Introduction

Mariah is a short story written by Che Husna Azahari in Melor in Perspective. Che

Husna Azahari is a important Malay female writer of Malaysian English Literature. Che Husna

Azaharis writing are often set in Kelantan, Malaysia. She is a Professor at the Faculty of

Engineering and Built Environment at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. As for her short story

Mariah, we are introduced to a small village in Molo. The main character, Mariah is seen as a

problem in the story. Mariah is widow and she sells nasi berlauk as a way to support herself. She

is viewed as a threat because of her widowed status and being admired by the village men. The

Iman, being the respected man in the village goes to Mariahs stall for the first time and fell in

love with Mariah. This incident was then reported by Cik Gu Nab to Tok Imans wife, Cik Yam.

We would also see internal conflict in Tok Iman as he has feelings towards Mariah due to the

resembles in Tok Imans first love. Tok Iman then informs Cik Yam about his decision to take

Mariah as his second wife. Cik Yam approved the Tok Imans decision although she disagreed at

first. The conflict was solved and the Tok Iman and Mariah got married. Their marriage got

blessings from the whole village and at the same time put an end to Mariahs so-called threat.

According to Noritah Omar and Washima Che Dan,

Mariah is seen as a symbol of Malay femininity while the Imam represents

Malay masculinity. The presence of the Tok Imams masculinity and

Mariahs femininity suggest the implicit power of religious man and

simultaneously may be interpreted as the superiority of Muslim men in

general over Muslim women (50).

I would have to say that I agree with the statement above that Mariah is the symbol of Malay

femininity with Iman is the Malay masculinity. The reason why I would say that Mariah

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represent the Malay femininity as Mariah is defined by her widow status. She is also defined by

her physical appearances in the story. Mariah does not have her own voice in the story and her

thoughts and story is voiced out through a third-person point of view. Tok Iman represent the

Malay masculinity because of his religious status and societal status. His masculinity is

represented by his sexuality and polygamous tendencies. It is seen that Tok Imans masculinity

show the superiority of Muslim men over Muslim women. It is seen that the male in the story is

able to do as they wish but the female in the story is bound to certain actions. For example, Cik

Yam is expected to accept Tok Imans decision to marry Mariah.

What is femininity? Femininity is basically a set of behaviour, roles and attributes that

are glued on to girls and women. Femininity are most often or not social constructed which is

different from the biological female sex. Traits that are normally pasted on feminine includes

gentleness, sensitivity and empathy. Mariah did not served as the Malay femininity in the story at

the beginning as she is very independent of her own. Masculinity traits, on the other hand, are

assertiveness, courageous and independence. A common emphasis on masculinity and power is

maschismo. Masculinity in society are often linked with the patriarchal society. In a Malay

Kelantanese community, it is clearly seen as the patriarchal society as it used to practice adat

temenggung which is a practice that give men the superiority. According to traditional practices

that revolve masculinity, men have to protect and provide for the family.

Mariah serves very well as a symbol of femininity as she is defined by her traditional

Kelantanese values. She is defined by her body figure. Due to the her physical and being a

widow, she has men looking and gawking at her. This could be the main reason why she chose to

marry Iman, she was looking for sense of security. Imans status in the society would give a

boost in her status and self-esteem. Men would stop looking at her. The reason why she is the

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symbol of femininity is because she does not have a voice in the story which is perfectly suit the

traditional Malay culture where by wives are not allowed to question their husbands decision.

Iman serves as the symbol of Malay masculinity because he is the leader in the society. He is the

Tok Iman that serves as a leader, a person where the people in the village look up to. Another

reason why he represents masculinity in the story is the Tok Iman is lustful. He has lust towards

Mariah as Mariah reminds him of his first love. Men who are perceived as manly are mostly

lustful. They perceive at having more sexual relationship could boost their masculinity. Iman,

being the religious leader of the village succumbed to lust. His behaviour directly comprises his

correct morality which in the Kelantanese rural mindset is an index of ones piety and leadership.

It is also seen that the men in the village are responsible for the womens morality. For example,

the females or women in the story in Molo does not got about without a kain lepas (Azahari).

They would not do so as the Iman is the superego in the village. We could see that in the story,

for example, To do so would be to incur the wrath of the village Imam, who was the guardian of

modesty and propriety and enforcer of stringent mores (Azahari).

Discussion / Finding

The presence of the Tok Imams masculinity and Mariahs femininity suggest

the implicit power of religious man and simultaneously may be interpreted as

the superiority of Muslim men in general over Muslim women (50).

It is clear that Tok Imans masculinity is more superior to Mariahs femininity. This

statement could be proven due the issue polygamy in the short story. This statement is supported

with Omar and Che Dan,

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 This kind of femininity and masculinity shapes the national Islamic identity of the

Malays. The Malay mens ownership of multiple wives asserts mens degree of

masculinity (Omar 107-120). This Malay-Islam equation has led to not a few

competing discourses on the definition of Malay Islamic national identity (50).

