No one is yet sure, what influenced Zaira to take this major step. But the actor mentioned in a post made by her on Facebook that Bollywood interfered with her Faith and Religion. Post this, Ruhani wrote on social media, “Another one bites the dust." Supporting Zaira, the artist mentioned the problems they face when they are gifted with talents in Kashmir.
The artist added, "If she made her decision and she is walking that path, maybe her path has changed, but for me it was not my path. For me, it felt extreme to leave what I was gifted with. I lost my own self because of that."
On Zaira’s decision, Ruhani said, "I think her decision is very much influenced by society. I have felt it. Even my decision was affected over a period of years, by hearing things from people."
"When I started modelling, I saw how people were treating me, I felt good. And at the other place(madrasa) I was getting beaten up, I was getting abused, I was getting mistreated and I was being held like a hostage, just to learn about God,” she added.
Syed mentioned, "Kashmir is run by the ideology that what society says matters a lot. It is so important to each household. Things were going bad at home, which is when I stopped doing that kind of work (modelling and painting). I was not happy about it because what I was doing brought me joy. Islam says vulgarity is haram, it's not beauty that is haram. Whatever I have done has fallen in the category of beauty."
"Those people gave me hell, they used to say, 'your painting is haram, you are painting faces, this is not Islam and this is not Muslim.' You know that build-up; it was not one person saying that to me. If I was going to the shop, my neighbours would just move away to show that they were not talking to me,” she added.
"I didn't believe in the dogmatic system. These dogmatic preachers - they don't even know what is the essence of wearing a burqa,” Ruhani added.
The story of the artist is hard but she learned a lot out of it, she said, "(For a long time) I was in a very vulnerable state because of which the society got to me, they convinced me that my love was never enough for God, my parents. I had worked on 10 canvases for 4 years, but because of this, I burnt them all. My hard work, I burnt it. And this is what is happening to Zaira, I can tell, because you know she will hear so much of that rejection, the haram and Islam and khuda."
She added, "I think something broke. It taught me that you should recognise your gift and protect your gift. Now, I just want liberation so that my soul can be at peace.”
Image Source: india today, dailyhunt