Cultural of Rohingya
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Culture is an inexplicably meaningful
word almost defying any definition. It is the visible manifestation of
the entire gamut of human endeavors. As civilization develops, so is the
culture that follows to acquire new dimensions. Art, literature, music,
rituals, festivals, folk belief, taboos and countless other forms of
versatile human feeling are expression of culture. It is a continuous
stream of past and present, tradition and modernity assimilated into an
integrated whole in the ever growing panorama of nation's life. Islam
arrived in Arakan in 788 A.D. From the days of myths and legends, Arakan
entered the historical era from the days of the Chandra dynasty. The
first group to leave its mark upon the culture and civilization of
Rohingya were the Arabs who came to trade and settled down permanently
in Arakan. They brought Islam, which as a resurgent force vastly
influenced and inspired the local people of Arakan to accept Islam.
The descendants of these people founded
the original nucleus of the Rohingyas in Arakan. Great literature
emancipates and does not enslave. It is noteworthy that Harold Bloom's
"The Western Canon includes literature of the ancient near East. ancient
India. and classical Arabic as part of the Canon". While we are quite
familiar with, and may even have grown accustomed, to, the ant Islamic
rhetoric of the West, the following remarks of Bloom's bear repetition:
"....... once the reader in conversant with the Bible, Homer, Plato,
…... the crucial work is the
Koran ..... Ignorance of the Koran is foolish and increasingly dangerous." Robert Hughes remarked that the religion of Islam has played vast role in enriching world civilisation and culture. He described, "Islam the destroyer is a myth. Without Arab scholars, our mathematics would not exit ....... Medieval Rome was a scavengers' village compared with medieval Baghdad. Without the Arab invasion of southern Spain Europe would be unimaginably poorer." In the language of A.K.M. YAQUB Ali of Rajshahi University, education and culture are intimately related to each other. The former is prerequisite for the development of the latter. Islam lays much stress on education. The first revelation that came to the Prophet started with the word 'iqra' or 'read in the name of the Lord'. (Al-Quran, Surah Al-Alau, Vs. 3-4). The Prophet considered the acquiring of knowledge obligatory on every Muslim man and woman. The Prophet preferred his association with a group of learners to that of devotees in the mosque of Madinah (Miskat al- Masabib, Kitab al-ilm, p-36). In the early days mosques were main forum for education. In the later periods madarasas sprung up in the towns, cities and other important places. (Society and Culture in Islam, M. Enamul Hoq P.1 17-l 18). It has been said that you cannot see other cultures well until, through knowing your own. Otherwise you are left with mere undeceive much. To do this, we must restore the cultural position of knowledge and learning in society. The Prophet of Islam said: "The superior rank the 'alim' holds in relation to the’ bid' is like the superior rank I hold in relation to the least of my companions". "Seek knowledge from cradle to grave" is also the Hadith of the great Prophet.
Koran ..... Ignorance of the Koran is foolish and increasingly dangerous." Robert Hughes remarked that the religion of Islam has played vast role in enriching world civilisation and culture. He described, "Islam the destroyer is a myth. Without Arab scholars, our mathematics would not exit ....... Medieval Rome was a scavengers' village compared with medieval Baghdad. Without the Arab invasion of southern Spain Europe would be unimaginably poorer." In the language of A.K.M. YAQUB Ali of Rajshahi University, education and culture are intimately related to each other. The former is prerequisite for the development of the latter. Islam lays much stress on education. The first revelation that came to the Prophet started with the word 'iqra' or 'read in the name of the Lord'. (Al-Quran, Surah Al-Alau, Vs. 3-4). The Prophet considered the acquiring of knowledge obligatory on every Muslim man and woman. The Prophet preferred his association with a group of learners to that of devotees in the mosque of Madinah (Miskat al- Masabib, Kitab al-ilm, p-36). In the early days mosques were main forum for education. In the later periods madarasas sprung up in the towns, cities and other important places. (Society and Culture in Islam, M. Enamul Hoq P.1 17-l 18). It has been said that you cannot see other cultures well until, through knowing your own. Otherwise you are left with mere undeceive much. To do this, we must restore the cultural position of knowledge and learning in society. The Prophet of Islam said: "The superior rank the 'alim' holds in relation to the’ bid' is like the superior rank I hold in relation to the least of my companions". "Seek knowledge from cradle to grave" is also the Hadith of the great Prophet.
Knowledge is the greatest of pleasures
just as ignorance is the greatest pain. Men of knowledge played a
pivotal role in enabling Islam to produce one of the most dazzling
civilisations ever known to humanity. Ali Ibn Abi Talib said:"Ya kamil!
Knowledge is better than wealth for knowledge watches over you whilst
you have to watch over your wealth. And knowledge governs while wealth
is governed. Wealth diminishes with spending but knowledge increases
there with." For Frantz Fanon every people-in whose soul an inferiority
complex has been created by the death and burial of its local cultural
originality- finds itself face to face with the culture of the mother
country... to speak a language is to take on a world, a culture. (Black
Skin, White Mask, p. 38) Fanon's thrust is toward a civilisation of
language or aesthetic linguistics, not of social or political norms. He
sees language as emancipation. Culture, which language defines is not
monolithic or particular to a region in the last analysis, but universal
to a large extent, has discontinuities and disruption behind the
semblance of an architectonic exterior. For culture, which for various
lengths of time has been traumatized by the colonial experience, certain
similarities should exist in their learned patterns of behavior and
their response to history. Recent American studies of course- cultural
phenomena, engineered by the likes of Richard Sykes, David Kajolan and
Leo Marx, have established the claim that the study of literature is, in
fact, a study of culture, "Culture is the key concept, the unifying
concept, the root word which suggests both theory and method."
Hence, cultural enrichment through literature is indeed limitless. Students should be exposed to the great works of world literature. Apart from the value of literature and the arts in the refinement of the human personality, the influence of cultural forces in the shaping a new world order will become more prominent in the years to come. In our day, the authority to teach is conferred upon the doctoral candidate who has proven his skill with his thesis.
This phenomenon of the doctorate's
authority, the dignity of the doctoral degree, first came into being in
classical Islam in the guilds for the study of the discipline of the
Shariah (Islamic Law). Universities' graduates who not only excel in
their own chosen field of specialization such as engineering, law,
medicine and economics' but also have a firm grasp of diabetics and
philosophy, in addition to having a taste for art and literature.
Students must aspire to be multidimensional men of leaning, mutafannin,
as they were called during the apogee of Islamic civilisation. A society
or a community without a culture of its own is destined to permanent
end in no time and there are many instances in the history that once a
dominant race was later found to be nowhere as it lost cultural war
waged by some others. The poison of cultural adulteration is on in Burma
and many races there have already been the victims of such invasion.
Inevitably, it is the prime concern of conscious people to discover
their lost cultural heritage. We feel that every conscious Rohingya is
indebted to do overall development of Rohingya community under hostile
environment to uphold their culture and tradition, which has been
eroding under the influence of junta's Burmanisation policy.
We must therefore, preserve our heritage, culture and traditions, which characterise our identity. To enable us to do so, it is as part of responsibility, the Rohingya's culture and tradition have been presented.
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