Men look at polygamy as a symbol of masculinity. The short story look at Mariah as an

object and men look up to Iman because he managed to marry Mariah. We could see this

in The men in the village were all excitedly handling this issue in their own ways. They

had all at some time or other in their lives fantasised about having second wives, but

sadly, neither their wives nor their budgets were accommodating enough (Azahari). The

males in the village look at Iman as a symbol masculinity and the success of marrying

Mariah is like something the male villagers look up to. They have dreamt of having a

second wife but they could afford it. Polygamy is a system of marriage whereby one

person has more than one spouse. Polygamy can be of two types. One is polygyny where

a man marries more than one woman, and the other is polyandry, where a woman marries

more than one man. In Islam, limited polygyny is permitted and polyandry is completely

prohibited. According to Kee, polygamy is only allowed if the proposed marriage is just

and necessary. Being just and necessary is a debatable as it is based on the judge

decision. However, it is not a law stating that lust could be a reason for polygamy

because the Quran never state the fear of performing zina to be measured as a argument

for polygamy. Polygamy is also allowed if the husband have sufficient financial means

(Kee). A husband can only practice if he can provide enough for his current family and

his second wife. If he cannot, thus his application to marry a second wife would be

denied. The husband will accord equal treatment to the existing wife(Kee). This means

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that the husband should divide his time equally to his wives and must treat them equally.

He should not be unfair in terms of affections and financial needs. The Iman in the story

clearly violated the first condition as he married Mariah due to his lust over Mariah.

Mariah reminds Iman of his first love. He lust over Mariah for being so alike to his first

love which is the Sheiks daughter in Pattani. For example, he says []Oh Mariah

sighed the Imam. Why do you have to be so like her my long-lost love, the Passion of

My Youth? Oh Mariah, why do you have to look like her from your toes right up to your

eyebrows! Its a test. By Allah! Its a test (Azahari). It is funny to see how he look at

Mariah similar to the Sheiks daughter when he only saw her back. Although then he

states that he want to marry Mariah because Cik Yam is barren. Cik Yam could not have

bear a child for him. It is such irony as Mariah is not young and she is in her fortyish

(Azahari). Thus, this can only be concluded that Tok Iman married Mariah to fulfil his

lust over the Sheiks daughter. This shows that the superiority of Muslim men in general

over Muslim women because Cik Yam had to agree to the Imans request on marrying

Mariah as the second wife. The superiority of the Muslim men over the women could be

seen when Cik Yam gives in to the Imans marriage with Mariah. At first, Cik Yam

disapproves of the idea of Iman marrying Mariah as the second wife but after Imans

begging, she approves it. It is seen as superior because the people in Molo did not see this

issue of polygamy of the religious leader with Mariah as a problem. They were admiring

the Tok Iman and Cik Yam. They admired Cik Yam for being generous and so giving. For

example, for letting Iman marrying Mariah, they say that Cik Yam would certainly be

found sheltering in the shade of the Umbrella of Siti Fatimah (the Prophets daughter) on

the Day of Judgement (Azahari). The marriage was seem as a right thing to do. It is also

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superior as if a woman would want to practice polyandry, a practice where a women have

more than one husband. This would be a big no-no in the society. It would cause a big

riot and debate. However when Iman practices polygamy, it is seems fine. Cik Yam is not

only exposing the patriarchally-inflected Islam(Ng 133) but also show that men are

often saved from the offences of adultery and divorce through their wives generosity.

Besides that, the superiority of Muslim men over Muslim women is shown when

the blame for not being able to conceive is labelled on Cik Yam. According to the

traditional point of view, women are often blamed for being barren or unable to conceive.

This perspective is applied to many married couple when a family does not have a child.

For example, [l]ike all men of his generation, it never occurred to him he could be the

culprit in his wifes supposed inability to bear children. As far as he was concerned,

bearing children was a womans job, and if she didnt there was something wrong

with her. Fertility had nothing to do with men (Azahari). To Iman, he has nothing to do

if his wife is unable to conceive as he thinks fertility has nothing to do with men.

