“(He Alone is) the All‑Knower of the Ghayb (Unseen), and He reveals to none His Ghayb (Unseen)” {Quran 72:26}“Say: “None in the heavens and the earth knows the Ghaib (Unseen) except Allaah, nor can they perceive when they shall be resurrected” {Quran 27:65}
The above Ayahs from The Quran, including many many more Ayahs, along with many Hadiths, all state that no one knows the future but Allah. It is true that there are Walis of Allah who have spent their lives doing nothing but submitting themselves to HIM and HIS word. However the Walis do not go around telling people what is going to happen to their qismat.
Directed by Barkat Siddiqi and written by Batool Bhojali, “Qudrat” is a story of many different families, their destinies, the battle between good vs. evil and love. Now had it actually stayed true to the aforementioned subjects the drama would have been phenomenal. The first (and in my opinion the most important) family is of Zulfiqar (Nadeem Baig). His wife is Zaineb (the ever graceful Hina Bayat), son Momin (Ahsan Khan) and daughter Hiba (who dies suddenly while her father is performing an amal for a girl who is possessed by some Jinn). Zulfiqar is an Aalim/Astrologist who apparently has never been wrong in his life. It’s an Ilm he received from his father and so forth. However he isn’t the only one. His wife too has the gift and together they have helped many people in their lives. Their son and daughter both grew up watching their parents help people and are avid believers in all of this. However Momin’s girlfriend Sukhaina (Momal Sheikh) doesn’t believe in qismat or any of this other stuff. She is a doctor and believes destiny is in one’s own hand, no other beings. So far Momin has not been able to marry Sukhaina because his father has seen that if these two marry, Sukhaina will die 9 months after the wedding (of course after giving birth to a child) and then Momin will marry another girl. Momin is obviously scared now as his father has accurately predicted many other things, including the death of his friend’s wife in the hospital. (The guys actually told the surgeon that he can go ahead and perform the surgery but the lady’s life has come to an end. I mean had ho gayee)!
Family number two is of Zulfiqar’s childhood friend Sitnain Ali (Talat Hussain). Sitnain was a big time play boy back in the day and has apparently hurt many people and committed sins. He has a son and a daughter (Kanwar Nafees and Sajal Ali as Zehra). Zehra is apparently paying for her father’s sins. Her stepmother is the classic soutaili ammi from jahannum and her brother is no less. She gets beaten and yelled at and is called manhoos by everyone in the neighborhood and at work (clearly HR is not very strong in that company). She has had two broken engagements and has been in love with a new guy who also betrays her.
Family number 3 is of Zehra’s one and only friend played by Natashi Ali. She truly cares for Zehra and wants the best for her. However Natasha’s sister in law Zuleikha also lives with Natasha and is unmarried. Natasha wants her out of the house hence starts going to Nazar Baba (Nayyar Ejaz) who practices black magic. Unbeknownst to Natasha, Zuleikha too goes to the same Nazar Baba as she wants her brother to divorce Natasha and marry Haneef’s (her boyfriend of 9 years) sister as Haneef wants vatta satta. Does anyone else have a headache yet? Anyways, Natasha takes Zehra with her to Nazar Baba and he gives her an amal to do which goes wrong and now evil is after her. Upon Sitnain Ali’s demise Zehra goes to live with Zulfiqar and his family. Sitnain had left all of his money and belongings to Zehra and Zulfiqar had the will as he is also a lawyer. There Zehra starts seeing Jinn and also meets the soul of Hiba (seriously?????). Zulfiqar is by now completely tired of his gift and wants to be free from it. Zaineb realizes that now Zehra is the one who will do Zulfiqar’s work. Zehra has started to see shaitani quwwat along with the good Jinns.
