Al Bakistan

[Marbles]

How about some Bunjabi Burathas from Al-Lahore and Bathan-made chabbali kabab straight from Beshawar?

 

Letter P is haram because it doesn't exist in Arabic.

 

 

A couple of years ago Pakistan was hit by a sign that it may have actually taken the first (or possibly 15th) step towards becoming an Arab colony, at least culturally.

 

Out of the blue emerged these vehicle registration plates with the number either in Urdu or simple numbers and ‘Al Bakistan’ painted in white Arabic font on a red strip. Jaws dropped, frowns were formed, laughs were had and people were rendered speechless at this totally new and unexpected phenomenon.

 

Why would Pakistan be called ‘Bakistan’? When did the name of the country change? Why borrow Arabic words or alphabet sounds while the national language still remains Urdu?

 

A few months later these number plates got an additional word: Al Bunjab. The new plates have ‘Al Bunjab, Al Bakistan’ written on them in Arabic. And this has become quite conspicuous now. From a motorbike to a car, every other vehicle in Lahore, at least, seems to have been hit by Cyclone Arabic.

 

Columnist, analyst, journalist and culture critic Raza Rumi’s take is: “Nothing is more telling than the literal identity shift of Pakistan taking place in Punjab. Number plates with Al Bakistan amounts to changing the name of the country. I would suffer from an identity crisis if I were to be called Rada instead of Raza. Intriguing how the administrative apparatus in charge of issuing number plates and registration is complicit in the Arabisation process. I also saw a much higher number of camels during the last Eidul Azha (please note it is not Adha for most of us but will be soon called that). Allah Hafiz.”

 

But not everyone is amused by vehicles becoming ‘Arabised’. Rizwan Saleemi, a businessman, says: “Most of the people who are doing this belong to upper-middle class Punjabi families based mostly in Lahore and other cities of Punjab. They are going through some kind of a paradox. They want to enjoy everything modern consumerism has to offer; a good car, preferably modified, mind/ear blowing sound system, giving their girlfriends a spin in their brand new Corollas and Civics every now and then. But wait a second, what about the fancy Altima they had when they used to roam around Riyadh, Dubai or Qatar? They had a nice Arabic plate on that elegant ride; let’s get made one for my car here in Pakistan.”

 

The second reason, he says, is the “ridiculous amount of romanticism of Punjabi middle classes with their presumed Arab roots”.

 

Read full HERE

[Wahdat]

simillar to replacing Khuda Hafiz with Allah Hafiz.

[Marbles]

simillar to replacing Khuda Hafiz with Allah Hafiz.

 

That too, and I don't understand what 'Allah Hafiz' is anyway. It's an unnatural term, aesthetically revolting, concocted out of some hatred for the Farsi 'khuda', and became a Islamo-pop cultural symbol amongst the youth. Most people don't even know what they have been made to accept; it's a 'cool' thing to say 'Allah Hafiz'; it's trendy, whereas 'Khuda Hafiz' is so 'obsolete' and 'typical'.

 

I, for one, totally refuse saying this greeting and insist on the original, organic, syntactically pleasing, Farsi-originated 'Khuda Hafiz'.

 

Same with replacing 'Ramazan Mubarak' with 'Ramadan Kareem' (no, we don't have to replicate Arab pronunciation of letters when we're speaking in Farsi and it's affiliate languages; like it or not, ض is just not pronounced as 'd' but 'z'. If I were speaking Arabic I'd make sure to imitate the native pronunciation as much as I could, but sorry, I ain't gonna indulge is mullahic prudery when I am speaking indigenous languages. No one before our generation did.

 

And there is this trend among the inferiority-complexed Arab-suckers to say 'Shukran' instead of Urdu 'shukriya'. Say what? If someone says 'shukran' to me I immediately correct them - 'bro, the word for thankyou in our language is 'shukriya', not what you just said'. Some don't even register my point, some laugh it away, some launch themselves into a loud harangue about Arabic being the language of heaven (false), and then it's my turn to laugh.

 

And many other such examples of people wanting so badly to be crypto-Arabs, believing it could somehow miraculously bring them closer to Islam.

 

What khurafaat, what tajaahil-e aarifana, what pea-brained jaahalat.

Edited March 24, 2014 by Marbles

[JSAli]

This is ridiculous, Marples.

[Marbles]

This is ridiculous, Marples.

