:Zameen (novel)

{{Infobox book

| name = Zameen

| image = Zameen(novel)Cover.jpg

| author = Khadija Mastoor

| language = Urdu

| translator = Daisy Rockwell

| country = Pakistan

| published = {{Start date|1983}}

| isbn = 9693505743

| caption =

| title_orig = {{Lang|ur|{{Nastaliq|زمین}}}}

| orig_lang_code = ur

| set_in = Pakistan in the late 1940s

| media_type = Print (paperback)

| english_release_date = {{Start date|2019}}

| genre =

| dewey = 891.439371

| oclc = 14358029

| publisher = Idara-e-Farogh-e-Urdu

| genres = {{Hlist|Historical fiction|Social novel}}{{Cite book|last=Akhtar|first=Syed Javed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nY9AQAAIAAJ|title=Urdū kī Nāvil Nigār K͟havātīn: Taraqqī Pasand Taḥrīk se Daur-i Ḥāz̤ir Tak|date=1997|publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publications|location=Lahore|pages=91|language=ur|script-title=ur:اردو کی ناول نگار خواتین: ترقی پسند تحریک سے دور حاظر تک|oclc=39649991|access-date=13 March 2021}}

| pages = 238 (first edition)

| congress = PK2200.K394 Z24

| isbn_note = {{Resize|97%|(Sang-e-Meel Publications, {{Start date|1995|df=y}})}}

}}

Zameen ({{Langx|ur|{{Nastaliq|زمین}}|lit=land|translit=Zamīn}}), alternatively spelled Zamin, is an Urdu novel by Pakistani novelist and short story writer Khadija Mastoor. The novel was published posthumously by Idara-e-Farogh-e-Urdu in 1983.{{Unbulleted list|{{Cite web|date=n.d.|title=Zamīn|url=https://hollis.harvard.edu/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=01HVD_ALMA211879200330003941&vid=HVD2&query=lsr01,contains,990035351190203941&query=lsr01,contains,990035351190203941&mode=basic|access-date=15 March 2021|website=Harvard University|language=en}}|{{Cite journal|last=Iram|first=Naila|date=July–September 2018|title={{nastaliq|خدیجہ مستور کے کردار: عالیہ اور ساجدہ کا تنقیدی جائزہ (آزادی سے متعلق صورتِ حال کے حوالہ سے)}}|url=http://ojs.lgu.edu.pk/index.php/nooretahqeeq/article/view/564/508#page=6|journal=Noor e Tahqeeq|publisher=Lahore Garrison University|location=Lahore|language=ur|volume=2|issue=7|pages=289|eissn=2521-0157|issn=2519-6618}}|{{Cite web|date=n.d.|title=Nuqoosh Collection Books|url=https://library.gcu.edu.pk/NaqooshLtr4.htm|access-date=8 March 2021|website=Government College University, Lahore}}}} Daisy Rockwell, PhD, translated it into English and released it in July 2019 under the title A Promised Land.{{Cite web|last=Farrukhi|first=Asif|date=31 August 2019|title=Daisy Rockwell's translation of 'Zameen', Khadija Mastur's neglected masterpiece, gives it new life|url=https://scroll.in/article/935355/daisy-rockwells-translation-of-zameen-khadija-masturs-neglected-masterpiece-gives-it-new-life|access-date=4 March 2021|website=Scroll.in|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=n.d.|title=Bio|url=http://www.daisyrockwell.com/bio/|access-date=27 February 2021|website=Daisy Rockwell}} Zameen depicts the economic and political upheaval during the partition of British India.{{Cite web|last=Parekh|first=Rauf|date=30 October 2016|title=The dawn of a new era|url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1292789|access-date=27 February 2021|work=Dawn|language=en}} It begins at the final setting of Mastoor's first novel Aangan – the Walton refugee camp in Lahore. Consequently, it is sometimes considered an extension of Aangan, however, Rockwell has clarified that it is not a narrative sequel, rather a philosophical and thematic follow-up.{{Cite web|last=Subramanian|first=Lalitha|date=3 November 2019|title=Post-partition pangs|url=https://www.deccanherald.com/sunday-herald/sunday-herald-books/post-partition-pangs-772642.html|access-date=6 March 2021|website=Deccan Herald|language=en-GB}}{{Unbulleted list|{{Cite web|date=n.d.|title=Khadija Mastoor Biography and Novel Nigari {{!}} {{nastaliq|خدیجہ مستور}}|url=https://urdunotes.com/lesson/khadija-mastoor-biography-and-novel-nigari-%d8%ae%d8%af%db%8c%d8%ac%db%81-%d9%85%d8%b3%d8%aa%d9%88%d8%b1/|access-date=6 March 2021|website=Urdu Notes|language=ur}}|{{Cite web|last=Rockwell|first=Daisy|date=5 July 2019|title=This just in...my translation of Khadija Mastur's A Promised Land (Zameen, in Urdu). A harrowing novel from the author [...]|url=https://facebook.com/shreedaisy/posts/this-just-inmy-translation-of-khadija-masturs-a-promised-land-zameen-in-urdu-a-h/1347824845356587/|access-date=6 March 2021|website=|publisher=Daisy Rockwell|language=en|via=Facebook}}}} It is considered a political allegory and a women-centric historical account of Pakistan's independence.{{Cite news|last=Whitehead|first=Andrew|date=7 September 2019|title='A Promised Land' review: Sajidah and her sisters|language=en|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/sajidah-and-her-sisters-a-promised-land-by-khadija-mastur-trs-daisy-rockwell-reviewed-by-andrew-whitehead/article29360040.ece|access-date=11 March 2021|issn=0971-751X}}

Characters

Zameen{{'s}} main characters are:

