Over the past few years, before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan/Ramzan begins, a debate erupts (largely in the English-language media) about the difference between Ramzan, the Urdu spelling of the period, and Ramadan, its Arabic spelling. Writers with no linguistic training have claimed without any evidence that using the “Ramadan” spelling is a sign of “Islamic radicalism” in India.
In a previous article, I have written about the underlying political motivations behind the controversy and pointed out the role played by globalisation and contact between Indian languages and Arabic in the Gulf countries, where Indians form a large percentage of the workforce.
There is, of course, more to the month than the spelling controversy. Muslims all over the world engage in special religious practices during this month. A look at the Ramzan vocabulary will help understand not only their practices but also how they affect their social behaviour in schools, colleges and workplaces in this month.
The month in which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk is called Ramzan in Urdu, which is the Urdu pronunciation of the Arabic word Ramaḍān