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Guyana: History of Muslims
LOSS OF A LANGUAGE
1930 – 2000

Imam Ahmad Hamid

Dear Brothers and Sisters:
Assalamu Alaikum
All praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds; we send salutations upon our noble Prophet.
In the history books very little attention has been given to Muslims whether they
were slaves, indentured laborers from India, or citizens of Guyana. The conclusion may
be made that writers and historians consider the history of Muslims insignificant. In some
books there are isolated references to Muslims, for example, Reverend Dale Bisnauth
(1993) offers only a token recognition of just six pages to the Muslims in his book
“History of Religions in the Caribbean.” He merely states in six pages the dogmas and
rituals of Islam. However, he affords extensive treatment to the introduction and spread
of Christianity in the Caribbean.
Within the past decade, there have been attempts by Muslims to publish articles
dealing with the history of Muslims in Guyana. Raymond Chickeri (New York)
published on the internet his articles on Muslims with a bias towards Indian immigration
in Guyana. This is a commendable effort. In 1995, on the occasion of its centenary,
Queenstown Jama Masjid published a magazine, and in it was an article “A Short History
of Muslims in Guyana.”
In the absence of any information, the Muslims have apparently nothing of worth
to pass on to the next generation. It is as if they do not have a history. The current
situation in Guyana and the negative impact of global events upon the Muslims make it
imperative that Muslims must know their history, or at least they can have access to
information. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Muslims to write their own history.
In the 1960s and more significantly in the period 1976 -1990, Muslims in Guyana
were publicly and deliberately given false information about Islamic theology. They
assumed highly prejudiced positions that sought to eradicate and oppose certain practices
and supplant them with their preferences. In the clashes that ensued between Muslims
for almost two decades, leaders defensively insisted that the information in Urdu texts
were accurate and represented the true teachings of Islam. Furthermore confusion was
created on the question of the phonics of Arabic and Urdu characters and the rules
governing the recitation of the Quran. In so many different ways the impression was
created that those involved were the sole authority on Islam. At times, their propositions
became a mockery of the teachings of Islam.
Like the Muslims of the 1940s and 1950s, current leaders have raised the hopes of
the public with regard to the development and spread of Urdu as a language. We are yet
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to see a concerted effort to propagate Urdu by the leaders of organizations in Guyana.
This cannot be done by any singular organization. It demands the cooperation and
coordination among all the organizations in Guyana.

I lived in a community where there were many indentured Muslims and Hindus
from whom I learnt about their village life – customs, practices, family relationship,
economic hardships, and struggles for survival - in India. My maternal and paternal
grandparents are from India. From my Daada (paternal grandfather) with whom I lived
until I was about six and my Naanee (maternal grandmother) who lived with us for about
ten years, I developed an understanding of Hindustani while I completed my Urdu primer
with Ustad Chetah Singh (Hindu immigrant).
My childhood experience proved helpful and prepared me to function in adult life
as an Islamic worker and executive member of several organizations. My meetings with
immigrants, first generation Muslims, and my experience made me aware of the
importance of a written account of the history of the Muslims.

The problem was that I
had no access to written information. This caused me to take the greatest interest in
gathering information and to pay keen attention to what was said by elderly Muslims:
Hajji Balli, Idris Deen, Hajji Raouf (78 Village); Nanhi Meah (StarthAvon); Hajji Ahmad
Hussain , Hajji Muhammad Karmali, Meer Amjad Ali, Muhammad Saffee (Leonora);
Hajji Basheer Farouk (Hogg Island); Moulvi Muhammad Ahmad Nasir (Vreed-en-
Hoop); Hajji Rhostam Ali (Good Hope); Hajji Abdool Hamid, Munir A. Khan, Shameer
Khan (Windsor Forest); Munshi Haniff (Anandale); Hajji Rasool Baksh (Hague); Hosein
Ganie (Georgetown); Hajji Nasir A. Khan, Hassan Ali (IMG); Hajji S. M. Sakoor
(Petershall); Hajji Abdus Sattaur (CIOG); Moneer A. Khan (PPP).

I used the information I received from Muslims (spanning a period of forty years),
my personal experience, and available written information to attempt a very ambitious
project, that is, to compile and publish, Insha Allah, a book on the history of the Muslim
of Guyana. I have given this book a very unusual title: “Let the Lion Roar.” The title is
based on an incident that occurred in Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara. The chapters of
the book I intend to publish are:

1. From India to Guyana – based on a true story that forced my grandfather to flee
India
2. Arrival of Muslims in Guyana – the arrival of Muslims from Africa and the loss
of their identity; the arrival of Muslims from India and the establishment of Islam
in Guyana
3. The Rise and Fall of Organizations (1930-1948) – the rivalry among the existing
organizations and their unification
4. Loss of a Language
5. The Makkah of Islam – this is an account of my personal experience of the
struggles, rivalry, and fights in West Demerara among the leaders and their
supporters; the involvement of national and regional organizations in the struggles
and impact upon the national scene
6. The Teaching of Arabic – the efforts to promote Arabic as a language and the
success achieved
7. Islamic Theology – the loss of knowledge and its effects; the use of Islamic
theology for political gains
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8. Formation of CIOG – the reasons for formation; growth and development (1979-
1999)

This chapter of the book deals with the gradual loss of Urdu as a language starting
in the 1930s to 1990s. This chapter stresses the point that leaders must no longer engage
in the wishful thinking of having Urdu used widely once again as a language. Statements
and promises made to the Muslims have now to be translated into meaningful and
positive actions since for the past six decades there has been only talk of reintroducing
Urdu in the Madrasahs. The point to note is that most of the leaders who speak of
reintroducing Urdu are not aware of its history in Guyana. They must consider the
complexities, requirements, and costs to teach it on a large scale. There are others who
are quick to point fingers to explain the decline of Urdu, but at the same time have done
nothing to propagate the language.

