Vikram Muthanna in his column “Black and White” has very correctly highlighted what is black and what is white, especially for those far - sighted and broad - minded supporters of freedom of speech and expression who are willing to see only white in the M. F. Hussain affair which is largely black.
Having read most of the articles relating to Hussain's change of citizenship, both in print and on the web too, I feel that Vikram's writing stands out from the rest for its crispness and for the points he has raised. Personally, I am not an admirer of Hussain either as a man or as an artist as I do not see much in modern art, irrespective of who the painter is. I see no difference in the innocent doodling of my preschooler nephew and the work of many acclaimed masters of modern art that fetches them so much fame and money.
My basic problem is that I fail to understand why you have to pay so much for a painting which only taxes your imagination endlessly before you begin to imagine out of sheer despair that you are seeing what the title at the bottom says you should see. I am willing to admit that I perhaps do not have what it takes to see beyond what is obvious to all those with only ordinary intelligence and intellect.
Perhaps it is only when one's pockets are full enough to begin hurting when one begins to start appreciating the unseen beauty of such artifacts. Incidentally, my pockets too hurt quite often but only because they are not full enough! As Vikram has very aptly pointed out, very often it is the media and the market forces that make any artist great. Of course, at whose ball you dine, drink and dance have to first set the ball rolling before it lands in the right courts. Later it is largely only a matter of which niches you lever yourself into by not selling your wares to the wrong people.
Hussain may be a very great painter by the standards of the society he moves in and I move away to make way for but I fail to understand why, to retain his greatness; he has to paint something that hurts someone’s sentiments. It does not matter one bit whether he means to hurt them or not. What matters is that in a civilized society everyone is entitled to a little bit of respect from everyone else for what he or she holds sacred, even if it means nothing or makes no sense to the offender. Islam clearly underlines this and it is only to highlight this that I am writing about this issue here.
A very pertinent albeit uncomfortable question that Vikram asks is why Hussain who has portrayed himself as a very adventurous artist has not ventured to portray characters from his own religion as caricatures? And, all those who have been following all that has been written about Hussain’s change of nationality will realise that this is not the first time that someone is asking this question.
While it is perfectly permissible for a Muslim or any Islamic scholar to discuss any issue with a non - Muslim to prove the point that the Islamic view is more reasonable and sensible, Islam does not permit a Muslim to hurt the sentiments and sensibilities of others. The Prophet of Islam, who all Muslims see as the most important model Muslim, has said that if you are likely to hurt someone’s sentiments by saying something, it is better to remain silent. Another very important Islamic attribute is of asking for forgiveness if you have done something or uttered something, knowingly or unknowingly that has hurt someone. And, Hussain is clearly guilty of having violated both these important tenets of Islam.
There have been many examples in the life of the Prophet where he has been extremely careful in uttering anything in a sensitive situation and extremely quick in apologising to some very ordinary people after realizing that he had perhaps hurt their feelings. Forgiveness was one of his greatest qualities. There is a very well - known incident of how an elderly lady, who being opposed to his ideology, used to deliberately strew garbage daily in his path whenever he used to pass in front of her house on the way to the mosque. Since tolerance and forgiveness were his strong virtues he used to ignore this irritation. But when this stopped happening for a few consecutive days, he got worried that something was amiss and decided to call upon the lady. When he visited her, he indeed found her sick and bedridden and nursed her back to health, much to her own astonishment. It is very important for all Muslims to understand that others should know our faith for all the goodness that is enshrined in it rather than for any misdeed of any Muslim.
Hussain, the great painter would have become greater, had he accepted the fact that some of his work had hurt some people’s sentiments and therefore immediately apologised to them. He would have painted himself and the image of his faith in much brighter light instead of having painted himself into a corner as he has now done. Even now it is not too late.
Yes, it is never too late to apologise and any apology for any wrong only makes even an ordinary person great. It is the duty of all Muslims to prevail upon Hussain to realise this. And, since he is a Muslim too with the much greater responsibility of setting a good example and a good precedent as the head of a Muslim State, the Emir of Qatar, should take the lead. Or, he should ask himself if he will also agree to give asylum if necessary to the likes of Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdie and the Danish cartoonist who caricaturized the Prophet of Islam since they too have only done to Islam what Hussain has done to another faith.
