Pakistan Journal of Women‘s Studies: Alam-e-Niswan
Vol. 25, No.2, 2018, pp.1-17, ISSN: 1024-1256
NARRATIVES OF CONFESSION: RELIGION AND
PATRIARCHY IN THE FICTION OF SHAHRAZ AND
HOSSEINI
Munazza Yaqoob
Department of English,
Female Campus, International Islamic University,
Islamabad
Abstract
This paper discusses Khalid Hosseini‘s novel A Thousand Splendid Suns and
Qaisra Shahraz‘s novel Typhoon as social commentaries on the socio-cultural
oppressive structures both established and perpetuated by patriarchy, and by
patriarchal interpretations of religion to subordinate and victimise women in
Pakistani and Afghani societies. The paper also examines these texts as
narratives of confession, unfolding crimes and injustices as committed in the
name of religion and culture against weak and vulnerable members of the
society. Both of these narratives, as forms of confession, voice through, not
only their female characters but also men, that ‗the sacred‘ is an effective
patriarchal apparatus centred on justifying male control and dominance while
denying basic human rights to women, thus relegating them to a secondary
position. Through a critical examination of centuries-old socio-cultural
norms, which have achieved the status of ‗sacred‘ in such societies, these texts
reveal various practices of domestic and structural violence through which the
sins of injustice, cruelty, oppression and victimisation of women in the name
of culture and religion are justified and exercised in daily life. Both Typhoon
and A Thousand Splendid Suns, as narratives of confession, document
emotional, psychological, physical, sexual and structural violence committed
against women and voice resistance against the oppressive social practices of
their respective societies. As narratives of confession, these two texts
authenticate the truth presented in the form of fiction.
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Munazza Yaqoob
Keywords
Religion and patriarchy, South Asian fiction, social injustice, domestic and
structural violence
Introduction: Religion-Patriarchy Nexus in the South Asian Society
Typhoon (2003) by Qaisra Shahraz and A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007) by Khalid Hosseini
take patriarchy and its destructive impact on South Asian societies, regarding women‘s
oppression and human rights abuse, as their central issue. Through a feminist theoretical
lens that reviews and theorises various types of violence committed against women and
their causes, this paper analyses Typhoon and A Thousand Splendid Suns to explore how
patriarchy relegates women to subordinate positions and denies them basic human rights
in Pakistani and Afghani societies, making women vulnerable to violence. Analysis of the
texts, with a clear focus on emotional, psychological, physical, sexual and structural
violence, establishes these books as voices of confession of the crimes and abuse committed
against women in the name of culture, religion and law. Shahraz depicts Pakistani society
in Typhoon, where patriarchy is a deep-rooted cultural tradition, while Hosseini portrays
Afghani society, where patriarchy is not only a tradition rooted in centuries-old culture, but
also a policy protected and imposed by State law. The discussion regarding patriarchy as a
social system in South Asian society also focuses on the role of religion, as depicted in
these two novels, to investigate how religion is interpreted in such a way as to support
cultural tradition and state policy to perpetuate and enforce patriarchal structures within
society. This paper builds on the discussion regarding patriarchy as a social system in South
Asian society.
Patriarchy is the ‗institutionalisation of male dominance‘ (French, 1985, p. 239)
and a social system ‗enforced through violence and the threat of violence. It is a system
developed and controlled by powerful men, in which, women, children, other men, and
nature itself are dominated‘ (Christ, 2013). While men in patriarchal societies control all
major institutions of society, such as culture, politics, and religion, women are placed
through the power of these institutions in a subordinated position. Thus, patriarchy,
functioning through such institution and state policies, restricts women‘s mobility and
further increases their dependence on men in a systematic way. Since all three institutions
are monopolised by men, they serve to empower men and work as oppressive apparatuses
for women to weaken them. Patriarchy thus is a political system ruled by men in which
women have inferior social and political status and are denied fundamental rights (Kottak,
2000, pp. 274–76, 290).
In patriarchal societies, such as that of South Asia, the kinship-based social
structure further divides the society on gender lines by assigning controlling positions to
Religion & Patriarchy in the Fictions of Shahraz & Hosseieni
3
men and subordination to women (Matherma, 1998, as cited in Sharma, p. 79). For
Sharma (2014), girls in these countries, from early childhood, are made aware of their
inferior status to the male members in the family, and obedience to male members is
inculcated in them. They grow with a consciousness that they are weak, both physically and
emotionally, and so are dependent on their male family members—for not only economic
means, but also for social survival. Thus, in the patriarchal social order of South Asian
societies, Sharma argues that ‗authority is vested upon the man who takes responsibility for
maintenance of family, for he is considered stronger than women‘ (p. 79). This sense of
inferiority to male members and dependence upon them are the main factors exposing
women to various other forms of social injustices, such as limited facilities for education
and health, limited access to a public sphere, and denial of freedom to choose. The result
of their inaccessibility to resources through restricted social mobility weakens their social
position and further establishes gender inequality in the society.
