Indo-Pakistanis---We're More Than Just Biryani!

What I’ve discovered here studying Arabic and learning about the different scholarly works available in the language is that there exists tons of material available by Indian and Pakistani scholars...in Arabic. Pretty cool, eh? That all of these people from non-Arab backgrounds have been able to reach such high levels of scholasticism in a language foreign to them. To the point that some scholars like Abul Hasan Ali an-Nadwi (rahimahullaah) reached a peak of literary excellence as well, such that even Arabs turn to his work as examples of literary mastery in Arabic.

I think a problem is that Indo-Paks who become religious in the US initially only hear about the Arab scholars and learn a lot of their religious knowledge through their books. We then often develop this inferiority complex towards our own scholars, remaining stuck to stereotypes (“they’re only learned in Urdu”, or “they’re all Hanafis,” or “the true scholars are the Arabs” etc.). Even in Qur’an classes we take this stereotype with us. How many times have I heard parents asking Islamic program administrators, “Is my child’s Qur’an teacher an Arab?” If the teacher is Indian/Pakistani (or maybe even American or African), parents often respond with skepticism. Of course stereotypes do have an origin in truth and it is true that even today most of the Qur’an teachers in Pakistan teach recitation with a Pakistani accent and a not-quite-accurate form of tajweed.

Our hadith teacher was telling us that some of the greatest hadith scholars of recent history are and have been Indian/Pakistani. I was a little surprised by this (inferiority complex kicking in again maybe) as the few books I was exposed to by Indian/Pakistani authors were sorely lacking in hadith authenticity. Yet this was probably due to the fact that the rich store of books in Arabic remain untranslated--even untranslated into Urdu! Which means that even the native Indians and Pakistanis who don’t know Arabic are unaware of their own scholars’ advancements in Islamic scholarship (another reason for you to learn Arabic).

Okay, so go now and eat some biryani then trek over here to Amman, eat mansaf while you learn Arabic so you can return and read in Arabic what the Desis have to say about hadith...okay? (meanwhile I'll come back to the states and dig into my biryani and await your return so we can debate the hanafis vs. shafi'is...)