Enriching Urdu Language; contributions of Allama Iqbal and Hasrat Mohani

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

 

CONTINUED - http://www.outlookindia.com/article/the-maulana-who-loved-krishna/279545

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, 

Continued at: http://www.jaihoon.com/943.htm

Iqbal on Gautama Buddha

Harmit Singh Shares the poerty of Iqbal on Buddha

https://plus.google.com/104861058835925612531/posts/UEESKhue2ab

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. 

Texas Faith: Are Interfaith Marriages Good for Couples?

Interfaith couples must be admired by one and all. When couples are having difficulty in getting along, they are setting a new standard: respecting the otherness of someone else and accepting the God-given uniqueness of each other. They may have grown up in different religious traditions, but yet, religion is not a barrier. The poet philosopher of the East, Dr. Allama Iqbal, says, Religion does not teach one to have ill-will. 

Texas Faith :Are Interfaith Marriages Good for Couples?
Dallas Morning News | Published on June 18, 2013
By Bill McKenzie  
 

Naomi Schaefer Riley has a new book out with the title Til Faith Do Us Part: How Interfaith Marriage is Transforming America. You can read about that book at this link and then this link.

Interestingly, Riley, a former Wall Street Journal editor who has written extensively about religion and culture, notes that 45 percent of all U.S. marriages in the last decade were between people of different faiths. Naturally, we may look at that as a sign of greater acceptance and tolerance, which a broad society needs to remain dynamic and growing.

But Riley also reports that marrying across religious lines may be very difficult for the couples involved. Their deeply-held differences may eventually become a problem, especially when it comes to raising children.

There are a number of ways we could go with this question, including why dating couples may spend more time worrying about political differences than religious distinctions. Feel free to chime in on that aspect, if you like. But the main point I would like you to consider is this: Interfaith marriages may help the broader society, but are they good for the couples?

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism, and Speaker on interfaith matters, diversity and pluralism

Marriage is between two individuals who are willing to commit to each other’s well-being. They dedicate their lives to each other till death does them apart. The couple marries as a fulfillment of their desire for each other, and there is rarely a consideration to help the broader society.

However, interfaith, inter-racial and inter-ethnic marriages have paved the way for others in the larger societies who were once denied the right to pursue their happiness. Stories abound, where the lovers were prevented, harassed or killed by the parents, society or the clergy. We must appreciate their sacrifice, even though that was not their intention.

I must add a couplet from Urdu and Hindi Language, written by the Master Indian poet Mirza Ghalib:

Ishq par zor naheeN, hai ye woh aatish ‘GHalib’
ki lagaaye na lage aur bujhaaye na bane

Love is such a flame Ghalib (pen name),
you cannot lit or extinguish it, it just happens.

Like all couples, the interfaith couple also endures similar strains in their relationship, (8.4 and 7.9 marital satisfaction on Riley Scale) but it may take the avatar of faith if they are at each other’s throat. It is always easy to blame the religion for our failings. However, interfaith and other inter-relationships tend to be stronger.

Political differences provide humor to some couples. My father and mother voted differently but never had a fight over it except the occasional cold wars. I am a Republican and my wife is a Democrat, and we make attempts to convince each other, but back off as quickly as we initiate it, when she quotes me the Quran, “That you cannot compel your spouse to believe what she does not want to believe.”

Interfaith couples must be admired by one and all. When couples are having difficulty in getting along, they are setting a new standard: respecting the otherness of someone else and accepting the God-given uniqueness of each other. They may have grown up in different religious traditions, but yet, religion is not a barrier. The poet philosopher of the East, Dr. Allama Iqbal, says, Religion does not teach one to have ill-will.

I am a marriage officiant and have performed a range of interfaith marriages as a part of my pluralism work.

To see all the other responses, at Dallas Morning News at:http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/2013/06/texas-faith-are-interfaith-marriages-good-for-couples.html/
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Added: Interfaith marriages performed include; Jewish-Christian; Hindu-Christian; Muslim-Jain; Hindu-Muslim, Atheist Hindu and  Jewish-Muslim and other combinations. For details, please visit: http://www.interfaithmarriages.blogspot.com/

This is my 133rd contribution at Dallas Morning News

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Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and has done that throughout his life as an activist. Mike has a presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes all his work through many links. 

Symposium on Sir Allama Iqbal's discourse on democracy

URL - http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2013/05/sympoium-on-sir-allama-iqbals-discourse.html

Dr. Allama Iqbal is one of the greatest philosopher poets of India; he and Swami Vivekananda continue to be the most quoted in awakening the masses with their wisdom. Their words were magical, thoughtful and evoked practical attitudes towards life.

I was particularly interested in his work on Pluralism, as we are getting ready to do a poetry session in Urdu-Hindi on Pluralism, as I was familiar with some of his works, like “ Mazhab nahin sikhata aapas me bair rakhna”  meaning religion does not teach one to hold grudges against people of other faiths.  Boy, was I happy to hear the response from the audience? Apparently there is a lot more poetry to explore. There was group of ladies on the table next to mine, and they were happy to express their familiarity with his work on pluralism, and I have requested them to write a poem about pluralism.   

MikeGhouse-Dr.Nyla Khan-Dr.Anwar

Dr.MonaKazimShah-Mrs and Dr. Masood Raja-Dr.Anwar

The South Asia Democracy watch organized the event, and had invited great speakers to talk about his work. Dr. Jaffar Mahallati, former UN Ambassador got everyone floored when he talked about Dr. Iqbal’s influence on the Iranian intellectuals and continues to be part of the study and speeches even to this day. Dr. Nyla Ali Khan, the granddaughter of Sheikh Abdullah, Chief Minister of Kashmir and a Professor in Oklahoma delivered one of the greatest speeches on democracy and the impeccable value of US Constitution and Iqbal’s preference for democracy, where leadership with morality was to be valued, but religion and state were to be separate entities. My admiration for Iqbal continues to grow.

Dr. Talmeez Fatima, Dr. Masood Raja and Dr. Qaisar Abbas delivered the messages that I have been craving to hear all my life – about his views on democracy and pluralism. I hope to read Dr. Abbas’s article in Urdu to fully grasp the thoughts he has written, and Dr. Fatima talked about timeliness of Iqbal’s message. Dr. Basheer Ahmed did a fabulous job as the master of the ceremonies. 

One of the rigors of intellectualism is to question everything, and questioning they did. Particularly Masood Raja; no one should be given a free pass.  In the  story of my quest for pluralism, I have quoted my sister’s innocent throw back question at me some 40 years ago – “do you know more than Allama Iqbal” and my response remains the same to this day, no, but I will not take any one’s words for granted.”

My camera died on me at the all day event “many faces one peace” from there I rushed to this program and did not get a chance to charge up my camera or the cell phone. I am writing a separate note about the program, where I spoke how to build a cohesive America, where no American has to live in apprehension, discomfort or fear of the other, and book and the move is in the making on the Americans Together.

http://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2013/02/indian-americans-committment-to.html




Mike Ghouse is a speaker, thinker and a writer on pluralism, politics, peace, Islam, Israel, India, interfaith, and cohesion at work place. He is committed to building a Cohesive America and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day at www.TheGhousediary.com. He believes in Standing up for others and has done that throughout his life as an activist. Mike has a presence on national and local TV, Radio and Print Media. He is a frequent guest on Sean Hannity show on Fox TV, and a commentator on national radio networks, he contributes weekly to the Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News; fortnightly at Huffington post; and several other periodicals across the world. His personal site www.MikeGhouse.net indexes his work through many links.