English as an islamic language ahmar mehboob

World Englishes, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 175–189, 2009. 0883-2919
English as an Islamic language: a case study of Pakistani English
AHMAR MAHBOOB∗1
ABSTRACT: In this paper we will explore the nature of English as it is used in one Muslim country
and argue that, far from being a colonizing language, English used in Pakistan reflects Islamic values and
embodies South Asian Islamic sensitivities. Through analysis of the current discourses on the politics of
the English language and a study of Pakistani English, a framework is developed that can be used to study
the relationship between Islam and English in other contexts.
INTRODUCTION
The question “Can English carry the weight of my African experience?” was one that
deeply concerned Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (1975) a half-century ago. He decided
that indeed it could, and therefore chose to write in English rather than in his native
Ibo. A timelier question today is: Can English carry the weight of Islamic experiences,
cultures, and ideologies? Other related timely questions are: Should Muslim countries
use English in their educational institutions? Can Muslim countries harness the English
language in order to gain access to the knowledge/s that are currently available in this
language? What is the role of Muslim intellectuals vis-`a-vis English? In order to ad-
dress some of these questions, this paper explores the English language as it is used in
Pakistan and shows how it reflects Islamic values and embodies South Asian Islamic
sensitivities.
In order to engage questions about the role of English in Muslim societies today, this
paper first examines the discourses of colonialism in the English language and English
language teaching. It then considers the relationship of Christianity and TESOL. The paper
then gives a detailed historical and linguistic description of Pakistani English as an example
of a vibrant new variety of English which carries the weight of Muslim culture in a South
Asian society.
Discourses of colonialism in the English language and English language teaching
Negative images of Muslim men and women pervade the global mass media:
Muslim women are shown as being submissive and backward and Muslim men are often
represented as terrorists. This is not a new phenomenon. Edward Said (1978) argued in
Orientalism, his 1978 critique of Western studies of the “Orient,” that the West’s mis-
understanding of Islamic culture stemmed directly from the way scholars, novelists, and
journalists had misrepresented it. He posited that by portraying Europe as an area of supe-
rior culture and the “Orient” as an area of a homogeneous inferior culture, they divided the
∗Department of Linguistics, University of Sydney, #245 Transient Building, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. E-mail:
ahmar.mahboob@usyd.edu.au
C 2009 The Author(s). Journal compilation C 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden,
MA 02148, USA.

176 Ahmar Mahboob
world into civilized “us” and uncivilized “them” categories. Said (1978) led postcolonial
scholars in articulating the feelings that many already had: the construction of the Ori-
ent/East/Third World by White scholars showed Non-white peoples, including Muslims,
as subordinate to White people in culture, intellect, and linguistic ability (see Pennycook
1998). With specific regard to Islam, many contemporary scholars point to the myriad
ways that Muslims and Arabs have been demonized in Western cultural discourses and
books, as well as in the electronic media (see e.g. Amin 2004; Karim 2003). The largest
carrier of such discourses is the English language. In relation to this, Pennycook (1998)
notes that the English language continues to be a language to which colonial discourses
adhere as well as a language still laden with colonial representations of the inferiority of
Non-white people and the negative representations of Muslim men and women (Fanon
1952/1967; Karim 2003).
Many linguists of color also seem critical of the discourses on the new varieties
of English associated with Third World societies. For example, Kachru (1990), and
Nayar (1994) critique the glorification of the native speaker of English – constructed
as White, Christian, middle-class, and who speaks a variety of English associated with
the English dominant countries of the West, for example, England and the USA – and the
marginalization of the non-native speaker of English – shown as Non-white, who learned
English in an Eastern country, such as Pakistan, Nigeria, or China; while Amin (2000;
2000a, b) and Matsuda (1991) are critical of the marginalization of accents that are asso-
ciated with Third World countries. The terminology we will use for these countries, like
many other applied linguists (e.g. Canagarajah 2005), is “Core” and “Periphery,” to show
the power inequality between these sets of countries.
TESOL and Christianity
Discourses of Christianity are strongly enmeshed in the field of Teaching English to
Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) in the Core and Periphery for a number of reasons.