In fact, just a handful of Muslims in leadership
positions have a facility of the language. Like many of the leaders in 1940s and 1950s,
they give the impression that the teaching of Urdu will be achieved by the distribution
books to organizations and Madrasahs.
I sincerely hope that my readers will appreciate the arguments and the facts
mentioned in this chapter. I do anticipate some amount of criticisms; I welcome them.
However, I do wish them to be constructive and based on facts. We have to learn from
our history and never to repeat the past. I welcome information from anyone who has an
article, book, booklet, or a verified story on Muslims in Guyana. Your information no
matter how insignificant it may appear to you is of vital importance to the compilation of
a history of the Muslims in Guyana.

I wish to acknowledge the invaluable help given by Nazir (Tally) Khan, Hassan Jabar,
and Rahman Huggins Khan who took great pains to read and offer critical comments to
this chapter as well as others.
Surely, Allah will reward us for our efforts in His Din.
Ahmad Hamid
January 20, 2007

Facts on Guyana
Area: 83,000 sq. ml.
Continental Neighbors:
Suriname (E), Venezuela (W), Brazil (S)
Population: 800,000
Capital: Georgetown
Towns: Guyana has six major towns of administrative and commercial importance:
Linden, New Amsterdam, Corriverton, Rose Hall, Anna Regina and Bartica. The country
is divided in three counties Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice.
Race: East Indians (50%), Africans (36%), Amerindians (7%), others (7%)
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Religions: Christianity (50%), Hinduism
(35%), Islam (10%)
Language: English, English Creole, and
Amerindian dialects. To an extent there is some
communication among the Hindus in Hindi and
among the Muslims in Urdu.
Major Muslim Organizations:
i. Central Islamic Organization of
Guyana (CIOG)
ii. Guyana Islamic Trust (GIT)
iii. Muslim Youth Organizations
Guyana (MYOG)
iv. Anjuman Hifazatul Islam (Hifaz)
v. United Sad’r Islamic Anjuman
(Sad’;r)
vi. Muslim Youth League (MYL)
vii. Tablighi Movement

Masjids

There are about 130 Masjids.
The Emergence and Development of Urdu
The language of a people transmits their culture and heritage from one generation
to the next. Language is a badge of identity that helps to shape the way people think.
Disassociation with a language soon leads to disassociation with the culture associated
with that language, and finally a replacement of that culture and language. This is the
case of the indentured Muslims and the Urdu language.

The Mughal rulers of India spoke Persian and Turkish1 while the native
population spoke several languages.2 The need for communication between the Mughal
rulers and the indigenous people of India necessitated the development of a local
language, which became known as Urdu. Historically, Urdu evolved since the 12th
century and found favor with court officials who acknowledged its usefulness and
encouraged its usage. Eventually, it replaced Persian as the official language of the
1 Timur spoke and wrote in Chagatai. The Indians spoke Hindi, Punjabi, and other languages of the Aryan-
European Family.

