DR. EBRAHIM M. AL-BATSHAN provides reasons for the shared commonalities between Indian and Arab cultures while at the same time throws light on the ever expanding education sector of the Desert Kingdom in an exclusive interview with SAAD BIN ZIA.
DR. EBRAHIM M. AL-BATSHAN took over as the Culture Attaché of Saudi Arabia in New Delhi in 2007. His distinguished scholarship earned him this coveted post that he cherishes the most. Despite holding such an important office, Dr. Al-Batshan is one of the most down to earth and helping Arab envoys that you can find in the busy diplomatic circles. He greets you with impeccable warmth of a traditional Arab. Not many know Ghalib is one of his favourite poets from India and more interestingly he likens Ghalib to Mutanabbi, the great Arabic poet the Diwan of whom he edited for his PhD. Besides Arabic, Dr. Al-Batshan is refreshingly fluent in English and Malay. As expected he parried away some tricky questions on international terrorism, politics and other such controversial issues.
With what aims and objectives did the Saudi Cultural Mission come into being in India? Also describe your roles and responsibilities as a Cultural Attaché.
The Saudi Cultural Mission in India was established in October 2007, to facilitate admission of Saudi students to the courses of higher education and training available in Indian Colleges and Universities. It was established primarily to: activate and enhance cultural exchange between Saudi Arabia and India; take care of the Saudi students studying in Indian educational institutions academically and socially; conclude bilateral cultural agreements with some public and private Indian universities; work toward benefiting from the Indian educational, cultural, and scientific experiments as a model to be followed in Saudi Arabia; highlight the educational and cultural achievements of Saudi Arabia through seminars, exhibitions, and cultural activities; receive educational and cultural delegations and facilitate coordination and communication with their Indian counterparts; interact with Indian universities, community colleges and other educational institutions in order to achieve the goal of academic cooperation; interact with civil society organisations such as associations of authors, artistes, and media persons.
I, in my capacity of Cultural Attaché, am responsible to take care of the academic matters relating to the Saudi students in different institutions of India. My responsibilities also include the overall supervision of all the activities of the bureau.
In your views which are the salient features of Indian Culture?
India is a multi-cultural, multi-lingual and multi-religious country. It presents a unique demonstration of unity in diversity. The Constitution of the country guarantees equal rights to all religions and cultures. What I am seeing in India is that the people are very much attached with their culture, irrespective of their religion. A common history is one of the strong forces which binds the people of India together. Most of the people who came to India from other countries have been living side by side with the original inhabitants for thousands of years. All of them especially, the Muslim rulers contributed immensely to the development of the composite culture of India. As a result, the large communities of India share many things in their customs, traditions and styles of living. When we look at the cultural history of India we find that in spite of the multifarious differences, there is a basic unity in the thinking, feeling and living of Indians.
Why do we find so many shared commonalities between the Indian and Arab Cultures?
The fundamental reason that I can imagine for overwhelming similarities is the constant interaction between India and Arab primarily through the sea trade. Hence, Indian and Arab cultures have exchanged many characteristics over the ages. We find a good deal of similarities between the two cultures especially with regard to literature, music, art and food. This similarity also reflects in certain social customs and norms of family life. Humanism and hospitality are two of the many common features of Indian and Arab cultures. The opposite is also equally true. So many elements of Indian origin have found way to the Arabic literature. The famous Arabic translation of the classical Sanskrit work Panchtantra known as ‘Kalila was Dimna’ as well as the ‘Thousand And One Night’ are the shining examples of this cultural exchange and similarity. The Arabic language has influenced most of the Indian Languages. Likewise, some colloquial words and terminologies from India have found their way to the Arabic language.
You have been vociferously engaged in promoting Indian Culture in the Arab World. How did this idea germinate?
Looking at the close similarities between the two cultures and the ever increasing enthusiasm of the Arab readers to know more and more about the various aspects of the Indian life, I started a project of translation of a few selected books about India into Arabic. As of now, the translation of four books namely, The National Culture of India, by Dr. Abid Hussain, Civilizational Study of India by Prof. (Dr.) Irfan Habib, Indo-Arab Relations by Syed Sulaiman Nadwi, and Vision of India by Dr. Karan Singh have been completed. I believe that these translated works will help Arab readers understand India in its true perspective and subsequently contribute to the cause of close cultural understanding.
Is Ghalib under represented in the Arab World? Could you please point out some parallels in the poetic styles of Ghalib and Mutanabbi?
No doubt Ghalib and Mutanabbi are two great names of Urdu and Arabic poetry respectively. Despite his great importance Ghalib is relatively less known and less understood in the Arab world compared to Iqbal. In India also a very few articles have been written on Ghalib in Arabic. As far as the poetic styles of Ghalib and Mutanabbi are concerned, we find a high degree of self esteem in the poetry of both of these poets. Their poetry revolves around the philosophical perceptions of life. Both of them are unparalleled in so far as the diction and imagery are concerned. Both of them are not the poets of common readers and only the highly imaginative readers can appreciate their verses. There is, therefore, an urgent need to introduce this great poet Ghalib to the Arab readers. It will be a very interesting study to find out certain similarities between Ghalib and Muttanabi in many respects.
Besides Ghalib who else from India has impressed you?
India has a number of eminent personalities to impress an outsider. There have been great architects of independent and modern India who have left great impact on my mind. Special mention can be made of Mahatma Ghandi, Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Radhakrishnan, Maulana Muhammad Ali Johar, Dr. Zakir Hussain, Ustad Al-maymani and Sheikh Alma’soomi etc.
Saudi Arabia is fast emerging as a hub of quality education but this development is unidirectional with strict governmental control. In such scenario do you still see it a viable and progressive one coping with modern challenges in the filed of higher education and research?
There are three educational systems prevailing in Saudi Arabia, namely traditional educational system, State run educational system and private educational system. In the beginning, the entire education system was controlled by the Directorate of Education. In 1953, the newly established Ministry of Education took over the charge of entire education system. In the same year 406 primary schools, 19 Middle School, 36 Secondary Schools, 18 Teachers Training Schools, and 05 Vocational Schools were established in addition to the already existing 326 schools.
According to the Statistics of Academic Session 2009-10, the number of students at primary, Middle and Secondary level is estimated to be 1653000, 762000, and 432000 respectively.
So far as the higher education in the Kingdom is concerned, it started in 1949 with the establishment of Shari’a College. The first Saudi University namely, The King Saud University was established in 1957 under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Education. The first Five Year Plan (1970-1975) focused on Priority to higher education in the Kingdom.
How can Indian Students/Researchers/Scholars benefit from resources available in Saudi Arabia?
Indian students can benefit from resources available in Saudi Arabia in certain disciplines such as the Arabic literature, Islamic Studies and Arab history and culture. Presently, scholars working on their research projects related to these disciplines as well as the area study can benefit from the resources available in the Kingdom in the form of books, journals, periodicals and archival material. In other fields also there is a lot of potential for academic cooperation. The petroleum industry can be one of them.