 

Jood boint.

[The Green Knight]

How about some Bunjabi Burathas from Al-Lahore and Bathan-made chabbali kabab straight from Beshawar?

 

Letter P is haram because it doesn't exist in Arabic.

 

 

 

Read full HERE

 

AsTahGFiRthW1N. Bha1 M@'D @LL@ R U per ChaNce uNaWaReZ tH@t URDU LANGUAGE 1S BiDDa LoLx? YOU CUNFUSE! OLOLOLO SHIA. :D

[Username already taken]

This is ridiculous, Marples.

I see what you did there  :shifty:

[Haji 2003]

Arabification is the least of the problems facing Urdu. Anglicisation is the existential threat. 

[Laayla]

Bismehe Ta3ala,

Assalam Alikum Brother Marbles,

When Imam Mahdi arrives, Insh'Allah, in what language do you want him to communicate with you? :))

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN Allah

[Marbles]

Arabification is the least of the problems facing Urdu. Anglicisation is the existential threat. 

 

I knew someone would mention anglicisation :D

 

While I fully realise the threat the Urdu language faces from anglicisation but do note that the objection is not to the Arabisation of language as such, but to the import of crude Arab symbols in everyday life, for the purpose of changing the character of our society from what it is into an Arab-centric one, which includes linguistic twiddling.

 

This is only the tip of the iceberg. There's a bigger narrative whose expounders attempt to sever the ties of this land with India on the East and Persian-speaking nations on the West, and the argument is that our being Muslim links us inextricably to Arabia and everything else should be dispensed with.

 

Something is seriously wrong when you have these Arab-wannabes condemn you for inadvertently committing shirk when you say 'Khuda Hafiz' ('khuda' allegedly being derived from the name of an old Persian god).

 

There is this growing elite class (now joined by nouveau-educated middle classes) which has inferiority complex with respect to English and then there is this mindset of Arab wannabes who display inferiority complex with respect to Arabic.

 

The fact that we are inheritors of a marvelous Indo-Persian cultural matrix (and a multitude of old and established languages) stretching back a thousand years is lost on those people.

 

Bismehe Ta3ala,

Assalam Alikum Brother Marbles,

When Imam Mahdi arrives, Insh'Allah, in what language do you want him to communicate with you? :))

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN Allah

 

Ws,

 

Since Imam knows ilm al-ghayb, if I don't know Arabic, I will expect the Imam to understand me in my native language. And, say, if Imam doesn't speak my language for some reason, I will ask for an interpreter. In any case, communication will be possible, by the grace of Allah, but I don't want to be turned into an Arab because I am not.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Marbles

[Shiabro]

 In any case, communication will be possible, by the grace of Allah, but I don't want to be turned into an Arab because I am not.

Learn Arabic and you become an Arab, like Lawrence of Arabia.

[baqar]

The fact that we are inheritors of a marvelous Indo-Persian cultural matrix (and a multitude of old and established languages) stretching back a thousand years is lost on those people.

 

My experience is that any language is a great asset. And for obvious reasons, Arabic will be more than just an asset.

 

But I agree that changing 'Khuda Hafiz' to 'Allah Hafiz' is plain silly.

 

It is even more silly to change Pakistan to Bakistan. 

[notme]

Language is a living thing, like culture. You can't expect it to remain the same over time. But trying to abolish "outdated" language is a loss and trying to force an external change is a kind of oppression. Let it evolve on its own.

[sayedzeeshan]

The whole language/culture issue is somewhat tricky. 

 

We celebrate Nowruz in Pakistan which is a Persian holiday. Then again, Persian influence on Subcontinent culture has historic reasons. But now Pakistan is becoming Arab-ified and history is being written as we speak. This too is natural, as 3/4th of Pakistan is Sunni and they idealise Arabs rather than Persians. 

[Marbles]

Language is a living thing, like culture. You can't expect it to remain the same over time. But trying to abolish "outdated" language is a loss and trying to force an external change is a kind of oppression. Let it evolve on its own.

 

Farsi as we know it today has a big vocabulary of Arabic words, which entered the language owing to the ties the Persian speaking peoples had with Arabs. It was an organic process in the most part, including the adoption of Arabic alphabet after the language evolved from Pahlavi Persian into the modern form of Farsi.