2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_languages. The Constitution of India recognizes 22 "regional
languages", spoken throughout the country, namely Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi,
Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit,
Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. Hindi is the official language of the states Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,
Jharkhand, Uttaranchal, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and the
National Capital Territory of Delhi. English is the co-official language of the Indian Union, and that each of
the several states mentioned above may also have another co-official language.
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Mughal court of India. Its vocabulary is made up of Hindi, Persian,3 Sanskrit, and Arabic.
The 38 letters of its alphabet are written in the Arabic-Persian script from right to left.
The complete Urdu alphabet
Insofar as ordinary usage is concerned, there is little difference between Urdu
spoken by Muslims and certain types of Hindi spoken principally by non-Muslims. Urdu-
Hindi, formerly called Hindustani, exhibits the features that are characteristics of the
language of the Indian sub-continent, for example, lack of distinctive word accent;
retroflexion, aspiration and nasalization as phonemic features; and compounding of verb
stems. Moreover, the Arab-Persian element provides Urdu with at least optional
additional distinctions in pronunciation, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. The spread
and dominance of Urdu were due to its popularity among non Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, and
Christians. Urdu was not confined to one state in India. “…it wields a pervasive influence
throughout the country…The early Englishmen vied with later Mughals to patronize it.”4
3 Persian originated in a place called Persis, a language of Parsa, an Indo-European nomadic people that
moved into the area 10,000 BC. Old Persian was spoken until 300 BC.
4 Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Muslims in India (Delhi-6: 1966) 15
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Although it is the richest and official language of Pakistan, Urdu5 is not as
widespread as is generally believed. It is the native tongue of only about eight percent of
the populace and is unfamiliar to many. Pakistan has a population 162,419,946 (July
2005 est.) with 48 % speaking Punjabi and 12% speaking Sindhi. In comparison, India
has a population of 1,095,351,995 (July 2006 est.) with 13.4% classified as Muslims. The
famous places in India6 with strong Urdu influence are Jullundur, Delhi, Agra, Lucknow,
Allahabad, Patna, Goya, Calcutta, Bhopal, Hyderbad, Banglore, Madras, and Bombay.
Within India, Urdu has assumed a very specific form. The Indian film industry
used it for the dialogues in the Hindi films and lyrics of songs. There are annual
competitions and awards for Urdu poems and literary works in India and Pakistan. The
Qawwali and Ghazal which developed in India are somewhat religious in nature, set to
music according to the classical ragas and made popular through Hindi films.7 Urdu
assumed a specific form as a language of resistance, communication, and identity of the
Indian Muslims who opposed British policies in India. Through their Urdu publications,
Muslims attempted to show the importance of their own tradition as expressed in the
writing of the reformer Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, the educational novels of Nazir Khan,
and Hafiz Jhullandari who composed the national anthem of Pakistan, and wrote the
Shanama which is a description of the achievements of Islam.
Sir Muhammad Iqbal (d. 1938), most famous of Urdu poets of modern times,
wrote poems in which he “exhorted the Muslims of the subcontinent to awaken from their
slumber and shape their own future. Iqbal uses the whole poetical vocabulary of classical
Persian-Urdu but infuses many of the time-honored words and expressions with new
meanings … Iqbal transformed Urdu poetry into a vital and vitalizing art to influence the
Muslims of India to think of themselves as an entity since their survival was dependent
on the maintenance of their Islamic identity.”
Peoples, Languages, and Religions
The Dutch arrived in the Guianas in 16th century and the by the 17th century they
were fully engaged in the development of Guyana. The production of sugar and other
crops in the Guyana, Caribbean, and South America required a large quantity of cheap
laborers on the plantations. This resulted in the introduction of slaves who spoke different
languages8 and belonged to different territories and tribes in West Africa. Arabic was one
of the languages spoken by slaves who were educated Muslims. West Africa has a large
5 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Pakistan#Major_languages. The first poetry in Urdu was
by the Persian poet Ameer Khusru (1253-1325) and the first Urdu book "Woh Majlis" was written in
1728 and the first time the word "Urdu" was used by Saraj-ud-din Aarzoo in 1751. Urdu was an official
language in British India since 1835 and in India since 1947, where it is spoken by the Muslim
population.
6 There are functions to mark the contributions of Ghalib to Urdu poetry.
7 Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Muslims in India (Delhi-6: 1966) 16
8 The people of Africa speak about 1800 languages which include Arabic, Hausa, and Swahili and they
have been divided into language families, e.g., Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan. Ghana with a population of 20
million has 79 languages and among them are Abron, Ahanta, Akan, Anufo, Anjim, and Awutu. Most of
the slaves came from the West African region that includes Mali, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leon,
and Togo.
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Muslim population; therefore, it was only natural for a significant number of Muslims to
be among the slaves.
When Islam arrived in West Africa the languages of the natives were not
expressed in writing. These languages were verbally transmitted from generation to
generation. The exposure to Arabic and the acceptance of Islam resulted in the use of
Arabic characters to write and read many languages of West Africa. In many areas
Arabic became a second language.
