Not in good faith

Sumit Paul

Zubaan ko mazhab se vaabsta kar diya, Hindi ko Hindu, Urdu ko Musalmaan bana diya (We’ve associated languages with faiths/Hindi has become Hindu, Urdu has become Muslim).

AAP Urdu mein kyon signature karte hain?’ politely asked a bank manager. Flabbergasted, I told her that I’ve been doing this for many years. In fact, my signature has always been in Urdu, precisely, Persian, which is my mother tongue.

No one asked me this rather audacious question all these years. All of a sudden, a mere signature in Urdu caused to raise eyebrows. This was a rude awakening and it dawned on me that the times and climes were indeed changing, for the worse.

When a couple of years ago on a metro in Delhi, a few youngsters asked me not to read an Urdu newspaper, I thought it was a rare isolated incident. Alas, I was mistaken! Now, people, in the society where I live, have begun to ask me why I subscribe to Urdu dailies and prefer to converse in Urdu. This pains me no end. Why do people find it bizarre and anomalous when someone with a ‘Hindu’ name reads and speaks Urdu? When I greet a Muslim friend with ‘as-salamu alaykum’ (peace be upon you), he or she hardly greets back with wa-alaikum-salaam. I’m ruefully reminded of Allama Iqbal’s famous quatrain, ‘Zaahid-e-tangnazar ne mujhe kaafir jaana/Aur kafir ye samajhta hai ke Musalmaan hoon main/Ae chashme-udoo mujh ko hiqarat se na dekh/Jis pe qudrat ko bhi hai naaz, woh insaan hoon main’ (The parochial preacher mistakes me for an infidel/And an infidel erroneously thinks that I’m a Muslim/Oh, my perceived enemy, please don’t look at me with abhorrence/ I’m that human even nature is proud of).

I used to conduct a free workshop and teach Urdu to beginners. Now, hardly anyone comes to learn Urdu from a person who has no religion and who is completely godless. I’d teach how to read and recite Quranic verses to poor Muslim children. Now, their parents don’t send them to me as mullahs and maulvis issued an edict that learning Quranic aayat (verses) from a kafir is against Islam!

Until a few years ago, I used to teach Sanskrit richas (hymns) and conduct free Sanskrit classes. Now, I’ve become an eyesore to those very people who, not long ago, eulogised and extolled my felicity with Sanskrit. Why languages are being stereotyped and pigeonholed as Hindu languages and Muslim tongues, is beyond my ken. I learnt Arabic from a British scholar who had no religion. I taught Persian mysticism without being a Muslim and none ever asked my faith. So, why someone’s faith has suddenly become so important? Aren’t we all living in religiously and linguistically polarised times? I’m baffled. Is there any explanation to it?

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.