In South Asian societies, discrimination between men and women is ‗generally
marked, definite, and largely non-negotiable‘ (Lau, 2002, p. 81). According to Nainar
(2013), all countries in South Asia—which include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka—are ‗agrarian economies‘; and patriarchy as a
system of male domination effectively operates in these countries through ‗monopoly in
religion and culture‘ along with State laws and ‗mode of production‘ (p. 1). Narayan
(1997), discussing women‘s deplorable conditions in these societies, regards their misery as
‗death by culture‘ (p. x). Kandiyoti (1988) also considers that such societies function on the
principles of classical patriarchy.. Thus, the South Asian ‗masculinised‘ culture, which
relegates women to the margin and forces them into a powerless position, where they are
dependent on men, is the underlying cause of the oppression exercised against women in
these societies. This situation makes women vulnerable to violence.
Because patriarchy in these societies functions as a social system, and as women‘s
oppression and discrimination against them is sanctioned and ratified by the culture and
centuries-old tradition in the name of region, culture in such societies therefore operates
through two important institutions: family (kinship) and religion. Women are known by
their kinship position in relation to men (Richard, 2006, p. 324). In both Pakistan and
Afghanistan, ‗the extended family is the basic functional unit‘ (Hakim, 1992, p. 72); in
such family, the eldest male usually holds the dominant position in deciding all matters of
the family, including marriages and education. Women in traditional extended families are
mainly considered responsible for the domestic space and are accordingly, engaged in
childbearing and rearing, cooking, cleanliness, and other household-related tasks. They are
also expected to fulfil familial duties requiring obedience to father and husband, and
service centred on providing all comfort to them. Women‘s sacrifice of their own comfort
and even happiness is rationalised by the view that men protect women and work outside
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Munazza Yaqoob
the home to provide the necessities of life. Thus, the demarcation of space and related
roles for men and women in the patriarchal family restrict women‘s presence in public
space and, as a result, their participation in economic and political activities. Such
segregation secludes them to private and domestic spaces. As a result, this situation
deprives women of social and economic power, and instead positions them in a
subordinate station in social hierarchy.
Religion in these societies, as Jamal (2005) recognises, is an important institution
empowering culture and its oppressive traditions. Jamal supports her opinion regarding the
use of religion in oppressing women in South Asian societies through making reference to
feminist movements in the subcontinent, particularly that against Islamisation during the
Zia military regime. Spanning 1979–1989 in Pakistan, the Zia regime launched Statesponsored oppression against women and subsequently violated their basic human rights
(p. 61). She maintains that the strongest barriers to women‘s movements for emancipation
since the British Indian period in the region is religion and culture. Jamal‘s stance reflects
that of progressive and secular feminists who consider religion to be one of the main
reasons underpinning women‘s subordinate position in patriarchal societies. Hashim
(1998), echoing Sarah White (1992), also argues that ‗women are often represented as
subordinated in religious texts‘ and, in this way, ‗religion is used to justify and maintain
men‘s dominant position in society‘ (p.7).
However, many Muslims reject this argument and emphasise the rights of women
denied in secular societies, which are ensured and protected in Islam (Afshar, 1997). For
most Muslims, it is the interpretation of religion that has created a misunderstanding, as
referring to Ali (1993) in ‗Reconciling Islam and Feminism‘, Iman Hashim states, ‗There is
a significant gap between what the Qur'an says and the manner in which its teachings are
practised‘ (1998, p. 9). Since social and religious institutions are dominated and controlled
by men, religion is therefore interpreted in line with the practices and accepted social
norms of patriarchal tradition. The distortion of religious int erpretation and
understanding confuses the culture that perpetuates patriarchy and male dominance, and
ultimately becomes another apparatus to subordinate women.
