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You must have heard the anecdote that goes around as
a joke: a Pakistani workman had been working in Saudi
Arabia for some time. When he could afford it he sent
for his parents to perform hajj. As luck would have
it he had argument with a Saudi, which blew up in a
full row with harsh words being exchanged. The Saudi
was swearing in Arabic and the Pakistani in his tongue.
The simple village dwelling mother of the Pakistani
turned on him in anger and said, "You have become
rude since coming to Saudi Arabia, aren't you ashamed
of yourself? He is reciting the Quran and you swear
in reply?"
Like this caring mother who thought that Arabic was
the language only of the Quran and hadith and was innocent
of bawdiness, curse, and song; so some of our simple
folk think of English as being the language of the enemies
of Islam, of the indecent, abusive, and rude; therefore
essential to avoid in language and pen. Both simple-minded
people failed to understand that language is the basic
tool for the expression of thoughts and ideas, which
can either be used for delivering good or bad. Arabic
has seen such legendary obscene, foul, lustful writers
and singers who make modesty and bashfulness run for
cover. Abu Jahal and Abu Lahab were of course Arabs…and
whatever insults they threw at our Holy Prophet sallallahu
'alaihi wassallam were obviously flung in Arabic. Although,
there is no doubt that Arabic is our religious language
and we have been ordered to revere it because the Quran
is in Arabic, the mother tongue of our Prophet sallallahu
'alaihi wassallam was Arabic, and the means of communication
in Jannah will be Arabic.
But as far as airing of thoughts and media are concerned,
they can be expressed in any language according to the
situation and the addressee. Among the numerous languages
of the world, English is a very important language,
although it was the language of the minority but our
multi faceted failings, our negligence, and the continuous
hard work and material progress of the west has not
only made English the international language of interaction
and communication but also the language of different
branches of knowledge, specially science and technology.
The world aside, let's talk of our own country where
it is apparently becoming more and more difficult to
live without the knowledge of the English language………electricity,
gas, and telephone bills, the name of medicines, how
to use them…everything is in English. The enormity
of the inferiority complex (about English) reflects
in the amount of adulteration in the Urdu language by
the modern class; it seems as if the 'babus' are talking
in English with some patches of Urdu reluctantly tacked
on.
But apart from the sufferers of this complex, no intelligent
person can deny the importance of English. The fact
is that those fortunate who have sympathy for their
Faith, who wish to counteract antagonistic and apostate
movements, and disseminate the voice of Righteousness
and the message of the Quran to all classes, have to
have a high degree of proficiency in the English language.
If they overlook this need, they will soon have to relinquish
their work of invitation to the hands of foreigners.
The reason for the abundance of English schools and
the popularity of English in certain classes of our
society is that parents have taken to the idea that
their children will not be able to gain any significant
success from medicine to engineering, and science to
media if they do not gain expertise in this language.
There is no doubt that the parents are being taken for
a ride by these schools publicizing their "high
standard education" but the parents, rightly or
wrongly, are inclined towards this trend.
The books in the syllabi of such schools are mostly
imported from Europe or are the work of writers who
are severely impressed by European culture, society,
and material development. Faith and spirituality hold
second place in their eyes, or even no place at all.
Whatever they write is written from a materialistic
point of view fixing their own particular ideas onto
innocent minds.
Because children naturally like to read and listen to
stories, there are a number of magazines available in
the market catering to all the needs of kids. But it
was oversight on our part that we failed to put our
energies in this direction leaving our children at the
mercies of literature that provided poison mixed in
sweets. This literature established the bravery, intelligence,
and courageousness of fictional characters like Tarzan
and Harry Potter in young minds but these minds remained
ignorant of the incomparable feats of commanders like
Hadhrat Abu Turab and Saifullah radhiallahu ta'ala 'anhuma.
The names of actors and actresses, even their respective
dialogue was committed to memory; but the names and
sayings of the Chaste Ladies and daughters were a thing
unheard of.
Although there have been some Urdu magazines and publications
around, based on Islamic teachings, but a parallel in
English was still missing. The honor of leading this
area was set to be in the hands of the daily "Islam",
who has started before this an Urdu weekly named "Bacchon
ka Islam" (Children's Islam) sans nonsense and
claptrap, that has set such milestones in publishing
and popularity that has astonished many a veteran. Now
the same organization has started an international Standard
English magazine, "The Truth", gathering the
compliments of countless parents and children. The parents
who said they were compelled to hand their children
books containing not just unIslamic but Islam bashing
literature are now absolved of the excuse. This magazine
has jokes, stories, riddles, history, biographies, information………but
all have the identical aim of improvement and nurturing
of the child on Islamic principles. Apparently this
is just another magazine for the entertainment of children
that they will look forward to like they look forward
to the Eid "chanda mamu"………but
in fact this is an educator and mentor that will play
an important role in your child's education and development.
O bearers of Faith, value this effort, buy it, read
it, point out its mistakes, help to advance it from
better to best, increase its circulation, introduce
it overseas. It is only Allah's blessing and your cooperation
that encourages "Al-Rasheed Trust" and the
people of "Islam" to move ahead step after
step.
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