Heer: The Metaphor of Resistance

Heer is, perhaps the only heroine of our romantic or folk tales, who had to face the Shariat Court and hear from the Judge or Qazi:

Durray shara’ de maar udherrh desaan

Karaan Umar Khattab da niaa’n Heeray

(I will do justice according to the Shariat, justice in the tradition of Caliph Umar Khattab. And that is you will be severely flogged).

Flogging or a threat of flogging is a typical aspect in the Islamic Penal Code. No one was there to plead for Heer of Jhang Sial in the court of the qazi (judge) appointed by the Lodhi and Mughal rulers. 

Heer, the daughter, or princess of a Sial Raja of Jhang, refused to surrender her fundamental right – freedom to marry a man of her own choice, the right recognized by Islam unambiguously. She had committed no crime which came within the mischief of the Hadood Ordinance of those days. Her only crime was that she demanded the freedom to marry a man, Ranjha, whose clan was not equal in status to the Sials and who had abandoned his land and home in his ancestral village across river Chenab. 

Heer chose Dheedo Ranjha, an angry young man from Takht Hazara, as her would-be husband. But she was not allowed to do so by her uncle Kaido, her parents, her brothers and lastly the judge of the Shariat Court. She had to face everybody like an emancipated young girl. The first attack came from her uncle Kaido who found Heer and Ranjha in the animal farm talking like lovers. In Kaido’s view this was highly objectionable. A daughter of a chief talking to a man of inferior status and an employee of the chief, would certainly earn disgrace for the ruling family of the area. Heer was forced to expose her uncle and prove that he was a pervert and otherwise also abnormal. She hit him hard in the meeting of the elders of her family. 

Kaido was morally defeated by Heer and her friends, but the points raised by Kaido were held valid by the elders. 

Now the father, mother, and brother of Heer Sial ordered her to mend her ways and abandon the idea of marrying a poor domestic servant. She refused to do so and insisted that she had the right to choose her future companion. Come what may, she would marry Ranjha, the chaak (servant).

 

 

 

Heer’s determination was unshakeable and that embarrassed the chief of the Sial tribe. Heer’s brother suggested that if she was allowed to have Ranjha as her husband, it would bring shame to all the Sials and they would never be able to keep their head high. This would ruin the principality of Choochak. He suggested that Heer should be done away with. She should be murdered and thrown into the Chenab. But according to her father and mother if ever this conspiracy was discovered, it would bring greater disgrace to the family. Therefore, the Sial chief sought the help of the judge of the Shariat court (Qazi Shamsuddin) who happened to be Heer’s teacher. She was presented before the Qazi who advised her:

Bacha Heer! Tenu asi mat denday

Mithi naal zabaan samjhaunday ni

Chaak chobaaraa naal na gal kijey

Aeh mehenti kehrray thaaun de ni

(Heer, my child, I advise you to never talk to these menial servants. They are just your workers they have no status at all).

Heer had already accepted the threat of his brother Sultan to lay down her life rather than forget Ranjha. She refused to listen to the wise words of the Qazi: 

Hor sabh galaa manzoor karaan

Ik chaak tu na hataa mian

(I will accept all your conditions but do not ask me to leave the chaak).

That enraged the Qazi who shouted at the top of his voice:

Sir betiaa de chaa judaa kar de

Baap ghuseyaa te jado aunday ne

Sir wadh ke naenh vich rorh denday

Maas kaa’n, kuttey, billay khaundey ne

(When fathers get angry, they chop off the heads of their daughters. Their dead bodies are thrown in the river, whereafter they are eaten by dogs and cats).

 

 

 

These dreadful words from the lips of the Shariat judge failed to move the young girl. She refused to surrender and based her argument on the Quranic principles and the history of Meccan society in the days of the Holy Prophet:

Poray hattiya, qoum ouh nasht hovay

Dhiaa’n maariyaa khoon gawah mian

Manda ghat olaad de naal karna

“La taqtalu” hukm Allah Mian

(History stands witness that the nations which allowed the murder of their daughters were doomed. Allah has ordered never to kill daughters. You will be accountable to Allah for this crime on the day of Resurrection).

Heer upset the Qazi. She had better knowledge of history and the rise and fall of nations than him. She had a more stable character than the Qazi who had so far put up not a single convincing argument. Heer made them speechless and when the qazis have no way out they use their authority to issue a fatwa (edict). 

The Qazi applies the same tactics:

Jis waqt asaa dita chaa fatwa

Osay waqt he maar utaarnein gey

(When we issue the Fatwa the same moment your parents will kill you).

Even that warning of the Shariat judge did not work and Heer, with all the politeness at her command, accepts that threat: 

Qaazia aashiqaa siraa tou pand sutti

Main taa sharm di bhaar na ladiaa gi

(Lovers have already abandoned the lust for life, O judge! They never care for any disgrace which may be the fate of love). 

That answer, that will die, shatters the Qazi and he refuses to have further dialogue with Heer.

Qazi de jawab eh uth turya

Khairay po una karay haarni vey

(The judge stood up and said, ‘leave her alone, she has gone astray).

And here Waris Shah takes the side of Heer, the lower:

Kiti shuru saboot hai ashiqaa di

Qazi ghaflataa vich zaleel yaaro

(The lovers have fulfilled the dictates of Shariat while the qazis have violated it and earned disagree).