Thus, violence against women or gender-based violence in such societies has
become a cultural norm because, as discussed above, culture operating through the
institution of family and religion establishes women‘s dependence on men. Unequal
gender relationships are formed when women are refused social mobility and denied
entrance to the public sphere. They are made vulnerable and become victims of genderbased violence. Bagchi (2005), referring to Article1 of the UN World Conference on
Human Rights 1993, discusses violence against women, or gender-based violence, as a
‗violence which jeopardises fundamental rights, individual freedom and women‘s physical
Religion & Patriarchy in the Fictions of Shahraz & Hosseieni
5
integrity‘ (p. 115). Similarly, Article 1 of the United Nations‘ Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence against Women (1993) explains it as ‗any act of gender-based
violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or
suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of
liberty whether occurring in public or private life‘ (para. 14). As per these definitions,
women in Pakistan and Afghanistan, in much the same way as in other South Asian
societies, are exposed to almost all types of violence. The most common forms of violence
committed against them include verbal abuse, physical violence, psychological/emotional
violence, sexual violence, cultural violence (honour killing, dowry killing, child marriages
and forced marriages), economic violence and legal violence (making laws and policies to
restrict women‘s participation in politics and other areas of public sphere) (Tabassum,
2016, pp. 89–90).
From Traditions to Texts: Violence against Women
Both Typhoon and A Thousand Splendid Suns offer several references to the cultural norms
and traditions in Pakistan and Afghanistan that establish the controlling position of men,
resulting in multiple forms of gender-based violence. The concept of gender-based violence
provides ‗a new context in which to examine and understand the phenomenon of violence
against women‘ and has ‗shifted the focus from women as victims of violence to gender and
the unequal power relationships between women and men that are created and maintained
through gender stereotypes‘ (Alexander, p. 836). The most common form of violence in
Pakistan and Afghanistan, as illustrated in the novels examined in this paper, is domestic
violence, with home recognised as an important space determining gender relationships
that perpetuate culturally approved gender-specified roles. Amirthalingam (2005) believes
that, ‗domestic violence has been on the global agenda for several decades‘ (p. 683), and
further explains that ‗the key to understanding domestic violence from a gender
perspective is to appreciate that the root cause of violence lies in an unequal power
relationship between men and women that is compounded in male-dominated societies‘ (p.
684). Social norms, as said before, being based on kinship in Pakistani and Afghani
societies, give ‗the husband the right to use force to discipline wives who are perceived to
be violating traditional gender norms‘ (Jha 2000). As the selected novels highlight, these
gender-specified roles in the domestic space become one of the important factors fuelling
violence against women.
Hosseini‘s A Thousand Splendid Suns is replete with incidents of domestic violence.
He takes the domestication of women resulting in violence against them as one of the
central themes of his novel and discusses it as a cultural tradition exercised for centuries in
Afghanistan. Laila‘s father tells her about the Pushtun region near the Pakistani border,
where ‗women were rarely seen on the streets and only then in the burqa and accompanied
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Munazza Yaqoob
by men‘ (p. 33). The novel relates that women are refused appearance in the public
domain, are confined to domestic space, and are at the mercy of their controlling
husbands, fathers or brothers. The two main characters in the novel, Maryam and Laila,
experience the worst forms of domestic violence; they are beaten several times by their
husband, Rasheed, for various reasons, such as not cooking his meal of choice, not having
borne sons as per his strong desire, making attempts to go out without permission, or
sometimes simply because he is in a bad mood or is unhappy.
The text reveals that ‗there was always something, some minor thing that would
infuriate him, because no matter what she [Maryam] did to please him, no matter how
thoroughly she submitted to his wants and demands, it wasn‘t enough‘ (p. 98). Maryam
says that her married life with Rasheed was like living in perpetual ‗fear of his stifling
mood, his volatile temperament‘ and that many times ‗he would resolve with punches,
slaps, kicks‘ (pp. 97–98). He harasses both Maryam and Laila on a daily basis; once, he did
not like the meal cooked by Maryam and so, in reaction, forced her to eat pebbles (p. 102).
Maryam loses one of her teeth as a result and was deeply agonised by this brutal act.
As regards the second novel, Typhoon, we do not find an example of brutal physical
violence, but nonetheless female characters undergo psychological and emotional violence
in the roles of wives and daughters. Because the culture of Pakistani society—much like
Afghani society—assigns dominant and controlling positions to men, as fathers, husbands
or the eldest of the family, women are forced to be obedient and are intimidated to submit
to the men‘s will. Women, as Typhoon illustrates, have no right to challenge, nor even
demonstrate any resistance to men, because the culture considers it a stigma for women to
raise any ‗loud resistance‘ against this injustice and oppression (Tabassum, 2016, p. 87).
Even if they show any passive resistance, they are tabooed as insolent and dishonoured.
Thus, they are suppressed in the name of honour and modesty to respect men, as outlined
by their cultural and religious obligations. Their emotions stifle and they suffer emotional
wreckage.
