کیا"ایک قطرۂ خون"‘تاریخی ناول ہے؟

Abstract

Over the past centuries, the tragic event of Karbala and all the happenings around it have been interpreted and explained in a variety of ways. Different people have brought different points of view, based on their own inclinations, to the discussions around it. Repeated narrations have tended to focus and lay emphasis on different aspects of the entire incident, thus sometimes unearthing hitherto unknown facets and sometimes bringing into focus elements which were earlier only partially visible.

Inspired by her childhood memories of attending religious gatherings commemorating the event, acclaimed writer Ismat Chughtai wrote a novel titled ‘EkQatra-e-Khoon’ based on the ultimate sacrifice by Imam Hussain. Ismat is a writer of great stature in the world of Urdu literature, however this particular novel of hers leaves a lot be desired and does not impress at all as far as the intrinsic artistic value of the work is concerned. Going through the novel, one feels as if the writer was hell bent on disguising a religious novel under the garb of a historical account. Neither have the characters been etched in their entirety and nor has the significance of the topic been brought out fully. There is a stark absence of logical sequencing in the events described in some places. A major criticism against the novel is that Imam Hussain’s character has been portrayed in a manner which suggests that he craved for the caliphate and took pains to highlight the sacrificial nature of his tragic predicament. Going against all the conventions of a historical novel, Ismat seems to have written ‘Ek Qatra-e-Khoon’ with a religious, and in some places purely sectarian, point of view; disregarding the historical account of the event and instead using traditional religious recounting as sources to base the novel on.

Primarily owing to these reasons, not only does the novel fail to serve any purpose as a historical novel, in fact the standing of Ismat Chughtai as a writer of balanced and objective novels takes a substantial beating.