Why only Urdu Should be the National Language of Pakistan?
Only Urdu can be the national language of Pakistan, no other language deserves this status, following are the reasons:
i. Urdu has a very close resemblance with all the regional languages of Pakistan. Many words used in these languages are common and all these languages are written in the same script.
ii. Urdu is the lingua franca; it is spoken and understood by people living in all areas of Pakistan. Urdu reflects national solidarity.
iii. Urdu is the symbol of national unity, it is not the languages of any particular region or a specific group of people, it is a common national heritage.
iv. Urdu is a vast and beautiful language; it has assimilated many beautiful words from other languages.
v. With the adoption of the Arabic, Persian and Turkish words Urdu has developed a close affinity with other languages of the Muslim world. Urdu has also developed a very rich vocabulary due to its unique quality of absorbing and adopting words and phrases from other languages.
vi. Urdu has a potential of being developed into a perfect language of science and technology as well as the language of official use.
vii. In the history of South East Asia, Islam, Pakistan and Urdu have been so closely related to each other that none of these can be supposed to flourish and prosper independently. Urdu has a very rich treasure of Islamic literature. We cannot achieve the ideological objectives of our state unless we give Urdu the status it really deserves.
Brief History
How and when Urdu took shape as a distinct language? Is Urdu a developed form of any of the sub-continent's old languages? If yes, which language can be identified as Urdu's mother? These, and many other questions like these have been discussed by the researchers and scholars at length and different opinions have emerged. In Sayyid Suleiman Nadavi's opinion, Urdu is a developed form of Sindhi. Hafiz Mahmood Shirani traced its origin to Punjabi. According to Dr. Naseer-ud-Din Hashmi South India was the first homeland of Urdu. Maulana Muhammad Hussain Azad traced its origin to Persian. Other linguists believe that the Brij Bhasha spoken in the suburbs of Delhi gave birth to Urdu.
It is difficult for us to accept any of these opinions as final; all of these have their own strengths and weaknesses. Most probably, Urdu did not emanate from a single source, more or less all these, and possibly many other factors played a role in its formation. Formative Phase: Whatever we have so far learnt about the formation of Urdu language can be summed up in the following points.
- Origin of Urdu language can be traced to the advent of Islam. In the subcontinent. Arab settlements existed on the southern shores of India even before the days of Le Hazrat Muhammad Rasool Ullah a few centuries after Hazrat Muhammad Rasool Ullah Muslim conquers from west and north-west started pouring in.
- The soldiers in these armies spoke Arabic, Persian and Turkish languages. Wherever they settled, a grafting between their languages and the indigenous dialects started taking place. These mixed languages formed raw material for the language which later came to be known as Urdu.
- In the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteen centuries, the British, the French and the Portuguese settlers and traders enriched the local languages by contributing new words and phrases to it.
- Local dialects of the Punjab, Sindh and Decan contributed richly to the formation of Urdu.
- In South, India the Muslim preachers wrote tracts in simple-to-understand popular dialects and these probably, are the first written Urdu works.
- Founder of Hyderabad (Deccan) and the ruler of Golkanda state Muhammad Ali Qutab Shah (1581-1611) is the author of the first published work on poetry (Diwan) in Urdu.
- Wali Dakkani is generally held as the first modern Urdu poet because the language used by him is closer to modern Urdu (as compared to Qutab Shah's language).
- First work in Urdu prose is Mulla Wajhi's "Sab Ras" which is the translation of a Persian book.
- Literary masterpieces appeared in North India during the same period in the later period Urdu was adopted as the language of the religious literature. Shah Ismail Shaheed's Taqviatul Iman and Shah Abdul Qadir and Shah Rafi'-ud-Din's translations of the Holy Quran are the excellent pieces of fluent and easy to understand Urdu language.
- Fort William College Calcutta was established by the British rulers in the year 1800, basically for the fulfilment of their colonial needs. The college hired the services of the renowned Urdu writers to write books in simple, standard Urdu. These books were taught to the British officers and played an important role in the enrichment of the Urdu literature.
- In the midst of the nineteenth century Mirza Asad Ullah Khan Ghalib introduced a new trend in Urdu prose through his simple and forthright style and expression. In the later half of the nineteenth century Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan and his companions made scrupulous efforts to enrich this tradition. In the same period Shibli Nomani made valuable additions to the Urdu literature.
- In the twentieth century, religious scholars like Maulana Abul-Kalam Azad, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi and Maulana Abul-Ala Modudi produced rich religious literature in Urdu and introduced new trends in prose writing. Poets like Iqbal, Hali and Akbar composed excellent purposeful poetry and used their pen for national regeneration.
- At the end of the 18th century, Urdu had taken the place of Persian as the language of Muslim culture in India.
- In the year 1837 Urdu was, for the first time, recognized as the language of civil courts of the British Government.
- In states like Hyderabad Deccan Urdu was adopted as official and the court language.
- Urdu was, for the first time, adopted as the medium of instruction for higher level of education by a modern University established at Hyderabad in the year 1920.
Since Urdu had emerged as a symbol of the Muslim nationhood in the sub-continent during the days of the Muslim struggle for freedom, with the creation of Pakistan a golden era in the history of Urdu ushered. In very early days after independence the Quaid-Azam said in unequivocal terms.
- "But let me make it very clear to you that the State language of Pakistan is going to be Urdu and no other language. Anyone who tries to mislead you is really the enemy of Pakistan. Without one State language, no Nation can remain tied up solidly together and function".
(Dacca University, 24th March,1948)
