Column - Week 3

The Four Letter Word, a weekly column by Farah Ashraff

From a small dusty town of Klang, one girl strives to spread the hope that love could still be the superhero that would save this planet. For 21 years, Farah Ashraff have been observing how love is used as an armor, abused for lust and power and confused under the deceit of material desire and believes that we should all try a little harder to give love a little credit. That is exactly what she would be doing in this last article on the series of column she would like to call ‘The Four Letter Word’.

The Love Muse

     As most of you already know, I have spent many of my previous columns debating and arguing about love and whether it is capable of striving through this era. Therefore, I have decided to spend my last column instead, talking about the possibilities that love is capable of. For those of you who have been in love, I am sure you cannot help but agree that love is a dominating emotion. We have learnt from those before us that love could pose as a powerful muse regardless of the job scope we are involved in, from King Shahjahan and the Taj Mahal to Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet. One thing is for sure, the inspirational power of love is undeniable.

     Take the Taj Mahal for example, located in the city of Agra, India; the monument is known to many as “the epitome of love”. It was built during the 1600s by King Shahjahan to honor his dead wife, Mumtaz Mahal whom he had loved very much. After her death, following childbirth, he was inconsolable and ordered the royal court to go on mourning for two years; forbidding music, feasting or celebration of any kind. He was determined to build a memorial for the queen and managed to construct the most lavish tomb in history which took 22 years to be completed. Although their time together on this earth was short, his love for her managed to live through the Taj Mahal. It became an evident tribute that defies time and a physical reminder of how love is capable of inspiring mankind to create wonders. 

     Under the same spell of love, the ever-so-famous Shakespeare created an entirely different wonder, through literature. Until this very day, Shakespeare’s most famous play; Romeo and Juliet is casted and played in countless schools and theaters around the world. It has been adapted into films, books and songs and Romeo and Juliet themselves have became a household name of their own – another epitome of love. The good news is that if the play were to be written today, both characters would have survived because in these modern times, the most parts of love is no longer restricted by status, race or in certain occasions, religion. Therefore, if you were look at the positive side of this and the contrast between the past and current obstacles of love, we have actually progressed a lot in that sense.

     It is inescapable, the love muse, proven by the countless dominating number of love songs there are out there, the love plot that revolves around all those movies, plays and books where lead characters are always fighting against evil to go back to love. No matter how the plots are twisted, the basics are still the same; love is the driving force for the good the way greed is for the bad and love normally always wins. 

     Despite all the distractions of money, sex, fame and material desires, love is still in many ways conquering us in a positive manner. After all the debates and battles about love, the existence of it still rings true. Based on all the examples above, no matter how small or simple the form, love is the widest used muse that has affected mankind in many of our creative creation and is still creating endless possibilities for the future. Regardless of love’s worrying state today, we could all come to a mutual agreement that it had broken so many barriers by now, may it be cultural, religious, status or even sex. Therefore, it would not be hard to hope that, with a little bit of help from us, love can make it through anything – including this technological era.

Farah would like to thank her readers for their time and opinions. She hopes that her columns have managed to inspire, influence or encourage them to love a little harder. She will miss contributing in future columns but hopes that her previous columns have impacted well enough.