Islamization of Bengali language
The Arabicization or Islamization of Bengali or the Pak-Bangla language[1][2] refers to the writing of Bengali in the Persian-Arabic alphabet (Shahmukhi script)[1] and the increased use of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish loanwords originating in the Muslim world and the displacement of Desi-Tatsama (Dravidian-Sanskrit) words used in Bengali and other foreign languages.
In the Nawabi period, this method of writing was used in a limited form. Following the partition of India, this writing system was again discussed politically in East Bengal and East Pakistan.[3]
History
In Nawabi Bengal
During the Nawabi period of Bengal, the style of writing was prevalent among Muslim puthi writers, almost all Muslim Bengali puthi writers followed the style of writing, including some Hindu writers.[4] And 72 puthis have been found written following the contemporary style, including Alaol's Padmavati,[5], Yusuf-Zulekha of Shah Muhammad Sagir[6], Hayrat al-Fiqh by Muhammad Ali[7], Muhammad Fasih[8] etc. Some of these specimens are also preserved in Gallery-33 (Manuscripts and Documents) of the Bangladesh National Museum including Sheikh Muttalib's "Kefayatul Musallin".[9] (1559) and Muhammad Khan's "Maqtul Husain" (1645).[10] Sheikh Muttalib made this statement in the preface to his book Kefayat al-Musallin: I am aware of the fact that I am committing an infinite sin in writing about Islam in Bengali.[11][12]
Structure
Dobhashi Bengali was highly influenced by Arabic and Persian and in poetry, could grammatically change to adapt to Persian grammar without sounding odd to the reader. Arabic and Persian words in the register accounted for the majority of its vocabulary. As in most other foreign languages of Islamic communities, the Arabic borrowings were borrowed through Persian, not through direct exposure of Bengali to Arabic, a fact that is evidenced by the typically Persian phonological mutation of the words of Arabic origin.[13] Dobhashi was also used for forms of story-telling like Puthi, Kissa, Jangnama, Raag, Jari, Hamd, Na`at and Ghazal. Educated Bengalis would be multilingual and multi-literate enabling them to study and engage with Persian, Arabic and Bengali literature.[14] Dobhashi manuscripts are paginated from right to left, imitating the Arabic-tradition.
The following is a sample text in Dobhashi Bengali of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations: Standard bengali
- ধারা ১: সমস্ত মানুষ স্বাধীনভাবে সমান মর্যাদা এবং অধিকার নিয়ে জন্মগ্রহণ করে। তাঁদের বিবেক এবং বুদ্ধি আছে; সুতরাং সকলেরই একে অপরের প্রতি ভ্রাতৃত্বসুলভ মনোভাব নিয়ে আচরণ করা উচিত।
Dobhashi Bengali in the Bengali alphabet
- দফা ১: তামাম ইনসান আজ়াদ হয়ে সমান ইজ্জত আর হক লইয়া পয়দা হয়। তাঁহাদের হুঁশ ও আকল আছে; তাই একজন আরেক জনের সাথে বেরাদর হিসাবে সুলূক করা জ়রূরী।
Dobhashi Bengali in phonetic Romanization
- dôfa ek: tamam insan azad hôye shôman izzôt ar hôq lôiya pôyda hôy. tãhader hũsh o akôl achhe; tai ekjôn arek jôner shathe beradôr hishabe sulūk kôra zorūrī.
Gloss
- Point 1: All humans free manner-in equal dignity and right taken birth be. Their conscience and intelligence exist; thus one-person another person's with brother as behaviour do important.
English Translation
- Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They possess conscience and reason. Therefore, everyone should act in a spirit of brotherhood towards each other.
Bangla language in Shahmukhi script (etymological spelling)
دھارا ۱: سمست مانش سوادھینبھابے سمان مریادا ایبں ادھِکار نِیے جنْم گْرہݨ کرے۔ تاںدیر وِویک ایبں بُدّھِ آچھے؛ سُتراں سکلیرئ ایکے اپریر پْرتِ بھْراتِْرتب سُلبھ منوبھاب نیے آچرݨ کرا اُچِت۔
Bengali in Shahmukhi script (phonetic spelling)
دھارا ۱: شوموستو مانش شادھینبھابے شومان مورجادا ایبوں اودھکر نئے جونموگروہون کورے۔ تاںدیر ببیک ایبوں بدّھِ آچھے؛ شتوراں شکلیری ایکے اوپوریر پروتی بھراترِتّوشلوبھ مونوبھاب نئے آچورون کورا اچت۔
Do-bhasa Bengali language with Perso-Arabic vocabulary.
