The contribution of the Muslims to its development is...

The contribution of the Muslims to its development is, however, more substantial, rather monumental, as compared with that of the Hindus or the Europeans[^4] who also played a creditable role in its advancement. Considered from the point of view of quantity as well as quality, spirit as well as atmosphere, Urdu is predominantly a language of the Muslims, although the services of the other co-workers in the field can in no case be under-rated.

Urdu was popularized by Muslim mystics and saints and patronized by Muslim kings and rulers. Some of the Muslim emperors, kings and princess[^5] themselves composed Urdu verses and compiled diwans of Urdu poems. Its literature was enriched from Islamic sources. The Muslims, therefore, were mainly, though not exclusively, the architects of this language. Let us now assess and determine the nature and extent of Muslim contribu­tion to the creation and development of Urdu.

Urdu took its shape first in the Punjab and Delhi during the Ghaznawid and the early Sultanate period[^6] when the first powerful commingling of Hindu-Muslim cultures occurred, causing a productive intermixture of Muslim (i.e., Persian, Turkish, and Arabic) languages with Padkrits (the Apabhransa of the Punjab and the Khari Boli of Delhi, Meerut[^7] and the adjoining areas) of Northern India. This situation had its effect in two directions.

First, it created a hybrid form of speech used by Hindus and Muslims in the bazaars with a sprinkling of Arabic, Persian, and Turkish words; subsequently, it developed into a crude vehicle of lyrical utterances (cf. Amir Khusrau's Rekhtahs ). Secondly, it caused an infiltration of Hindi words into Arabic and Persian books on the one side and of Persian and Turkish words into Hindi books on the other.

The Kitab al-Saidanah of al-Biruni and the early lexicographical works in Persian written in India contain a large number of Hindi words and idioms, and Chand's Prithvi Raj Rasa[^8] and, later, Ad Granth of Nanak embody large materials drawn from Muslim sources.[^9] But, apart from this linguistic fusion, a distinct language came into being with the passage of time as an admixture of Persian and Arabic words and expressions in use more in Muslim circles, with a clear bias towards Muslim cultural modes and attitudes.

Persian enjoyed the status of the Court language, but side by side with it this new language too kept on progressing from one stage to another.