Thread by @TianChengWen

While *most* South Asian Muslims use #Persian terms for religious concepts, Muslims in #TamilNadu & #Kerala (who trace their roots to Arab trading communities) have distinct traditions also reflected in their terminology, which freely draws from #Tamil/#Malayalam & #Sanskrit.

Instead of rozā, the #Persian term for Islamic fasting (itself a translation of #Arabic ṣawm) used in #Urdu, #Bengali, #Gujarati etc, #Tamil & #Malayalam speaking Muslims use nōmpu, lit. ceremonial fasting. The word is from a proto #Dravidian root meaning to do penance. #Ramadan

Sanskrit is used too. #Malayalam speaking Muslims commonly refer to #Ramzan as puṇya māsam, #Sanskrit for month of good merit. Nimskāram, the Malayalam counterpart of the #Persian namāz (Islamic prayer), is from #Sanskrit namaskāra (lit. prostratration, here, to a god). #Ramadan

All perfect examples of how religious terms not originally defined in #Sanskrit and local langs can easily be translated into them. #Persian terms are all translations from #Arabic anyway, so how is this any diff? Nothing inherently Islamic about the words namāz, rozā, after all.

The #Sanskrit phrase puṇya māsam for ex, neatly encapsulates much of what #Ramzan is about - meritorious, good deeds, while abstaining from sinful behaviour. The fact that the term isn't #Persian or #Arabic means nothing. #Malayalam speakers still use it, it holds significance.

Slight correction - the #Malayalam equivalent of namāz is niskāram, not nimskāram (with the extra m). Same root (#Sanskrit namaskāra), though. Another good ex of how these terms are neat & work - the physical act of prayer is basically a prostration (or namaskāra) to a god.

#EidulFitr is commonly called perunāḷ/perunnāḷ in #Tamil/#Malayalam, a compound literally meaning big/great day (both words are from #Dravidian roots), reflecting the day's importance to the faithful. Perunnāḷ is also used for feast days by Malayali Christians. #EidMubarak

All great examples of how religious terminology doesn't *need* a certain lang to be expressed or defined. #Tamil & #Malayalam terms used by these by communities, derived from #Sanskrit & native #Dravidian roots neatly express, describe these Islamic concepts for their speakers.