THE CURIOUS CASE OF TASLEEMA NASREEN
THE CURIOUS CASE OF TASLEEMA NASREEN
Is the alleged Islamaphobe now suffering from 'Gora Complex'?
In an interview to British Vogue in July 2021, Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel Laureate had declared “I still don’t understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can’t it just be a partnership?” [1]. Therefore, her announcement on twitter today that she got married surprised many, because there has not much time passed between July 2021 and November 2021. By all accounts Malala is an “educated” woman who is allowed to make her own choices but it still makes one wonder whether these influential personalities really believe in what they say or do they just say things to sound relevant, I guess we will never know, but as someone who is a staunch believer in the institution of marriage, I have nothing but good wishes for Malala and her spouse.
As one can imagine, news about Malala, the Nobel Laureate getting married, attracted attention from various people of different ideologies. However, one peculiar criticism of Malala getting married came from none other than the notorious Islamaphobe, Tasleema Nasreen, who hardly ever misses a chance to demonise Islam and by extension Muslims. Nevertheless, true to her bigoted form, she tweeted “Quite shocked to learn Malala married a Pakistani guy. She is only 24. I thought she went to Oxford university for study, she would fall in love with a handsome progressive English man at Oxford and then think of marrying not before the age of 30. But..”
The questions that need to be asked here are - What does Nasreen mean by “handsome progressive English man”? How does Nasreen know whether or not Malala’s husband is a progressive or a conservative man? What according to her is a progressive person anyway? Does a person need to be an Islamaphobe to qualify as a “progressive” in her opinion? Is she implying that all Pakistani men are alike? Is she implying that a man from any other ethnicity than English isn’t worthy of an oxford educated woman? Oh well, I doubt even Nasreen would know answers to these questions, because I honestly believe that she says things to seek attention in her otherwise alleged miserable life.
Whatever the case may be, in my honest opinion, with this tweet Nasreen has demonstrated that she is not only an Islamaphobe but is also suffering from Gora complex. Those of you who do not know what Gora Complex is, let me break this down for you - it is an inferiority complex found usually amongst some people of South Asia with respect to White people, wherein these South Asians, due to their colonised mindset, think everything White is somehow superior and hence the claim by Nasreen that an Oxford educated woman would’ve somehow preferred an English man over a man of South Asian origin.
Alternatively, one can also argue that this is just a case of frustration for Nasreen, maybe she is unhappy to see a famous person getting married to an aesthetically pleasing brown Muslim man, whom (Muslims, Muslim men and Brown Muslim men) Nasreen has demonised throughout her career and Malala choosing a Brown Muslim man is shattering for Nasreen because it hinders her alleged pursuit of creating a stereotypical image of a Muslim man.
[1] https://www.vogue.co.uk/news/article/malala-vogue-interview