Counter terrorism: ‘Arabic to be a compulsory subject’ in Pakistan

[Inqhilab]

Country’s biggest law and order challenge is to eliminate sectarianism, says ministe
“The federal government is planning to introduce Arabic as a compulsory subject in primary schools,” Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousuf said on Saturday.
Speaking at a press conference at the Jamia Khairul Madaris, he said this could help fight sectarianism and terrorism.
“There is a proposal of teaching Arabic books to children from primary to matric so they can learn the Quran,” he said.
The minister said facility in Arabic could promote religious tolerance.“The matter will be discussed with the provinces soon,” he said.

“The country’s biggest law and order challenge today is to eliminate sectarianism which is the main cause of terrorism,” he said.
“We are consulting religious scholars of all sects in the country about this.”
The federal minister said there were 25,000 religious seminaries registered in Pakistan.

“All of them are under complete observation… they have no relations with any terrorist outfit… We are encouraging them to improve academic standards,” he said.
In reply to a question, Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Muhammad Yousuf said there would be one category in Hajj policy this year. He said the government was also making efforts to improve Hajj arrangements in 2014.
Counter terrorism: ‘Arabic to be a compulsory subject’ – The Express Tribune​

 

[Rashid Mahmood]

This is nothing new, we had Arabic as part of our syllabus in high school in the 70's and 80's.

 

[MM_Haider]

welcome to Al-Bakistan

 

[Ayush]

best of luck

 

[airmarshal]

It must be compulsory. Quran is in Arabic. If we could understand Quran, a lot of our dysfunctional state as person and as state will be resolved.

I think Muslim must know Arabic. I have studied Arabic until class 7. Arabic was a subject in 70s and 80s.

But liberals are extremely angry

 

[bc040400065]

Arabic is taught at schools from 6 to 8. but it is not compulsory and specially the private sector does not include it. Even Persian was a compulsory subject as i have heard from my teachers back in the 50's & 60's when they were students.

 

[Dubious]

Well, depends on what they are going to teach...if the intend is to wipe out the wrong impression or even the wrong meanings some dari wala mullah gives our youth ...

Both my parents took Arabic and Persian at different levels (school / collage) back then people actually knew when someone was misquoting or taking you for a ride when they said something stupid like Islam orders killing...So if that is the case....then Ahlan Wa Sahlan

However, if the reason is to feed the youth rubbish as in keep them away from "Western" world and all that phobia then there really is a serious nut head out there!

 

[airmarshal]

Both my parents studied Persian and Arabic in schools. Both are well educated. None of them are mullah types. But knowing these core Muslim languages, they know when and who is saying it right. Is it based on knowledge or is it just a propaganda.

A lot us are swirled up in competing points of view because most of us modern people know English but dont know the language we should know in addition to English.

The English speaking class in Pakistan are perhaps the least educated, least informed, more radical & defeatists in their mindset.

 

[blain2]

Its a great idea if its implemented correctly, meaning that its not an effort to teach through rote learning, rather understanding the language with the roots of its vocabulary. It will allow our masses to read the sources of Islamic texts without the spin that our mullahs tend to put on things due to their own biases.

 

[Kompromat]

Brilliant idea, if implimented correctly. All educated Pakistanis already can read and write Arabic. We need to focus on 'spoken' aspect of Arabic as well. It makes a great business sense too as Arabic is one of the most widely used languages in the world.

 

[Not Sure]

If people do learn Arabic thoroughly there will be more of them to challenge the dubious interpretations that every other Mullah brings in. Besides, Islam is taken very seriously by its adherents, people should at least be able understand by themselves what is written in the book, which is so central to their lives.

Sure its a great idea, but will be interesting to see how it gets implemented.

 

[KRAIT]

Don't loose your culture. Aren't there enough languages in Pakistan ?

Emphasis should be on English so that more Pakistanis can connect with rest of the world.

 

[Not Sure]

Don't loose your culture. Aren't there enough languages in Pakistan ?

Emphasis should be on English so that more Pakistanis can connect with rest of the world.

But KRAIT, those who speak English, can barely stand up to those who claim to have mastered Arabic. How about Arabic in English medium schools as well?

In India we have studied our local language, English, Hindi, as well as Sanskrit in the schools. That's about four languages. Don't you think it can be helpful in Pakistan as well?

 

[Ahmad1996]

Don't loose your culture. Aren't there enough languages in Pakistan ?

Emphasis should be on English so that more Pakistanis can connect with rest of the world.

We aren't going to loose our culture by learning just a new language and anyway our languages our connected very much with arabic so we shall not have much problems in learning it.

 

[mr42O]

I think its good idea actually very good idea. The main reason is we dont understand what we read