BOOK REVIEW

Poverty of the Faithful
Sati- Saga of A Gory Practice

Poverty of the Faithful

Reviewed by Maqbool Ahmed Siraj

Though the size of the targeted sample is too small, the results are not expected to be wide off the mark even if enlarged. Dr. Rahman chose two slums M.S.Muthunagar in North Madras and Pallavaram in the southern part of the city. While the former was adopted by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board, the latter is still an unorganized slum with hardly any official ameliorative intervention.

The systematic survey supports several general assumptions. The literacy ranges between 40 and 45 per cent; Muslim women are more illiterate with literacy dipping to less than 30 per cent; even among the few literate, the level of education barely goes higher than primary schools; nearly a third were migrants from rural areas in search of urban jobs; nearly two- thirds depend upon government hospitals for health care; predominant majority of the people in two slums were earning less than Rs.1500. As for expenditure these slum folk spent a little over half their earnings on food. Education barely figured in domestic budget with less than one per cent earnings going for the purpose. Surprisingly, personal habits (bidi, cigarette, tea, tobacco, and perhaps liquor) took away nearly 10 per cent of income. Nearly 7 per cent of monthly income is shown to be going for payment debts. Expenditure on health accounts for nearly two per cent of the income. Over 70 per cent Muslims are stated to be in debts with majority of respondents needing them to meet daily expenditure.

There are some redeeming features too. Family size is small in both slums that 4.60 in M.S. Muthunagar and 4.06 in Pallavaram, thereby giving a lie to the allegation of Muslims being averse to family planning. However, the onus of family planning seems to be entirely on women as only women were found to be adopting the FP measures.

Low level of education rules out the chances of government employment. So none in the sample is a government employee. While 76 per cent wise self-employed in M.S. Muthunagar, a similar per centage was daily wage-earner in leather factories of Pallavaram, the other locality. The beneficial scheme of slum clearance ensured that nearly two-thirds of the Muthu Nagar slums owned the houses they lived in. But this ratio was only 22 per cent in Pallavaram, an index as to how this vital necessity becomes a casualty of poverty. Significantly 34 per cent people in Pallavaram slums had no latrine facility. This is other terms means the use of open space for the purpose, something socially disgusting and religiously abominable. And even among the remaining, 56 per cent were dependent upon common latrines. It is perhaps a point to ponder for those who do not consider poverty a curse and deserving a fight with religious zeal.

One aspect of the study deserves elaboration. Almost all the women in sample survey are categorised under widows. The phenomena begs for details and the survey is mysteriously silent over this. Is it because all the working women have taken up employment after husbands death? This, naturally, would lead to another question whether most Muslim men die an early death. If so why?

The book includes useful tips to understand the poverty alleviation schemes, both at state as well as central level and suggests a number of measures for Muslim NGOs, Jamaaths leadership etc. Though printing leaves much to be desired, the book will go a long way in stimulating micro-level action to improve the lot of Muslims at the very basic level of the society. Dr. Rahman deserves all the praise for concentrating his attention on finding the grassroots problems in an era when much of the Muslim leadership indulges in breast-beating over certain issues that are merely the outcome of apathy towards grassroots maladies.
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Sati- Saga of A Gory Practice

Reviewed by Razeena Ayesha.

In pre-historic times there prevailed a belief in several societies that the life and needs of the dead in the next world are more or less similar to those in this life. It became a pious duty of surviving relations to provide a dead person with all the things that he usually needed when alive. Such a belief could have given rise to the custom of burning or burying the wife along with her husband.

This practice continued for ages in the name and cover of religion. Due to its sanction in the scriptures, the widow burning had universal acknowledgement. Hindus never felt that the act was barbarous. For instance, a passage from the Upanishad refers to a prayer of a widow to God of Fire that she is about to follow the sati custom and that she may be able to bear the ordeal and reap the promised reward. (Wilson's Collected Works, II, pp.295-6)

The agony of a widow who is about to perform this act is normally concealed by the atmospheric ecstasy created by drum-beats, slogan-shouting and mantra recitals.

Sati was originally a Kshatriya custom. Soon after 1000 AD, the Brahmana families also began to follow this custom because they felt that they should not be outdistanced.

Since maximum number of Sati cases reported are from Bengal (Author quotes from 'Sati: Widow Burning in India' by V.N.Datta) this could be attributed to the wife having the right to inherit husband's property in Bengal.

Hindutva forces are propagating that Sati originated during the Medieval period. According to them, the attack of Muslim rulers forced the Hindu widows to immolate themselves in the funeral pyre of their husbands.

A.K. Biswas, the author of Sati: Saga of a gory practice' is a researcher. His approach to any social issue is unorthodox. Mr.Biswas has to his credit other publications like Social and Cultural Vision of India, Facts Against Fiction, Sepoy Mutiny (1857-58), and Indian Perfidy.

In this book on Sati, the author describes the horror of Sati or widow burning. Large number of accounts, including eye witness have been cited to expose the most tragic aspect of the widow burning and to disapprove the claim that it was all voluntary.

In the first chapter, Biswas describes India's heritage and defines the term 'Sati'. narrates the account of Sati witnessed by contemporary scholars.

As a scholar, the author could have also dealt with the obscure future of the orphans resulting from Sati.

This book will be useful for those who are interested in women's studies, Indian history and can also be read by the students of history in general.

The quality of printing can be compromised for the price of the book, but printing errors and spelling mistakes cannot be justified.
Hajj Highlights 1998 (1418H) * The Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, call and endowment distributed to the pilgrims, 31,87,000 books and leaflets concerning the performance of Hajj. 117,000 audio visual tapes in 5 languages, and 3,00,000 of copies of Holy Qur'an in various languages. * The number of pilgrims is estimated at more than 2 million out of which 11,32,344 pilgrims arrived from outside the Kingdom. * At least 118 pilgrims died in a stampede at the Jamarat Bridge. * The Pilgrims drank over 141 million litres of Zamzam water at Makkah's Holy Haram and the Prophet's Mosque in one month (1-11-1418-12/12/12/14184). 93,40,000 half litre water bottles were distributed free by the Two Holy Mosques water factory. The power generating capacity of Makkah and the rest of the Holy Shrines reached a high point of 1,132 million mega watt. 85 million loaves of bread, a million ice cubes and 113 million mineral water bottles were consumed during the same period. 500 expert preaches were assigned to teach the pilgrims the correct method of conducting their Haj duty. The Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) supervised the slaughter and preparation for distribution of 436,000 sheep and 7689 of camels and goats. The sacrificial meat was dispatched to needy Muslims in 27 countries. * The Al-Mawaqiit are locations outside the Holy shrine, where pilgrims put on the Ihram, if they intend to perform Hajj or Umrah. At these Ihram locations, large Mosques, toilet facilities, Car parking, gardens and water storage facilities are provided for the pilgrims. Miqat Yalam lam - serves the pilgrims arriving for tenth. Al-Gahfa Miqaat - in the city of Rabigh on the Madinah-Al-Munawarah highway. Miqat Al-Tarim - in Al-Umra area near Makkah Al-Muharramah. Wadi Maharam Miqat - located on the Huda -Tarf highway to the east of Makkah. The Makkah citizen Miqats include Al-Sayl, Al-Kabir in Ga'rana. Quba Mosque, which is one of the first Mosques ever built is also used as a Miqat location. Masjid Miqat Zay Al-Halifa Baybar Ali - in Madinah Al-Munawarah. Top