Islam did not arrive in Guyana with the Muslim Indians, but with the Muslims
from Africa who were prisoners of war and were then sold into slavery. The slave owners
because of bigotry did not acknowledge that the slaves were capable of higher levels of
thinking, had a religion (Islam), and could communicate in a written language (Arabic). The suppressive policies and the inhuman punishments meted to the slaves had a
devastating impact upon their languages, cultures, and religions. The slaves were in an
ultra-hostile environment in which their customs and practices were categorized as pagan
beliefs. The dominance and positions of power of the Europeans resulted in the adoption
of Europeans languages (Dutch, French, and English) by the slaves. Disassociation from
their original languages which include Arabic accelerated the process of acclimatization
of a new culture (European) by successive batches of slaves from Africa. This caused a
loss of tribal languages and Islamic identity, and by 1838, African Muslims and others to
have lost their identity and religion as they became Anglicized and Christianized. The anti-slavery movement in Great Britain sent a distinct message to the slave
owners, traders, and plantation owners. The plantations must immediately find alternative
labor force to replace the slaves or face bankruptcy. In 1807 the Slave Trade Act was
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passed and in 1833, Abolition of the Slavery Act was passed in the British Parliament.
The British Parliament and the home government of Guyana gave a helping hand to the
planters to find substitute labor in the form of indentured laborers.
The poor economic conditions in Madeira, an island off the coast of Portugal,
influenced the planters to bring Portuguese indentured laborers to replace slave labor on
the plantations. During period 1834 – 1882, Guyana witnessed the arrival of 30,645
Portuguese. During the period 1853 -1879, the planters sought to complement the
Portuguese laborers with Chinese laborers. About 13,541 Chinese immigrants9 were
brought to Guyana. The Portuguese and Chinese proved unsuitable for work in the cane
fields. With the slave being emancipated in 1838, the planters recruited indentured
laborers from India to replace slave labor on the plantations. During the indentured period
1838-1917, about 238, 97910 Indians came to Guyana as indentured laborers. The planters, slaves, and immigrants brought with them their cultures, languages,
and religions. However, the religions of the European and the Portuguese immigrants
survived because of the influence of the Catholic and Anglican Churches. When the
British arrived, English replaced Dutch within a short while and the slaves began to
communicate either in English or Creole. The Indians brought Islam and Hinduism and
both religions survived because of the establishment of Masjids and Mandirs.
Arrival of Muslim Immigrants from India
East Indians arrived in Guyana as from May 5, 1838 and were ‘bound’ to sugar
plantations for a fixed number of years. It is ironic that sugar plantations have been
criticized for being enclaves, but the British plantation rules and policies were highly
supportive of the Indian religions and cultures. In order to retain the labor force of the
Indian immigrants, the planters did whatever they considered necessary. Indians were
granted freedom to practice their religion and celebrate religious events. Plantation
management granted permission to the Indians to build Masjids and Mandirs, and they
patronized the Tazia11 celebrations. Indian immigrants were also given farmlands for crop
cultivation, cattle breeding, and land to build their homes. As a further measure to
appease the immigrants, plantation managers did not allow Christian proselytes to enter
the plantation to preach or seek Indian converts.
“By the end of indenture [1917] at least 75% of Indians in Guyana spoke Hindi or
a Hindi dialect and about 5% Tamil. Muslims who then comprised about 16% of the total
number of Indians spoke Hindustani, a mixture of Hindi and Urdu.”12 The immigrants
from Madras spoke Tamil and the immigrants from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh spoke Hindi.
Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, or Nagri were the languages of the ordinary immigrants, but Urdu
was the language of the educated class of Muslims.
9 The first batch of Chinese immigrants arrived in Guyana on Jan. 17, 1853
10 Basdeo Magru. Indians in Guyana: A concise history from their arrival to present (New York: Adams
Press, 1999) 9.
11 The Tazia is associated with the death of Imam Husein, grandson of Prophet Muhammad (S). The Tazia
parade takes place in Muharram, the first month of the Islamic lunar calendar.
12 Basdeo Magru. Indians in Guyana (New York: Adams Press, 1999) 43.
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According to Dr. Qamar Niazi,13 illiteracy was an important qualification for the
selection of indentured immigrants from India to Guyana. Many Muslims denied being
literate and secretly brought their religious books anticipating the need for them in the
‘unknown land’. Dr. Cheddi Jagan in his criticisms of the labor policies of the planters
pointed out that “The planters frowned upon education because they held the view that an
educated worker would soon become dissatisfied with his status as an agricultural labor.
What they needed, above all, was a cheap and abundant supply of agricultural labor.
Bookkeepers, storekeepers, dispensers, engineers, and foremen could easily be found
among the freed Africans and Portuguese.”14 The planters considered social mobility of
the Indian immigrants as being unimportant. Their policies sought to relegate the Indians
and their descendants to a state of illiteracy and ignorance, which could be considered
two important factors to ensure their servility under the system of neo-slavery.
The planters “concerned with the production of more sugar at less cost, kept
wages so low that parents were unable to educate their children, who in large numbers
remained more or less illiterate.”15 The planters devised ways and means to justify their
policies. They gave the impression that they were promoting the interest of the Indians
(Muslims and Hindus). “The Swettenham Circular, which was issued in 1904, relieved
Indian parents completely of their obligation to send their daughters to school.”16 The
