Since the time when Da'wat was in Ahmedabad 975 AH/1568 AD, Alavi Bohras read, write and speak an Arabicized form (blended with Arabic vocabulary) of Gujarati language, called Lisaan ud-Da'wat il-'Alaviyah (LDA) i.e. the language of the mission of 29th Da'i Saiyedna Ali (aq), which is an amalgamation of Arabic, Urdu and Persian words and written in Arabic script. All the Da'wat correspondence, orders and documentary affairs are exclusively carried out in Lisaan ud-Da'wat il-'Alaviyah and the sectarian learning and education system is completely based on it. Religious discourses and congregational lectures during the prayers are held in it. The language of Allaah, His angels, His Prophets and His book is Arabic, so is the language of His Da’wat (divinely governed mission). The missionaries or propagandists of this mission who came to India (Gujarat) from Egypt and Yemen to promulgate and preach Isma’ili faith, mainly during the reign of the 18th Faatemi Imaam, Maulaana Ma'ad al-Mustansir billah (as) (427-487 AH/1036-1094 AD), spoke Arabic language as it was their mother tongue.
The first rank of preachers (wulaat) in India were M. Ahmad, M. Abdullaah and M. Nooruddin who learnt local language (Sanskrit) and to make it more acceptable to a common man they skillfully blended it with Arabic. And this effort took quite long time to prepare people understand their message and mission. Hence Sanskrit or the then local dialects of Western India were blended with Arabic. This language then remained in vogue and developed as per the cultural, social and commercial exchange with various communities until the beginning of Muslim rule in Western India (697 AH-1090 AH/1298-1680 AD), when it got influenced with Persian and Urdu. Gradually the Arabic-Sanskrit language underwent drastic transformation due to the minimal use of Sanskrit words in day to day dealings and simultaneously with the addition of Persian and Urdu terms.
Old Gujarati now remained only for the support of sentence formation and the fact that due to the heavy dependence of Persian-Urdu idioms and phrases on Arabic root words, the Persian-Urdu expressions got readily and easily absorbed in the Arabic and Gujarati language frame-work. This eventually gave birth to a great dynamic language during the rule of Mughals in Gujarat. Arabic, Farsi (Persian) and Urdu all three of them were the official language of Mughal Sultanate. This again gave a new dimension and strength to an already rich language. In the beginning of the 11th century AH/17th century AD this language was documented and was exclusively spoken by the Alavi Bohras named as Lisaan ud-Da'wat il-'Alaviyah.
This language has inherited its Gujarati syntax right from its inception, but retained majority of Arabic terminology along with the writing pattern of Naskh. Thus like Arabic, LDA- Lisaan ud-Da'wat is written from right to left and being nurtured and peppered by the richest of the world languages, it is the sum-up of variety of idioms-phrases and multiple dialects which makes it distinctive and comprehensive. Alavi Bohras residing globally speak this only language and its place of progress which is the centre of Da’wat since 3 centuries i.e. Vadodara plays a pivotal role to make everyone adhere to their roots i.e. their mother tongue. Every Alavi has to come to Vadodara to fulfill his religious as well as social obligations by keeping Lisaan ud-Da'wat il-'Alaviyah alive in his heart and tongue.
In the above mentioned cemeteries especially in Ahmedabad, the mausoleums which bear a red star or date back to / before 1030 A.H. are the ones to rely upon and performing their ziyaarat is recommended and rewardable.
The names of Maulaiis mentioned in the listings of different places in and around Gujarat are referred from the books of Da’wat-e-Haadiyah. There are many Ashaab whose mausoleum does not exist at present, therefore such names are marked by the sign “*”. Whenever mumineen gets an opportunity to visit such places where a mausoleum of Maulaaii existed in the past then it is essential to recite Du’a-e-Taqdees and Faateha according to the name given in the list. (See the map)
