By Tahir Kamran
Opinion: After name, dress and language, now we have declared words also as religion. In a society where after name and dress, you are also asked by words that you belong to another religion, then what are you doing here? Such hatred is more dangerous than hatred expressed with sticks and swords. When such situations arise, understand that the problem is not outside, but within. Words are bridges, not boundaries; They bridge cultures. But when posts are placed on these bridges, civilization does not progress; He starts shrinking.
The incident of Kotdwar in Uttarakhand is a vivid example of this narrow-mindedness. Communal tension has spread due to the name ‘Baba’ being written on a shop. The question arises that to which religion does this word belong? Who can use it? This question may seem trivial, but the emotions hidden behind it are quite dangerous. Some people in Kotdwar objected to the word ‘Baba’ in the name of ‘Baba School Dress and Matching Centre’. Perhaps this objection was because the word is mainly used by members of a particular religion, and perhaps they simply wanted to assert their ownership of the word. He believes it is part of his personal culture. Of course, culture is never anyone’s private property. However, if they believe they have exclusive authority over the word, they are merely demonstrating their ignorance.
To clear up such confusion, it is important to understand that the term “Baba” is not the exclusive domain of any one religious tradition. Linguistic history shows that the word has been used Persian And central asian Linguistic currents mean “father,” “elder,” or “respected person.” This explains why this word is found naturally in many Religious and cultural traditions.
sufi saint – Baba Farid
sikh tradition – Baba Nanak
hindu saint – many saints
folk literature – Means grandfather or elder.
Gen-Z He also calls his friends ‘Baba’.
However, the trend of languages ​​with religious cover began much earlier. Urdu is a famous example of this. Urdu language is now confined to kurta-pajama and netted cap. Interestingly, the people who do this suffer from similar mental illness. If they are linking Urdu language with any particular religion then the question arises that what is the religion of Persian?
Relationship between Urdu and Persian
It would not be wrong to call Persian language the mother of Urdu. Urdu has been greatly influenced by Persian since the beginning. Urdu borrows its meanings, modes of expression, figures of speech, metre(s), poetic style, poetic imagery, literary vocabulary, idioms, similes, metaphors, allusions and even some grammatical structures from Persian. Many Urdu sentences, proverbs and idioms are actually translations of Persian.
For a long time, Urdu essay writers have considered Persian prose as a role model. Urdu has very few words of its own; It borrows thousands from Arabic and Persian. Since there were already many Arabic words in Persian, Arabic words also entered Urdu through Persian. From its inception to the present day, Urdu has had a direct relationship with Persian, and this relationship with Arabic has developed to some extent through rotation. Now that Persian has been proved to be the mother of Urdu, the question arises: When did those who hated Urdu develop love for its mother? Because “Baba” is actually a Persian word.
If we consider the history of Persian language, it has the same relationship with Islam and Muslims as Urdu does and in fact this relationship is deeper than Urdu. Today Persian is the national language of Iran, but like Urdu, it is wrong to associate this language with Islam or Muslims.
History of Persian language
Persian predates Islam by centuries. It was the official language during the Achaemenid (550 BC – 330 BC) and Sasanian Empires (224 AD – 651 AD), even before the rise of Islam. This means that its origins lie in civilization, not religion. Later, with the expansion of Islamic empires, it became the language of administration, literature and diplomacy.
Another interesting thing is that in India also the Persian language was propagated by those people whom we and these people who claim the word “Baba” hate. They are being erased from the history books. History is not good or bad; History is history and it is our responsibility to pass on the history that we have inherited from our ancestors to the next generation.
How does language move society forward?
Civilizations did not advance only through swords or wars, but communication played a bigger role than anything else. When people connect through words, symbols, and language, cultures expand; When these are protected, civilizations begin to shrink. Mesopotamia (3500 BC) and Indus Valley Civilization (3300 BC) are prime examples.
The cuneiform script transcribed commerce, law, and literature in Mesopotamia. Would Hammurabi, who ruled Babylon (present-day Iraq), have carved laws in stone? Were the symbols on the seals of the Indus Valley Civilization merely for decoration? He was a symbol of communication. Evidence from Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa shows that trade extended to Mesopotamia. Despite different languages ​​and different people, contact remained. The reason is obvious: languages, words and symbols act as bridges.
When did Persian language come to India?
When we talk about Persian’s India connection, it entered India with Central Asian rulers as early as the 11th century. During the Delhi Sultanate, Persian became the language of the state – that is, the language of the court. Later, the Mughal Empire made it the dominant language of administration, literature and culture. Court, law, history and poetry were all written in Persian. In such a situation, I do not think that these rioters should have so much love for the word “Baba”, which is associated with the language of the Mughals and the royal courts. And if this alleged affection for words turns into hatred, the question is, how many words will they hate? We use thousands of words every day from languages ​​like Urdu, Persian and Arabic. Adalat (court), Darbar (court), Bazaar (market), Duniya (world), Kitab (book), Rang (color), Rasta (path), Tariq (date/history), Insaan (human being), all have the influence of Persian or Arabic. Should we remove these too? Or does the problem exist only where it is convenient to view a word through a religious lens? Languages ​​are not created in “pure” form in laboratories; They arise from the interaction of societies. Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi and Bengali are all children of a common, mixed heritage.
a constitutional question
This debate is not just cultural; This is also legal. The Indian Constitution provides citizens with freedom of expression (Article 19(1)(a)) and the right to practice any lawful profession or business (Article 19(1)(g)). Unless a name spreads hatred or incites violence, putting pressure on anyone over the name of a shop is completely against the spirit of the Constitution. This is an encroachment on personal freedom in the name of religious sentiments.
Were feelings safe for 30 years?
The second question is, who were those people who came demanding change of the name of the shop? Who gave them the right to enter someone’s shop and force them to change its name? Has the administration given them any contract or is something else going on behind the scenes? What’s also interesting is that the shop is almost 30 years old – so old that most of the people creating the ruckus were probably not even born when it was founded. It is natural to ask how a name which caused no trouble to anyone for 30 years suddenly started “hurting sentiments”. Over the past three decades, countless people from different religions and sects would have passed through that shop – did their souls never feel hurt? Perhaps no one’s soul is still injured; It’s just fear. And the mind immersed in fear starts looking for small excuses to justify that fear.
The real fear is not of words, but of diversity
When a society starts being afraid of words, then it should be understood that the fear is not sitting outside, but inside. A confident society embraces diversity; An insecure person keeps looking for danger in everything. Words are like humans, their beauty lies in their multiple meanings. A word like *”Baba”* takes on different forms in different contexts, and that’s the beauty of it. To force it into a single meaning is like trying to capture a flowing river in a bottle. The river dies—and its flow also dies.
(The views expressed in the article are the author’s own; Zee News does not endorse or endorse it.)
