Language Paves The Way To Unity

Languages remain one of the most potent weapons in the fight against bigotry and intolerance. They have played a significant role in bringing people and have withstood the assault of those who try to create artificial divides. In the Indian sub-continent’s context Urdu and Hindi have been the pillars of the composite Ganga-Jamuni civilization. Despite numerous attempts to remain classify them along religious lines, the presence of both Muslim and Hindu writers, poets, and critics in both languages point out to their universal character. This trend has been evident even earlier during the early days when Sanskrit was the lingua franca of the region.
 
The Muslim contact with the Sanskrit language goes back as far as the eighth century. Historical accounts point out that during the reign Caliph Abu Jaffar Al Mansour, a pandit reached Baghdad with numerous books in Sanskrit on medicine, mathematics, and astrology. Under this Pandit several courtiers of Al Mansour learned Sanskrit and translated many books including Brahaspati Sidhanth and Khandana Khayak.
After this initial contact many more scholars migrated to  Baghdad and added much to the flowering of a new civilization which combined the best of all the existing great civilizations of the world.
 
Another early Muslim scholar of Arabic was Al-Beruni (b.973) who traveled to India , learned Sanskrit, and later penned his famous book Al-Hind on the customs, culture, and people of India .
 
With the establishment of Delhi sultanate there followed a translation movement in which many of the Sanskrit works were translated into Persian. Muhammad Shah, who lived during the Delhi Sultanate, wrote treatises on music in Sanskrit. His Sangeet Malika covering twenty one subjects related to music is preserved in the manuscript in Bikaner ’s government library.
 
Another Muslim scholar of Sanskrit who wrote in Sanskrit was Abdul Raheem Khan-e-Kanan, one of the navratans of Akbar’s court.  A prolific writer and poet in several languages he is more famous for his Hindi poetry. He wrote nine books in Sanskrit on a variety of subjects. These include Khet Kautukam, Dwawshid Yogavali, Treestar Mashad Yogavali, Gangashtak, and Madnashtak.
 
Dara Shikoh, the legendary son of Shah Jahan, was a recognized scholar of Sanskrit. His comparative study of Islam and Hinduism philosophies was published as Samudr Sangam.
 
In the south another Muslim author who wrote extensively in Sanskrit in the seventh century was Akbar Shah. Hailing from the family of famous divine Hazrat Banda Nawaz Gesudaraz he wrote a book titled Shringara Munjari.
 
As is evident Muslims have been historically studying Sanskrit and the study of the latter has played a leading role in bringing the communities together. 
 
That languages have no religion is further strengthened by the existence of large number of Hindu poets who have written heart rending poetry in praise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) his family, and his companions.  Among the long list of these poets are: Brijnath Pershad Makhmoor Lucknowi, Vishwanath Pershad Mathur, Lala Digambar Pershad Gohar,  Maharaja Kishan Pershad, Shagun Chandra Raushan, Bawa Krishna Gopal Maaghmoom, Jagan Nath Azad, and Peshawari Lal Malhotra Arwan.
 
The above brief discussion shows that languages, especially in South Asia , have always played a leading role in creating a society rich in diversity and pluralism. History indicates that those who are trying to divide languages in the name of religion will never succeed in implementing their divisive agenda.

Photo: Script on stone by exportryan