Now her parents, with the connivance of the Qazi, prepared a scheme to forcibly marry Heer and the Qazi was brought to the nikah ceremony. The Qazi already had a bitter dialogue with Heer. He tried to convince Heer with the same old set of arguments, which had already been rejected by Heer. To put force in his arguments the Qaazi gave the current interpretation of the Shariat:

Minu das Heeray kehri gal Pichay

Naal chaak muhabbataa laayaa ni

Ghar baar naahi koi khouh khalarr

Kutay pind na paerr, na jaayaa ni

Modhay gha bhoora, hath daang pharr ke

Majhi kaamiaan ho charaayaa ni

Vichay chaak ro laak bedaad hoyi

Laa sattiaa sharm hayaayaa ni

Wadda adab ustaad da samjh Heeray

Atay maa peyaa man razaayaa ni

Hukm Shara’ shareef Muhammadi (PBUH) ne

An-honiaa mana farmaayaa ni

(According to the Shariat of Qazi Shamsuddin, to obey parents and teachers is essential. To disobey is a sin. Ranjha has no blue blood. He is homeless, landless. He has no village and his ancestors are ordinary, unknown people. He is just an ordinary farm hand. His total assets are his coarse blanket and a staff for the herd for which he has been employed).

The Qazi further says, that which has sanction of what they call the Shariat from the times of Heer will our own times. 

Bhooray kamblaa chaa jawab dayye

Resham naal dou shaaliaa joriye ji

Bhavein lakh shanas bayraag hovey

Syed, Mughal, Pathan bee loriye ji

(There is no relationship between silk and ordinary hand-woven grey blankets. They are two different and opposing classes. No less than a Syed, Mughal or a Pathan is suitable for Heer Sial. Ultimately the origin matters. Mares are not meant for donkeys and mules).

The Heer yells at the Qazi and taunts him in these words:

Heer aakheya Qaazia! Dagha keeto

Keih watna es jahaan tou ji

Bina puchiaa parhi nikah mera

Eih fatwa nahi Quran tu ji

Le ke rishwataa karey khushamad tu

Nahi sangda Rabb burhaan tu ji

(Heer says, “You have treacherously deceived me but what will you get out of this, O Qazi? You performed my nikah without my consent. Your act and fatwa are not in accordance with the Quran: You accept bribes, you flatter those who support you in these immoral dealings. You are not afraid of God Almighty).

The marriage party of Saida Khaira of Rangpur had arrived and Heer had to be married to him at all costs. The parents of Heer, the Qazi, elders of the family and the town were determined to forcibly marry Heer to Said Khaira. This was done. Heer refused to accept the marriage and declared:

Mian Ranjhya! Umr de paye jheray

Dukh dard mera kis wandna ay

Khairay naali nahi houna jorr mera

Karey talab te jhaarrna chandna ay

(Dear Ranjha, now there are lifelong sufferings for me and no one will share these with me. I refuse to accept Khaira as my husband and if he dares to come to me I will, with the help of Punj Peer, beat him up).

Heer kept her promise and never accepted the fake nikah. She refused to be a wife to Saida Khaira. All the time she had been accusing her parents, maulvis, councilors and government functionaries, of committing an unholy and anti-Shariat act. She kept waiting for Ranjha. And ultimately Ranjha came in disguise. Now he was a jogi trained at the historical Tilla Balnath in Jhelum.

Earlier, Ranjha had refused to accept Heer’s suggestion that they should elope. Ranjha was hopeful of winning her hand as her parents had given him an unambiguous assurance. But circumstances led him to believe that all moral and legal ways had been blocked by society:

Penchaa pind diaa sach tou tark kiti

Qazi rishwataa maar ke chor keetay

Pehle hornaa naal qaraar kar ke

Tama vekh daamaad cha hor keetay

(The qazis have gone corrupt and criminal. The councilors or elders have nothing to do with truth. Parents promise the hands of their daughters to one but because of their greed for wealth and power, hand them over to others).

In Ranjha’s view, no institution was worth the name. He left with no other way except to reconsider Heer’s earlier proposal. So was the case with Heer. Both agreed to run away to far away land where nobody would know them. They were escaping out of Rangpur, when the Khairas chased and caught them. They were presented in the court of Raja Adali who was sympathetic to the couple but he again sent them to his Shariat court headed by a Qazi, no less vile than Shamsuddin. He was already prejudicial against Heer and Ranjha whose affair was known to him. Therefore, his decision was obvious. Heer was separated from Ranjha and restored to the Khairas. She was shocked at the decision. She had nothing left to fight for, but in desperation she prayed to God to reduce the city to ashes.

Eda qehr keeta des waleya ne

Es shehr nu Qadiraa agg layee

Heer never surrendered. She had to suffer a great deal but ultimately, she secured her right to freedom from the Khairas as well as the Sials. 

Heer’s end is a different story but she continues to inspire because of her relentless struggle for the restoration of her fundamental rights. She is a beacon light, particularly for women in South Asia fighting for their rights. Heer should not be taken as the love-lorn heroine of a romantic story. She is a powerful indigenous champion of women’s cause. She is the Joan of Arc of the women’s struggle for equal rights in South Asia.