same rule applied to the boys in order to promote child labor on the sugar plantations. Dr.
Jagan also referred to the 1912-1913 Immigration Agent General Report which deemed it
a great privation to prevent children under the age of nine from being employed on what
is called ‘light work’ such as carrying earth, ashes, and manure. The argument was that it
was not only a benefit to the parents but also a source of pleasure for the young boys and
girls.17
The Colony employed measures to ensure that Indians were not given educational
opportunities and they remained dependent on the plantation for all their needs. The
majority of the Indians saw the plantation as the means of earning a living and providing
for their families. They were bound to the plantation, their children were born there, and
they were not exposed to any other form of socio-economic existence. The plantations
provided land for farming (rice, ground provisions, and cash crops), the pasturing of
cattle, privileges of free housing or the building of personal homes, and these were
powerful binding ropes to the remaining and working on the plantations. Even after the
expiration of their contracts, immigrants continued to seek employment on the plantation.
In comparison to their experience in India, the plantation seemed a far better place.18
Despite the deplorable conditions in the plantations, Islam and Hinduism
survived. The plantation provided some degree of stability and the opportunity for
13 Dr Qamar Niazi was a Pakistani national in charge of the Best Hospital, West Bank Demerara,
Guyana in the 1970s.
14 Dr. Cheddi Jagan. West On Trial (London 1966) 16
15 Dr. Cheddi Jagan. West On Trial (London 1966) 16. This was not the case only for a primary school
education but also the acquisition of Islamic education (ability to read the Quran and Urdu).
16 Ibid. p 16
17 Ibid p 16
18 Try to picture what our existence would have been in India. Would we have been able to come to the
USA? Would we would have been able to on a home and offer our children the basic needs? Would have
been able to afford them a sound education? Compare the life of the immigrants in 19th and early 20th
centuries in Guyana with that of India.
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parents to eventually educate their children and this served as the stepping stone for
social mobility. From the plantations emerged Indian scholars, politicians, professionals,
and qualified men and women.
Emergence and Dominance of Plantation Creole
From 1799 to 1816, Britain occupied Suriname, and had officially seized Berbice,
Demerara, and Essequibo from the Dutch in 1803. The remarkable development in
Suriname was that of Sranan (Suriname Creole) which came into use as early as 1700 as
a means of communication among the Dutch, Africans, and Amerindian. The arrival of
Indians,19 Chinese, and Indonesians immigrants increased the difficulties of
communication in Suriname, and at the same time promoted the use of Sranan as a
common language for all races. Hindustani, Chinese, and Javanese have remained spoken
languages while Dutch is the official language of Suriname.
In comparison, a second language did not develop in Guyana. The Creole that
developed during Dutch occupation was used by John Wray to communicate with slaves
who did not know English. “Wray visited Hans several times in prison. He spoke to Hans
in the Creole he had learned so that he could talk to slaves who could not speak English.”
On the plantation Le Resouvenir,20 East Coast Demerara, Dutch was the official language
but most of the slaves who came to listen to John Wray at his church on Sunday spoke
English. Many slaves continued to speak Dutch while others were learning English and
spoke Creole.21
The development of Creole was not peculiar to Guyana and Suriname. French
Creole developed in Haiti, and American slaves and their descendants spoke Creole also.
The Creole spoken in the different territories was based on the linguistic background of
the speakers and assumed its own peculiar form. Rosa Grant, a sixty-five year old
American, in remembering her Muslim grandmother said, “Muh gran come from Africa
too. Huh name wuz Ryna. I membuh wen I was a chile seein muh gran pray. Ebry
mawnin at sunup she kneel on duh floor in uh room and bow obuh an tech uh head tuh
duh flo tree time. Den she say a prayuh. I dohn membuh jis wut she say, but one wud she
say use tuh make us chillun laugh. I membuh it wuz ‘ashamnegad’. Wen she fniish prayin
she say ‘Ameen, ameen, ameen’.”22
All immigrants are forced by circumstances - social, economic, law, and
conditions of employment - to learn to speak the language of the country or region to
which they have migrated. In New York about 180 different languages are spoken, but
the dominant language is English. It is common in New York City to find people in the
same subway carriage sitting in adjoining seats speaking different languages. The
existing situation in New York shows clearly the process through which a language
gradually loses its utility. Immigrants are forced to learn the dominant language, and the
process of acculturation moves in with the force of continuous change.
19 Indian immigration began in Suriname in 1873 and about 37,000 Indians came. About 33, 000
immigrants (1900-1940) came from Indonesia.
20 Emilia Viotti da Coasta. Crown of Glory and Tears of Blood (New York: Oxford UP, 1994) 93.
21 Ibid.
22 Sylviane A. Diouf. Servants of Allah. (New York: New York UP, 1999) 62. Emphasis and interpretation
are mine. Ashamnegad is really Alhamdulillah.
11
It takes time and considerable effort to attain an appreciable command of a new
language. The adult Indian immigrants in Guyana experienced great difficulties to speak
English. In the plantation environment, Plantation Creole became established as a spoken
language by the Africans and was adopted by the newly arrived Indians. Indians gave the
Creole their own peculiar style that involved changes in pronunciations, and word forms
as well as loan words from their native languages.
Although parents spoke Hindustani at home, their children did not acquire a
significant command of the language.23 On occasions when children conversed with
their parents and other adults, replies in Hindustani were not extensive but limited to
short answers not requiring a large vocabulary. Gradually, children began to respond to
their parents not in Hindustani but in Creole.24 In the Guyanese society, there was no
