Tales From Agrabah

• 11. K. Housseni: (٢) "New Servants"

• E l e v e n •

K. Housseni: (٢) "New Servants"

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Inferiority complex; behavioural therapists say it's like a self-fulling prophecy.

In harsher terms, it means a person may never fully recover from it. Right now, I'm a little glad the "child-me" never paid attention to Amir's voluntary soul violation. Alhamdulillah. Because what happens when you label TKR as a children's book? The last thing we want is the new generation thinking Amir was right in doing wrong.

Still on chapter 10, as I decided to take a break from that book before resuming; to reflect.

One would think that time has no effect on people's feelings for one another, that distance doesn't matter... That's such an ill-painted lie. It's not just with people, our relationship with Allah swt depends on how much we keep it polished too. This may simply be because we forget things very quickly; the hardships and the ease. When Amir said he wanted new servants, really, he just wanted to forget how much the world let him allow injustice.

His Baba was, to an extent, the ideal one to blame. Amir knew that his father looked down upon him, and that's the craziest thing a parent could indirectly be telling their child. Maybe I should hold Rahim Khan accountable too; being a friend doesn't come without responsibilities. Then again, you might say everyone is responsible for their own actions. But Amir was a child, they take their influences heavily. You could say he's 'just a child', maybe that's true, but the voice in his head that allows him in childhood to not stand up against things... It's not healthy. Children are more receptive than expressive, the blame scale points to those around him than at himself.

I mean, imagine a master getting inferiority complex because of his servant.

Amir's pride was hurt that his servant was better than him in his Baba's eyes. He was so blinded by self-pity that the luxuries he owned, the blessings he was given; they tasted stale. His only solution was robbing his servant of his livelihood, and letting him fall further within the hands of poverty so that he could feel more superior. He literally asked his father to get new servants because he wasn't able to contain his guilt, and it was coming off as rude every time he spoke.

And why? Because he could go to unreasonable lengths to find peace for himself. It's so selfish I was stunned. All those conversations about "being a thief" gone down the drain to save himself a morsel of respect from his father? I remember someone saying that one of the traits of Shaytaan is that if he can't go to Jannah, he'll pull you to Jahannum with him... Pride is one of the easiest ways to lure people, isn't it? Amir probably wouldn't even have thought of it as pride, but as his right.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons this Hadith exists; It Is narrated on the authority of Abdullah b. Mas'ud that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), observed, 'He who has in his heart the weight of a mustard seed of pride shall not enter Paradise.' A person (amongst his hearers) said, 'Verily a person loves that his dress should be fine, and his shoes should be fine.' He (the Holy Prophet) remarked, 'Verily, Allah is Graceful and He loves Grace. Pride is disdaining the truth (out of self-conceit) and contempt for the people.'" Reference: Sahih Muslim

We see him at war with himself sometimes, it shows his innocence and how every heart is pure at birth. But he's not regretful enough to fix things. Who taught him that he was supposed to be better than Hassan? Who said his servant should be dependent on him for everything? Society. We did. Hassan's every "Amir agha" did. Every "yes sir", every "agha sahib" and every submission to a command did.

What a twisted mindset we live with, that teaches us to power over people at the expense of our conscience. And what could be worse than letting children think they can get away with it?

Have you ever wondered how this story would be if K. Housseni wrote it from Hassan's point of view? Forget running kites, Hassan was so loyal he could just about bear anything for his brother. Born and brought up in the same (almost) house, exposed to the same kind of things, what's the difference between the two of them? It's the father figure, and how they insisted for a gap between the Hazaras and Pashtoons.

It was the perfect recipe for disaster. 

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-Jasmin A.