I agree with the Annonymous on April 22 about Islam.
I too do not hate Islam but have read a lot of inequaties in treatment in sharriat law of Islam.

Is it true that under Islamic law.
If a Muslim kills a Nonmuslim he gets couple lashes.

But if a Nonmuslim kills a Muslim he gets hanged.

Please correct me if the above is wrong.

Saraiki is the language of 40 Million people of Pakistan. I love Pakistan and Saraiki people.
Saraiki people should get in touch with each other.

Saraiki is one of the sweetest spoken language of Pakistan.

IN THE NAME OF SARAIKI PEOPLE


I love Pakistan and Saraiki language which is the sweetest language of southern Punjab spoken by 40Million people of Pakistan in a Saraiki belt area of Pakistan. The people of this belt have been deprived of their human and fundamental rights. It is about time that the people of Saraiki belt should get up and claim their rights for their children and grand children.

SARAIKI PEOPLE ARE THE PEACE LOVING PEOPLE THAT IS WHY THEY HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OFF FROM THEIR RIGHTS. I THINK IT IS ABOUT TIME THEY SHOULD START SOME STRUGLE WHERE EVER THEY ARE IN THE WORLD! AT LEST TO COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER. AS IT IS GOING TO BE THE CENTURY OF COMMUNICATION. DON'T YOU THINK IT IS A GOOD IDEA. TRY AND COMMUNICATE WITH SARAIKI NOW. THANKYOU.

Ok...I don't hate islam...but i gotta be honest. Islam teaches that all other religions don't matter. In fact, Pakistan is trying to drive non-musli people out of it.

This will never happen because India has ties with Pakistan that can never be broken.

Islam is getting in the way between peace with Pakistan and India.

I just wanna say the punjabis are the best even they
are in pakistan or india punjabis is punjabi and
and urdu is good on other side but punjab is the bestr in the world never ever can't ebd
punjab is the best punjab is the best...

I LOVE ME PAKISTAN AND I LOVE MY PUNJAB I LOVE MY PUNJABI

I WOULD LIKE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PUNJABI LANGUAGE. WHERE DO I GO

Great article by Dr Manzur Ejaz regarding the status of Punjabi language in the West Punjab. He feels the future is definitely bright for Punjabi in Pakistan!
See link: http://pw2.netcom.com/~srammah/manzur1.html

There is no doubt that political elite of Punjab is corrupt and has done many wrongs for which whole of Pakistan suffered. This political as well as beaurocratic elite, which is probably 1% of all Punjabis) must be punished for their wrong doings.
Rest of the Punjabis if they are hateful of others(SIndhis, Mohajirs etc.) is nothing new. All these groups hate each other to some extent. Don't tell me that if a Mohajir is in powerfull position he does not favour his cronies and is not corrupt. That behaviour is not limited to Punjabis.

BUT, remember, the people who are asking for the due respect of their mother language are not the same people whom you are blaming for injustices(and I agree) done to you. This elite does not give flying a •••• about their own mother language or anyone else's. Power in their hands is their main motive. People who are demanding due shair for Punjabi are in fact anti-elite. Most of these Punjabi lovers are common people who love their culture, language and land. They are teachers, writers, poets and farmers who feed the hungary minds and stomachs. Some of these are the very people who protested the Punjabi political elite's action in East Pakistan and atrocities on Baluchis in 70's.

So before you reject the Punjabi Language question so quickly, just because Nawaz was corrupt etc, please pay attention to some detail and real issues here.

Anon_

Why are the Punjabis in Pakistan complaining? It is we, the non-Punjabis, that are suffering under Punjab. You have the power to change our language, but we cant, we have been robbed by Sharif and Bhutto.

Dear Brothers,

Are we going to perform the siaapa (death songs) or going to do something to make this great language flourish. We have to stop blaming other religions and blame ourselces first who let this happen to our dear mother tongue. However, it is still not too late to resurect it.

Look at the state of Isreal, they revived a 3000 year old , almost extinct. language Hebrew since 1949 when the country was formed. Now everyone in Isreal can read, write and speak Hebrew. Stop pittying ourselves, let us act.

If you leaf through other sub sites, you would see the effort put in by some volunteers, eg Ashraf veerji, to make Punjabi one of the greatest languages in the world.

Let's brain storm.

Regards,

Jat

It is dead in east punjab too thanks to hinduism.

Punjabi language and identity (of people) in Pakistan is dead. Thanks to islam.

A history of teaching Punjabi Muslims

Dr Tariq Rahman

The Punjabi language has never been used in the official domains of power or
taught at a high level, or in its own right, before the coming of the
British. However, there is evidence that at the primary level, children were
taught some books in Punjabi. Moreover, it was informally learned by a number
of people, including Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims. Let us first take the
evidence about it being taught at some level. This evidence comes from "Heer
Ranjha", the famous tale of two lovers narrated in verse by Waris Shah among
others, and has been mentioned by many people. Waris Shah mentions Anwa
Baran, Khaliq Bari, Raziq Bari and Wahid Bari among the books taught in the
madrassas of his times.