Siraj Din in Typhoon daily indulged in an argument with his wife Zulaikha in their
bedroom, with the aim of taming her to submit to his will and not argue back. He ‗never
quite reconciled himself ‘to her demands and expectations of ‗equality and respect‘. His
efforts centred on his desire to ‗tame‘ her (p. 143). He ostracised his wife‘s boldness and
ability to argue with him, but allowed her to disagree in their private bedroom space on the
condition that she had to show complete obedience and respect to him in public space.
Thus, Zulaikha ‗accorded him the respect due to him as a husband and as a village
landlord‘ (p. 143). Zulaikha even argued that, as per her religion, Allah (God) is her master
and Siraj Din is a human being, just like her, and so she should be treated with ‗respect
and equality‘ (p. 143).
Religion & Patriarchy in the Fictions of Shahraz & Hosseieni
7
Nonetheless, as the text depicts, both culture and cultural understanding of
religion require women to be modest and men authoritative, which maintains genderspecified behaviours and roles. Zulaikha is coerced, as well as culturally conditioned, and in
the public space is seen to be a woman who ‗adopted the demure look of a dutiful wife,
who took her place with pride beside her husband‘ (p. 145). She carries the burden of
family honour that demands that she be respectful to her husband and approve his public
actions, even if or when he is wrong. When Siraj Din makes the unjust decision against
Naghmana and orders ‗the tragic lynching of an innocent women‘ (p. 190) in ‗Kacheri‘
(community public court), Shahraz writes that Zulaikha ‗wanted to shout to him—to end
this farce, but her lips sealed with decades of decorum and social propriety, wouldn‘t obey.
A good wife didn‘t make her husband lose face in public‘ (p. 191). She feels agonised and
tortured to see the cruel treatment of an innocent young woman Naghmana and ‗crie[s]
inside, feeling faint‘ (p. 191), but is not authorised to raise her voice and show opposition
against this ruthless form of injustice.
The novel also shows that women‘s dependence on men and their subordination
to the decisions made by men, as established in domestic space, also affect women‘s
positioning in the public sphere. Women being conditioned for centuries remain silent,
dependent, submissive and compliant to men and their decisions outside the home. Siraj
Din, with the authority vested upon him by the culture as the village elder and head of the
community public court, forces Haroon to divorce his beloved wife, Naghmana, against
each other‘s will. His decision and its forced implementation go against religion, which his
wife Zulaikha and other villagers understand; however, even then, with his distorted
understanding of religion, he tells Naghmana that ‗it was in your kismet [fate] to be
divorced from Haroon. Go home, my daughter. May Allah give you peace‘ (p. 194). No
woman in the public court is allowed to participate in the decision-making; thus,
Naghmana is emotionally and psychologically victimised by the unjust decision of a man.
Her life is ruined, but she is not permitted to show resistance. Women like Zulaikha live in
continuous suppression and undergo emotional violence that is accepted and practiced as
being the norm of a ‗normal‘ married life, and, like Naghmana, are lynched in the name of
honour in Pakistan. Domestic space in Typhoon, as in the case of A Thousand Splendid Suns,
oppresses women‘s voices and their essential human selves. Shahraz‘s text draws readers‘
attention to a very subtle form of violence committed against women in Pakistan—almost
on a daily basis—in the name of obedience to men and cultural/religious traditions.
The novels also portray sexual abuse as a form of domestic violence, with women
forced to have sex against their consent and will. Sexual violence, in the forms of rape,
particularly marital rape, provides a focus in both of the selected texts. Referring to Article
9.2 of the Asian Human Rights Charter, Amirthalingam (2005) regrets sexual violence
against women in patriarchal societies and states, ‗Forcing a woman to have sex against her
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Munazza Yaqoob
will is the most blatant form of enforcing male dominance. It is a brutal statement that she
has no autonomy or rights‘ (p. 693). Sexual violence appears as a ‗normal‘ requirement of
married life in A Thousand Splendid Suns. Rasheed, being a husband who provides his wives
with shelter and food at home, considers forced sex with his wives against their consent as
his right. He never realises the pain caused by his forced act (p. 76). For Maryam, ‗their
coupling‘ remains ‗an exercise in tolerating pain‘ (p. 82). Maryam and Laila, being
uneducated and without any professional skills and economic opportunities, are required
to submit to his will, and, as a result, become subjects of the worst form of sexual violence.
The novel also makes subtle reference to the role of cultural and patriarchal
understanding of religion in permitting forced sex in marital relationships. Women‘s
unwillingness is culturally interpreted, as ‗shame‘ and coyness, and they are convinced— or
even forced— to give consent through arguments based on distorted interpretations of
religion. Rasheed says to Maryam, after sleeping with her against her will and without her
consent, ‗there is no shame in this, Maryam … it‘s what married people do. It‘s what the
Prophet himself and his wives did‘ (p. 76). Such false interpretations also illustrate the
patriarchal culture and culturally interpreted religion as depriving Maryam and Laila of a
right to their own bodies and lives. These women are like domestic animals, kept and
confined within a domestic sphere for the service and pleasure of men.
