On Sunday, it being Rememberance Sunday, there was an item on the news about the fallen of World War I. A reporter was interviewing from somewhere in Belgium (I am sorry I can’t recall the exact details, baby-Moo was a little distracting).
I noticed above the interviewers head, in large letters,
ALLAH
wow, i thought. This is not usual for the BBC, to have such a prominent placing of the Lords name above a presenter. It was there for a good few minutes. then the camera pulled back, and I saw what it was
SEPOYS
ALLAH DITTA
It was a list of those who had fallen, and Allah Ditta was one of those who had not survived. I told this to my wife, who said that Allah Ditta is a common name in Pakistan, often given to those who have been desiring a child for a while: the literal meanin is ‘Allah Gave Us’. I have no idea who this Allah Ditta was.
Later, I saw a link on deenport about others who had fallen in the World Wars:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/southerncounties/content/image_galleries/muslim_soldiers_gallery.shtml?2
I was going to post this on Sunday, but part of me was thinking ‘why should we only care about something if Muslims, or Indians for that matter, were involved’ and I didn’t want this to come across as one of those sorts of posts. Also at the weekend, a suicide bombing in Iraq, in a marketplace of all places. I could use this space to list a litany of conflicts that are still running, and to list how many have been affected by war, but it would probably make me depressed. The world is still not a safe place. It was meant, at the time, to be ‘Never Again’.
Mashahallah.
There are also names like Allah Baksha ( Allah grants/granted) and Allah Rakhah (Allah kept/keeps)…..They are names rooted in Punjabi language as far as I know..
Assalam-aliakam,
Allah Ditta is common in the part of Punjab my parents hail from as is Allah-Baksh (there is also a hilarious old Punjabi movie called Allah Rakha but that’s beside the point).
I agree, Remembrance Sunday isn’t just for the English or for Christians, Muslims fought, Muslims died and even if they hadn’t, there are still lessons for us and and we should still feel sorrow for the suffering that took place.
Aside from that there are some interesting old pictures of: English Muslim World War I heroes here: http://www.isb.org.uk/iaw/images/yesteryear_3.jpg
I wonder what their stories were.
Asslam Alikum brother Allah dita means what?
Allah Ditta = “Allah Gave Us”.