Remember Khuda Kay Liye? It was my first Lollywood movie. One scene that really struck me was when Mansoor (Shaan) tells the American officer that he can read what's written in the Quran, but he can't understand it.

Like many other children, I first finished reciting the Quran with my Qari Sahib when I was about 10. I had never thought that there was something odd about reciting the Quran without reading the translation and without having any idea as to what I was reading. But that movie got me thinking and I realised the absurdity and irony of the situation. We, the Muslims, believe that we are gifted as we have got the Quran, which provides us guidance in all aspects of our lives. Who can know our needs better than our Creator? And here He has given us all the instructions about how to lead our lives happily.

But what do we do? We religiously recite the Quran. We know how to put the letters together, we know how to read them, write them, and pronounce them. We just don't know what they represent.

Has anybody ever seen a Christian reciting the Bible in a language he/she doesn't understand? No. A Pakistani is going to read it in Urdu whereas an American will be using an English Bible. Has anybody ever learnt French by just learning the correct pronunciations of all the words? Ridiculous, right?

What are words? They are supposed to convey a message. And here we are producing beautiful and holy sounds which are supposed to help us if only we could understand what they mean. What a pity. And then we all whine about the sad halat of Pakistan and the sad halat of the Muslim world today. No wonder we are hitting rock-bottom.

Some children do read the Urdu/English translations after completing the Quran, but there is a lot more stress on just being able to pronounce the Arabic words correctly. Islamiyat is taught in most of the schools, but the text books can't be compared to reading the actual words of Allah. School books can't ever cover everything the Quran does.

Children, especially in madrassas, become hafiz-e-Quran which is, undoubtedly, a great and commendable achievement, but it is sad thing, too, because in most cases it is not more than memorising words and their sounds. If all of these madrassas start teaching the translation of the Quran, it will be a leap towards enlightenment and will help in eradicating illiteracy. It will help in dispelling wrong notions about our religion and will be extremely beneficial for the whole nation. It will also encourage people to gain education and knowledge about secular subjects as instructed by Allah and will revive the true spirit of Islam. It will help our youth to understand the logic and beauty of our religion.

I once discussed this matter with my mother and her reply was that we weren't encouraged to read the Quran in different languages because translations couldn't be the same as the original script. I then asked her as to why Qari Sahibs didn't teach Arabic. Her response was that the Quran contained certain things that weren't directed at young children. (It is usually the school going children who study the Quran with Qari Sahibs). Okay, but what about all the other instructions? Maybe 9 or 10 year olds should start learning how to properly read and understand (some parts of) the Quran. Even a translation is better than nothing. And what do the children in Saudi Arabia do when they read the Holy Quran?