Abstract
The present study discussed the attitude of Muslim religious scholars in sub-continent when it was under the influence of British rulers. It explored the causes of the indifference of religious scholars and their hostile attitude towards English language in subcontinent in pre-partition era. The researcher collected the data from different fatawa books written by Muslim religious scholars in the pre-partition era. Fifteen fatwas were collected from the different scholars’ books. The researcher analyzed the fatawas (religious decrees) under the paradigm of Islam and English language and attitudes of religious scholars in pre-partition era. The fatawas were analyzed by the content analysis of the text. The results shown by the analysis indicated that Muslim religious scholars were not in the favor of English language learning and teaching at an extreme level even they delivered a Fatawas against the English language that learning and English is illicit (Najaiz) because they were of the view that Christian missionaries were against the Muslims and Islam. The results of the study suggested that in the future planning of the curriculum of the English language they must be mindful about the cultural needs as well as religious needs of the society so that every group of the society could learn English according to their needs. The study also highlighted the issue of cultural harmony in perspective of English language learning.
Keyword(s)
Attitudes, Fatwas, English Language Learning, religious scholars, Muslims, Islam