This may sound amazing for you. But nevertheless it is true. The majority of the students pursuing courses in Arab culture and civilization at Lucknow University’s Arabic department come not from madrasas. Neither do they come from Muslim families. Amazingly the majority of the students pursuing courses in Arab art and culture are Hindus. Prof. Shabbir Ahmed, Head of the department says it’s interesting to have more non-Muslim students in a department that sounds more like Islamic. Non-Muslims students in the department clearly outnumber the Muslim students. Out of the 200 odd students enrolled for different courses in the Arabic Department of the university there are around 130 non-Muslim students, comprising a good 65 percent of the department’s student strength.  This seems quite at odd with the trend in other universities that have Arabic department and similar courses. In Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia, the department is totally dominated by Muslim students. Though a Christian student completed his PhD in Islamic studies a few years ago, there are not many non-Muslim takers for Arabic courses in Jamia Millia Islamia. The same is the case of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh or the Department of Islamic Studies in Jamia Hamdard.  Dr Ishtiaq Danish, a senior reader at Jamia Hamdard’s Department of Islamic Studies says that most of the students approaching his department are from Indian Muslim community. He says rarely there are any non-Muslim students in his department. He informs www.khabrein.info that one Christian student is pursuing Phd from his department. His department had a non-Muslim scholar heading now defunct Centre for Studies on Indian Muslims. Yoginder Sikand who is now with New Delhi’s another University, Jamia Millia Islamia headed Centre for Studies on Indian Muslims. But he was not tolerated by the conservative elements of the Jamia Hamdard because of his highly critical and at times anti-Muslim writings. When this correspondent tried to probe the reason behind the large number of students in Arab culture in Lucknow University’s Arabic department, several students of the department said that there are many Hindu students taking the course as it gets them job more easily in Islamic studies departments in different colleges and universities in the country who are eager to have Hindu teachers to show to the UGC. But there were other reasons too. A senior student who has just submitted his PhD in Lucknow University’s Arabic Department said that there are two reason for high number of Hindu students in the Department, one is that the student leaders are opting more for this course as they are sure that the department would not force them to attend regular classes as is the norm in other department in the same university. The other reason that he puts forward is the liberal way of checking the examination copies in this department.  But if we believe Ishtiaq Danish, then it is because the increasing importance of the Arabic language in the world that is attracting more and more students towards learning the language. He says that there are many students pursuing Arabic courses in different universities in the country as they are confident of getting job in different government departments in the country, and if they are fortunate they can bag a well paid job in an Indian embassy in some foreign locations. This, Danish admits, is a radical change. “Only a handful of non-Muslims — 10 or 20 at the most — earlier opted for our courses on Arab literature, culture and civilisation etc,” Dr Shah Abdus Salam, a professor in Arabic department, said. “This is the first time since the department’s inception, in 1922, that it has got so many non-Muslim students.” With language being the only way to tap business opportunities in foreign shores, it is understandable that Arabic is gaining popularity among students here to get jobs with big corporations in West Asia, the professor said. Danish said of the different courses offered by the department, most non-Muslim students are attracted towards Arab culture and civilisation. “The course content of Arab culture and civilisation is best suited for understanding trade relations with Arab countries,” he explained.