These include the legacy of British colonialism in former British colonies and protectorates,
and the fact that missionaries taught ESL and proselytized via their ESL classes (Pennycook
and Coutand-Marin 2003). Karmani (2005a, b) points out that Billy Graham and his son,
along with many other missionaries, are openly proselytizing in Iraq in English as a Second
Language (ESL) classes. Hence this situation appears to be a continuation of the era of
English expansion when missionaries saw it as their duty to spread Christianity, and did
so in the ESL classroom. A look at the work of the former Christian Caucus in TESOL
Inc. also shows how some TESOL practitioners see teaching English as a way to spread
the love of Jesus Christ.
Traditionally the White, middle-class, male, and Christian native speakers of English
were seen as the referent of the ESL classroom in the Core and Periphery, and this teacher
model added to the strong Christian undertones/overtones of the classroom. Those of us
who were teaching ESL often used the native speaker’s classroom as our model, as that
was the only model available to us in TESOL training (see Phillipson 1992 for a discussion
of the “native speaker fallacy”). Although these classrooms did not impart Christianity
in any official manner, their discourses were strongly in the Judaeo-Christian tradition,
which worked on the premise of promoting Western cultures and ways of thought. Teacher
training of future ESL teachers, Muslim or non-Muslim, and those who were going to
C 2009 The Author(s). Journal compilation C 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

English as an Islamic language 177
work in the Core or Periphery was similar, and promoted Western cultures. For example,
most core MA classes in TESOL and Applied Linguistics that focus on teaching methods
advocate the same teaching methods for both Core and Periphery countries (in most cases
the communicative approach – see Burns 2008 for a critical discussion) without critically
discussing their application and impact in different contexts.
Considering that the ESL classroom was and still is steeped in the values and cultures of
Christianity in many countries, and that the English language continues to spread messages
of the subordinate status of people of color and especially Islamic cultures and Muslim
peoples, the obvious questions that need to be asked are: Of what use is English to the
Muslim world? Can English be forged to make it a language “friendly” to Islam? How
can that be done if English is still a tool of the former colonizer and is intertwined with
messages of Christian superiority and Muslim inferiority?
In order to engage with these questions, we need to look in brief at the debates on these
issues. In his classic Linguistic Imperialism, Robert Phillipson’s (1992) arguments appear
to be: As English was imposed on subordinate peoples of the British colonies, English
can never be a language which is indigenous to, say India, Nigeria, or Singapore, and
therefore the use of English in Singapore, for example, is a continuation of the original
hegemony of English, or linguistic imperialism. It has been argued that Phillipson’s (1992)
theory is patronizing in the sense that it does not regard developing countries as capable of
making independent decisions (namely to adopt or not to adopt English language training).
In the context of Nigeria, Bisong (1995) holds that people in the Periphery use English
pragmatically – they send their children to English-medium schools precisely because
they want them to grow up multilingually. In response to Phillipson, Bisong maintains that
“to interpret such actions as emanating from people who are victims of Centre linguistic
imperialism is to bend sociolinguistic evidence to suit a preconceived thesis” (1995: 125). If
English should be abolished because it is foreign, Bisong argues, then Nigeria itself would
also have to be dissolved because it was conceived as a colonial structure. In a similar way,
Canagarajah (1999) posits that in his native Jaffna, Sri Lankans are using nativized varieties
of English, which are a form of resistance to colonial Englishes. Canagarajah bolsters his
case by giving examples of how local idiom and thought have been incorporated into Sri
Lankan English.
In the same vein, writing about Indian English, Bhatt (2002) points to the fallacy
of Western applied linguists such as Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas who consider it
problematic that English is replacing local languages. Bhatt says that Indians now consider
English to be one of their languages, partly for economic reasons and because of the
outsourcing of jobs from the West to English speakers in India, but also because of
the symbolic power of English. Hence, while some Core linguists opine that it is the
imperialism of English that is eroding local languages, many Periphery linguists argue that
English is, in fact, one of their languages. They consider it resistance that, for example,
Indians and Nigerians and Singaporeans can switch from local varieties of English to
“standard” English. They do not accept one norm as the standard.