Out of these most commentators have placed only Anwa Baran among the Punjabi
books. Other scholars, such as Mohammad Sharif Sabir, who edited Heer,
further explains that this book was about the rudiments of Islam in Punjabi
verse and that Abdullah Abdi of Lahore was its author. Sabir as well as
earlier writers place Raziq Bari, Wahid Bari and Name-e-Haq among Persian
books. But we know from Hafiz Mahmood Sheerani's groundbreaking research on
the subject that a certain Wahid Bari was written in 1679. It was meant to
teach Persian to students but, on the pattern of the well-known Khaliq Bari,
and meanings of Persian words were conveyed through their Punjabi
equivalents. The difference was that in Khaliq Bari the lexicon was in Hindvi
(old Urdu), Persian and Arabic while in Wahid Bari the facilitating language
is Punjabi. An example from it makes this clear.

Channi gharbal, chakki aasia

Chapni sarposh, chulla degia

The meanings of Persian words are explained through Punjabi ones. For
instance, the Persian aasia (handmill) is chakki in Punjabi. Thus, the
students reading this book would be facilitated in their learning of Persian.

In short, Punjabi was not taught for itself but facilitated the learning of
Persian. It was the means to an educational end: the learning of Persian.

Sheerani mentions fifteen such books but most of them are no longer
available. Although these books were meant to teach Persian or the rudiments
of Islam, they did use Punjabi as the medium of instruction or what is more
accurate, the language of facilitation. This tradition had been established
by Abu Nasir Farahi when he wrote his Nisab-ul-Sabiyan in 617 Hijri (8
January 1660-27 January 1661) in Persian to teach Arabic to Afghan children.
A number of such nisabs, including one by Amir Khusro, were written up to the
10th century. Hindi nisabs came to be written 'probably from the 15th
century. A certain Hakeem Yusufi, who migrated from Hirat, Iran, to India
wrote Insha-i-Yusufi. He gives Hindi equivalents for parts of the human
anatomy.

The famous Khaliq Bari is part of this tradition, but it was written by
Ziauddin Khusro, not the famous Amir Khusro, in 1621-22. Khalid Bari is in
the mixed language of Hindi, Persian and Arabic. It was meant to teach
Persian to the children of North India. As such, one wonders whether books
like the Wahid Bari should not have been placed among Punjabi books by
scholars. Another complication is that there were several books of the same
title so that we can never be sure exactly which book Waris Shah had in mind.
However, the fact that Persian was taught through both Punjabi and old Urdu
(Hindvi) to Punjabi children, cannot be denied.

The other books of Punjabi, such as Pakki Roti, were meant to explain the
rudiments of Islam to students in their mother tongue. According to
Fareedkoti, Maulvi Yameen, who possesses a copy of Roshan Dil in his personal
collection, has described this book in detail. This particular book, Pakki
Roti is widely available because it is part of the MA (Punjabi) course. It is
in the form of questions and answers. For instance, the question is, "If
somebody asks you when to perform ablutions you reply as follows". The reply
is the accepted Sunni teaching on the subject. Complications and
controversial matters are avoided and the answers would probably be
acceptable to most Punjabi Muslims. The books mentioned below are located in
archives and collections in Pakistan. I have seen them personally and am
describing them for the interest of the public.

• Fiqqa Asghar, by Faqir Habib Darzi bin Tayyab from Gujrat. This is a
handwritten manuscript in naskh. It is written in black ink and there are
about twelve lines per page. The author explains Islamic rituals and other
matters pertaining to faith in Punjabi verse. The sub-titles are in Persian.

• Muqaddimat ul Anwar, by Abdul Faqir. This is also a handwritten manuscript
in naskh. Islamic injunctions pertaining to marriage, inheritance, sartorial
propriety, etc are explained in Punjabi verse while the sub-titles are in
Persian. The point of view is very stringent and puritanical. Women, for
instance, are forbidden even to use dandasa--the bark of a tree which cleans
the teeth and makes the lips red.

• Zibah Nama, handwritten manuscript in naskh. It explains the Islamic
injunctions pertaining to the sacrifice of animals, hunting and lays down
rules about which meats are kosher and which are not. It was written during
King Muhammad Shah's reign (1719-48).

• Anwa-i-Faqir. This, too, is a handwritten manuscript in naskh. The
sub-headings are in Persian and it has been copied by someone called Karm
Uddin from Jhelum. The date on it is Ziqad 1277 Hijra (May-June 1861). This,
too, is on faith and the tone is puritanical and reformist.

• Qissa Raja Kam Room O Rani Luttan, by Maulvi Ahmed Yar. This is a
handwritten manuscript in nasta'liq in Punjabi verse. The sub-headings are in
Persian. It is like other romantic love legends with beautiful women and
handsome men in a supernatural, pre-modern setting. The book is incomplete
and ends at page 120 because it was originally bound with some other book.
The author starts with a supplication to Sheikh Abdul Qasir Jilani who will
presumably bless love affairs as passionate as the one narrated here.