Typhoon discusses sexual violence committed against women in the form of rape
through the story of Kaneez. She is raped by the brother-in-law of her sister at age sixteen.
As the novel informs, she conceals her tragedy from everyone throughout her life because,
in Pakistani society, a woman who is raped is considered taboo for the family honour and
is accused as a criminal and disgraced woman. Thus, she has to carry the burden of family
honour. She feels ashamed and remains fearful her entire life (p. 229). Undergoing a
psychological pain with ‗a traumatised mind‘ (p. 231), she does not find any happiness in
marriage and refuses to re-marry following the death of her husband at a very young age.
She develops fear and disgust against a sexual relationship with men (pp. 226–27). Women
are raped and not considered victims, but rather partners in crime. They cannot even share
their suffering or the injustices done to them for fear of losing their honour and their
family‘s honour in support of men. Kaneez‘s story refers to the traditions relegating women
to men‘s authority. Through such traditional thinking, a woman is deprived of her
independence and free will, and is put under the authority and surveillance of men. Such
distorted traditional standards of honour and modesty cause various forms of psychological
and emotional violence to be imposed upon women. The conventional thinking and social
system developed by patriarchy thus manoeuvres to position women to a station of
dependence upon men and accordingly makes their position vulnerable in society. Thus,
the novel directs readers‘ attention to the tradition of making women the custodian of
family honour through oppression.
Religion & Patriarchy in the Fictions of Shahraz & Hosseieni
9
Another critical issue raised and discussed in these two novels is ‗Purdah‘ (veil),
which is used as a useful apparatus sanctioned by both culture and the cultural
understanding of religion to oppress women and make them vulnerable to violence.
Purdah is a deep-rooted cultural tradition—as well as a religious obligation—in the societies
of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Purdah means that women have to ‗cover themselves (above
their clothes)‘, which includes different items, such as the burqa, chador and abbaya
(Tabassum, 2016, p.23). Much like other traditions and culturally distorted religious norms
practiced in Pakistan and Afghanistan, purdah is used as a tool to make women subservient
and invisible in the public sphere (Naik, 2008, p. 63). By limiting women‘s mobility, they
are deprived of educational and economic employment opportunities and political
participation. Supporting this opinion, Mumtaz & Shaheed write, ‗the false values
attending purdah, which place a premium on segregation and the seclusion of women,
reduce many to being a captive labour force … immobile, ignorant and isolated one from
the other. . .they end up facing extreme exploitation‘ (p. 26). Purdah, as a dress code, serves
as an ‗open statement of social, religious and above all cultural discourse‘ (Tabassum, 2016,
p. 21). Purdah is mandatory, both culturally and religiously, for women in Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
Double standards of morality for men and women propagated by religious scholars
are another basic cause for women's secondary position. In this situation, men are free to
participate in politics, have formal employment and dominate the public sphere, while
women, in contrast, remain confined to homes or have limited freedom for social mobility
and economic pursuits (Hussain, 1987, p. 11). Purdah, in both these novels, is presented as
the symbol of power controlling women‘s bodies and their social lives, to ensure their
complete dependence upon and submission to the will of the men. At the same time, it is
used to keep a check on women‘s agency and their access to material resources of
empowerment. Discussing the role of purdah in Afghani society, Ayotte &Husain (2005)
make mention of RAWA‘s website, which states that ‗[w]hen forcibly imposed, the burqa
becomes a misogynistic instrument of terror designed to objectify women, relegating their
social status to that of ‗chattel‘ by making them literally invisible in the Afghan public
sphere…‘ (p. 128).
In A Thousand Splendid Suns, Rasheed‘s wives are secluded in the domestic space,
with Burqa forcefully imposed on them whenever they are allowed to go out (p. 71).
Similarly, in Typhoon, Naghmana‘s arrival in the village by driving her own car with no
head covering is completely frowned upon by the village elders, especially Siraj Din.
Shahraz depicts this scene as if ‗she was a stranger in ―his‖ village and one who didn‘t
attempt to cover head‘ (p. 12). His displeasure takes her boldness, self-reliance and
confidence as immodesty, and accordingly develops his prejudice against her, as reflected
in his unjust decision in the public court against her. She is forced to appear a shameless
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Munazza Yaqoob
woman in the public court, headed by Siraj Din. With his authority, he passes a verdict
that, if she is chaste and modest, she must have her head lowered and face covered.
