I did not know that being Hafiz means extra marks in exams now in Pakistan. What is next, some money from the government for being a Hafiz? How do they know if some kid is Hafiz or not? Do they test?
http://www.dawn.com/2007/08/06/letted.htm
Extra marks for ‘huffaz’
ACCORDING to a report (July 24), the Christian community in the UK has protested what it calls discrimination of the Pakistan government towards Christian students seeking admission to educational institutes.
A letter sent to Pakistan’s high commissioner says that the Pakistani law earmarks 20 extra marks to Muslim students who are ‘hafiz’ Quran. They say that it not only contradicts the claims of equal rights for minorities but is also against the Constitution of Pakistan and international human rights.
These arguments ignore several facts. First, it maliciously makes it appear that the Christians are exclusively being discriminated against. The fact is that it gives an advantage to those who have memorised the Holy Quran over all others, including Muslims who haven’t done so, as well as Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians and others, why aren’t the Muslims complaining?
Let us consider a hypothetical example to understand the issue. Suppose there are three students, H, M and N, who are equally good in studies and score a total of 700 marks out of 1,000 in the examination. If, after having spent hours and hours, month after month, ‘H’ becomes a ‘hafiz’ and is given an extra 20 marks, taking his total to 720, why grudge it? The Muslim ‘M’ and the non‘N’ spent this time on enjoying themselves and, if they had put in this huge amount of effort on their curriculum, they could probably have scored 750 or even more.
Second, soon after the 1965 war, the government had started a programme probably called the National Cadet Corps in which students (both boys and girls, regardless of religion) could participate in a military training routine for a certain period of time. On completion of that, they, too, were given additional 20 marks. I don’t know if it is still operative now, but, if it is, then those who don’t want to or can’t learn the Quran by heart could benefit from it. The authorities encourage what they deem good for the country.
Therefore, instead of trying to create impediments in the way of the Muslims aspiring to be ‘huffaz’, the complainants can put in a fractional extra work and get more marks. As far as their argument about equal rights or international human rights etc is concerned, Pakistan is a unique, ideological country created by the Muslim League on the basis of ‘two-nation theory’ for the Muslims, who made enormous sacrifices for it, yet there are just a few differences and the will of the majority shouldn’t be hijacked. That is why its head of state or government cannot be a non-Muslim and we folks end up paying the zakat, which the non-Muslims don’t have to.
Z. A. JALALI
Karachi