ENGLISH IN PAKISTAN
In the previous section, we discussed the use and spread of English historically in Periphery
societies. We will now focus on the present-day use of English and what it represents in one

178 Ahmar Mahboob
Muslim country – Pakistan. The history of English in Pakistan and of Pakistani English
will be outlined first. This will be followed by an examination of linguistic evidence that
shows how English in Pakistan has developed a Pakistani Islamic sensibility. This study
focuses on Pakistan for at least two reasons: (1) present-day Pakistan, as part of Mughal
India, was among the first Non-white colonies where the British introduced English, and
(2) the author was born in Pakistan, has spent considerable time there, and is familiar with
the current issues and politics in the country.
The English language has been an integral part of Pakistani official, economic, educa-
tional, and (in certain contexts) social life since its creation in 1947. In fact, as mentioned,
the use of English in the region pre-dates the creation of the state of Pakistan. The status
of English is reflected in the choice to use the language by Muhammed Ali Jinnah, the
first governor general of Pakistan, when he gave his inaugural speech to the first con-
stituent assembly of Pakistan on the eve of Pakistan’s independence. This use of English
by Jinnah is symbolic of the role that it played in British India and has since played
in Pakistan. English was first introduced in the Indo-Pak subcontinent by the British
in the 16th century. It received official recognition with the presentation of Macaulay’s
minutes of 1835. Throughout the British era, the English language continued to gain po-
litical and social status. By 1947, when Pakistan and India gained independence from
the British, the English language had become so entrenched in the sociopolitical fabric
of the region that it was retained as an official language in both countries (for a de-
tailed discussion of the history of English in South Asia, see Mahboob 2002; Rahman
1996).
English in British India first spread because of the economic and social mobility as-
sociated with the language. People learned English either by contact or through formal
schooling. However, since there were not enough White English-speaking teachers to meet
the demand, most English teachers were locals. Thus, the input that English language
learners received in South Asia was largely from other Indians. For most people, there
was relatively little contact with native varieties of English in everyday life, and after
independence, this contact was further reduced. These are some of the factors that have
contributed to the vernacularization and evolution of South Asian English as a distinct
variety of English.
During the British era, as various nationalist and ethnic movements in South Asia adopted
language as a symbol of their identity, linguistic issues gained political complexity. An
example of such linguistic symbolism is the affiliation of Hindi and Urdu with Hinduism
and Islam, respectively (Ahmed 2008; Bhatt and Mahboob 2008). This affiliation has
resulted in rendering the two dissimilar. In India, the Hindi–Urdu conflict resulted in
language riots when there was a perception that Urdu was gaining greater recognition in
the media. In a regional setting, the status of Hindi versus Dravidian languages of South
India in postcolonial India, and the role of Urdu versus Sindhi in Pakistan (for a discussion
of Sindhi/Urdu in Pakistan, see Rahman 1996), serve as examples of the linguistic strife
within the countries. The conflict between Sindhi and Urdu speakers has led to violence in
Pakistan which has claimed many lives. As a result of this politicization of local languages,
English has been seen by some as a “neutral” language. The local needs and uses of English
have resulted in what has been called “nativization” of English in the Indian subcontinent
(Kachru 1982: 55; 1992: 28).
With the political partition of the subcontinent, the fate of English fell in the hands of the
respective political leaders in India and Pakistan. While English was initially maintained

by the Pakistani leadership, its status came under fire by the religious parties. The religious
parties have been successful in problematizing the status of English for several reasons.
One of these is that English is seen as part of the colonial legacy: people can often be heard
making statements like, “The English have gone, but have left behind their language [that
enslaves us].” Another is that these religious parties are typically more popular among the
less-educated groups of people, who do not have access to English education and consider
it to be a hurdle in their access to economic and social mobility. Based on such arguments,
the religious parties maintain that the privileged status of English represents a new form
of colonization – a linguistic colonization. They, therefore, have been intensely opposed to
English. However, they have been unable to remove English from its position for at least
four reasons:
1. There is insufficient material produced in local languages to use in all the various
types and levels of educational institutions (lack of corpus planning).
2. There are no other politically ‘neutral’ languages that can replace English.
3. The religious parties do not have sufficient political power.
4. The groups with economic, social, and political strength believe that English is
essential for future development.
As a result, English has maintained its supremacy in Pakistan and little has been done to
change this.
