Sorry, I am born to a Pakistani but cannot read Urdu

[Reha]

Re: Sorry, I am born to a Pakistani but cannot read Urdu

@redvelvet

^You’ve emphasized Arabic because it helps us to understand the Quran and deen, which is important. You’ve emphasized Spanish because of it’s prevalence in the US and it helping one become marketable career-wise. I understand that deen and career are important/essential aspects of one’s life…but isn’t family and heritage also an important aspect of life? Why is it being dismissed or downplayed? That doesn’t make sense to me…kya yeh cheezain zindagi ha hissa nahi?

So facilitation of communication with your family (both immediate and extended) takes a backseat to career? These are the people you see everyday…they are your parents or connected to them…they are a part of you. Ghairon k saath Spanish main baat karna is more zaroori than being able to converse with your family? Reading and writing na sahi…but you should be able to speak/understand it.

Family and heritage is…some people cling to it desperately but I don’t want to emphasize culture over the things I find more worthy of attention. Its how I think and what I believe. Its being downplayed because I don’t think second generation kids here will have the same connection with Pakistan that I did or the stronger bond my parents did. I will not force them to pretend to be a part of a culture they have never lived in or know too well. Why would I do that and have them constantly struggling between two worlds…one they live in and one they’ve only seen vague shadows of?

Their priority is not to learn how to cook handi or how to wear a dupatta, its to learn to be kinder to their neighbors. I don’t care if they don’t know an ounce of Urdu but they better be a part of benefiting the less fortunate. That to me is much more important and yes learning Urdu takes a backseat to that absolutely. 100%. Their religion comes first, their careers second and then their culture. Their religion teaches them to be good human beings, their career ensures their survival in this world as well as their usefulness to others. Their culture can teach them certain things relevant to a region their forefathers belonged to but that’s it.

I live in a practical world…not in ideals. I don’t want to guilt my kids into thinking they need to be a certain way. They are Muslims and in order to identify with another Muslim, that should be more than enough. God did not create people Pakistani or Indian, he created them Muslim. I am not worried about their Urdu skills that can only come in handy when speaking to relatives that all speak perfectly sound English anyway.