However, it could be wrong as men also could be infertile. They could have low sperm

counts that would lead to their wives unable to conceive. For all you know, Tok Iman is

probably having low sperm counts that lead to Mariah unable to conceive. This show the

masculinity in Iman. The Iman is not associated with his infertile condition as it will

affect his masculinity. It is not only the thinking of Tok Iman that shows the superior of

the Muslim men, but also the community in Molo. For example, Then of course Cik

Yam is childless, voices trailed away (Azahari). Although Cik Yam is the model

housewife that the female community look up to but the community disregard all good

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qualities of Cik Yam. Cik Yams being a role model of housewives could be seen in Her

culinary skills were not her only attribute; her housekeeping was also a model to be

followed by other womenfolk in the village (Azahari). However all this not important

when she does not have a child. This could be seen in The Imams wife was somewhat

assisted in this respect by not having grubby children who would mess things up. It was

the only flaw in an otherwise perfect marriage (Azahari). The fact that Cik Yam

allowing Tok Iman to marry Mariah portrayed by Cik Yam as a good wife by the whole

village. The whole village agreed that Cik Yam is a good Muslim women and a good wife

to Iman. The real fact of this marriage would be the childlessness. Due to Cik Yams

childlessness in her marriage, Cik Yam compromised with the marriage as childlessness

is something unacceptable in the Malay community.

Another reason why the Muslim men are more superior than the Muslim women

is because Mariah takes the blame for the men that go to her Kedai Merpati. Mariah

being a silence voice get the blame from the community as the men like to go her stall.

Cik Gu Nab blames Mariah for attracting the men to her stall. She even suspects that

Mariah used black magic to attract her customers. This could be seen in I reckon, I

mean we reckon she has put something in her nasi. Cik Gu Nab paused for breath

(Azahari). However, we would see that it is actually the men who are actually going to

Mariahs Kedai Merpati to have her nasi berlauk. The men in the story are actually

gawking at her body and her widow status. A term that could be used to illustrate

Mariahs situation is male gaze. The concept of gaze is how an audience views

people presented. From a feminists lens, the gaze, it can be thought of in three ways.

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The first would be how men look at women, women look at themselves and women

looking at other women. Laura Mulvey coined the term Male Gaze in 1975. She

believes that in film audiences have to view characters from the perspective of a

heterosexual male. The men in the story male gaze at Mariah. They treat Mariah as an

object of sexual desire. Mariah is actually dehumanized by the author. She is defined by

her body. She is not given a voice to express her thoughts and feelings. We only know

how she felt through the third person point of view. By objectifying Mariah through the

male gaze, it involves dehumanization. However, the female community did not

stand together as sisters but played the blaming game on Mariah. Backlash can be seen

in the story where the women did not stand up for another woman. They viewed Mariah

as the trouble maker just because her status a widow. There was not a single thing bad

being said about the men in the Molo community. For example, Cik Gu Nab did not put

the blame on her husband, Cik Gu Leh for going to Kedai Merpati when it is clearly that

Cik Gu Leh is the one who brought the Iman to have Mariahs nasi berlauk. This could be

seen in It was the only time he had ever gone to Mariahs. And he had done so only at

that Cik Gu Lehs insistence (Azahari). However, Cik Gu Nab does not blame herself

for being a hopeless cook (Azahari) but insisted that her husband is innocent. For

example, I didnt say it enticed all the men, Cik Yam. My Cik Gu Leh (Cik Gu Nabs

husband), for instance, would never dream of having breakfast anywhere but at home.

Some men do get easily enticed, some dont (Azahari). In the male dominated Islamic

community, the village viewed Mariah as the threat to the communal harmony because

husbands are ignoring their wives nasi berlauk to taste Mariahs nasi berlauk. For the

community, this must be controlled. By marrying the Iman, her threat is now removed

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and the harmony is now restored. Even Mariah thinks the same. When she marries the

Iman, her harlotry and straying from Islam is now recognized and she returns. For

example, Mariah felt like a harlot in her short orange kebaya, sitting beside the robed

Cik Yam (Azahari).

Conclusion

All in all, I would have to agree that Mariah is the symbol of Malay femininity

and Iman is the symbol of Malay masculinity. I would also agree that The presence of

the Tok Imams masculinity and Mariahs femininity suggest the implicit power of

religious man and simultaneously may be interpreted as the superiority of Muslim men in

general over Muslim women. (Noritah Omar and Washima Che Dan 50) Mariah is seen

as the traditional submissive Malay women. She is not given a voice to represent herself

and she gives in to the Iman. Although she is an enterprising women, but she still

controlled by the people in village. On a local level, it reflects the plight of Kelantanese

women in a patriarchal society or community. Mariah raise the issue of being a good

Muslim women. Mariah is then compared with Cik Yam, the paragon of virtue

(Azahari). She is the symbol of Malay femininity as she represent the traditional

Kelantanese women values. Iman represent the Malay masculinity as he is leader of the

village and gets away from adultery due to his status and wifes generosity. It is very

clear that the Muslim men are more superior than the Muslim women in the short story,

Mariah. Polygamy is basically a symbol of mens superiority over women. Polygamy is

a metaphor of the constraints encountered by the Muslim women within their own

ideological, religious and racial identities.

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 (3022 words)

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