by JUSTICE MARKANDEY KATJU
In large parts of our subcontinent we both speak the same language Hindustani, called Hindi in India and Urdu in Pakistan, though they are almost the same, and culture revolves mainly around language.
Urdu is an indigenous (desi) language, unlike Persian and Arabic which are foreign languages. Let me explain this. The verbs in Urdu (called ‘kriya’ in Hindi and ‘feyl’ in Urdu) are all in Hindustani or simple Hindi, the language of the common man (Urdu being Persianised Hindustani and Hindi being Sanskritised Hindustani).
The nouns and adjectives in Urdu are often in Persian or Arabic, but it is the verb which determines to which language a sentence belongs, not the nouns or adjectives.
Since the verbs in Urdu are all in Hindustani, not Persian or Arabic, Urdu is an Indian language, being a special kind of Hindustani, and it is not a special kind of Persian or Arabic.
Urdu poetry is loved by both Indians and Pakistanis.
Often members of parliaments of both India and Pakistan quote Urdu shers or couplets in their speeches, and mushairas are frequently held in both countries.
Take for instance the sher of the greatest Urdu poet Ghalib (who lived in Delhi in India, not in Saudi Arabia):
“Dekho mujhe jo deeda-e-ibrat nigah ho
Meri suno jo gosh-e-naseehat niyosh hai”
Here the verbs ‘dekho’, ‘suno’, ‘hai’ are all in Hindustani.
Similarly one can take the shers of any Urdu poet and he will find the verbs invariably in Hindustani ( though the nouns and adjectives will often be in Persian or Arabic ). If the verb was in Persian, it would become a Persian couplet, not Urdu, and if it was in Arabic it would become an Arabic couplet.
This proves that Urdu is an indigenous language of the Indian subcontinent, and is not a foreign language like Arabic. So how can Pakistani culture be part of Arabic culture ?
It is true that the Quran is in Arabic, and the namaz is recited in Arabic. But Latin was the language of the Church in Europe for centuries and church services were in Latin, including in France, England, Germany and Spain. Did that make those countries part of Italy ?
No doubt Hindus and Muslims have different religions, but for centuries they lived amicably, helping each other, and celebrating each other’s festivals.
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