REVIEW OF FIRE IN THE
BELLY
We live in a world
today where our attention has been diverted away from the essentials of life.
The real purpose of our existence is fuzzy or lost somewhere in the periphery
of our lives. We devote little or no time to the activity of reflection and
meditation for our growth in wisdom and for spiritual development. However it
is through this activity that we can learn from our personal and collective
experiences and assess and evaluate them so that they affect and nurture our
characters for its betterment providing strong value based lifestyles, highly
moral and principled stance under all circumstances.
This play is written
with the intention of forcing this awareness and therefore it must be
commended. The play highlights the cause and effect of some adverse human
characteristics. The writer amplifies the vice of materialism and greed which
only leads to corruption of the heart and therefore corruption of deeds. As the
main theme of the story unfolds she skilfully interplays right from the onset,
the negative results of such behaviour which alerts and reminds the reader of
accountability. Appropriately, the concept of Repentance and the Mercy of God
are introduced as the answer when one finally admits wrongdoing.
The first thing that
struck me in scene one was the narrator’s comment, charity for the sake of God
being an ‘authentic anthem, a loan to God is commendable’.
Scene two’s
introduction of Mallam Ibrahim and Ustaz Husein further hammer the point of
charity for the Sake of God. When Jamal the apparent mad man appears some
suspense is created. His perfect Qur’anic quotations with references are
certainly a contrast to his jumbled nonsensical comments.
In scene three Abdul
Laah the young boy who was orphaned when he was ten is introduced. In this same
scene we see the extravagant display of wealth by Mallam Ibrahim and his wife
Maame Sakina, this clearly signals the contrast that the writer wants to
highlight.
In the forth scene we
are taken back into time where the root of Jamal’s present condition is
explained. A caution is extended here to all, the virtues of trustworthiness,
honesty and fear of God is the candid message in this episode. But how does
this connect with the unfolding tale?
Ustaz Hussein
re-emerges in scene five from scene two but this time we see him in a very
comfortable and affluent life style. Together with his friend, Mallam Ibrahim, their
appalling and unethical characteristics are exposed and as that makes the clean
of heart cringe it also makes you remember and reaffirm the curses of the
Qur’an on such characters.
In scene six we see a
different Maame Sakina and it is a light of hope but what a dilemma she finds
herself in.
Yet again hope in scene
seven as the setting delightfully soothes the reader with God’s promise to
those who repent. The scene ends with Abdul Laah in a state of panic.
Alas how the ignorant
person finds a semblance of fulfilment in the false sense of fame, however
short lived it may be. The attention of equally ignorant people who can only
qualify and measure success or progress by the amount of material and chattel
one is able to muster around him/her self. It is truly a bountiful blessing to
overcome this state of mind and the writer must be commended for making this
point crystal clear in this eighth scene. Far too many people are deceived into
believing that you are special, classy, and elite, of high society when you
have wealth and so people will acquire wealth through any means, by hook or
crook, in order to gain that false status of fame and popularity, forgetting
that it is God who raises humankind to high ranks and lower them to the low of
low in society.
Scene nine displays the
beginning of the end...... what happens to those who persist in wrong doing?
How short sighted they are in their folly.
The writer has brought
together all the strands of the play in this final scene in an imaginative way
and this has created a multiple array of lessons for those who take heed, truly
beneficial for seekers of good both here and in the hereafter. A scene to be
replayed again and again!
The short play made me
reflect on how the young writer is conscious of her community and the wows that
bedevil it. I think I am as troubled as she is by the behaviour of some of the
characters in our society and wonder how we can change this. All in all, she
brings to bear on the reader the importance of Allah’s Law and even more
importantly, the adherence to that Law for peace to prevail in one’s heart and
by extension within the environment or community. Because it is written in a
play form it can be dramatised for the benefit of our communities and it is
suitable for the old as well as the young.
HAJIA
SAMIA ZOUAIN
PUBLIC
SPEAKER ON ISLAMIC ISSUES
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