‘Talashnama’: Novel about religious fundamentalism is testament to the political significance of art

There is still one sphere in the world now in which one can easily pass off darkness as light and light as darkness – and that is religion. The light of religion is not exactly clear, it's incomplete and hazy. Can that light show the way? Besides, has anyone ever received absolute light? And yet, why does the earth itself carry on with half daylight and half night?

Talashnama: The Quest, a hefty novel by Ismail Darbesh, is not just a work of fiction but a riveting picture of our times. It is an incisive exploration of the intricacies, internal divisions, diverse and disputed practices, power struggles, and reformist initiatives observed in Islam. But more than that, it is a contemplation of the radiance and darkness in religion, which after all can only take the form given to it by its practitioners.

The fossilisation of religion

The novel is populated with believers of all kinds. The erudite and enlightened Maruf is a beacon for a community shrouded in ignorance and stultified by illiteracy. Maulana Tahirul is a Muslim scholar who, despite delivering sermons as the imam, can lose sight of what is inherently fair. On the death of Hasan Ali, a communist with a kind disposition, he...

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