Heart Lamp: Selected Stories

The first two stories in Mushtaq’s collection examine the tension between the way people present themselves and who they really are. The latter reveals itself not through words but through intentions and actions. In both stories, the central characters make bold statements on a certain matter, only for them to act (or fail to act) in ways that betray their true intentions.

In “Stone Slabs for Shaista Mahal,” Iftikhar declares his devotion to Shaista in hyperbolic terms: He loves her enough to construct a palace that symbolizes his love for her, one that equals the Taj Mahal. Once the allusion to the real-life structure is evoked in the story, it clarifies the title and foreshadows Shaista’s ultimate fate. When Mujahid reminds Iftikhar that the Taj Mahal is a tomb, Mushtaq is signaling a challenge to Iftikhar’s character: When Shaista dies, either Iftikhar will rise up to the occasion or he will fail to prove his devotion. 

The tension of Shaista’s foreshadowed death speaks volumes of her mistreatment in life, introducing the theme of The Problem of Gendered Violence in the Family. Although Iftikhar provides for Shaista and their children’s material needs, his declarations come across as overcompensation for his neglect of her emotional needs. This is especially evident in how he opposes her desire for a tubal ligation to free her from further childbearing, with Iftikhar failing to see how an ever-expanding family places heavier domestic burdens on Shaista and their eldest daughter, Asifa. Likewise, his insistence that Shaista rejoin him even though she has not yet fully healed from childbirth shows his neglect of her physical well-being, with their decision to cut short her recovery period defined entirely in terms of meeting his needs, not what is best for her. 

Iftikhar’s domineering ways also appear in how he treats his eldest daughter. Shaista’s foremost desire is to see Asifa graduate from college and pursue an independent life. Iftikhar thinks that such ambitious are needless, signaling his conservative attitudes. His ambition for Asifa to marry rich is merely an expression of his own ambition to grow his wealth and power. He treats Asifa as though she is his servant, only ever giving her requests and orders; he never engages with her in any other way, let alone thinks of her future the way Shaista does. Iftikhar’s habit of ignoring Asifa’s personhood thus mirrors the way he treats Shaista.  

Mushtaq complicates the story’s feminist lens by framing it through the perspective of Zeenat, a newlywed whose attitudes lean liberal but whose situation nevertheless also subtly reflects the complications of gender roles. At the very start of the story, she is reluctant to call Mujahid her husband because of its overly conservative connotations, yet most of her life revolves around the domesticity that her marriage has forced her into. Her friendship with Shaista is framed as a balm for the loneliness of her new suburban environment. Zeenat gets some comfort from the domestic trappings of her life, but she also sees through Shaista how much that domesticity can trap her into servitude. 

Although her relationship with Mujahid is amicable, Zeenat hints at the repressive aspects of their relationship when she explains how Mujahid tried previously to influence her style to make himself appear more liberal. By the end of the story, Mujahid does not behave sympathetically to Shaista’s disappearance, sitting down to read the newspaper while Zeenat inquires after her friend. Mujahid therefore also shows a lack of genuine emotional responsiveness to Zeenat’s feelings and experiences, which suggests that their marriage is still not as equal as Zeenat wishes it to be. Mushtaq then reinforces the trap of domesticity by ending the story on Shaista’s observation that Asifa is more like her mother than her daughter, driving the idea of the cyclical exploitation that domesticity traps women into. 

“Fire Rain” relies heavily on the misdirection Mushtaq deploys to complicate the life of the mutawalli Usman Saheb, which introduces the theme of The Importance of Reforming Religion for a Modern Society. The very first paragraph of the story foreshadows its end as Usman comes upon the sight of his wife and his sick child. Although he prides himself on being a devout Muslim, Usman does not behave with the empathy and self-control his faith requires: Instead of extending his sympathy to them, Usman is overcome with anger left over from the issue with his sister. The story thus characterizes Usman as someone who is quick to accommodate the needs of everyone who comes to him, but fails to attend to the needs of his own house. Mushtaq reinforces this by referring to him almost exclusively as the mutawalli instead of by his name, as if to suggest that he is more his public role than he is a father, husband, and elder brother.

Mushtaq makes the use of misdirection in the story clear when it abandons the subplot featuring Jameela and her husband. This mirrors the misdirection Usman applies to solve his problem with the family property, utilizing a public scandal to elicit his congregation’s sympathies. Usman’s quick valorization of a disgraced member of their community to save his reputation underscores his opportunism, while also interrogating his function as an influential Muslim figure. Usman can bend the devotion of the community to suit his purposes, but when they simultaneously realize that the corpse they are burying is not Nisar, but someone else entirely, it exposes the performative nature of the community’s devotion. They are no different from Jameela’s husband, who commits an act of charity only because he expects a reward, thus undermining his virtue as a Muslim. Neither are they any different from Nisar, a man who made a grand promise to the mosque, only to exploit its coffers. 

Mushtaq ends this story on an ironic note that suggests the power of divine justice in Usman’s life. Since Usman has been so obsessed with protecting his property and reputation, he has failed to see the one problem that urgently required his concern: his son’s serious illness. Usman, Mujahid, and Iftikhar are thus similar insofar as they prize their reputation at the cost of their relationships.