Naghmana, in the public court, is under the complete authority of men for the
certification of her character. She is dependent upon men‘s decision for her act of falling
in love with Haroon and marrying him without their approval and permission. She is made
weak, dependent, and dispossessed of all confidence and self-assurance. She is pressured to
ask for divorce against her will, and feels as if in front of her there is a ‗line of hundreds of
cobras, all poised and ready to strike her with their venom… Her head drop[s] on her
shoulders. Defeated.‘ (p. 188). She is graced with the title of ‗a true noble woman‘ (p. 194)
as she accepts the decision without any resistance, with her head lowered. Naghmana‘s
sacrifice of her desire for the sake of others and her covered and lowered head thus makes
purdah a symbol of a cultural norm, which confirms women‘s subservience and
subordination to men and the powerful patriarchal social order, honouring a woman‘s
sacrifices, but without regard for her happiness, emotions or desires. Typhoon also implies
that head covering, or purdah, serves as a sign of a woman‘s submission to the social
patriarchal order and men‘s power. She is victimised for being self-reliant and confident,
which is the negation of gender-specified roles and is thus threatening to a man‘s position.
Purdah operates in different forms in Pakistani and Afghani societies, as depicted
in the selected novels: it not only means the full covering of the body but also justifies the
domestic confinement and limited—or altogether no—visibility in the public sphere. This
tradition, which is sanctioned by cultural understanding of religion, confining women at
home in the domestic space, cuts them off from the public sphere, which offers resources
of empowerment and thus deprives them of the social privileges available to men through
their access to the public sphere. The limited access provided to women is permitted if they
are adequately covered or accompanied by their male relatives. In this way, purdah, as an
instrument of patriarchy, deprives women of their social rights. The concept of purdah in
this context, which is notably used to protect women‘s modesty and family honour,
functions as the best means in the hands of patriarchy to place women under restrictions,
resulting in various types of violence against them.
Both Typhoon and A Thousand Splendid Suns illustrate the fact that spaces for men
and women are demarcated in Pakistani and Afghani society. Male characters, in both of
the texts, are in controlling positions as the heads of families within the house, and have
freedom for social mobility. Siraj Din, being the head of the family, controls all matters
related to land, business and community, and makes all decisions regarding the social and
religious matters of his community. On the contrary, his wife, Zulaikha, along with other
women in his family and the village, are all confined to the domestic sphere where they are
yoked in ‗centuries-old drudgery‘ (Mumtaz & Shaheed, 1987, p. 17), i.e. managing
Religion & Patriarchy in the Fictions of Shahraz & Hosseieni
11
household tasks, taking care of children and cooking. Women‘s free time is spent in
unproductive activities, such as making sandals and paying courtesy visits to one another.
The character of Kaneez, on the other hand, offers an interesting insight into the
life of women in Pakistani society who choose to live a different life. She refuses to marry
and looks after all the business matters herself, daring to decide for her own life. However,
the narrative, in subtle ways, helps readers notice that the community, rooted in old
traditions, does not appreciate her decision to live an independent life with access to the
public sphere. The village elder, Siraj Din, her own sister, and the community as a whole,
including her suitors, try to convince her that her life is barren and incomplete without a
male companion (p. 227). The concept of an independent woman living alone, with no
male companion, is not only disproved of but also considered a sign of ‗abnormality‘, in
that such women and her choice to manage her economic resources outside the home go
against the culturally stereotyped image of a woman. The narrative exposes the deeply
embedded thinking of traditional Pakistani society, which considers it unnatural,
unthinkable and abnormal for a woman to choose a life independent of a male companion
and looking after a business rather than finding comfort in the domestic space.
Similarly, in A Thousand Splendid Suns, Rasheed makes his wives understand how
indispensable he is for being a shelter-provider for the family, and therefore demands all
the comfort at home to be managed by his wives because he earns for them (p. 209).
Another character, Jalil, also has the freedom to move in public life and to manage all the
business and matters outside the home. His wives are confined to looking after the
children and kitchen. The novel portrays women as domestic slaves, deprived of education,
employment and freedom to move, and completely dependent on their husbands (p. 218).
The domestication of women in both societies is executed in obedience to culture and
religion, which relegates women to subordination and positions them as vulnerable; hence,
they are easy victims of all types of violence.
