Analysis of ALIF novel

ABSTRACT

This article encircles the analysis of the novel ‘’ALIF’’. It tells about the journey of Momina sultan and Qalb e Momin in an Urdu novel ALIF. It explores that how Momina and Qalb e Momin realize their inner self through the process of self-realization and achieve spirituality. This paper also explains the theory of self-actualization of realization and spirituality, both religious and secular spirituality. This study aims to examine the journey of Qalb e Momin and Momina sultan who gain spirituality in life and experiences fullness of being through the process of self-realization. This article is important as it introduces the concept of self-realization and spirituality as a device or a process which can be used for obtaining religious knowledge and thus can enhance interpretative authority in religion.

KEY WORDS: Spirituality, religious spirituality, secular spirituality, self-realization, mind-based spirituality, heart-based spirituality, active intellect, potential intellect, acquired intellect.

INTRODUCTION

This article gives analysis of the novel Alif through the lenses of spirituality and self -realization. First, there is need to explain spirituality and self -realization or actualization.

Spirituality 

Spiritual and spirituality means anything that concerns about meaning and spirit, opposite of material and superficial. Anything non-material is referred to as spirituality. Spirituality is totally an Islamic world, the latest use of which has been tormented by its use in European languages. It must be cited that spirituality, as a word, was brought into western languages in 19th century and is derived from the French phrase ‘spiritulaite’. Some of Catholics inside the 19th century first used this word that is derived from a totally antique Latin word, spiritualis. In many western circles this phrase become utilized in a wonderful manner but rather than religion - which has a terrible connotation inside the West. This word is also utilized in Persian, Arabic and other Islamic languages consisting of Urdu and Turkish. In Arabic, spirituality is translated as Ruhiya which is a derivation of spirit and has been used in the Quran. Therefore, equal of spirituality in Arabic is identical to the English one, as spiritual, in British English, is derived from the Latin phrase Spiritus this means that spirit. In Farsi (Persian)the word manaviyat is used, this is also used in Urdu and different languages along with Hindi and Turkish. The word is derived from “meaning” (معنی )in Arabic and “meaning” (معنا )in Persian and is related to the inner factors of things.

Religious spirituality 

All heavenly religions depend on monotheism and solidarity of God. All talk about creation and Restoration; the way that man should navigate during his life and the need of a guide who knows about the way, the voyager and the criminals. Confidence in the Imperceptible is among the mainstays of heavenly religions. Man has been made based on a monotheistic quintessence, which is called early-stage nature (fitra). Spirituality and righteousness in divine religions are framed in individual by his confidence in monotheism and compliance of God just as acknowledgment and practice of Sharia (standard). Divine spirituality has numerous benefits and is quantifiable and assessable: genuine feelings of serenity, knowledge, firm assurance in keeping away from sins and high fascination towards great deeds are among a portion of the consequences of heavenly spirituality. A profound individual is a scholar who is thoughtful towards direction of others and is a valuable individual for his family and society. God's heavenly book is his spiritual guide; thus, the devotees and adherents of the message of Solidarity of God become an assembled country, for they see each other's language.

Secular spirituality 

 Interestingly, secular or modern spirituality, which has created in the present-day age, sidesteps religion and God and does not submit to the Sharia, however missions for outside unremarkable quietness and recovery from internal emergencies. Subsequently, he offers unique readings of spirituality, nevertheless cannot free of the emergency, which has created inside him on account of taking separation from God. By and by, he goes on: on occasion he shows up at diversity of religion and common convictions, however and still, at the end of the day does not accomplish genuine practical peacefulness. Indeed, on the off chance that he had accomplished serenity he would not have been meandering in various fields that guarantee to offer spirituality. 

SELF REALIZATION

 Evidently the notion of self-attention or self- realization is quite indefinite. "To actualize" commonly means the same as 'to make actual". if we decide on, as Aristotle and al-Farabi did, the term self-realization, "to realize" in this context' could mean the same as "to make actual”. And considering that every of us is already real or actual within the experience that we exist, what will be the that means of "to understand or actualize oneself?". It would mean to be true to one's nature or, to use a Stoic expression "lifestyles consistent with Nature." if the same term occurs in a spiritual context, it will mean to act in step with the desire of God, which results as many Muslim philosophers as possible and Sufis believed in, "adopting the traits of the character of God." So, to put it in a nutshell, the view of ethics as self-realization is concerned with knowing our capacities or capabilities. The idea of self-acknowledgment has likewise been clarified through Sufi custom. Sufism can be depicted as the interiorization and escalation of the Islamic confidence. Sufis put stock in understanding their own pith and leave on an excursion of self-revelation which comes through direct apprehension of Soul and marks the acknowledgment of one’s preeminent character.