However, for a brief period in Pakistan’s history, this status quo changed with General
Zia-ul-Haq’s capture of power through a military coup in 1977. General Haq justified his
coup by implementing rapid Islamization and Urduization policies and decentralizing the
role of English. His was a serious effort by a Pakistani government to restrict the role of
English in Pakistan. This change in the government’s attitude towards English was manifest
in the 1978 education policy, which advised all English medium schools (schools where all
classes were taught in English) to switch to Urdu. It should be pointed out that some elite
English-medium schools, where children of the people with power studied, were exempted
from the need to make these changes (Rahman 1996). These changes, although supported
by leaders of certain political parties and religious organizations, were not supported by
the populace. By 1983, there was recognition within General Haq’s government that their
language in education policy had been hurriedly passed and was unpopular, and by 1987,
the Urdu-only policies were revised.
While the impact of almost a decade of non-English education policies and the dis-
missal of English from official use, especially in government, is still evident, English has
slowly been reclaiming its status, and the governments that followed General Haq have
taken steps to reintroduce English in all schools. The immediate past government, led by
General Pervez Musharraf, greatly valued English as an essential tool for the development
of Pakistan’s economy in a global market, and implemented policies to teach English at the
primary level in all schools. The current government has continued Musharraf’s policies.
Although these policies are popular and supported by the majority, they are not without
their problems (for a detailed discussion, see Mahboob 2002). The resources needed to
successfully (re)train teachers, both in pedagogy and language, are not available. Further-
more, there is a dearth of local research and a shortage of qualified teachers and teacher
educators with relevant experience and training (for a detailed discussion, see Mahboob
and Talaat 2008). Thus, it is still too soon to see how Musharraf’s policies will play

180 Ahmar Mahboob
Table 1. Selected publications on Pakistani English
Author(s) Year of publication Focus of study
Mahboob, A., and Talaat, M. 2008 English language teacher education
Mansoor, Sabiha 2005 Language planning
Mahboob, Ahmar 2004 Syntax, morphology, and semantics
Mahboob, A., and Ahmar, N. H. 2004 Phonology
Hartford, B., and Mahboob, A. 2004 Pragmatics (complaints)
Mahboob, Ahmar 2003 Syntax, morphology, semantics,
phonology
Mahboob, Ahmar 2003 Language policy and attitudes
Talaat, Mubina 2003 (PhD dissertation) Lexis
Rahman, Tariq 2002 History and politics
Mahboob, Ahmar 2002 Politics, history and attitudes
Baumgardner, Robert 1998 Lexis
Rahman, Tariq 1996 Politics and history
Baumgardner, Robert 1995 Acceptability (overview)
Ali, Ahmed 1993 Politics and history
Saleemi, Anjum 1993 Syntax (government binding)
Talaat, Mubina 1993 Lexis
Kennedy, Audrey 1993a Lexis (genre)
Baumgardner, R., Kennedy, A.,
and Shamim, F.
1993 Lexis
Kennedy, Audrey 1993b Lexis
Mansoor, Sabiha 1993 Politics, and attitudes towards and
Punjabi
Husain, Abbas 1992 Discourse (verbosity)
Rahman, Tariq 1990 Overview with a focus on phonology,
syntax, morphology, lexis
out. While additional research needs to be conducted to investigate this area, the focus
here is not on the education policy, but the English language itself and how it relates
to Islam.
The use of English in Pakistan and in British India over the last two centuries has
resulted in its “nativization” and “indigenization” (Mahboob and Ahmar 2004). This
process of nativization has resulted in a number of linguistic variations in Pakistani English.
These variations mark Pakistani English as being different from British or American
Englishes. We include a list of significant published work on Pakistani English here in
Table 1.
A quick review of this body of work illustrates that Pakistani English varies from other
varieties of English, such as British or American English, in almost all linguistic aspects
including syntax, phonology, semantics, morphology, lexis, and pragmatics. Although no
comprehensive descriptive studies of Pakistani English are currently available, there is a
growing interest in the variety. As a result of this interest in and discussion of Pakistani
English, people in Pakistan are increasingly identifying themselves as speakers of Pakistani
English. In an early survey, Rahman (1990) reported that most speakers of Pakistani English
do not identify themselves as such. However, in a later survey, Mahboob (2005) found that

a large majority of people surveyed labeled their English as Pakistani English. Based on a
survey of 226 English language teachers and university students, it was noted that 66.8 per
cent of the informants labeled their English as Pakistani English. Two other notable labels
used were British English (21.7 per cent) and American English (6.6 per cent). However
two limitations need to be kept in mind when looking at these survey results: (1) the data
were collected from English language teachers and university students and therefore do
not necessarily reflect the views of the larger population; and (2) attitudes and perceptions
do not necessarily reflect actual linguistic evidence.
