Mind Your Language!

Naqsh Faryadi hai kis ki shokhi e tehreer ka

Kaghazi hai pairahan har paikar e tasveer ka

Honestly, how many of the educated Pakistanis know what this means, or even have any idea what this is. These are the first two lines of Deewan e Ghalib, the only collection of poems by a poet considered by many to be the greatest in Urdu language. An understanding of the deeper meaning of what Ghalib tried to convey here is probably best left to Urdu scholars, but an ignorance of the literal meaning of the words should be a little embarrassing since it shows our lack of interest in our language. As for the educated people who don’t even know where these lines come from, there is cause for alarm.

Try another one

Sunaa hai ho bhii chukaa hai firaq-e-zulmat-e-nuur
sunaa hai ho bhii chukaa hai wisaal-e-manzil-o-gaam
badal chukaa hai bahut ahl-e-dard kaa dastuur
nishaat-e-wasl halaal-o-azaab-e-hijr-e-haraam

This is Faiz Ahmed Faiz. For anyone who is wondering, let me clarify that I don’t know what this exactly means either, and yes I am embarrassed. We might explain our ignorance of these gems of Urdu language by saying that we studied in institutions where the predominant mode of education was English. To that, I have two questions. One, does studying a foreign language give one the right to ignore your own? And two, are you be in a better position to explain the meaning of a piece of writing by Shakespeare or Wordsworth?

The truth is that language is one of the greatest gifts given to mankind. According to the Quran, when the Angels questioned Allah about bowing in front of Adam, Allah simply taught Adam names of things and when Adam named everything Allah had asked him to and the Angels could not do the same, Allah did not need any further arguments. Language is one of the main factors that make us superior to other beings. A nation that ignores its language ignores everything about its culture.

We don’t become experts on the English language just by making English our medium of education. Our culture and our language is our identity, and it is surprising how we can live comfortably while totally ignoring it. People who don’t respect their own language cannot respect any other either.

Now, a little about out religion, which we feel so strongly about; we are so touchy about the subject, so sensitive about the Holy Quran, making sure we don’t touch it until we have fulfilled certain criteria of cleanliness, reprimanding anyone who turns his back or worse, his feet towards it, kissing it day and night. But there is one important thing we must remember. The Holy Quran is in Arabic. As I said, since we have no respect for our own language, how can we give due importance to any other. We just do not realize the importance of such an obvious fact that if you want to read a book, you must understand the language it is written in. We are more concerned about interpreting the book, fighting against people who have different interpretations, judging people and condemning some to the eternal fires of hell just because we think we know about Islam, and in all this hustle bustle we forget that we don’t even know the language.

If you want to have an idea of how much importance we give to understanding the Quran, here’s something that might interest you. Yesterday, in the Punjab Assembly, Ms. Nighat Nasir Sheikh demanded an increase in salaries of Quran teachers in Madrassahs from Rs.250 per month (no, it is not a typing error) to Rs.1000 per month. After a long debate, the House passed a resolution to increase the salaries to Rs.500 per month. Law minister Rana Sana Ullah opposed the resolution saying that such a step would incur a burden of Rs. 9 million on the exchequer. By the way, a minister of the Provincial Assembly draws a monthly salary of Rs.41,000/- and this is excluding all the various allowances and a hefty daily sum for attending the session of the Assembly (I wonder, if they get an additional sum for attending the session, what is their salary for).

My father always told me that I would fail in life if I did not get my priorities right. I wish our nation had a father too.