It has been observed that in post-colonial Mauritius, linguistic practices are an
important way for Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and/or Indo-, Franco-, Afro- and
Sino-Mauritians to construct, assert or redefine their ethnic, religious and national
identities. In the past, Muslims used Arabic and/or their ancestral language(s) in
their religious practices and also, to define their religious identity. It has been
noted that nowadays, imams tend to make increasing use of Mauritian Creole
(MC) for preaching. This paper analyses the role of MC in the religious practices
of Mauritian Muslims. The history of the Muslims in Mauritius and their present
socio-economic situation are briefly discussed. Their religious practices and the
ways in which they construct their religious identity are described. Results from a
survey analysing the use of and attitudes to the use of MC in the religious
activities of twenty-five Muslims are reported. Attitudes to the use of MC in these
practices are discussed with respect to the above findings. It is shown that the use
of MC in the mosque is not perceived of as a movement towards the creolisation
of the Islamic faith and a threat to the maintenance of Muslim religious practices
on the island.