Acknowledgements – 1st – To Parents
In late 1930’s my mother taught me prayers including those in the Holy Qor-aan. She made me rehearse them by narrating them to our relatives we visited or who visited us. My father asked me to narrate them to his friends when we visited them or they visited us. Abundant compliments on my presentations came as I poured out of my memory what was put in there. I did not understand or know that the cause of those compliments was my repeating the prayers in one language and their translation in the other — all in one single continuation. I learnt later that my parents had accomplished quite a feat by making their 4/5 years old son learn the original prayers in a foreign language Arabic and their translation in the local language Urdu.
In 1943-44, my father hired a professional to teach the Holy Qor-aan to his 5 children who then were 5 to 10 years old. We learned recognizing and speaking Arabic Alphabets, the 13 Arabic vowels and 5 special effects to form words by connecting one or more alphabets to one or more of those numerous vowels and effects.
In October 1948, my mother passed away when I was 13. My father took up the tough task to teach us all his 10 children the prayers in the Holy Qor-aan. He wanted us to learn the grammar rules whereby a single Arabic root formed dozens of words. He taught us how a tiny change in a vowel or pronunciation hugely changed a word’s meanings. The process he used was consistent repetitive exercises that he organized for us every morning. The time he chose was after the morning prayer for which he used to awake us all his children. His objective in the interim was that we become familiar with the basic rules of Arabic grammar. His ultimate goal was that we were able to read and reasonably comprehend the Holy Qor-aan. He sought to make us practicing Moslems for our spiritual uplift as a matter of his moral duty. He took his duties very seriously including the two full-time government jobs he held same time. He was the Senior Civil Judge and Deputy Custodian of Evacuee Property when in Campbellpore.
In 1949, one morning my father asked me to bring him the Arabic grammar book that I had to study in school so that he could teach me from there. I told him that I had none and did not need to study Arabic grammar anymore because I had taken up the Drawing as my elective. Later that day the school sent me to the Arabic class because my father had told them that I had to study the Arabic, not the Drawing to become an engineer. Also, after the first rehearsal in a school drama for which I was selected, the teacher told me that I could not stay in the drama as my father had told the school that he did not want me to grow up to be a film actor.
In 1957, the efforts of my father and later other teachers to study Arabic blossomed when I chose Arabic for my Master’s degree from the Punjab University Oriental College. Continued study of the Holy Qor-aan and its translation by M Marmaduke Pickthall helped me a great deal in easily getting my Master’s Degree in Arabic in 1959.
See other Acknowledgements
#2 To Teachers — #3 To Family and Friends — #4 To Contemporaries — #5 To Others
Acknowledgements – 1st – To Parents
Acknowledgements – 1st – To Parents
In late 1930’s my mother taught me prayers including those in the Holy Qor-aan. She made me rehearse them by narrating them to our relatives we visited or who visited us. My father asked me to narrate them to his friends when we visited them or they visited us. Abundant compliments on my presentations came as I poured out of my memory what was put in there. I did not understand or know that the cause of those compliments was my repeating the prayers in one language and their translation in the other — all in one single continuation. I learnt later that my parents had accomplished quite a feat by making their 4/5 years old son learn the original prayers in a foreign language Arabic and their translation in the local language Urdu.
In 1943-44, my father hired a professional to teach the Holy Qor-aan to his 5 children who then were 5 to 10 years old. We learned recognizing and speaking Arabic Alphabets, the 13 Arabic vowels and 5 special effects to form words by connecting one or more alphabets to one or more of those numerous vowels and effects.
In October 1948, my mother passed away when I was 13. My father took up the tough task to teach us all his 10 children the prayers in the Holy Qor-aan. He wanted us to learn the grammar rules whereby a single Arabic root formed dozens of words. He taught us how a tiny change in a vowel or pronunciation hugely changed a word’s meanings. The process he used was consistent repetitive exercises that he organized for us every morning. The time he chose was after the morning prayer for which he used to awake us all his children. His objective in the interim was that we become familiar with the basic rules of Arabic grammar. His ultimate goal was that we were able to read and reasonably comprehend the Holy Qor-aan. He sought to make us practicing Moslems for our spiritual uplift as a matter of his moral duty. He took his duties very seriously including the two full-time government jobs he held same time. He was the Senior Civil Judge and Deputy Custodian of Evacuee Property when in Campbellpore.
In 1949, one morning my father asked me to bring him the Arabic grammar book that I had to study in school so that he could teach me from there. I told him that I had none and did not need to study Arabic grammar anymore because I had taken up the Drawing as my elective. Later that day the school sent me to the Arabic class because my father had told them that I had to study the Arabic, not the Drawing to become an engineer. Also, after the first rehearsal in a school drama for which I was selected, the teacher told me that I could not stay in the drama as my father had told the school that he did not want me to grow up to be a film actor.
In 1957, the efforts of my father and later other teachers to study Arabic blossomed when I chose Arabic for my Master’s degree from the Punjab University Oriental College. Continued study of the Holy Qor-aan and its translation by M Marmaduke Pickthall helped me a great deal in easily getting my Master’s Degree in Arabic in 1959.
See other Acknowledgements
#2 To Teachers — #3 To Family and Friends — #4 To Contemporaries — #5 To Others
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