(author unknown - but a few years back someone beautifully described this whole arab-ization of our culture as ' khuda-hafiz ko khuda-hafiz)
It is a struggle to say Aadaab as a form of greeting. I find it hard and somewhat odd as I rarely get an opportunity to use it. One hears Aadaab much too less in the families where it was once a norm. The hand gesture that accompanies Aadaab, unique to the culture of Urdu speaking gentry, is almost extinct. The fact that we don't feel the loss is a bigger tragedy.
Gone are the days when Khuda Hafiz was a norm. We thought in our naivity that Khuda meant God or Allah Mian but were corrected by the pious who ensured Khuda Hafiz is replaced by Allah Hafiz. Akin to a silent movement, without much fanfare and hoopla, Pakistanis quit saying Khuda Hafiz altogether. One hears it rarely now.
Ramzaan was our way of pronouncing the name of the holy month. The same movement taught us that its Ramadan or better still Ramadhaan. Our usual greeting of Ramzaan Mubarak was also replaced by Ramadan Karim. The underlying notion is that anything Arabic is automatically more Muslim and hence obligatory on us to adopt.
The mission to replace commonly used words that sounded more Urdu with their Arabic and hence more pious versions continued with a strong religious fervour. Mubarak, though an Arabic word, seemed too integrated in Urdu and therefore Mabrook was brought in. It sounded more genuinely Arabic. Shukriya was too Urdu, South Asian and perhaps even secular and therefore targeted next. We now hear JazakAllah more than Shukriya which may well be the next word to go on the path of extinction. The more pious use JazakAllah Khairan. I suppose sorry or maaf kijiye ga would be next though I haven't figured what is the Arabic alternative. The norm of asking kya haal hain or aap kese hain may also fall prey to this silent movement of making our language more jannati. Why don't we do away with Urdu altogether and teach the population Arabic on a war-footing basis? What good is Urdu when it sounds less Islami and more Indian?
The movement is not restricted to language alone. When women adorned abayas, some men took to thobe. For some odd reason, thobes didn't find as big a market in Pakistan as abayas. I am certain somewhere the struggle to make them more popular must be going on. In the last few decades however we changed our dressing significantly. Men almost stopped wearing pajamas, specially chooridars replacing them with shalwar. Saaris became infrequent and ghararas were restricted to weddings only. I am surprised we didn't follow Arabs in our wedding traditions except for popularising segregation of sexes at wedding events. Many families discarded the traditions of mehndi and mayun terming them unIslamic. The festivities in many families now start with a dars which is another cultural innovation brought in the society in the aftermath of General Ziaul Haq's Islamization drive. Many urban neighbourhoods now boast of regular dars sessions that have silently but noticeably transformed lifestyles, cultural practices and perspectives in scores of families. Many women actively pursue dars get-togethers to find suitable matches for their daughters.
What triggered these changes and how did they manage to penetrare our culture with an almost zero resistance is a question that needs to be discussed on an intellectual level. Are wannabe Arabs better Muslims than the ones following their local traditions and culture? Is it just us or non-Arab Muslims of Africa and the Far East are also Arabizing their culture? I am also intrigued to know if sticking to our indigenous culture actually threatens our religious affiliation and pose a conflict that needs to be resolved? It didn't, as a matter of fact, in our parents and grandparents generations and the generations before them. What happend then that altered the whole landscape?