Do-bhasa Bengali language in Shahmukhi script
جز ۱: تمام انسان/مرد آزادبھابے بَورابَور اوکار/کرامت/احترام/تاوزُ/انتباہ آر حق لوئے پیدا ہَوے۔ تادیر دومیر او عقل آچھے؛ تو شوباری اَیکے اَوپوریر موتابیک بیرادوری/اخوانی اخلاقیر شاتھے روا/سلوک کَورا چای
Transliteration: Juz 1: Tamām inasān/marda azadbhabe barabara ökāra/karāmāt/ihatirāma/tā'uju/ inatibāha āra haka layē payadā haya. Tādēra damīra ō ākala achē; tō sabara'i ēkē aparēra mōtābēka bērādari/ikha'oyani ākhalākēra sāthē röyā/suluka karā cā'i.
After 1947, during the rule of New Pakistan
Ever since the formation of Pakistan, the introduction of Arabic script in Bengali language in the new Pakistan had religious sentiments on the one hand and state unity on the other. It was said that apart from Urdu, Pashto, Sindhi, Punjabi language as the Arabic alphabet is being used — Solidarity will be strong. The main initiator was the Union Education Secretary or Education Minister Fazlur Rahman.[15] In this regard, he tried to get the cooperation of the educators of East Bengal. The proposal was made by the Education Secretary at the All Pakistan Education Conference in Karachi in 1948. A meeting of the Central Education Advisory Board in Peshawar in 1949 also strongly recommended that Arabic be the only alphabet in Pakistani languages. Fazlur Rahman, speaking at the second session of the Pakistan Education Advisory Board in Peshawar on 12 February 1949, said that one of the difficulties in developing the same national vision was the problem of different fonts. In this context, he described the usefulness of the Arabic alphabet. Although the language movement of March 1948 came to a standstill, the reaction and resistance in East Pakistan against the introduction of Government of Pakistan continued. In the last week of February 1949, the students of Bangla Department of Dhaka University protested against the attempt to introduce Arabic alphabet in a meeting. It was presided over by Mustafa Nurul Islam. At this meeting a parliament was formed with the students of Bangla department. Md. Nurul Islam was elected president and Ila Dasgupta and Ashraf Siddiqui joint-general secretaries. Besides, alphabet sub-committee was formed with Nazrul Islam, Mumtaz Begum, Rizia Khatun, Khalilur Rahman and others. Meanwhile, on the second day of the budget session on March 12, 1949, a protest march of the student federation was stopped by the police when they tried to march in front of the council building and police arrested Afzal Hossain, Mrinalkanti Barri, Bahauddin Chowdhury, Iqbal Ansari Khan, Abdus Salam and AKM Moniruzzaman Chowdhury. They were held captive without bail. In the first week of April 1949, Naimuddin Ahmed, on behalf of the Language Committee of the East Pakistan Muslim Chhatra League, said in a statement to the press: "The literacy rate in East Pakistan is 12 to 15 per cent. Attempts are being made to turn the educated into illiterate with the stroke of a pen. As a result, the entire education system of East Pakistan will be ruined."[16] In the 1950s, the East Bengal Language Committee was formed under the leadership of Maulana Akram Khan to get a detailed explanation of the language problem from the East Bengal government and was asked to prepare a report on the subject. As part of the project, in 1950 they set up 20 centers for teaching Bengali in Arabic script in different districts of East Bengal.[17] The committee prepared their report by December 6, 1950. However, it was not published before 1958. Here an effective measure is proposed by the government to solve the language problem. Where they recommended writing Bengali in Arabic script.[18] When the proposal to write Bangla in Arabic script was tabled in the Constituent Assembly in 1950, Dhirendranath Datta protested and proposed to give Bengali language equal status with other languages of the Pak-assembly.[19]
In Zia's regime
In his regime after assassination of Sheikh Mujib, Ziaur Rahman was driven by the anxiety to invoke a 'national personality' free of the cultural association with the neighbouring Bengal towards adopting certain hegemonic measures. To remould the language, history and culture of Bangladesh, particularly so in language, efforts were made to revive the Do-bhasha containing a substantial Perso-Arabic vocabulary in contrast to heavily Sanskritised standard developed under British rule. Thus, the slogan 'Joy Bangla'- linguistically of Bengali origin was replaced with the more Persianised "Bangladesh Zindabad".[20]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Hossain, Mokerrom (21 February 2010). From Protest to Freedom: A Book for the New Generation: the Birth of Bangladesh. Mokerrom. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-615-48695-6. Retrieved 25 February 2022. Search this book on
- ↑ রহিম, মোঃ আব্দুর (2 February 2020). "রাজনৈতিক ও জাতিগত বিভাজনের ভাষা উর্দু". Samakal. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 25 February 2022. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Jaffrelot, Christophe (28 September 2004). A History of Pakistan and Its Origins. Anthem Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-1-84331-149-2. Retrieved 16 April 2022. Search this book on
- ↑ Journal of the Asiatic Society. Asiatic Society. 1961.
