LAST week I came across an article that said ‘Allah Hafiz’ was a recent coinage and it was used for the first time in 1986 by a TV personality to replace ‘Khuda Hafiz’, which had been in use for ages in Urdu to say ‘goodbye’.
It reminded me of Qurratul Ain Hyder, one of Urdu’s foremost fiction writers. She was known to be picky and was becoming increasingly so about certain ideas as she was getting older. One of the things that irritated her was the use of phrase ‘Allah Hafiz’.
During one of her visits to Pakistan, she scolded someone who used the expression ‘Allah Hafiz’ while leaving. She insisted that ‘Khuda Hafiz’ was better. Well, maybe. But, then, is it not someone’s right to use a phrase they like if it is otherwise perfectly normal and not a taboo expression? One of the reasons for her liking for ‘Khuda Hafiz’ rather than ‘Allah Hafiz’ might have been her understanding of the cultural background of the word ‘khuda’ as it is used in a broader sense: the word ‘khuda’ can safely be used for god, any god, be it a Hindu god or any other god, even for God, that is, spelt with a capital G — to refer to a Muslim concept of god, the only deity called Allah.
‘Khuda’ is basically a Persian word. Etymology of ‘khuda’ reveals that it is made of two components: ‘khud’, which means ‘self’ and ‘aay’, an inflection of Persian infinitive ‘aamadan’ meaning ‘to come’. So ‘aay’, or ‘aa’, means ‘coming’. Hence, ‘khuda’ means ‘that which has come by itself’. As Old Persian and Sanskrit are believed to have originated from the same source, some believe ‘khuda’ has its roots in Sanskrit and it is made up of ‘sva’ (self) and ‘daata’ (one who gives or bestows). Hence, ‘khuda’ means ‘self-created’. Aside from etymology, the word ‘khuda’ means ‘owner, master, ruler, lord’. It also means ‘god’.
‘Allah’ is an Arabic word and is made up of ‘al’, which means ‘the’, and ‘ilah’, which means ‘that which is worshipped’. So ‘Allah’ means the one who is worshipped; it means God, the Supreme Being. Since the word ‘Allah’ has a peculiar sense of eminence and is distinct from all other gods who may be called ‘khuda’, many prefer ‘Allah’ over ‘khuda’. It is a matter of their religious belief and personal choice.
But some people seem perturbed and question why the word ‘khuda’ was ever replaced with ‘Allah’ and why some prefer ‘Allah Hafiz’ over ‘Khuda Hafiz’. They somehow have the incorrect notion that the phrase ‘Allah Hafiz’ was first used in Urdu in 1986, though they do not have any evidence to support their supposition. So let us see when ‘Allah Hafiz’ was first used in Urdu.
Urdu Dictionary Board’s 22-olvume Urdu-to-Urdu dictionary, named ‘Urdu Lughat (Tareekhi Usool par), or Urdu Dictionary on Historical Principles, is Urdu’s most authentic and most comprehensive one. It also tries to record the earliest use of any word with illustrative quotations as citation, with references. This dictionary’s first volume (1977) shows that phrase ‘Allah Hafiz’ may have two shades of meanings: “Good bye” and “may God protect”. In the first sense, it was used first in Urdu in 1901 (the dictionary quotes the names of the book and author along with year and page number). In the second shade of meaning, the dictionary quotes ‘Noor-ul-Lughaat’, another Urdu-to-Urdu dictionary, and the citation shows it was first used in Urdu by a poet named Hazeen in 1868. It also reproduces the 1868 couplet that uses the phrase ‘Allah Hafiz’.
Farhang-i-Aasifiya, another authentic Urdu dictionary, has the entry ‘Allah Hafiz’ in its first volume and it was first published in 1880s. An even older Urdu dictionary, Makhzan-i-Favaaid, compiled and published in 1845 by Niaz Ali Nakhat Baig, has given ‘Allah Nigehbaan’ as an entry and while explaining it ‘Allah Hafiz’ has been given as synonym. It simply means the phrase ‘Allah Hafiz’ was in vogue in Urdu much earlier than 1845 otherwise Baig would not have given it as synonym. Thus it is established beyond any shadow of a doubt that the phrase ‘Allah Hafiz’ was in use in Urdu at least 180 years ago and ascribing its earliest use to someone in 1980s is simply false and misleading.
No doubt, ‘Khuda’ and ‘Allah’ are synonymous and either can be used in Urdu, but it is purely anybody’s personal discretion to use any of the words. So insisting on one is just as bad as insisting on the other.
Can you stop someone from using a perfectly right word or phrase just because you personally do not like it? Does freedom of expression not include the right to choose any particular word? Even if you insist that ‘Khuda Hafiz’ must not be replaced with ‘Allah Hafiz’, kindly be informed that ‘Allah Hafiz’ is not a new coinage. May Allah save us from fallacies! Khuda Hafiz!
Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2020
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.