pressing demand or urgency for the use of Hindustani. Immigrants and their children
realized that it was far more beneficial socially and economically to acquire a command
of English. The exposure to and constant usage of Creole in the ‘logie’ neighborhood and
places of employment served to reinforce its dominance and gave it preference over
Hindustani and other Indian languages. In time, Creole became established as the
language of communication between Indians and non-Indians. On the plantations were
immigrants who spoke Chinese, Portuguese, and Hindustani, Nagri, Tamil, and Telugu.
Primary School Education
The different Christian denominations established schools in Guyana with the
main objective that through education they would be able to convert Muslims, Hindus,
and their children to Christianity. Each of the Christian church denomination hired only
Christian teachers to teach in their schools while the government paid those teachers’
salaries. This system was referred to as dual control. In 1876, the laws were passed
making primary school education compulsory, but the immigrants did not send their
children to school for two main reasons.
(i) They were suspicious of the intentions of the school system and interpreted
the education act as an attempt to make their children Christian.25 (They also
reasoned correctly that education in a Christian dominated school would have
cultural implications.)
(ii) The economic hardships forced parents to send their children as from eight
years to work in the fields. The income of children enabled large families to
meet the basic necessities. It was the case of survival versus primary
education.
23 The same is happening to children of Arab immigrants. They speak Amia (Street Arabic) and not
classical Arabic (Fushah). Many children enter the Pre-Kindergarten of Al Noor School, Brooklyn, New
York without being able to speak English. Students from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Arab countries
are placed in special language programs to learn English as a second language (ESL) in the public schools
of New York.
24 On a visit to a Madrasah in Barbados in 1986, the students were asked questions in Urdu but their
answers were in English. A similar situation exists at Al Noor School. The Principal poses his questions in
Arabic and receives replies in English.
25 Christian missionaries paid special attention to the Muslims who were noted for their strong
opposition to their children being educated in schools owned and operated by Christians.
12
Illiteracy combined with a low standard of education, placed the descendants of
Indian immigrants at a great disadvantage with regard to the enjoyment of certain
privileges and rights: securing government jobs, voting, and enjoying social mobility.
While most Indian children did not attend school, affluent parents afforded their children
higher education overseas. By the end of the 19th century, Guyanese educated overseas
were returning home. The emphasis was primarily on the acquisition of an academic type
of education for social and economic advancement. It is significant to note that during
this period, no student was sent to any Muslim organization to study in Islamic
institutions overseas.
Teaching and Learning Urdu
. When the Mughals arrived in India, they brought Persian translation of the
Quran. Until the 18th century, the only available translation of the Quran in India was in
Persian, which was the tool language for the studying of all subjects related to Islam. A
firm knowledge of Persian was the qualifying mark of scholarship in India and in
Guyana.
The development of Urdu and its dominance required that the Quran to be explained and
translated into Urdu. Scholars were forced by necessity to translate the Quran and major
Arabic Islamic works into Urdu. The availability of Urdu translations of the Quran and
other literary works reduced the dependence on Persian. The earliest Urdu translation of
the Quran was completed by Shah Abdul Qadir of Delhi (d. 1826). Other translations
followed and among them were the efforts of Shah Ashraf Ali Thanwi, Moulvi Nazir
Ahmad (d. 1912), and Hafiz Gulam Sarwar. The first edition of Moulvi Muhammad Ali’s
translation into English is dated 1917 and came to Guyana through the Ahmadiya
Anjuman. Allama Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Quran is dated 1934 and arrived in
Guyana by the 1940s.
It would be a fatal mistake if Muslims equate the Madrasah of Guyana with the
Madrasah of India. In the 13th century, the Madrasah of Delhi was ranked among the
foremost learning institution in the Islamic world. The Madrasahs produced some of the
best scholars of the Indian sub-continent. Studies took students into the numerous
branches of Islamic sciences. In Madrasahs of India in the 18th and 19th centuries could be
found the scholars of Islam qualified enough to issue fatwas. “During the Sultani period
the madrasah syllabus included Arabic, nahu (syntax), sharaf (morphology), balagat
(rhetoric), mantik (logic), kalam (divinity), tasauf (mysticism), literature, fiqh
(jurisprudence) and falsifa (philosophy).” 26
A few Muslim immigrants had attended or graduated from the Madrasahs in India
where they studied the Islamic sciences according to the Hanafi Madh-hab. All the
literate immigrants in Guyana had an excellent command of Urdu, and were easily
identified to fill the roles of teachers and Imams. Some Ustads were paid a small sum on
a weekly basis, or given gifts27 on certain occasions. Some taught simply for the love of
26 http://www.languageinindia.com/aug2004/hasandissertation1.html Cha
27 The Imams of Leonora Masjid were given a small stipend as teachers of the Madrasah. This continued
until the 1970s. My father sent me to learn Urdu on the understanding that my teacher, Chetah Singh,
would be provided with one pint of kerosene every week. Chetah Singh was well known to my grandfather,
an Indian immigrant.
13
Islam, that is, to impart knowledge for the sake of protecting the Muslim identity and the
establishment of Islam. They displayed a rare commitment and dedication. They too were
employed on the plantations and were forced by law to fulfill their contractual
obligations.
Generally, the Ustads in the Madrasah of Guyana taught their students first to read
Arabic. After they completed Juz Amma (Am Parah / 30th Parah), they were then