 

Urdu vocabulary likewise is heavily derived from Farsi and a lot of Arabic too (besides having words from Turkish, Old Hindi, Sanskrit and Prakrit). Again, it was an organic and historic process. No one suddenly came shouting hoarse about xyz language being the language of the idol-worshipping Hindus or fire-wroshipping Zoroastrians and exhorted people to adopt Arabic at the cost of native languages only because the Quran was revealed in that language.

 

Linguistic wars, linguistic imperialism, inferiority and superiority complexes is a function of our modern times.

 

The whole language/culture issue is somewhat tricky. 

 

We celebrate Nowruz in Pakistan which is a Persian holiday. Then again, Persian influence on Subcontinent culture has historic reasons. But now Pakistan is becoming Arab-ified and history is being written as we speak. This too is natural, as 3/4th of Pakistan is Sunni and they idealise Arabs rather than Persians. 

 

I don't think being Sunni should be a reason to idealise Arabic or Arabs. Likewise being Shia is no reason to adopt peculiar Iranian festivals or to idealise the Iranians. Insofar as Nawroz is celebrated for Islamic reasons, I can understand that, because we also celebrate Eid and Milad for the same Islamic reasons, both Shias and Sunnis.

 

Sunnis of the olden days never wanted to be Arab wannabes like some today; What is happening can be descried as a post-1970s process of Arabisation of Ajamis, spearheaded by the religious puritans, and that's where, in my opinion, we have a problem.

[sayedzeeshan]

Farsi as we know it today has a big vocabulary of Arabic words, which entered the language owing to the ties the Persian speaking peoples had with Arabs. It was an organic process in the most part, including the adoption of Arabic alphabet after the language evolved from Pahlavi Persian into the modern form of Farsi.

Urdu vocabulary likewise is heavily derived from Farsi and a lot of Arabic too (besides having words from Turkish, Old Hindi, Sanskrit and Prakrit). Again, it was an organic and historic process. No one suddenly came shouting hoarse about xyz language being the language of the idol-worshipping Hindus or fire-wroshipping Zoroastrians and exhorted people to adopt Arabic at the cost of native languages only because the Quran was revealed in that language.

Linguistic wars, linguistic imperialism, inferiority and superiority complexes is a function of our modern times.

I don't think being Sunni should be a reason to idealise Arabic or Arabs. Likewise being Shia is no reason to adopt peculiar Iranian festivals or to idealise the Iranians. Insofar as Nawroz is celebrated for Islamic reasons, I can understand that, because we also celebrate Eid and Milad for the same Islamic reasons, both Shias and Sunnis.

Sunnis of the olden days never wanted to be Arab wannabes like some today; What is happening can be descried as a post-1970s process of Arabisation of Ajamis, spearheaded by the religious puritans, and that's where, in my opinion, we have a problem.

I agree with you brother. This is side effect of Arabisation or Wahabification of Pakistan.

I have met otherwise secular poeple in pakistan having hardcore wahabi beliefs. Which is very unfortunate.

[The Green Knight]

Bismehe Ta3ala,

Assalam Alikum Brother Marbles,

When Imam Mahdi arrives, Insh'Allah, in what language do you want him to communicate with you? :))

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN Allah

 

^

 

Sister I write to him in Urdu and believe me he understands it perfectly as I get precise and timely response.

[Laayla]

Bismehe Ta3ala,

Assalam Alikum.

Brother, where do you put the letter? I have a few things, I would like to tell him.

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN Allah

[b4s1t]

Bismehe Ta3ala,

Assalam Alikum.

Brother, where do you put the letter? I have a few things, I would like to tell him.

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN Allah

If you are implying that the Qaim (as) will only know or communicate in arabic then I guess youre forgetting about the qualities of an Imam in general as per our ahadith.

[Laayla]

Bismehe Ta3ala,

 

Assalam Alikum.

 

No, I'm well aware our Imam understands and will communicate to the masses in any language necessary.  But, Arabic afterall is the language of Quran, salat, ahadith and the Imam's mother tongue.  It's a perfect language.  I'm referring to classical Arabic of course.

 

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN Allah

[The Green Knight]

Bismehe Ta3ala,

Assalam Alikum.

Brother, where do you put the letter? I have a few things, I would like to tell him.

M3 Salamah, FE AMIN Allah

 

(wasalam)

 

I pull up over a bridge and put it in the canal below. You can also put the letter in wells, if there still exists one near you.