PAKISTANI ENGLISH AS AN ISLAMIC LANGUAGE
The preceding section traced the history of English in Pakistan. This section focuses
on Pakistani English – the structure, use, and function of English as it is used in Pakistan
for local purposes. The intention in doing this is to address the following questions: How
Islamic or un-Islamic are the cultures of English in Pakistan? Is the English used in these
countries spreading messages of Muslim inferiority? Or is it promoting Islam? In describing
Pakistani English here, we dispute the thinking that English still carries messages of Non-
white people’s inferiority. We argue that, while the Core varieties of English may indeed
be intertwined with such messages, the new Englishes (of which Pakistani English is a
good example) are rich new varieties which reflect and incorporate local – and in this case
Islamic – philosophies, idioms, and cultures.
The relationship between Pakistani English and Islamic and Pakistani cultural values
can be examined in at least two ways. One way of doing this would be to conduct a content
analysis of textbooks printed in English (for example, all English-language textbooks con-
tain chapters on the prophet). This approach would entail a documentary analysis of the
texts and topics covered in English language textbooks used in schools in Pakistan (e.g.
chapters on Prophet Mohammed, Islam, Hajj). A second way of examining the complexi-
ties of how language and ideology work together would be to examine language samples
produced and used in Pakistan. This paper takes the second approach, and examines lan-
guage texts from various sources in Pakistan to examine the links between ideology and
language. The linguistic analyses include a study of lexical and semantic features, prag-
matics, and discourse structures. In looking at lexical, semantic, and pragmatic features, I
will draw primarily on data from English language newspapers. This data, where relevant,
will be supported by references to previously published data and research. The analysis of
discourse structures is based on data collected from English language textbooks used in
Pakistan as well as the acknowledgements written by Pakistani students as part of their MA
and PhD dissertations. The discourse structures are analyzed using a genre approach (for
a discussion of this approach, see Martin and Rose 2003) and document how the Islamic
identity is foregrounded in these texts. The approach used and exemplified in this paper
can also be adopted to examine the relationship between the English language and Islam
in other Muslim countries.
Lexical and semantic features of Pakistani English
The lexical dimension of Pakistani English is perhaps the most easily identifiable in
terms of its adaptation to Islamic features. Common examples of these include greetings,

182 Ahmar Mahboob
e.g. Assalam-o-Alaikum, and words of praise and appreciation, e.g. Maasha-Allah and
Alhumd-o-Lillah. These phrases are found not only in personal exchanges, but also in
public discourse, e.g. on radio and television shows as well as political and other speeches.
In an earlier study, Baumgardner, Kennedy, and Shamim (1993) list 54 lexical categories
in Pakistani English that have been influenced by local languages and cultures and noted
that one of the most productive categories is religion. In fact, they sub-categorize Islamic
borrowings in Pakistani English into 44 groups, for example, administrative posts (amir,
nazim, etc.), concepts (hadith, zina, etc.), education (iqra, maktab, etc.), and marriage
(halala, nikah, etc.). Baumgardner et al. (1993) base their categorization on examples they
collected from English-language newspapers. One such example is:
(1) I may be a devout believer of purdah [segregation] system but . . . (Baumgardner
et al. 1993)
In this example Baumgardner et al. (1993) show that the term purdah is borrowed from
Urdu and means ‘segregation’ in English. However, in the current study, we find that this
meaning of purdah, ‘segregation’, is only one of the meanings of the word as it is used
in Pakistani English. We note that purdah has been both semantically and metaphorically
extended in Pakistani English and is used with at least two additional meanings. Examples
2–4 show how users of Pakistani English extend the meaning of purdah:
(2) A lot has been made of the women being forced to observe purdah. (Dawn, October
15, 2001)
(3) The delegates took care to draw the purdah over quarrels. (Dawn, May 30, 2004)
(4) This is with reference to Mr. Hafizur Rahman’s article “Urdu: ‘in purdah’”. . .