introduced to Urdu. By reading the Am Parah, the students acquired the knowledge of the
sounds of letters, pronunciation, shapes and forms of the letters, and learned to read
words using the vowel signs.28 The Ustads used the sounds of the Urdu letters to teach
Arabic, so when the students were introduced to Urdu, they were already familiar with
the shapes and sounds of most of the characters common to Urdu and Arabic.
Most students did not attend the Madrasah long enough to complete the Arabic
Qaidah while others demonstrated no motivation to pursue in Islamic studies. Students
attended classes in the evenings after school either at the Madrsah or at the homes of their
Ustads. They were taught from the Urdu primers (1-5) in which the lessons were poems,
munajaats, and prose passages based on Islamic morals, values, and history. The more
advanced students read Melaud texts and Urdu fiqh books under the instructions of their
Ustads. In Ta’leem Namah Jild Awwal (Hindustani Talim Namah), the first lesson is a
munajaat. The first line is: “Khuda yaa to Khaa-wind sab se baraa, Zameen aasmaan too
nay paidaa kiyaa.” The last line reads: “Na Gumraa hoon ki baat ham ko dikhaa, ham
ameen khetay ai kibriyaa.” This munajaat was memorized and sung daily in many
Madarsahs by the students just before they were dismissed for the evening.29 In Urdu
Book Five, the first lesson is a poem written by Moulvi Abdul Hakeem. Students who
went on to study Persian were introduced to the book “Karema.” The first lesson is also a
famous dua (Kareema be Baskhaa-ay bar haale maa ki hastam aseere khamandde
huwa).30
As their proficiency in Urdu developed, their teachers introduced them to
scholarly works written in Urdu. This included Tafseer of the Quran, hadith, and Islamic
Fiqh (Hanafi). The most competent students completed at least one recitation of the
Quran with their Ustads and finished reading a number of Urdu texts. A few students
went on to read Persian.31 One of the famous books read was Gulistan Saadi, which was
written by Shaykh Saadi (RA). In it can be found his famous Rubai.
“Balaghal ula be kamaalahi
Kashafat duja be jamaal lahi
Hasanat jami ikh salahi
Sallu alaihi wa aalahi”
The most educated and knowledgeable Muslims attained positions of recognition
through self-studies. However, they were not too many, and all were not involved as
teachers or Imams. Time, distance, and the economic situation did not permit a sufficient
28 This has been dealt with extensively in the chapter “The teaching of Arabic.”
29 There is another famous munajaat: “Ai Khudaa –ay paak Rahmaan o Raheem…”. In 2002, I was present
on occasions in New York when Imam Fareed Khan, son of Moulvi Akbar Khan (Triumph, ECD) sang this
munajaat as well as “Khuda yaa to Khaa-wind sab se baraa, Zameen aasmaan too nay paidaa kiyaa.”
30 Hajji Muhammad Zakir of Jama Masjid, Queens uses this dua quite often in his supplication, and so did
Hajji Muhammad Hamid and Moulvi Abdul Jabar of Leonora.
31 Khalil Khan of Uitvlugt learnt Urdu and to read Persian. He memorized quite a few verses from the
Persian poems of Shaykh Saadi. At functions he quotes the Persian poetry.
14
number of students to the classes conducted by them. The fact is only a few young
Muslims were given the support and encouragement to pursue an Islamic education.
The Muslims born in the 19th century and early 20th century had better and more
opportunities to acquire a sound Islamic education because Ustads who were educated in
India were available to teach them. They grew up in a community where a large
percentage of the adult population spoke Hindustani. Verbal communication enabled
them to acquire some amount of proficiency in Hindustani.
Until the 1970s, Urdu remained the dominant tool language to access information,
transmit Islamic knowledge from one generation to the next, and to educate young
Muslims about Islamic values, morals, and culture. However, in each decade, there was
an ever-increasing shortage of Urdu teachers while the competency among the Ustads,
Imams, and leaders decreased. This resulted in the loss of Islamic knowledge which had a
negative effect upon the community. From 1838 to1937,32 the Muslims were left to
grapple with the problems of offering an Islamic education to their children and dealing
with complex questions of Islamic jurisprudence. They were now in a strange land and
with new experiences that require Islamic rulings. No Islamic scholar from any part of
the world visited Guyana. The financial status of the Muslims, and to an extent their
interest, did not permit them to make trips to India33.
The Urdu lessons took a holistic approach. The lessons comprised of prose and
poetry that dealt with Tauhid, Quran, hadith, Islamic Jurisprudence, Seerah of the
Prophet, and stories of the Sahabah. Their lessons were of different genres, fiction, nonfiction,
fables, tafseer, and interpretations of hadith. They were not just reading to gain
mastery of a language. It was an education of character development. Their teachers
imposed a strict discipline upon them, and demanded they showed respect to their
teachers, parents, elders, and fellow Muslims. They received instructions on Islamic
morals, values, history, and theology. They were taught what it meant to be a Muslim and
to take responsibility for their own actions. This type of training and education cannot be
found today in any of the educational institution in Guyana.
They developed patience and consistency, to be good listeners, to value
knowledge, and to act in all matters in the interest of the Muslims. Information in the
Fiqh books, e.g., Fatwa Abdul Hayy and Behesti Zewar could not be found in any
English text at that time. The moral teachings derived from the books they studied and
the imposed discipline of their Ustads molded their characters and formulated their
perspective of life. These students were dedicated, motivated, and believed they had a
positive role to play. They felt obligated towards the Muslim community. They and their
ustads realized the importance of having Muslims who would act as teachers and Imams,
would be capable of interpreting the Shariah, and would enforce it in their respective
communities. They did not anticipate any economic gain, and that was why they were
able to fill the vacancies in Jamaats and to be founder members of organizations. These
“Urdu Readers” kept Islam alive in Guyana. They were the ones responsible for the