Literature Review

  The idea of self-realization is one of the most established and the most persevering subjects of the historical backdrop of good and moral way of thinking. The idea is found in the works of numerous strict researchers (Al Frabi950A.D).For Al-Farabi self-realization is a cycle through which a man perceives his genuine self which includes"anirreplaceable level of presence for the eternality of oneself or the spirit".Al Farabi harmonized the teachings of plato and Aristotle with Islamic revelation and welcomed the idea of self-realization .According to him,potential intellect has tendency to become actual and thus perfect .Man has primary knowledge but he cannot realize himself without investigation and study .Knowledge makes intellect detach itself from matter and become actual or real. This high level of intellect is Acquired intellect but this acquired intellect  cannot be achieved without the help of Active intellect .A full self-realization takes place where there is conjugation between the Acquired intellect and Active intellect .In the end ,without the existence of moral goods and voluntary goods ,theoretical perfection can never lead to the satisfactory level of self-actualization .In order to understand the ethics of self-realization ,we need to go back to Aristotle. He said that we can find out the way how to gain happiness is to discover wherein his nature and excellence lies. The excellence of horse id to run well and excellence of knife is to cut well.so excellence of man lies in man’s particular rational capacity. If a man does not exercise reason, he is not exercising his capacity as man. Yoga Nanda (1952) regarded self-realization as "oneness" with truth which requires that there ought to be immediate discernment or experience of truth by the all-knowing instinctive workforce of the soul. Chittick (1998) claimed that "the journey for insight can possibly succeed if the regular world is perceived as identical to one’s own self, similarly as one should consider the to be human race as the outer appearance of the potencies and conceivable outcomes of the human spirit." 

The idea of self-realization has likewise been clarified through Sufi custom.  Siviri (2010) accepted that Sufism has profound comprehension of human instinct which offers devices for internal change needed to work with the excursion towards Self acknowledgement.

Fitzgerald characterized self-realization as satisfaction without anyone else of the conceivable outcomes of one’s character or character: it is "independence from outside compulsion, counting social assumptions, political and financial independence from common connections and desires. Gewirth (2015) got self-realization to be inseparable from self-fulfillment where he accepted that individuals accomplish merchandise that are by one way or another characteristic.

   A great Muslim scholar maulana Wahid Uddin khan said about spirituality that the spirituality which people know of since thousands of years is heart based. This heart-based spirituality is dismissed in the age of science, but it may exist in the state of trance or ecstasy functioning as a tranquilizer. Moreover, he said that he believed in the mind-based spirituality, because it deals with the reengineering of mind. It is this spirituality which trains a person to learn the art of problem management. Such a person becomes an extra ordinary person.     

   Sakhaei (Dr. syedeh mozhgan,2016,7th round of dialogues between world councils of Churches and CID) argued that in divine religions, information on God shapes the premise of spirituality. For the supporters of divine strict think, realizing God is anything but a theoretical conviction, without the real world; Information of God is genuine, conceivable and powerful throughout everyday life. Monotheism and faith in God shape the premise of spirituality in Islam, and it tends to be accomplished through after the precepts and disallowances of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Griffin (Griffin, David Ray (1988), Spirituality and Society, SUNY) argued that Factions and developments looking for spirituality less religion have arisen during the cutting-edge time, guaranteeing that man can accomplish spirituality without the limits of religion. They refer to the bad behaviors of steadfast individuals and altruism of the individuals who do not have a place with a religion however serve others, do not submit shamefulness or annihilate the nature. They contend that these individuals are profound, while an unwavering who just considers himself, does not serve others and is not respectful needs spirituality.

ANALYSIS

Here is the analysis of the novel. This novel is analyzed with the lenses of self-realization and spirituality.

What does Alif mean?

