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Story of languages on Bangla language day

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Bangladeshis in many parts of the world would be celebrating their Bangla language day today. It is the 21st of February in the Gregorian calendar that marks the Bangla language day, ironically it's not the Bangla language calendar that marks this day ever. Today is 8th of Falgun 1422 Bangla era, just in case you didn't know.

Every language is sacred and every language must be given its due respects and space. Some languages would live and become Lingua Franca and some languages would simply die due to lack of people speaking it. Languages come naturally and evolve over time. Language is a gift from God. 

Languages share many common structures, sounds, rules and even borrow words from each other.

My children once asked me, "what language does God speak?"

My response was, "every language."

"Even Bangla?" They asked.

"Of course, God created us and He has given us all different languages and colours so that we can make friends, form relationships and harmony," I said convincingly to my children.

They looked satisfied with my response.

If God did not understand Bangla nearly 200 million people in one small country would not be heard and millions more would not have been heard for over 1400 years. No matter what language you speak and even if you speak no language God is the knower of known and unknown and seen and unseen. He knows what is in your heart and mind.

Language should never be used for arrogance or oppression. No language is inferior or superior. I remember once I witnessed a terrible argument between two work colleagues. In the heat of the argument an Urdu speaking person called an Arabic speaking person a backward Bedouin and in retaliation the Arabic speaking person said, "you are in position to speak, Arabic is the language of heaven and Urdu is the language of hell." It was the most vile verbal and racial abuse I have ever heard in my life. I intervened and made them reflect on what they had said, convinced them to apologise to each other and promise never to use language or ethnicity of anyone to ridicule or insult anyone.

In 1952 when Urdu was declared as the only state language of United Pakistan, east and west, Bangla language was marginalised even though majority of the population of Pakistan was Bangla speakers at that time. A lot of blood was shed, many people were locked up and much upheaval overtook the country. Unfortunately this planted the seed of discontent between east and west Pakistan which in 1971 then raptured into two Independent countries after a 9 month long war with thousands of lives lost, properties destroyed, people raped, mutilated and untold misery suffered.

This is a stark example of what happens to human beings when they choose to rebel against natural law - God's law. Language is a heavenly gift and we must celebrate it. We must learn as many languages as possible and we must form long lasting friendships and relationships with people of different languages and ethnicities. We have taught our children English, Spanish and Hungarian and they are still learning Arabic and Bangla. The world would be boring if we all spoke only one language, ate the same food, had the same skin colour and all looked the same. Diversity is our biggest strength and learning to manage this is our biggest challenge.

Remember what God says -

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَى وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ (49:13)

O men! Behold, We have created you all out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Behold, God is all-knowing, all-aware. - 49:13

What makes us most noble is not our language or ethnicity but it is our mindfulness of God's presence. May all languages flourish!

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