(Dawn, April 11, 2005)
While (2) here is similar to Baumgardner et al.’s example where the word is used in a
traditional sense of ‘segregation’, (3) and (4) show how the term is used metaphorically
in unique contexts: in (3) the term is used for ‘cover-up’ or ‘conceal’, and in (4) it is
used to mean ‘disempowered’ or ‘retreat’. Both these uses represent a semantic extension
of the concept of purdah. They also exemplify how Pakistani English reflects a Muslim
cultural identity in which terms from Islamic heritage are borrowed and semantically
extended to carry unique Pakistani meanings. In addition to these three meanings of
purdah, a fourth meaning attested both in Pakistani/South Asian newspapers and some
international sources is that of ‘ban’. This use of purdah can be seen in example (5)
below.
(5) Twelve-year-old Kiran Khan will swim at the Commonwealth Games this week
as Pakistan’s female swimmers emerge from “sporting purdah”.
(http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/, July 31, 2002; accessed May 24, 2008)
The news story about the sporting purdah, in the context of the lifting of the ban against
female Pakistani swimmers contesting in international sports tournaments, was also picked
up by the international media. In many instances, such as in example (6) below, the term
was adopted unchanged:

(6) When Sana Abdul Wahid took the plunge in the 50 metres butterfly at the Com-
monwealth Games yesterday, she did so in a bodysuit that took Pakistani women
“out of sporting purdah”.
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/article798105.ece, July 31, 2002; ac-
cessed May 24, 2008)
The examples in this section show how lexical items related to Islamic concepts and
terms are borrowed into English. Some of these terms, over time, extend their semantic
range and are used in new contexts. This process demonstrates how local cultural concepts
influence the English language and give it a local flavor.
Pragmatic features of Pakistani English
In addition to lexical and semantic shifts, the pragmatics of Pakistani English reflects
Muslim cultural practices. For example, Insha-Allah (God willing) is sometimes used
as means of polite refusal or a “non-committing promise”. This pragmatic function of
Insha-Allah in refusals and as a “non-promise” in Pakistani English is often misinter-
preted as a promise by people who speak other varieties of English. Insha-Allah is par-
ticularly used by administrators and politicians as a non-committing promise. Consider
(7) below:
(7) Asked did you again give guarantee that there would be no load shedding in
the country, the minister said he did not give complete assurance, saying: “I say
Insha-Allah there will be no load shedding.” (Business Recorder, November 26,
2004)
In (7), the Minister of Water and Power uses Insha-Allah to do three things:
1. display his desire/wish to see an end to load shedding (power outages);
2. present himself as a humble person who cannot really be responsible for things
since all power is with Allah; and
3. distance himself from taking the responsibility of providing uninterrupted power
supply to the people.
This “non-committing promise” is a politically appropriate strategy that allows the minister
to say the right things without actually committing to any specific policies, results, or
outcomes.
This non-committal use of Insha-Allah is also attested in other formal and informal con-
texts – for example, in budget speeches presented to the parliament and telecast nationally.
(8) The changes that are taking place can be gauged from the fact that primary school
enrolment of children has increased from 71 to 86 per cent. During the last four
years the rate of literacy has increased from 45 per cent to 53 per cent whereas the
literate males have now become 65 per cent. Insha Allah very soon every child in
Pakistan will go to school and our national genius will not be wasted . . . (Item 26,
Federal Budget Speech, Pakistan, 2006)
Example (8) is similar to (7) in that it declares the speaker’s desire to increase the literacy
rate in Pakistan to 100 per cent without actually committing to his statement: no concrete

184 Ahmar Mahboob
steps or strategies are presented, and the fulfillment of this desire is questionable. The
fact that the literacy rate in Pakistan has not increased much over the last three years also
indicates that this was not a realistic or achievable goal. As in (7) earlier, the speaker
uses Insha-Allah to suggest to the listeners that they have the right intentions, but cannot
commit to any specific outcomes.
Hartford and Mahboob (2004) provide another example of pragmatic shift in Pakistani
English. They look at the organizational structure of letters of complaint published in
Pakistani English and observe that the letters include functions and moves that mitigate
a complaint by being indirect – a trait observed in other Pakistani languages, but not in
American or British English. For example, Hartford and Mahboob (2004) state that letters
of complaint in Pakistani English often begin with a broad introduction and/or praise.
