Introduction to Pakistan Literature

Instructor: Ms. Samina Najeeb

Semester: 5thA
English Department
Assignment: 1
Group: 1

Group members:
• Kainat mushtaq(24814)
• Muneeba nosheen(25780)
• Maryam Amjad(24135)
• Fizza Arshad(27554)
• Amna faraz(25423)
• Nabia shahid khan(23011)
• Iqra shehzad (26228)
• Jannat Ashfaq(26687)

Introduction:
Twilight in Delhi was written by Ahmed Ali, who is known as the Pakistani novelist, poet, diplomatic and
scholar. It was Ahmed Ali’s first book, which was set around 1911 to 1919, providing a detailed image of
India’s changing political, social, and cultural climate post colonialism, and described the state of
Muslims in India at that time. The upper-class Muslim merchant Mir Nihal and his family are concerned
about the twilight in Delhi. Mir Nihal was a devout Muslim who wanted to protect the next generation
from the brutalities of the British; he was a typical Muslim who snarled at the British and expressed his
concerns about the British colonialism of India. His son, named Asghar rebels against his father’s desires
and weds a woman of a lower socioeconomic class, roams around wearing English shirts and shoes,
which is the first indication of India’s downfall and eventual extinction.

Through the story of Mir Nihal and his family, Ali is able to depict the state of India and the Muslims in
India after the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the state of India after colonization, and family customs and ties.

Ahmed Ali depicts the themes of disintegration, alienation, gender, degeneration, social conflict,
nostalgia, Mughal emperor’s downfall, and the effects of colonialism and imperialism on Indian Muslims
in Delhi. The novel is also filled with beautiful symbolic imagery. The palm tree, the henna plant,
pigeons, cats, and dogs refer to the behaviour of Muslims and also refer to the whole Muslim society.

“Twilight is the time of day just after the sunset and before dawn when the sun is about to set.” The
novel starts at dawn, with “Twilight” referring to the rise of the sun as well as the rise of the standards
of living of the protagonist Mir Nihal. In contrast, descriptions of “Twilight” at evening in the final
sentences depict the downfall and devastation of the Mughal Empire as a whole, as well as the family of
Mir Nihal.

Significance of “Twilight” in the Novel:

“Twilight in Delhi” deals with the dying culture and civilization of Muslim India intrinsically.
Twilight is that the time of day just after the sunset and before sunrise when the sun is about to
set. Ahmed Ali enlightened on the historical background of Muslim society. It had been that
time when Muslim culture was intermix with British culture. The author representation a single
Muslim family for this purpose. He depict a real picture of Delhi.
The novel Twilight in Delhi portray a picture of the time when the British people were in charge
of Delhi. Muslims were totally kill. The novel is about the decay of an entire culture. The setting
of the novel is of that point when the British were going to rule over the city of Delhi. This is
often why Ahmed Ali chooses the word twilight.The example of Asghar is clearly shown the
effects of diminish Muslim civilization in the novel twilight in Delhi. It deals with the
putrefaction of Mughal Kingship and Muslim civilization and culture.
Before the arrival of the British in Hindustan, there had been determination Muslims and their
civilization could be seen everywhere but with the advent of the British, the whole civilization
faced an immense decay. Mir Nihal could not gladden with the present situation of Muslim
society. His attitude consider the difficulty of Muslims of Delhi, to whom it was about unfeasible
to survive in the changed conditions. Because they felt that this is the most humiliating
condition of the Muslims. Ahmed Ali says:
“Be that as it may, my purpose in writing the novel was to depict a phase of our national life
and the decay of a whole culture, a particular mode of thought and living values now dead
and gone already right before our eyes.”

On the other hand, Mir Nihal is the agent of the total Muslim culture in Delhi at the time of the
Mughal Domain. Their culture is their personality, in this manner, they cannot disregard it. Mir
Nihal and his family are stuck to their ancient values. He cannot pardon his child when he
embraces a remote way of life. He needs his child to take after the convention; a convention,
which has been given by his predecessors and the culture, which they cleared out for him. He
strengths his family to take after the routine way of life and not to acknowledge the remote
culture.
Pigeon flying, going by Kotha, getting a charge out of the company of whores and poetry-mehfil
was included in that culture. In addition, ladies were bound to family exercises, though it was
the duty of men to gain bread to require care of them. The rot of this culture fills everyone’s life
with obscurity; the haziness which wins the light fair after the twilight. In case the all-
inclusiveness of the novel Dusk in Delhi, for the purpose of contentions, is overlooked, indeed
at that point the title has much centrality. Meaning subsequently, in the event that Mir Nihal
isn't the agent of the Muslim course and the novel is fair a basic story of a person indeed at that
point the title suits the novel.
Mir Nihal at the beginning of the novel is an princely individual, who has control not as it were
over his family but too over the individuals of the region. He is living a prosperous life but
within the conclusion, we witness his antagonistic life. We know that light closes and haziness
wins everything at the time of sundown. Comparative is the case with the life of Mir Nihal,
within the beginning of the novel, his life was full of light (an image of trust), though, within the
conclusion, his life is filled with obscurity. In general, women do not have a very good time. Ali
does a terrific job of depicting life within the zenana, the traditional inner courtyard where
Muslim women confine themselves and keep purdah.
“Mostly life stayed like water in a pond, with nothing to break the monotony of its static life.
Walls stood surrounding them on all sides, shutting the women in from the prying eyes of
 men, guarding their beauty and virtue with the millions of their bricks. The world lived and
died, things happened, events took place, but all this did not disturb the equanimity of the
zenana…The day dawned, the evening came, and life passed them by.”

Conclusion:
Consequently, there is an involvement of Mir Nihal and his family in ‘Twilight in Delhi’. It shows
that how a true Muslim loves his religion. He became against his father’s work for the sake of
his religion ideals. By this story of Mir Nihal it helps to know the situations and difficult
circumstances of Muslim people, who were in tough times in India after the colonization of
British. They were in tough times and they strived their lives for their Islam. There was a
brutality, and Muslims were killed by British. Therefore, it tells that how Muslims lived their
lives. The ‘Twilight in Delhi ' gives a hind about the true culture and norms of Muslims which
became different from an actual one by British collaboration. This can be seen now-a-days in
Muslims society and we also got the reason that how the culture and norms get changed. With
precise power of Muslims as written in ’Twilight in Delhi', Muslims were able to have an
independent state. The downfall of Mughal Empire is highlighted in this book which navigates
the people to know the mistakes and mishaps of Muslims in earlier times.

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