Dr. Amber Yasmin

Language and literature reflect the culture of a nation. Literary history of a land unfolds the richness by presenting the works of its renowned poets and writers.                  Persian is one of the most important Languages of the world. It has been the official language of the Sub- Continent up to Mughal rule in this area. Learning Persian language helps to keep ourselves fully acquainted with the history of Sub-Continent, Culture and literary heritage of our fore- fathers. Our national language, Urdu has more than 60% Persian words. Learning Persian language is not only a source of developing our relations with Iran, Afghanistan and other Persian speaking countries but also helps us in fully understanding Urdu language, literature and Allama 1qbal’s poetry.             It bears a precious treasure of ethics and moral values. We should learn this language of our fore fathers as a second language. Persian is second only to Arabic as the fountain of Islamic culture. Readers, the world over, treasure the poems of Roomi and Saadi, the great mystical poets of the Sufi tradition, and also of the famous works of Persian literature such as Shahnama of Firdoosi, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayam, and Divan of Hafiz Shirazi etc. Moreover, Persian bears a precious treasure of ethics and moral values. It is also the key to the beauties of medieval Persian culture, architecture, music and painting.             With the passage of time importance of Persian language is increasing. Consequence upon the geo-political developments in the region, Persian has gained strategic importance. Modern Persian (also called Dari) is spoken by almost 100 million speakers not just in Iran, but also in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Central Asian Countries. These Countries have rich energy & natural resources. Knowledge of Persian will not only help us to develop our relations with these countries but will also be a source for anyone to pursue a variety of exciting careers in government, international business and education.