and fundamentalist counterparts. They really are the grass actively conniving with the “snake” to keep it hidden.
What an article! Sayema ruthlessly tore down feeble layers of hypocrisy of the “we the people”.
Very true and sincere statement – “It’s unfortunate that we have started acting more as communities, tribes, societies, and mobs than human beings.”