What a difference a dot makes

In Abbottabad (remember Abbottabad?) a Christian girl has been accused of blasphemy and expelled from her school because of a spelling mistake (via):

Faryal Bhatti, a student at the Sir Syed Girls High School in Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) colony Havelian, erroneously misspelt a word in an Urdu exam while answering a question on a poem written in praise of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The word in question was ‘laanat’ instead of ‘naat’ – an easy error for a child to make, as the written versions of the words are similar.

According to the school administration and religious leaders who took great exception to the hapless student’s mistake, the error is ‘serious’ enough to fall within the realm of blasphemy...

On Thursday, Faryal’s Urdu teacher was collecting the answer sheets from her students when she noticed the apparently offensive word on her pupil’s sheet. The teacher, Fareeda Bibi, reportedly summoned the Christian girl, scolded her and beat her. Her punishment, however, did not end here. When Faryal’s class fellows learnt of the alleged blasphemy, the teacher brought the principal’s notice to the matter, who further informed the school management.

In the meanwhile, the news spread throughout the colony. The next day, male students of the POF colony school as well as certain religious elements took out a rally, demanding the registration of a criminal case against the eighth-grader and her expulsion from the area.

Prayer leaders within the community also condemned the incident in their Friday sermons, asking the colony’s administration to not only take action against Faryal but her entire family. In the wake of the increasing tensions, Managing Director POF Colony Havelian Asif Siddiki called a meeting of colony-based ulemas and school teachers to discuss the situation. The girl and her mother were asked to appear before the meeting, where they explained that it was a mere error, caused by a resemblance between the two words. The two immediately apologised, adding that Faryal had no malicious intentions.

In a move that was apparently meant to pacify the religious elements clamouring for action against the teenage ‘blasphemer’, the POF administration expelled her from the school on Saturday. Faryal was not the only one who got in trouble for her spelling error, however, as her mother, Sarafeen Bhatti, who was a staff nurse at the POF Hospital Havelian for several years, was immediately transferred to POF Wah Cantonment Hospital.

It's not clear from the article, but the difference between "lanaat" and "naat" in Urdu script is, apparently, just the one dot.

Comments

[Stephen Munslow]

In Sofya Petrovna (The Deserted House) by Lydia Chukovskaya, written and set in the Stalin era, a typist makes an error. On the cyrillic keyboard y (ы) is on the same row as a, separated by one letter. The typist accidentally types "krysnaya armiya" (rats army) instead of krasnaya armiya (red army). Regarded as a subversive element, she loses her job and livelihood. At a meeting of criticism Sofya Petrovna suggests that it was a mere mistake, and consequently undergoes the same treatment. I don't know if you're familiar with the film Mirror by Andrei Tarkovsky, there is an episode in which a proof reader goes into work in her off hours fearing that she has missed a potentially disastrous, for her, misprint. The theme is salient in modern Russian literature.

[Mick H]

Interesting. Thanks. No, I never saw Tarkovsky's Mirror.

[ben]

Using lanaat in place of naat
is knotty if not Islamic
And Bhatti who was caught
is a story sad and tragic

It is the principal that matters
when the pupil sees that aught
In the parlance of mad hatters
depends upon a dot

A blessing that is cursive
when illicited by an ulema
Must pass through thoughts discursive
To resolve such a dilemma

The problem is an illusion
to see one must be blind
To cleave wisdom with religion
is a trick upon the mind