Scholar says national anthem shows strong Persian influence

By Bureau report
May 09, 2024
This representational image shows Pakistani armed forces officials salute as they listen to the national anthem during the Independence Day ceremony in Islamabad. — AFP/File
This representational image shows Pakistani armed forces officials salute as they listen to the national anthem during the Independence Day ceremony in Islamabad. — AFP/File

PESHAWAR: A known scholar, Prof Syed Ghayyur Hussain, said on Wednesday the national anthem of Pakistan points to the importance of Persian as it contains words that have been taken for the language.

He said this while delivering a talk on the topic of the “National Anthem of Pakistan”. The function was arranged at the Urdu Department of the University of Peshawar.Prof Ghayyur said that the Persian language remained the official language of the subcontinent for a long time before partition.

“This is why Urdu and other languages spoken in the subcontinent show a strong influence of Persian which was a dominant language during the Muslim rule”, he said while elaborating on his statement.

The scholar dwelt on the history of the anthem and said Abu Al Asar Hafeez Jalandhari wrote them way back in 1952 while the tune was composed by Ahmad Ghulam Chagla.Giving the background, he said the government of Pakistan in December 1948 had constituted the National Anthem Committee for composing music and lyrics for the national anthem of Pakistan.

The scholar recalled that the committee wanted an anthem that signified the struggle and sacrifices of the people for Independence which led to the creation of Pakistan. Prof Ghayyur said the tune composed by Ahmad Ghulam Chagla was selected and officially adopted on August 21, 1950. Two years later, he added, in 1952, the lyrics were written by Hafeez Jalandhari and on August 13, 1954, the national anthem was first broadcast from Radio Pakistan.

He was all-praise for the great poetical composition of the national anthem and said despite brevity it highlighted various features — Islamic foundation, ideology, aspirations and strength.

Prof Ghayyur said the national anthem had one word “ Ka” which was used in Urdu while all other expressions had been derived from the Persian language which had a rich literary tradition.By reading and quoting the stanzas used in the national anthem, the scholar said these were Persian words which were in use in our national language as well.