retention of our Muslim identity. History must always judge them and their teachers as
32 In 1937, the first Moulana from India arrived in British Guiana as the guest of Queenstown Masjid,
Georgetown.
33 The Muslims of Trinidad and Suriname were able to visit India and to have established communications
with the Ulama there.
15
having made the greatest contribution: the survival of Islam and the Muslim identity in
Guyana.
Khutbah Books
An education in Urdu enabled Muslims to function as Imams or teachers.
However, by the 1930s Imams needed additionalcertain skills and a command of English.
Interpreting or explaining passages from Urdu texts did not prove difficult to the Imams
of the 1920s and 1930s. Urdu proficiency was put to the test when it came to the
preparation of the Khutbahs in Urdu for Salatul Jumuah, Eidul Fitr, and Eidul Adha. This
demanded a good command of the language and knowledge of the subject matter (Fiqh
and history). To solve this problem, the practice developed of using Arabic-Urdu texts of
prepared Khutbahs. With constant use of these books over the years and the inability of
the Khatibs to prepare Khutbahs, this practice became institutionalized and considered a
part of the rites for Jumuah and Eid.
It was almost unthinkable by a Khatib to deliver a Khutbah without that ‘Urdu
Khutbah Kitab’ in his hands. Later editions of Khutbah books had Arabic, Urdu, English
transliteration and translation of the Arabic Khutbah. The Urdu was written below the
Arabic, and next to the Arabic in separate columns were the English transliteration and
translation. The Khutbahs were written to coincide with important events as they occur in
each of the twelve Islamic months. For the Imams, it was a valued possession and of
great convenience since to deliver the Khutbah required no previous preparation. The
Khatibs just read the Khutbah from the text for Jumuah or Eid, and then they gave
explanations of the content matter as they read the Urdu translation.
Loss of Islamic Knowledge
There are sufficient reasons to believe that some teachers wanted to be considered
the most knowledgeable persons with regard to Islamic jurisprudence. They feared that
teaching Urdu would one day create a situation whereby their students would surpass
them in knowledge and would challenge their authority by contradicting their findings or
statements. They conceived of Urdu as a means of power and control that gave them
leverage, prestige, and recognition within the society. Their attitude exhibited a certain
degree of selfishness and the desire to withhold knowledge. The anecdote of Uncle Cat
and his student Tiger Cub (TC) can be used to explain the situation.
Uncle Cat found TC a very willing and gifted student. One day, TC disagreed
with his teacher who brought new points into the argument. Words began to fail TC, so
he pounced on Uncle Cat. Although older, Uncle Cat was nimbler and wiser. He expertly
dodged TC, and then ran up quickly the nearest tree. TC growled below. Looking up
while he grabbed the tree trunk between his paws, he asked, “But Uncle Cat, you never
taught me how to climb trees.”
Cat in a laughing voice explained to him, “Had I taught you to climb trees, I
would now be a dead Uncle Cat.”
In each decade, the number of persons with Urdu linguistic skills decreased, and
this had religious and cultural implications. In 1936, Moulvi Mohammad Ahmad Nasir of
Vreed-en-Hoop wrote: “In this connection, the loss of the mother tongues of about 99%
of local Muslims – Urdu - is very deeply regrettable. There can be no doubt that the task
of imprinting religious knowledge would be much easier and more effective if we had
16
retained our language since any amount of Islamic literature can be procured in Urdu to
cover every aspect of the religion, while the same is not yet applicable with English.”34
He made an accurate conclusion that any person who was not Urdu literate could not
know much about Islam since the available English texts did not deal with the details of
fiqh; therefore, they could not represent the teachings of Islam in terms of content.
The lack of Islamic knowledge resulted in a break down of morality, values, law
and order, recognition of Islamic authority, deviation from the Islamic path, and inability
to differentiate between the halaal and haraam. Very often, leaders who were asked
questions did not consult the more knowledgeable brothers for fear of exposing their
level of knowledge or their command of Urdu. This resulted in misinformation and a
distortion of the teachings of the Hanafi Madh-hab, and for some Muslims to declare
incorrectly that Quran and hadith support certain prevalent customs and practices which
were alien to Islam and had no precedent in India.
The Muslim leaders of the 1930s and 1940s were critical of the practices of the
Muslim youths. They declared: “…it was specially noted that the lack of knowledge of
Urdu language was mainly responsible for the laxity among Muslim Youth of the
Colony.”35 The poor Islamic consciousness among the adult population became very
evident. The Muslims indulged in festivities which included imbibing of alcoholic
beverages and free mixing of the genders. It was from this criticized generation that the
leaders of organizations and Jamaats emerged as from the 1950s.
Urdu Examination and Grant
Written examinations are powerful tools of evaluation to measure the standard
and level and the quality of education afforded to students in any institution of learning.36
Examinations also gauge competency of teachers. The social conditions and the
representation made by Indian immigration officials prompted the colonial office to
appease the Indian population in British Guiana and the home government of India by
introducing an Urdu examination.
Basically, the newly introduced Urdu examinations were not intended to promote
Urdu as a language. The primary intention was to force civil servants to learn Urdu in
order to communicate effectively with the immigrant population. “The Board of
Examination in Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, and Telugu was created on 8th August 1914.37 All
Magistrates, Immigration Agents and other Officers of the Immigration Depar

Loss of a Language is 30 pages. Here's the link to the full article in PDF.
http://irdc.fatcow.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/language.pdf