CHITRAL: The recent incident in Lahore where a woman was almost lynched for wearing a garment with Arabic commercial script on it assuming the text was a Quranic verse, renews the case for adopting Arabic as the national language to get rid of such Arabic illiterate ridiculous situations which lead to so many complications and confusions.
Our present national language Urdu is an imported language being a mixture of Persian, Turkish, Sanskrit, etc. It is also known as ‘Lashkari’ language or the language of soldiers. It was imposed as a national language at the time of partition due to dominance of Urdu speaking people at the helm of affairs although the Bengalis opposed it as they were the majority population. Even sensible people of the time like the Aga Khan 111 suggested Arabic be adopted as the national language, which was equal in venerance and acceptability for both East and West Pakistan.
The advantage of changing our national language to Arabic even now can have long term salutary effects. The importance of Arabic can be judged from the fact that every muslim when born hears the first few words in Arabic (Azan). At the time of death the last few words he speaks or tries to speak is in Arabic (kalima). In between his birth and death he has to compulsorily recite verses in Arabic five times a day (prayers). At the time of marriage the recitation from the Holy Quran is in Arabic, even when someone falls seriously ill verses from the Quran are cited at his bedside, of course in Arabic. There are no exceptions to these disciplines.
When Arabic has such a crucial and inevitable role in our lives from birth to death, how can we ignore it. In Pakistan 90 percent of the people say prayers without understanding the meaning of the Quranic verses they recite. that s why they consider prayers as a compulsory ritual and do not benefit from the spirit of it.
Keeping all the facts mentioned above, why is it that we do not think about changing our national language to Arabic for the better of our future. With Arabic as national language and English as compulsory official language Pakistan can surmount many problems it faces today.
For those who are afraid of change and stuck within a box, let them ponder over it again as Urdu has not descended from heaven – Arabic has! — CN report, 27 Feb 2024
Also read: Replace Urdu with Arabic
One thought on “Case renewed for adopting Arabic as National language”
This is true. There is no muslim in the world regardless of sect, affiliation, etc who can deny that we are obligated to offer our prayers and other religious rituals in Arabic. There is no let up on this. Then why should we not learn it? Learning it as optional does not work and only molvis become literate at it and impose monopoly. If declared national language we will automatically solve so many religious and related issues with which we are stuck.