Definition
Written by Dr. Abul Lais Siddiqi, this essay examines the long-standing debate in Pakistan over the medium of instruction — the language through which students are taught the arts and sciences in educational institutions — and argues the case for Urdu's suitability for this role.
Definition
As long as Persian remained the official and administrative language of the subcontinent, it also remained the region's language of scholarship and literature — yet it was never treated as a foreign or alien tongue: it was spoken in people's homes, was the mother tongue of some, and local writers composed poetry and scholarly, literary and historical works in it that were admired even in Iran.
Sufi saints and great scholars were the first to turn to Urdu, adopting it as a means of propagating religion in the subcontinent, and then using it for teaching, training disciples, and writing.
Urdu later received the patronage of kings and nobles in the courts of the Deccan, and poets and prose writers made it the successor of Persian — learning a great deal from Persian without ever treating it as a rival. Persian's own long dominance, however, held back Urdu's progress for a considerable period.
Definition
Some "foolish friends" argue that if the nation abandons the sheltering patronage of English, it will be left orphaned and uncivilised — a view the author firmly rejects.
A second common objection is that Urdu lacks scholarly and technical terminology. The author answers that terminology is never ready-made in any language beforehand; it arises naturally alongside scholarly progress itself. Nations that advanced in science — Germany, Russia, Japan and China — did not first assemble complete sets of terms; they wrote books and articles, through which the necessary terms became current and were later standardised.
In the same way, once scholarly and scientific works are written in Urdu, the required terminology will emerge on its own — and Urdu already holds vast reserves to draw on in the form of Persian and Arabic, its two important shared sources.
Remember
Developing the national language is not the government's task alone, nor can a handful of institutions or mere official funding solve the problem. It can only succeed if it is carried forward like a national movement — with public opinion prepared first, and teachers, students, writers, publishers and all patriotic citizens working together.
Definition
arbab-e-baseerat: people of insight and discernment.
saanvi zaban: a secondary or second language.
tasneef-o-taleef: authorship and compilation of books.
aabyaari karna: to irrigate; to nurture and foster.
saya-e-aatifat: the sheltering shade of affection, i.e. patronage.
marhoon-e-mannat: indebted to, obliged by someone's favour.
tanavvu: variety, diversity.
istilahaat: specialised scholarly or technical terminology.
Quick Recap
- ●Essay by Dr. Abul Lais Siddiqi on the medium-of-instruction debate in Pakistan
- ●Persian was long the subcontinent's official/scholarly language but was never seen as foreign
- ●Sufis and scholars first adopted Urdu for religious teaching; Deccan courts later gave it royal patronage
- ●Rebuts the objection that abandoning English orphans the nation, and the objection that Urdu lacks terminology (terms arise naturally with scholarly writing, as in Germany, Russia, Japan, China)
- ●Conclusion: developing the national language needs a collective national movement, not government action alone
- ●Vocabulary: arbab-e-baseerat, saanvi zaban, tasneef-o-taleef, aabyaari karna, saya-e-aatifat, marhoon-e-mannat, tanavvu, istilahaat