Back to Zuleikha…she realizes what she is doing is wrong and that her bhabi is not a bad person, goes to Nazar Baba to undo what she did, and ends up dead because of it. Apparently shaitaan is a being of ethics and doesn’t really like people going back on their words….acha jee. Natasha finds a vudoo doll and some bones while cleaning her room. Episode 10 ends with Natasha realizing all of this is wrong and goes to give a threat to the Nazar Baba’s chehle that her Khuda is bigger than theirs and that HE will see to it they suffer. When she goes home there are windows and doors moving on their own.
My take…first of all jadu barhaq hai and so are Jinns. And not just in Islam, but also in Judaism, Christianity, Hindusim, and other religions. Jadu was practiced on Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) and was the reason of Surahs Ikhlaas, Naas, and Falak. Jadu (Sihr) and Jinns are mentioned in the Quran in Surahs Baqra, Jinn, Luqman and others, along with hadeeths, hence we as Muslims cannot deny it if we believe The Quran and Hadeeths. Since there is such a thing and is practiced on people, there are also pious people who help those afflicted with sihr. There are also people who have great ilm of the ghaib, but as I said above, they don’t go around telling people’s futures. Having said that, 95% of the people who claim to do jadu are all fake doing nothing but ripping people (mainly women) off and equally so are the peers who claim to undo the said jadu. In the same sense, when a person dies, they die…you can’t see them afterwards. It is what Islam teaches us. Zaineb insists on meeting her daughter and I’m sitting here thinking, huh? I think Zulfiqar and his wife’s characters are very pious and extremely interesting, but if Zulfiqar is such a man of religion, does he not know what Islam says about predicting the future? I think as a completely fictional story, it has merit, but I think the writers have a responsibility to show the audience what is right and what isn’t. We are clearly told not to go to fortune tellers, or jadugars as doing black magic is one of the few things that take a person out of the religion of Islam. If that is what the writers are trying to show us, I think it is great and they should concentrate on that. However they have weaved so many stories and characters in one that it is just very confusing. I really wish more emphasis was spent on the dynamics of Zulfiqar and Zaineb and the gift Zaineb possesses, but we don’t get to see any of that, at least so far. Also, how did Hiba all of a sudden die? I’m still confused. It honestly feels like the script was changed at least 6 times and that there was no sync between the writer and director. Having said that, the story to me is still compelling so I shall continue to watch and review.
The one point that I strongly agree with is that when Momin finds out that Sukhaina will die if they get married, he starts feeding the hungry and helping the needy. When he is telling his father that and asking his father to see if his qismat has changed because of all the sadaqa and zakat, his father correctly says that he is trying to bribe Allah to turn his destiny…he correctly tells him that now all of a sudden he has become a muslim, but for his own good. What I saw and observed was the same. While he fed the hungry, he was rude to his servants, was insulting to the lady who came to the house pleading for his father’s help as she was dirty. He also called someone who was trying to give him advice about not building something an unparh jaahil who is now lecturing an educated person. The good that he is all of a sudden doing won’t right how he is treating people he thinks are beneath him I’m curious to see if Momin’s rudeness is addressed in the coming episodes.
Acting wise Nadeem Baig and Hina Bayat outshine everyone. Hina Bayat has chemistry with every single one of her costars. She played a similar role in “Dareecha” and I feel like these roles are specifically written with her in mind because you get lost in her character and her grace. No one in their right mind can argue with Nadeem Baig and Talat Hussain’s acting. I can’t imagine anyone doing such justice to the role of Zulfiqar. Ahsan Khan as always is great. He seems to be in many dramas at once, but it’s because he is high in demand and one of the few actors who can actually act. Although seriously, what with the dark glasses? Momal Sheikh is very pretty, but reminds me of Katrina Kaif in Dhoom 3 and Jab Tak Hai Jaan. The role doesn’t suit her at all. She seems to be expressionless as Sukhaina so far. Sajal Ali too is very pretty and I’m still undecided about her character as Zehra. When she is playing ‘pagal’ she is fabulous, but as soon as she is normal, there doesn’t seem to be a fit.