This introduction does not contribute to the topic of the complaint. Two examples cited in
Hartford and Mahboob are:
(9) In today’s scientific world, as you know, the society is developing rapidly. How-
ever, at the same time a number of problems also arise as a result of these
developments. In this letter the problem that I will bring to your notice is the
disorganization of traffic.
(10) I feel happy writing that your newspaper Nawa-e-Waqt makes an enormous
contribution towards the spread of religious and moral learning.
In both (9) and (10) the introduction and the praise do not directly relate to the topic of the
letters. They function as mitigators to soften the complaints.
In addition to organizational features, Hartford and Mahboob also note that the authors
of the letters of complaint that they studied used AIPs (Affect Indicating Phrases, which
indicate the writer’s attitude towards the request being made, e.g. It is high time that. . .)
instead of IFIDs (Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices –those introductory clauses which
actually name the speech act which is about to be performed, e.g. I request that. . .). They
report that a number of the IFIDs and AIPs are used in passive construction. Hartford
and Mahboob suggest that this is done to mitigate the request and to make it more polite.
These variations in Pakistani English pragmatics change the tenor of the text, and results
in difficulties for non-Pakistani speakers in grasping the tenor of the Pakistani English
constructions.
DISCOURSE STRUCTURE
In addition to the structural and linguistic features of letters to the editors, Islamization of
English is also identifiable in the discourse structure of Pakistani writings in other genres.
To support this claim, we will here present examples from English language textbook and
thesis acknowledgements. The analysis here is influenced by work in genre studies (e.g.
Martin and Rose 2003).
English-language textbooks, both those used in public schools and those used in private
schools, incorporate and project an Islamic identity. To examine this, we will look at two
examples from public school textbooks.
Example (11) below is the preface to the grade 1 English-language textbook used in
public schools and published by the Sindh Textbook Board (n.d.).

(11)
Two things in this text show that the discourse structures in Pakistani English are
influenced by Islamic ideology. First, the text begins with the Arabic phrase ‘ ,
‘I begin in the name of Allah who is the most gracious and the most merciful’. This use
of the Arabic text is a shared feature of all English-language textbooks, and represents the
Islamic tradition of starting all things in the name of Allah. The use of Arabic – and not
its English translation – shows the iconic power of this text and its relationship to Islamic
values and systems.
Second, we want to point out the stated aims of the English-language textbook incul-
cating the ingredients of universal Islamic brotherhood and to reflect the valiant deeds
of our forebears and portray the illuminating patterns of our rich cultural heritage and
traditions. This statement makes it clear that Arabic and other Islamic markers in the
textbook are systematically incorporated into the texts, with the function of indexing and
projecting an Islamic identity. The practice of this “ideology” can be seen throughout the
textbooks published for use in public schools. The term “ideology” is used here in the
sense used by Bernstein (1996), who argues that ideology “is not a content but a way in
which relationships are made and realized” (p. 31). This use of “ideology” as a way of
making meaning, and not simply as content, is important in understanding how the use
of Islamic phrases, images, and traditions in the English language textbooks are used to
construct an Islamic identity in and through English.
One example of this at the discourse level is in the staging of texts in biographies.
Biographies are a core genre in English language textbooks in Pakistan: for example, 4
out of 14 texts in the grade 9 textbook are biographies. Biographies typically begin with a
discussion of key aspects of the person being talked about (these can be personal details

186 Ahmar Mahboob
or a description of their key achievements, etc.). However, the discourse structure of the
biographies included in textbooks published by the government textbook boards in Pakistan
does not follow this trend. Biographies included in textbooks published by the government
for public schools start with a paragraph that discusses Islamic themes. The text in (12),
taken from the Secondary Stage English Book One for Class IX, published by the Sindh
Textbook Board (n.d.), is interesting for a number of reasons; but here we will focus on
the features that directly relate to the argument presented in this paper – Islamization of
English in Pakistan.
