Abstract

This chapter centers on the South Asian Muslim scholar, Muhammad ‘Ali Mongiri (1846–1927), one of the founders of the Nadwat al-‘Ulama religious reform movement in colonial India. The chapter takes a special interest in Mongiri’s views on the teaching of multiple languages at the inaugural seminary of the Nadwat al-‘Ulama movement. Through focusing Mongiri’s linguistic ideal, the chapter sheds light on several broad issues in the study of religion and South Asian Islam in particular. These include: i) the impact of colonialism on Indian Muslims; ii) debates over whether language is only a means of communication or if it is also inextricably linked with culture and might even serve as a medium for shaping one’s worldview, and; iii) tensions between Arabic (Islam’s “original” language) and local South Asian languages. While the focus of the chapter remains on Nadwat al-‘Ulama and Mongiri, I also shed light on the historical context in which Indian Muslims’ attitudes towards languages were being formed.