- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
An angry mob in Pakistan accused a woman who wore a dress adorned with Arabic calligraphy of blasphemy, after mistaking them for Quran verses.
She was saved by police who escorted her to safety after hundreds gathered. She later gave a public apology.
The dress has the word “Halwa” printed in Arabic letters on it, meaning beautiful in Arabic.
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan. Some people have been lynched even before their cases go on trial.
And linguists call Urdu and Hindi different registers of Hindustani. Essentially, it’s Hindi with a lot of Persian and Arabic loanwords.
So it’s even more specifically like British people seeing Latin before the reformation.