Sajida ({{Transliteration|ur|Sājidah}}) – the intelligent protagonist. After migrating to Pakistan, she lives with her father at a refugee camp.
Nazim ({{Transliteration|ur|Nāẓim}}) – a Department of Rehabilitation official at the camp who insists Sajida to live at his home with him and his family
Saleema ({{Transliteration|ur|Salīmah}}) – a passionate student, Nazim's female cousin
Kazim ({{Transliteration|ur|Kāẓim}}) – Nazim's amoral and feudalistic brother

Reception

Critic and fiction writer Muhammad Ahsan Farooqi found the novel rich in Mastoor's style of dialogue writing and exposition. Writing about Zameen in his essay "{{Lang|ur-Latn|Āṅgan Par Ek Naẓar}}{{Spaces|hair}}" ({{Translation|A Look at Aangan}}) he said, "Where she has used other literary devices to develop the story and the characters against a specific backdrop, she has also taken great care of speech and style." Farooqi compared her storytelling skill to that of Jane Austen.{{Cite journal|last=Farooqi|first=Dr Ahsan|date=January–February 1984|editor-last=Qasmi|editor-first=Ahmad Nadeem|editor-link=Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi|title={{nastaliq|آنگن پر ایک نظر}}|journal=Funoon|language=ur|location=Lahore|postscript=,|number=Khadija Mastoor Number}} cited in {{Cite web|last=Fatima|first=Ghazala|date=27 October 2017|title={{nastaliq|خدیجہ مستور کی فکری اساس اور اردو ناول نگاری}}|url=https://ncpulblog.blogspot.com/2017/10/blog-post_27.html|access-date=11 March 2021|website=National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language Blog|language=ur}}

{{blockquote|Khadija Mastoor ... has possibly surpassed all the male and female novelists, with the exception of Qurratul Ain Haider, with her first novel Aangan ... which is a rare example of artistic creation. In her perfection of art she comes close to Jane Austen. Her second novel Zameen, a posthumous publication, is quite good but it is not comparable to Aangan.|author=Nazeer Siddiqi|title=|source=Reflections on Life and Literature (1994){{Cite book|last=Ṣiddīqī|first=Naẓīr|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cFpkAAAAMAAJ|title=Reflections on Life and Literature|date=1994|publisher=Sana Publications|location=Islamabad, Pakistan|pages=29|language=en|access-date=11 March 2021}}}}

In his book, Muhammad Naseem said that the author had presented the issues of the establishment of Pakistan and the migration with impartiality and skill.{{Cite book|last=Naseem|first=Muhammad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMBjAAAAMAAJ|title={{nastaliq|اردو ناول پر تقسیم ھند کے المیے کے اثرات}}|date=2002|publisher=|pages=71|language=ur|oclc=51172421|access-date=12 March 2021}} She has very well represented the feelings of a woman. Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi wrote in his article, "The way Aangan{{'s}} Aaliya and Zameen{{'s}} Sajida dominate their environment, could it be Khadija's own personality trait? But in my opinion, even more than her personality, it is Khadija's subconscious desire to see the woman dignified, which is embodied in Aaliya and Sajida."{{Unbulleted list|{{Cite journal|last=Baśīr|first=Ḍākṭar Aqīlah|date=January–June 2003|title={{Nastaliq|خدیجہ مستور کے ناولوں کے نسوانی کردار: ایک مطالعہ}}|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yadjAAAAMAAJ|journal=Adabiyaat|language=ur|location=Islamabad|publisher=Pakistan Academy of Letters|volume=15|issue=61–62|pages=164|issn=2077-0642|oclc=20589713|access-date=12 March 2021}}|{{Cite web|last=Sandelvī|first=Ḍākṭar Rafīq|date=2020-08-14|title={{Nastaliq|خدیجہ مستور کے ناولوں میں ہیرو کا تصور}}|url=https://www.aikrozan.com/hero-figure-khadeeja-mastoor-novels/|access-date=12 March 2021|website=Aik Rozan|language=ur}}}}

Shaista Hameed attested that the author wrote "every single line of her novels with blood, sweat, and tears".{{Cite magazine|last=H̤amīd|first=Ḍākṭar Śāʼistah|date=February 2014|title={{Nastaliq|اردو ناول کے رنگارنگ موضوعات}}|url=http://nlpd.gov.pk/uakhbareurdu/february2014/Feb_6.html|magazine=Akhbar-e-Urdu|location=Islamabad|publisher=National Language Promotion Department|access-date=12 March 2021}} The novel is considered a specimen of her skill of making prose memorable, without being idealistic or mixing lies in it.{{Cite web|last=Zaffar|first=Abdul Hafeez|date=1 May 2017|title=K͟hadījah Mastūr kā fan hameśah zindah rahe gā, un ke nāvil "Āṅgan" ko kabhī farāmoś nahīṅ kīyā jā saktā|script-title=ur:خدیجہ مستور کا فن ہمیشہ زندہ رہے گا، ان کے ناول "آنگن" کو کبھی فراموش نہیں کیا جا سکتا|url=https://dunya.com.pk/index.php/special-feature/2017-05-01/18437|access-date=12 March 2021|website=Daily Dunya|language=ur}}

Reviewing A Promised Land in Dawn, Asif Farrukhi called Zameen a "neglected novel", while Scroll.in called it "Khadija Mastur's neglected masterpiece" when it republished the article.{{Cite news|last=Farrukhi|first=Asif|date=25 August 2019|title=Fiction: A Promise Gone Sour|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1501418|access-date=12 March 2021|website=Dawn|language=en}} Lalitha Subramanian noted in the Deccan Herald the absence of bitterness towards India and recommending the novel to Indian readers, appreciated the Pakistani author's regard for Mahatma Gandhi.