(12)
Example (12) is an image of page 7 of the textbook – this is the first page of the
biographical chapter on Shah Abdul Latif, renowned Sufi poet of Sindh. This biography,
instead of starting with an introduction to the poet, starts with a reference to Islam. The
opening sentence of the text is Islam is the religion of peace. The unambiguous ideological
references to Islam in this text contributes to the normalization of beliefs about Islam and its
history in the community, and leads to the creation of “shared knowledge” in the Pakistani
community. It needs to be noted that Islam is not only presented as a religion of peace, but

defined exclusively as the religion of peace – implying that other religions do not have the
same claim. The rest of the paragraph then builds on this theme and focuses on Islam and
Islamic personalities – without any specific reference to Shah Abdul Latif. The second
paragraph builds on the first, but focuses on national personalities and contains specific
references to all the four provinces of Pakistan (Lahore and Multan in Punjab, Peshawar
in the North West Frontier Province, Quetta in Balochistan, and then finally Sindh – the
province in which the textbook was published), thus fostering a “national” identity. It is
only in paragraph 3 that we first see a description of Shah Abdul Latif – the subject of
this biography. Paragraph 3 provides only skeletal information about the Sufi poet: most
of the paragraph still focuses on the history and the influence of Muslims in the region –
note the positive evaluation of the good Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. This prioritization of
Islamic references and personalities in the text once again shows how Islamic ideologies are
foregrounded in these textbooks, and how the relationship between Islam and the English
language is realized and normalized through English-language textbooks.
The impact of the ideological use of English textbooks to construct an Islamic identity
in and through English can be observed in texts written by users of Pakistani English. Here
we will consider acknowledgements in MA/PhD theses written by Pakistani authors in
English. Out of 18 MA theses submitted to a department of English at an urban university
in Pakistani in 2006, all started with reference to Allah. Example (13) below is one such
acknowledgement from our corpus:
(13) This thesis was written by the guidance of Allah, who made the completion of
this project possible . . .
The explicit praise of Allah in the first sentence of the acknowledgement above can be
seen as foregrounding a Pakistani Muslim tradition in which the individual acknowledges
his/her humble nature and praises Allah for all things. Example (14) is another acknowl-
edgment written by an MA student. Once again, in this text, we note that the student first
acknowledges Allah and the Prophet in the first paragraph. Then, in the second paragraph,
the student continues to acknowledge the support of his/her academic advisor.
(14) All thanks to Almighty Allah, the sole creator and benefactor who endowed us
with the gift of wisdom and bestowed on us the responsibility of exploring the
infinitude of knowledge. And to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who
showed us how to seek knowledge.
I feel great pleasure in paying my heartiest compliments to Prof. . . . . . . , who
helped me on each and every step of this research.
This reference to Allah and the Prophet in the opening stage of the text can be compared
to the example from the textbook in (12) above. The similarity in the staging of the moves
in the two genres (one, a model written for learners; and two, student texts) provides some
evidence to support the claim that English has been appropriated in Pakistan and reflects a
Muslim cultural identity. The similarity of the discourse structure between a biographical
text and an acknowledgement text also reflects the pervasiveness of this feature.
The features and examples shared in this paper exemplify how Pakistani English has
been linguistically and culturally adapted to local cultural and religious norms. These
adaptations reflect a form of linguistic resistance that has recast the English language to
carry a Pakistani Muslim identity.

188 Ahmar Mahboob
CONCLUSION
In this paper I have argued that English is a powerful language worldwide, and that this
power implies that English plays a key role in education around the world, including in
Muslim countries. A number of applied linguists have expressed concern about the power
that English represents, and are concerned that this language continues to be a language
to which colonial messages adhere. But an increasing number of scholars have challenged
such assumptions, and have argued that the new varieties of English such as Singaporean
English, Ghanaian English, and Pakistani English represent a language of opposition to
colonial discourses.
Further, I have explored the nature of the English language as it is used in one country, and
have argued that, far from being a colonizing language, the English language in Pakistan
represents Islamic values and embodies South Asian Islamic sensitivities. Through this
study of Pakistani English, I have proposed a framework that can be used to study the
relationship between local Islamic values and the English language in other contexts. I
have emphasized that in Pakistan, there has been some success in expressing resistance to
colonial discourses through Pakistani English. On the basis of the analysis shared here, I
believe that in some societies and cultures, English is indeed carrying the weight of Islamic
experiences, cultures and ideologies.
NOTE
1. This paper was initially developed with Nuzhat Amin, who passed away in 2007. I am greatly indebted to her for her
invaluable insights and contributions.
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