• Baran Anwa, by Abdullah Abid Lahore. This is a handwritten manuscript in
nasta'liq in Punabi verse. It begins, as usual, with hamd and naat and goes
on the describe Islamic rituals: ablutions, prayers, fasting, giving alms and
so on. It also discuses the rituals and regulations concerning purity with
special reference to women. Thus there are long sections on pregnancy,
menstruation, divorce, etc. The second part is full of historical anecdotes
with reference to authorities like Masoodi. It is a voluminous book and is
almost definitely the one mentioned in Heer Ranjah by Waris Shah.

• Intikhab ul Kutab: Punjabi Nam. The name of the author is missing but his
particular manuscript was copied by Kamal Uddin in 1261 Hijri (21 January
1806-10 January 1807). It too is handwritten in Punjabi naskh and the
sub-headings are in Persian. It presents Islamic teachings in verse on
bathing, funeral prayers, burial, congregational prayers, marriage, sacrifice
of animals and as to which meat is kosher.

• Mitthi Rot: Punjabi, by Qadir Baksh. This is a printed copy in Punjabi
nasta'liq dated 1883. It too describes Islamic injunctions about all aspects
of life. There are many references to Islamic works which suggest that it
might have been intended for the use of learned people.

Apart from the above manuscripts personally inspected by the author, there
are many other such manuscripts mentioned by different people scattered in
South Asia and other parts of the world.



These books appear to fall into two major categories: those which are meant
to make Muslims conscious of or enhance knowledge about the rudiments of
their faith and those that concern romantic love. Those in the first category
have probably been written by maulvis because they present a very strict and
highly puritanical view of the Shariah. Some, such as one version of the
Pakki Roti, prohibits music, calling it a great sin just as it prohibits more
serious moral transgressions. Those in the second category are tales in which
romantic love are shown without disapproval. These represent a more tolerant,
more worldly or realistic worldview which existed side by side with the
stricter one and is much in evidence in both Persian and Arabic tales.

None of these books are meant to teach Punjabi serves as the means to an
end--the end being socialisation of Muslim children in this case or, simply,
the pleasure of listening to a good story.

In short, although activists of the Punjabi movement make much of the
teaching of Punjabi, they ignore the fact that it was not taught for itself
in pre-British times. Moreover, although some of them refer to Hafiz Mahmood
Sheerani's article mentioned earlier, they generally fail to mention the fact
that Sheerani was trying to prove that Urdu, and not only Punjabi, were
taught in the Punjab at this period. Sheerani mentions not only the Khaliq
Bari but also the Zauq ul Sabyan written in circa 1792 by Hafiz Ahsan Ullah
of Lahore. The language of this book is the same Urdu (or Hindvi) which is
used in the Khaliq Bari. Again, like the Khaliq Bari, it too was meant to
acquaint students with the vocabulary of Persian through Urdu. According to
its author, Ahsan Ullah, who was a teacher, the Punjabi boys for whom it was
intended understood it without any difficulty which, says Sheerani, suggests
that Urdu was not unfamiliar to Punjabis.

If the students did understand Urdu it would not be surprising. Punjabi and
Urdu share many vocabulary items, the teaching of Persian through books like
the Khaliq Bari must have familiarised Punjabi students with more Urdu words
and even before the British period there was communication with northern
India where Urdu literature was coming into its own. In short, the situation
in the Punjab on the eve of the British arrival was that Persian was the
court language of the Sikhs. It was taught through Punjabi and Urdu at the
primary level but those languages were facilitators at best and were not
valued in their own right.

Punjabi in Pakistan

Actually the point which I want to make is this that Punjabi,
princess of Punjabi Culture was robbed after the emergence of Pakistan.
I do not want to put blame on the people of other cultural identities but would dare to
say that it was our own Punjabi Ruling Elite which mortgaged our culture
and the vehicle of cultural transmission i.e., "Punjabi Language" with the
so-called power politics in Pakistan. Punjabi language was not made part
of syllabi being taught in our schools after the partition and so the
criteria for the selection of candidates at the higher decision making and
governance bodies was either English or Urdu; the languages which were
never a substantive part of our Mother Tongue and Culture. To me it
appears that the power politics which was a necessary corollary of
Pakistan Movement with Urdu being legitimized as our national and
religious language (what an irony), was imposed upon the people of Punjab
by our own Punjabi elite whose prime interest was to get a lion's share in
the newly created State of Pakistan which had to, after 1947, run for a
common nationhood.
So to me, Punjabi was "officially" crushed to crippling proportions. We
the Punjabies, lost everything within and without this power politics. For
that matter, I am not against Urdu or Angrezi but I am against the
ruthless social and economic murder of those Punjabies who though did not
go to schools and were illiterate by dint of a narrow definition of
literacy but knew much through the oral tradition of our Punjabi Dastaan
etc,. Perhaps they were more literate than the so-called "Urdu and English
Medium Elite".
Though unofficially we "selectively" adhere to Punjabi Language and
Culture, mostly in our private conversations but the absence of Punjabi
for its utility for job-hunting and other positions of social recognition
and mobility turned out to be the mocking stamp on the face of our
cultural-person.
Zubair