It is time for Muslims to open their eyes and stop blinding themselves to the reality of the post-9/11 world. The hostility of the Western media to Islam and Muslims is a message to us; it is telling us that we must learn more about the West and its culture in order to protect ourselves and our children from future happenings that may overwhelm the Middle East and the Muslim world. Knowing English is one of the weapons that we desperately need in the so-called "war against terrorism." Yet desperate as the need is, it should not push us to jeopardize our Arabic language and Islamic culture. It is time we admitted our lack of military power so that we maintain the only remaining strength we possess: Our language and Islamic culture.
Which is more important — the employment market or the human beings to be employed? Money is certainly important but it should never come before people in the process of development. We should not allow the capitalist flux, that intends to swallow us, drag us to be sunk in the same stagnant swamps of problems that the West suffers from. Is it really fear of the new or fear for the identity?
If it is the latter, let it be — but in a positive and constructive way. I’d rather belong to a society with a strong identity than a society with a distorted or shaky one. Our fears for our mother tongue and culture are justifiable; we must plan for the future with awareness that enables us to see the positive and negative sides of the issue.
The core of the problem is not the number of years it takes to learn English but the quality of teaching it and the method that teachers should use in encouraging students to practice what they learn. Yes, we should teach English a bit earlier — a year or two — to protect ourselves and our children from the danger which the Muslim world is about to face and might be engulfed in. Our students should be aware of this fact, not the idea that they will be superior if they learn English. English should never be equal in our children’s minds to Arabic nor it should be in a contest with our native language, the language of the Holy Qur’an. I am not speaking from a vacuum since I’ve been teaching English for more than 23 years.
Allah protected our language, but there is a part we should fulfill ourselves before others reach our children and make impostors out of them. And if we still laugh at the world "conspiring" as we were taught by those who consider us their enemy, we should blame only ourselves. The rude and clear intentions and plots to redivide our countries according to the desire of the new and sole power of the world is similar to what happened after World War II when the map of the Arabic world was drawn in red and blue between France and England. Yet the new scenario is more dramatic: "If you are not with us, you are against us."
Nadia Abdul-Jabbar teaches English at King Abdul Aziz University. She is based in Jeddah.
