ARABIC LANGUAGE IN PAKISTAN PAST AND PRESENT

Abstract

The history of Arabic learning and teaching in Pakistan dates back to the first century al-Hijrah when the Arab Muslims entered the Sub-continent through Sindh as conquerors. The Arab conquerors treated the locals well, resultantly; they embraced Islam of their own free will and turned to learning Arabic to perform their religious rituals all in Arabic and to have better interaction with their new rulers whose official language was Arabic. After the five centuries of the Arab Rule, Persian replaced Arabic as it was the court language of the Ghaznavi Dynasty-the new rulers of the land and survived till the fall of the Mughal Empire in 1857 at the hands of the British. Now Persian was replaced by English. Thus, learning Arabic in Pakistan may be divided into three stages: a) after the advent of the Arab Muslims in the Sub-continent, b) after the British occupation, and finally, c) after the creation of Pakistan. The article explores the status of Arabic language in Pakistan focusing on the said three stages.