Constructing Pakistan - pg. 87

This particularity of the novel must be kept in mind: it is a novel written by a Muslim author with Muslim characters, one of whom decides to become a reformer, for the conditions of the Muslims, we are told, are much worse than their Hindu counterparts. We mus tread this particularity of the novel as an example of Muslim exceptionalism within the realm of British Indian politics. It is also important to note that the text does not generate this exceptionalism. The public imperative within the novel -- the Muslim conditions and Inb-ul-Waqt's need for legitimation -- inscribe this need to help the fellow Muslims in the novel.

Another important aspect of the novel is its comparative value with one of its Bengali Hindu counterparts: Bankimchandra Chatterji's Anadamath. Published in 1882, the reason the latter seems so nationalist a work is because it matches our critical expectations of an anticolonial novel: the novel focuses on the Sanyasi rebellion that followed the famine of 1770 and describes the early nationalism of Bengali Hindus within a Muslim Bengal including the defeat of the East India Company troops. Bankim's novel, however, despite the contrary assertions of Julius Lipner, the translator, successfully introduces the idea of a militant Bengali Hindu subject in conflict with its Muslim counterparts.

Nazeer Ahmed's project, however, is much different: he and his contemporary Muslim elite are attempting to create a space for the Muslims within the British system. His work, therefore, must posit itself in the language of loyalty to the British and in opposition to the Hindus but not necessarily in terms of war, for the project is, precisely, to transform the war-like Muslims into loyal subjects of the Crown. It is this project that in itself should be read as a particular form of Muslim nationalistic literature.