It is noticed that a good number of manuscripts of Bengali texts are written in the Arabic script. Among the scribes there are a number of Hindus. We have records here showing that Muislim authors writing on Islamic topics were patronized by Hindu landlords. The dates of copying given in the manuscripts refer to different eras and are indicated in the traditional Hindu fashion with word numerals...
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- ↑ Haq, Muhammad Enamul (1957). Muslim Bengali Literature. Pakistan Publications. p. 40. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
Though we have no evidence of any Bengali book in Arabic script until 1852 , it is a well - known fact that the manuscript of Alaol's Padmavati which is in the Arabic script is about one hundred and fifty years old .
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- ↑ "1948 | আরবি হরফে বাংলা লেখার ষড়যন্ত্র". সংগ্রামের নোটবুক. Songramer notebook. 24 March 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
- ↑ Roy, Asim (14 July 2014). The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal. Princeton University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4008-5670-1. Retrieved 3 May 2022. Search this book on
- ↑ Khan, Akbar Ali (1996). Discovery of Bangladesh: Explorations Into Dynamics of a Hidden Nation. University Press Limited. p. 18. ISBN 978-984-05-1371-0. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
Finally, a few writers like Muhammad Fasih (17th century) wrote Bengali in the Arabic script hoping that this would be more acceptable to Allah (Hoq, 1957, p.215)
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- ↑ Ekāḍemī (Bangladesh), Bāṃlā (1995). Bāṃlā Ekāḍemī pun̐thi paricaẏa (in Bengali). Bāṃlā Ekāḍemī. p. 199. ISBN 978-984-07-3173-2. Retrieved 3 May 2022. Search this book on
- ↑ Eaton, Richard Maxwell; Eaton, Professor Richard M. (1993). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760. University of California Press. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-520-08077-5.
The Dhaka Museum has a manuscript work composed in 1645 entitled Maqtul Husain-a tract treating the death of Husain at Karbala written in Bengali but using the Arabic, and not the Bengali, script." Al though subsequent writers made similar such literary attempts, it is sig nificant that the effort never took hold, with the result that Bengali Mus lims remain today the world's largest body of Muslims who, despite Islamization, have retained both their language and their script."
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- ↑ Roy, Asim (14 July 2014). The Islamic Syncretistic Tradition in Bengal. Princeton University Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4008-5670-1. Retrieved 4 May 2022. Search this book on
- ↑ Kopf, David (1977). Reflections on the Bengal Renaissance. Institute of Bangladesh Studies, Rajshahi University. p. 53. Retrieved 9 April 2024. Search this book on
- ↑ Muslehuddin, ATM (2012). "Arabic". In Islam, Sirajul; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir. Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. Retrieved 10 June 2026.
- ↑ d'Hubert, Thibaut (May 2014). In the Shade of the Golden Palace: Alaol and Middle Bengali Poetics in Arakan. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190860356. Search this book on
- ↑ Alam, S. M. Shamsul (29 April 2016). Governmentality and Counter-Hegemony in Bangladesh. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-52603-8. Retrieved 16 April 2022. Search this book on
- ↑ "আরবি হরফ চালুর মূল উদ্দেশ্য ছিল জাতিকে পঙ্গু করে দেওয়া". The Daily Ittefaq. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ↑ "বাংলা হরফের ওপর শয়তানি আছর". banglanews24.com (in Bengali). 20 February 2017. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ↑ "আরবি হরফে বাংলা লেখার সুপারিশ ভাষা কমিটির". Bhorer Kagoj. 9 February 2019. Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "ভাষা আন্দোলনের সেকাল একাল". jagonews24.com (in Bengali). 2 February 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ↑ Sharma, S. L.; Oommen, T. K. (2000). Nation and National Identity in South Asia. Orient Blackswan. p. 194. ISBN 978-81-250-1924-4. Retrieved 15 April 2022. Search this book on
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