Anita Nair's latest book is an illustrated collection of stories from the Quran, narrated by Prophet Mohammed's favourite cat
Nuh's Ark. Pics Courtesy/Puffin Books
A pure white camel wanders the dessert, with just a purple Persian cat for company. The two form an unlikely friendship, one that is forged on the strength of stories told by the clever cat.
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These stories are Islamic lore, culled from the Quran and the Hadith. The two animals are the stars of Anita Nair's latest book, Muezza and Baby Jaan (Puffin Books). In it, Muezza is the Prophet's favourite cat and Baby Jaan is a shape-shifting djinn.
"Children are more attracted to reading stories with animals in them. I just had to look at stories that would interest a child," says Nair.
Muezza and Baby Jaan
These stories include how God made Adam from clay and breathed life into him, how cats got markings on their heads, the tale of Prophet Yunus and the whale, the miracle of the pregnant she-camel that came out of a rock, and a clever hoopoe.
"When I discovered that the Prophet had a cat and that it went everywhere with him, it spoke to me. I felt that the cat as a narrator would match my knowledge of Islam, which is basic. It also allowed me to take liberties in terms of comprehension, rather than go into complexities. These stories are what the cat hears and understands and this is how he tells it," she says. "The problem with most religions is that the interpretations are complex, and these complexities have a knack of beguiling people. I wanted to keep these stories at the most basic level."
The Hinns
This book is Nair's way of clearing the misinterpretation associated with the religion and making Islam and the teachings of the Quran more accessible to the world. "There are several books written about the Quran, but they tend to stay within the community and not go out to the rest of the world. In the last few years, the amount of terrorism associated with Islam has put Muslims on the back foot. I know a lot of Muslim writers who were glad I had written the book because if one of them had, it would be treated as propaganda. There is no such association to be drawn in my case," she says.
Anita Nair
Readers familiar with parables from the Old Testament will find many similarities here — Noah's Ark and Nu's ship, the fallen angel Iblis, Hawwa being formed from Adam's rib, Prophet Ibrahim ready to sacrifice his son Ismail. "Though the stories are similar, they have a different form. I wanted to look at stories that had some commonality with other scriptures and were subdued in the way they talk about the content of the Quran," she says.
As she writes in the book, "Stories are, after all, stories; and no religion can stake claim to them."
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