In this regard, Ayotte & Husain (2005) consider that ‗One of the most important
advances in the history of feminism was the recognition of structural violence against
women as a significant aspect of gender oppression. Structural violence includes the myriad
material harms done to women through inadequate education and healthcare, exploitative
employment conditions, endemic poverty, and other conditions that inflict damage on
lives without the brute immediacy of physical violence‘ (p. 126). The concept of structural
violence was introduced by Galtung (1969), referring to all forms of violence wherein sociopolitical structures deprive people of their basic human rights and privileges. Structural
violence thus ‗creates conditions where interpersonal violence can occur and shape gendered
forms of violence [emphasis original] that place women in vulnerable positions‘ in society
(Montesanti, 2015, para. 8). For Price (2012), structural violence poses a challenge to the
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Munazza Yaqoob
narrow notions of abuse committed against women and refers to all variegated forms of
violence. Shahraz criticises narrow assumptions of violence that reduce various types of
violence committed against women in multiple spaces simply to domestic violence. She
draws attention to the variegated forms of institutionalised violence, which are produced
and reinforced by socio-cultural and political institutions and histories. Structural violence,
thus, is a reason for other types of violence against women, forcing them to be dependent,
subordinated and weak.
Research in the field builds an understanding that, along with culture and religion,
when patriarchy becomes a state policy, and when through State power misogyny is
institutionalised, the worst forms of structural violence against women are committed in
patriarchal societies. Studies by Mills & Lewis (2003), Bhavnani, Foran & Kurian (2003),
Davis (1961) and Richie (2003) all regard the State as responsible and as a supporter of the
brutal forms of abuse inflicted upon women through State institutions, such as laws and
socio-economic policies. Hosseini‘s A Thousand Splendid Suns resents violence against
women, not only as a deep-rooted religious-cultural tradition in Afghanistan, but also as
State-sponsored misogyny. The novel explores how institutionalised patriarchy and
misogyny during Taliban rule cause hideous forms of oppression upon women. The Statesponsored misogyny operated through laws and the constitution of the State of
Afghanistan during the Taliban regime. The text informs readers that soon after Taliban
take control of the country, they implemented Islam as the State religion, which resulted in
the worst form of distorted interpretations of Islam practically executed as State law.
The Taliban established their regime in 1996 and announced their State policy,
carved on the principles of Islam. According to their newly designed and implemented
system in the Islamic state of Afghanistan, singing, music-playing, dancing, gambling
(including chess and card-playing), painting and other forms of art, such as film, cultural
festivals, such as kite-flying, and many other entertainment and cultural-intellectual
activities, were forbidden, with strict punishments announced for those who did not abide
by the law. Special laws, as per the new Islamised policy, made the burqa mandatory for
women, with females forbidden to show their visibility in a public space without being
accompanied by their fathers, brothers, sons or husbands (pp. 270–71). This particular law
orders them to stay at home and puts a ban on education, employment and even public
healthcare amongst women. They are also prohibited from showing their faces in public,
laughing, or even looking at males outside their home (p. 271). Vicki Mabrey reports that
the burqa and the seclusion of women within domestic space becomes ‗the symbol of the
Taliban's power‘ (‗Unveiled‘, 2001). Thus State-sponsored and -supported misogyny is a
proclamation of power by the new regime, which is established on a foundation of forcing
women into subordination.
Religion & Patriarchy in the Fictions of Shahraz & Hosseieni
13
Women, as portrayed in A Thousand Splendid Suns, are victims of patriarchal
culture, patriarchal understanding of religion, as well of State-sponsored misogyny. All of
these power institutions, as described in the novel, collectively work to weaken women and
establish patriarchal control. Hence, structural violence, as caused by the misogynist State
policy through State institutions and tools, becomes the main reason for human rights
abuse against women; they are banned from public spaces, denied education, healthcare,
professional employment, entertainment and access to resources, and are placed under the
complete control of their husbands, fathers and brothers. Maryam and Laila suffer hideous
forms of violence by their husband Rasheed after the misogynist State policy is
implemented in Afghanistan. These women are physically, sexually and psychologically
tortured by Rasheed, who is their absolute master and who is afforded authorisation by
State law to control women by force (p. 218). He has the authority to confine them at
home or brutally beat them if they disobey (pp. 261–62).When they are caught trying to
escape, the police send them back to Rasheed, saying, ‗What a man does in his home is his
business… As a matter of policy, we do not interfere with private matters‘, and further
states, this is a ‗private family affair‘ (p. 260).
As mentioned earlier, women in South Asian societies suffer from structural
violence in the form of the absence of proper healthcare and education facilities. A
Thousand Splendid Suns portrays the most inadequate healthcare facilities among women as
occurring during the Taliban regime. Laila delivers her child in a hospital where there is no
‗clear water … no oxygen, no medicine, no electricity‘ (p. 283). She undergoes surgery
without anaesthesia and suffers the worst pain of her life (pp. 284–85). As regards
education, all the main characters in the novel are either illiterate or have some primary
religious education given at home. Only Laila has the opportunity to go to school before
her parents died during the Civil War in that country. She was fortunate to have this
privilege because her father was a supporter of communists and rebelled against tribal local
cultural and religious traditions.