Do you realize the meaning of ALIF? No, not that which everybody tells. Speaking about the actual meaning of Alphabet ALIF. ALIF, the very first ALPHABET of ISM of the ALLAH. Get equipped for the goosebumps now. whilst teaching meaning of Bismillah al-Rahman AL Rahim, IMAM JAFER SADIQ (A.S) stated, “ALIF is the benefits of ALLAH over His Creatures from the bounty of our Guardianship (wilayah). So, all the benefits of our creator ALLAH PAK are hidden inside the meanings of LETTER "ALIF". allow me to pause this discussion right here and could resume the same somewhere within the centre of the review to offer more insight about its relationship with the unconventional ALIF.ALIF is a combination of a plethora of large than existence memories (and we recognize that it is the signature of Umera Ahmed to provide large than life testimonies). At one side, we get to look a maverick movie director's adventure from non-secular to materialistic and then reverting to his very own color of nature (being non secular). On the opposite side, we confront with a completely commonplace (examine primary) tale of an actress who went directly to gain the triumph. Then there's an adventure of a veteran actress who chooses ONE from the lot. after which there are two calligraphers each have a distinct size of love (ISHQ) to discover.

CHARACTERS

Now examine the characters of the tale. Qalb e Momin is a successful movie maker. He is such a successful movie maker that every movie he makes becomes hit. But his behavior is harsh and rude. he is also materialistic. The character of Momina is crystal honestly written by the writer. Diverse elements of the man or woman depict her warfare and continuous warfare with the lifestyles. From an unsure struggling actress to an Academy award winner, her character has been shaped with the aid of all the downs of the life with no longer even a touch of success negatively impacting her personality. Talking about the characters of Abdul Ala, Sultan, TAHA Abdul Alaa and Husn e Jahan, you can say that the author has penned one of the maximum stable subsidized characters this time. ABDUL Alaa, master of calligraphy. His ancestors have been taken into consideration the legends of this artwork and they have calligraphed not anything but ALLAH (HIS ASMAA and Ayaat e Mubarka). His most effective dream was, to see his only Son (Taha) a real successor of his family history. Then comes Sultan, a makeup artist and a die-difficult lover of Husn e Jahan, who can do anything for the affection. Talking about Husn e Jahan, a loved actress who decides to marry a calligrapher cum dancer simply in the love of the Superb. Let’s see Qalb e Momin in his formative years. A 10-year antique kid, who has the most powerful bonding with ALLAH. He likes to interact with ALLAH through postal medium. Innocence delivered with the rock strong perception on ALLAH has been his largest trait.

To be sincere, it turned into quite difficult to give these kinds of sub-plots an identical possibility to blossom however hats off to Umera for coping with the situation so delicately that you never pass over a beat. you have not any time to get distracted and bored because the proceedings perform so easy, they do not assist you to derange and divert your notion method. on the coronary heart of the mega plot, these types of sub-plots are constructed, organized and controlled so lightly which you constantly search for what is coming next. Umera has written ALIF in her very personal signature style. The identical sort of writing technique, for which she is well-known. The treatment of Qalb e Momin early life's element resembles to that of Chirya's in Aks. I really like the way she expressed his dating with ALLAH and steps to further enhance this dating (making a hand-crafted postal container and writing letters). someplace I feel, I would have cherished it even extra, if he turned into proven writing a letter after his man or woman’s make-over flip around, can be just to show his innocence coloration of his individual.

Conclusion: 

In this world spinning in loopholes, where everything is closely interconnected and lives are intermingling, where things are entwined and relations are entangled, it is of utmost importance to know one’s place. Where does our place lie? Where do we belong? What roles are there to be performed? To whom do we owe our existence? After the starting point on which we had no control, what is going to be our ending point? Self-Realization is the point when a person comes to know the answers to these, and similar questions related to oneself. It is the state in which a person knows who he/she is rather than just saying it. A person who has experienced this self-realization can never express it through words – it can only be felt. But they can show through their actions that they are aware of their actions and the life that they are living. Their life is not too fast neither very slow. They keep a moderate pace in life, without making it a hustle and bustle.

Such self-realization scenes keep coming in the lives of Qalb-e-Momin and Momina. The grandfather of Qalb-e-Momin, Abdul-Alaa, is the most important spiritual guide in his life. He tried his best to bring his grandson back at the path of peace, He could see him losing his peace and he knew that it was also a stage towards the self-realization and prosperity.