Paper short abstract:

This paper engages in identifying unambiguous connection between the proliferation of vernacular print in the context of Modernity through the manifestation of language as an apparatus fashioned for the formation of an identity by Makti Tangal to comprehend and expand Muslim public sphere in colonial Kerala.

Paper long abstract:

Recent work on Islam and the emergence of a modern Muslim identity in different parts of colonial South Asia have emphasized that print technology was key to their self-articulation as communities, politically, as well as in social and cultural terms. This study mainly explores how Sayyid Sanaullah Makti Tangal (1847-1912) utilized vernacular print to attain explores his vision of a modern Muslim and multi-dimensional nature of Muslim identity (Mappila, Muslim, Malayali) to comprehend and expand Muslim public sphere. First Muslim to write in Malayalam, he profoundly understood the significance of print and published widely in colonial Kerala. He emphasized learning Malayalam and English is completely consonant with Islamic values. This effort became fundamental to societal progress, emergence of a modern Muslim identity and a crucial aspect of his demands for the greater presence of Muslims in emerging Kerala public sphere. This reformist discourse was circulated through his Malayalam print. Nineteenth century India was marked by the proliferation of printed texts in a variety of languages; these sought to define the moral contours of religious and linguistic communities by delineating behaviour, language and texts appropriate for them. This emphasizes the centrality of language and emergence of print culture as key elements in the formation of a modern Muslim, both in terms of the public, as well as in the social imaginary. His writings intended to reconcile religion and worldly affairs and retorted how a Muslim could be modern within the bounds of Islam. His self-conscious about the importance of vernacular print for Muslim identity formation was crucial not just for the defense of the community but also for its reform.