In Typhoon, the author does not refer to State-sponsored misogyny or patriarchy in
Pakistan, although the history of Pakistan reveals that, during the military regime spanning
1979–1989, military dictator General Zia ul Haq imposed the most oppressive laws against
women in the name of Islamisation of the State in Pakistan. State laws during Zia rule,
much like those of the Taliban regime, restricted women‘s social mobility, restrained them
to the domestic private sphere, and imposed purdah and complete segregation of men and
women in the public domain (Mumtaz & Shaheed, 1987, p. 86). Though the novel is not
set during Zia‘s regime, the impact of these policies on the range of socio-cultural and
religious practices, specifically geared towards the oppression and restriction of women, is
visible in the patriarchal social structure of the society, as depicted in the novel. With the
exception of Naghmana and Kaneez, no other female character is educated in Typhoon. The
14
Munazza Yaqoob
novel does not refer to any educational opportunities or significance of education in
women‘s lives, with women dependent upon men for their socio-economic needs.
Conclusion
Thus, feminist analysis of the selected texts reveals that women in Pakistan and
Afghanistan live their lives in subordination to men. They, as depicted in these novels, are
‗the incidental, the inessential, and the Other, they are the subjects and ―the Absolute‖‘ (de
Beauvoir, 1953, p. xiv). In these societies, as the novels demonstrate, gender is embedded
in all institutions; therefore, the spaces for women and men are demarcated. Cultural
norms and traditions in such societies allow men to occupy ‗the public space‘, while
women are confined to the ‗private space‘—that is, home and household. There are various
strategies which patriarchy exercises to control and subordinate women, such as associating
family honour with the woman‘s body and regarding women‘s modesty as the highest
virtue. Being the custodian of family honour, which stays safe if females remain obedient,
becomes the main reason to impose purdah upon them, keeping them segregated and
restricted from the public sphere. The dependent and subordinated status is imprinted on
the minds of women to the extent that they grow up with the consciousness that their
social existence depends on their male relatives, and being self-reliant and independent is
equated with being immodest and as going against the honour of their family.
Both novels take patriarchy as one of the central issues and present it as a social
disease threatening the peaceful coexistence of men and women in society. Patriarchy
assigns dominating roles to male members in these societies, who are regarded as superior
to women, pertaining to mental as well as physical abilities, and hence have the right to
control domestic, social and political spheres. Men in these societies take it as their
inherent and legitimate right to control the lives of women, oppress their freedom to
choose and decide, and even use violence to maintain their dominating position. This
patriarchal thinking shapes women‘s lives, with females in such circumstances conditioned
to accept this situation as the norms and traditions of patriarchal culture in the sociopolitical system. They accept their subordinate roles and take it as their duty to obey men
and facilitate them in carrying out their dominance and ruling positions.
Cultural traditions and the cultural interpretation of religion in both the
patriarchal societies of Pakistan and Afghanistan make violence against women a cultural
norm, and so it is a commonplace matter in their daily lives in the form of domestic
violence. According to bell hooks (n. d.), women who are rebellious or who dare to show
any degree of resistance or challenge are punished and victimised. Hence, patriarchal
culture, patriarchal religious interpretation and patriarchal State policies collectively
establish social conditions whereby women are marginalised and made vulnerable to abuse.
Religion & Patriarchy in the Fictions of Shahraz & Hosseieni
15
The novels set in Pakistan and Afghanistan argue that multiple forms of violence in these
two regions stem from the alliance of patriarchy with various structural factors, such as
culture, religion, State policies and law, as well as economic and educational opportunities.
Thus, as narratives of confession, these two texts authenticate the truth, presented in the
form of fiction.
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___________________________
Dr. Munazza Yaqoob is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of English,
Female Campus, International Islamic University, Islamabad. As Founder & Director of
Critical Thinking Forum (CTF), she is engaged in a project titled Consciousness-Raising of
Pakistani Women on Contemporary Academic and Social Issues (2015-2018) which is being
carried out in collaboration with Department of State, US Embassy, Islamabad. Her
research interests include Comparative Literature, Post 9/11 Literature, Peace Studies,
Literary Theory, Ideology and Literature, Cultural Studies, and South Asian Fiction in
English. Dr. Yaqoob completed her Post-Doc in 2016 at the University of North Carolina
Wilmington, USA.