Enriching Urdu Language; contributions of Allama Iqbal and Hasrat Mohani

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Urdu-Hindi, the language of the people | www.UrduHindi.net 

There was a time in India, when English was considered “Angrezon Ki bhasha”, but now, that conclusion is withering away. English is indeed a language of the people, for the people by the people to communicate ideas, thoughts and actions. No one owns it and no one can slap its ownership on it, anyone who speaks, writes and reads, he owns it and it is his language.

Indeed, at one time in India, Urdu was the language of the people, for the people by the people. Anyone who spoke wrote or read Urdu, became his or her language.

Since our independence, Urdu got a raw treatment. The right wingers (those who do not think beyond their skulls) forced a religious label on it – that it is the language of Muslims. 

If they think, they will find out that Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladeshi, Turkey, Iran, Sudan or Mali….. i.e., 56 out of 57 Muslim majority nations do not speak Urdu. What about India herself? It’s the official language in three states out of 30 States – UP, Delhi and Kashmir. Muslims from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Odessa, Maharashtra and other states do not speak Urdu either, those who speak, is on par with what non-Muslims speak.

Urdu will survive despite the prejudices it faces, it is the language of the common people. By the way Urdu-Hindi is one language with three scripts; Devanagari, Persian and Roman English. The language fell into the laps of Muslims and they are carrying it forward and waiting for fellow Indians to call it their language as well.  Millions of songs are written in Urdu that is the common language. Attempts have been made to force Urdu and Hindi as two languages by giving a heavy dose of Sanskrit and Persian.

Now, we have to re-work the language back from the beginning. A language becomes yours if it captures your imagination and expresses your stories, myths, mythologies, romance and caring of fellow beings.

Now that Urdu has accidentally fallen in the lap of Urdu Speaking Muslims, they have a responsibility to remake the language, a language of the people.  We need to write Prose and poetry in a way that everyone feels a part of the language. 

For example Rajiv Chakravarti learned Urdu Language and its nuances from a Muslim point of view, several years ago, he recited poetry and used the word “Toor” – it relates with Moses receiving God’s words at Mt. Sinai – also known as Koh-e-Toor. Ahmed Rahi referenced Jesus’ call to cast the first stone who has not sinned, the Christians can relate with that very well. In the past several Muslim poets have referenced Hindu culture, mythology and holy texts in their poetry – making Urdu, a language of the people.

Indeed there are endless references by Muslim poets about Hinduism, some of the best devotional songs (Bhajans) are written, sung and composed by Muslims.  Most of them did not look to it as songs of Hindus, but songs to praise the praise worthy. 

Rajiv Chakravarti, an Urdu Scholar in Dallas shared the following links and it was a delight for me to read them all over the long lunch at Al Kabob’s on Harry Hines. A world of people came and left, I was enjoying my reading.

This is the reason we have taken the initiative to make an effort to undo the Muslim label from Urdu, which is not just, and restore it back to the language of the people through the initiative of Pluralism Poetry in Urdu-Hindi. Every South Asian ought to feel, it is his or her language – as there will be references about what is dear to him or her. 

This website www.UrduHindi.net is dedicated to promote Urdu-Hindi as one language, others can do the division we will do the cohesion, are you with me?

POETRY

The Maulana Who Loved Krishna
Mohani with Ambedkar

Hasrat Mohani was not just a maverick when it came to publicly championing the radical thinking of Tilak. He also wrote verses expressing deep love for Krishna, and often went to Mathura to celebrate Janmashtami.

CM Naim’s write up is worth reading, there is a connection you find with the Maualana.

C.M. NAIM ON HASRAT MOHANI

My heart has fallen in love with Kanhaiya. 
Why would it think of anyone else now?
We looked for him in Gokul and Brindaban, 
Let’s now go to Barsana and see if he’s there.
Hasrat, give up for him all that is yours, 
Then go to Mathura and become a jogi

man to-se prīt lagā’i kanhā’ī 
kahu or kīsurati ab kāhe ko ā’ī
gokula DhūNDh brindaban DhūNDho 
barsāne lag ghūm ke ā’ī
tan man dhan sab wār-ke Hasrat 
mathurā nagar cali dhūnīramā’ī


 


Iqbal on Lord Krishna and Ram

It was Iqbal’s confirmed conviction that Sree Krishna was the one of the messengers of God. He traced the visible miseries of India, to the fact that the messages of Krishna were being totally ignored. His beliefs went further to include even Sree Ram also. He envisioned Sree Ram as the ‘Spiritual Leader of the Indian Peninsula’. In his poem ‘The Call of the Caravan bell’, he wrote of Ram as the ‘Philosopher of the Easterners’.
Iqbal endeavoured ceaselessly to remove the misconceptions the Indians had about religion. Ali Sardar Jafri writes: “According to Iqbal’s beliefs, which has the authority of the Quran to support it, every religion, race and nation has received messengers of God i.e. prophets, in different ages to guide them. Gauthama Budha was one of them. Other contemporaries of Iqbal, like Moulana Hasrath Mohani, shared this belief and paid tribute Krishna as a prophet……… He was convinced that the fall of the Hindus was due to the fact that the teachings of Krishna were forgotten”.
Iqbal himself had great respect for Ram. He describes him as the spiritual leader of India (Imamal Hind). This poem was written after 1908, 

Iqbal on Gautama Buddha


Harmit Singh Shares the poerty of Iqbal on Buddha

Thank you

mike
Mike Ghouse, Speaker
Motivation | Pluralism | Human Rights | Religion.
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
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Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism,Islam, India, Israel-Palestine, Politics and other issues of the day. He is a human rights activist, and his book standing up for others will be out soon | He is producing a full feature film ” Sacred” to be released on 9/11 and a documentary “Americans together” for a July 4 release.  He is a frequent guest commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post. All about him is listed in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com – Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. 


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