Nafrat by Nasir Hussain

About this novel

Nafrat (Urdu: نفرت) by Nasir Hussain is an Urdu social novel about a spirited girl in a strict, male-ruled household. Ishrat grows up in a family that still lives by hundred-year-old traditions, and the opening shows exactly where the hatred of the title comes from.

It begins late at night. “Itni raat ko kahan se aa rahi ho tum?” thunders Agha Jan, the head of the family, and his voice echoes through the whole house. Ishrat answers confidently that she was at her friend Saira’s birthday. Who did she ask, he demands. She says she told her mother, but her confidence starts to fade. The whole family has gathered around like a courtroom, uncles, aunts, cousins and her mother Sadia, who finally steps forward to say she gave permission. Agha Jan turns on her too: who is she to decide? If she has forgotten the family’s traditions, he will remind her. Women in this house look after the kitchen, and all decisions belong to the men.

جہاں فیصلے صرف مرد کرتے ہوں، وہاں ایک لڑکی کی بغاوت۔

Back in her room, Ishrat tears off her dupatta and refuses to apologise: she didn’t steal anything, she went to a birthday party. She isn’t Agha Jan’s servant, she says, and if he could, he’d ban the women of the house from breathing without asking. Her frightened mother begs her to keep her voice down, but Ishrat declares that she will never accept traditions that treat women as slaves; she will live her life her own way. The writer explains that even in the twenty-first century, some homes still treat women like the dust under men’s feet, and in this house every decision, from what is cooked to who is married, is made by Agha Jan or the uncles.

Nasir Hussain writes boldly about patriarchy, rebellion and family control. It’s a strong read for anyone interested in social themes.

You can read Nafrat online here or download the complete PDF for free. For more social novels, read Baition K Kabil Nahi Mashra or Bhakaran.