THIS is apropos the letters ‘Compulsory Arabic’ (Feb 18). There is no doubt that knowledge of Arabic will enable students to directly understand the Holy Quran and Hadith, and it is indeed a laudable initiative.

However, the curriculum of Arabic should be carefully designed on modern lines and should be different from how Arabic is taught in the seminaries, which is all about rote-learning.

There is a wealth of audio-visual learning resources available on the internet which can be effectively utilised in designing the curriculum of functional Arabic.

It may be pertinent to mention that Pakistan movement leader Sir Aga Khan III had strongly advocated the teaching of Arabic language soon after the inception of Pakistan.

Regrettably, no heed was paid at the time to his sincere advice.

Prof Khaver Zia
Lahore

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2021