Power of religious language in the arab

1. Jawaharlal Nehru University
Linguistic center
Sociolinguistics
Power of Religious
Language in the Arab
World
WRITTEN BY :
NADINE AL-QAFEE

2. Talking about religion or religious language is not easy work and
usually people they don’t prefer discussing it , but here I will talk
about religious language in a linguist view, using facts and
evidence which I was seeing it in my country and other Arab
countries .
Religious language is the communication of ideas about God,
faith, belief and practice. The problem with religious language is
that individuals have different interpretations of these concepts
and will result in a difference in the use of everyday language. For
some it is deemed meaningless because it is equivocal and the
meaning is unclear. Yet, for some philosophers, religious language
is meaningful and serves a purpose.
And here I will clear how religious people using their power in
term of language of control the society for their benefit.
Introduction :-
What does Religious Language mean?
It's simply a direct word from God or we can say any Language which
Connects us to GOD Statements or claims made about God.
And if we will talk about religious languages in general we will find as it's
known for all that we have a Sacred languages which is :-
 Latin = Christianity
 Hebrew = Jewish
 Sanskrit= Hinduism
 Classical Arabic= Islam
And here I'll take Classical Arabic as Islamic religious language

3. Arabic before Islam and after.
Before the coming of Islam, the source of Arabic was the
poetry of the elders that talked primarily about love issues and
epics and people daily life. And in 610 CE Islam came and took
place in (Macca) which is now in Saudia Arabia , the source of
this language became Quran only .
The intrusion of Islamic expressions to Arabic:
 Talking about history of Yemen before 1990. There were two
Yemeni states; the South and the North, with different of
ideology in term of Islamic religion south state was
following a modern kind of life with no Islamic traditions to
follow, and the north state used to have a strict kind of life
following Islamic traditions.Then, after united of Yemen
happen in 1990,( the Republic of Yemen). A big shift took
place in Yemeni society after adopting Islam as the source of
law in term of .
 1- Education changing. (Increasing Religion subject in
schools).
Before 1990 in school they were only study one religion
subject in Aden ( south state) which was completely
independent state and that what my elder sisters were
study in that time , then after 1990 the religion subject
increase in school to five subject which I studded in school
so I had a big pressure more than my elder sisters in term of
religion and that also contain a change in the way of
teaching in schools they made a separate schools for girls
only and boys as well when my elder sister were studying
with boys in one school, and that was only because
religiouspeople gave Fatoa to ( separate boys and girls from

4. each other as Islam rules said ) while this rule was not
written in Quran .( this was an example of my real life)
 2- Expressions changing,In term of words.
The way of talking and discussing even change in Aden ( my
city ) after 1990 we forced to stop saying Good morning in
class and they replaced it by “elsalamalekom” as a Muslim
should do while there is no harm saying Good morning.
Then a lot of words came in our daily life came like
“inshallah”, “elhamdollelah”, and “besmellah”. Even non-
Muslim people got to use theses expressions.
later, Islamic expressions entered the English language, for
example, words like “fatoa”, “kafir” ,”Jihad” and “masjed” are
now in the Oxford dictionary. In education, there is a great focus
on teaching Quran.
3- political changing. from liberal law to Islamic law
In Aden they change even the constitution from liberal to
Islamic constitution.
For example: women if they got divorce before 1990 they don’t
leave their houses ( Marriage house) and they stay with their
children even if they don’t have children, but after Islamic rule
came they force women to leave because in Islamic rule there
is no right for divorcee women to stay and they force to leave
their children as well.
Now let's talk about government and how this people who has
power play a major role by asking this question.
* How governments and powerful people in society (parents,
men, and religious men) direct the power of this Islamic
language to serve their ideologies?

5. Governments tended to play a game through language that the
word of “God” should be followed. Through such educational
system the minds got changed. Women put scarf (Hijab) because
God asks them to, there is one verse in Quran requires women to
put Hijab , and it became more or less a rule to follow. Men are
allowed to legally have four wives as there is one verse in Quran
that allows them to do so.
 Example: فَانْكِحُوا مَا طَابَ لَكُمْ مِنَ النِِّسَاءِ مَثْنَى وَثُلََثَ وَرُبَاعَ فَإِنْ خِفْ تُمْ اَََّ
تَعْدِلُوا فَوَاحِدَةً وََْ مَا مَلَكَتْ يََْمَانكُُمْ ذَلِكَ دََْنَى اَََّ تَعُولُوا
( You Can Married as much you can , one, two, three and
four but you will never make justice between them )
Even while mention you will not do justice but they omit this
words and they kept using that men can marry one , two
,three and four .
To move further, this powerful language of Quran strips
women of every right to occupy any political position or
even to vote in Saudi Arabia, women are not even allowed
to drive cars according to Islamic rules, though cars are not
mentioned in Quran. Powerful people, like men and
religious people, use this powerful language of Quran to
serve their own goals. A very unique Islamic expression
“fatoa” helps religious people to do anything they want in
society. This “fatoa” means that religious people and
because they are in a continuous contact with God have the
right to produce new rules in the name of God and religion.
Religious language of Men:
 Another point to be mentioned here is the use of this
powerful language by men with their sisters and wives.

6. Women are required to obey the rules of men whether he is
a father, a brother, or a husband. Islamic rules ask women
not to discuss her freedom when the patriarchal authority is
on board. Women cannot get married without the
permission of her father or brother, ( )من تنكح بغير اذن وليها
زواجها باطل ,باطل ,باطل(
( woman who get married without her father permission
her married is Invalid, Invalid, Invalid) and this three time
repeated word was as a huge emphasis to don’t do it .
 she even cannot travel alone, one of them should
accompany her, as a protector, according to these Islamic
traditions. Whenever a woman tries to rebel, she is accused
of being infidel.
Religious language of People:
 If two people are arguing in any subject of life, one can
refute the other by saying it is mentioned in Quran or
prophet Mohammad said it once to be true, then, this will
put an end to the conversation.
For example,
For Muslims, there is one term used to refer to people who
do not believe in Islam which is “Kafir”. This word entails
that only Muslim will be rewarded heaven, while other
people who belong to different religion will have no place in
heaven. This is shown in one verse in Quran: " إنّ الذين كفروا من
أهل الكتاب والمشركين في نار جهنم خالدين "
( the one who does not believe in Islam will go to hell )
Here we should think about one important question?

7. In what way does this Islamic language helped in changing
the structure of social society in the Arab World (during
what is referred to as the Arab Spring)
Arab revaluation :
 Arab spring take place and started from Masjed as a symbol
of religion to stimulate people to go for war ,They used
Religious word like ( Allah Akbar) (Aljihad) to remind people
to do the duty of Jihad to achieve the pure Islamic country.
Masjad rule in revolution :
 Muslims are highly influenced by the speech of their sheik.
As we mentioned before, these sheiks have the right to
produce new rules. One of these rules is to rebel against the
governments in order to establish what is known as the
Islamic state. Educated people are dismissing their
universities and schools to join the Jihadi people and to
commit the sin of killing other people only because their
sheiks told them that our Quran or prophet Mohammad
wanted them to help building his Islamic state. In many Arab
countries, we can see women having sex with the jihadi
people because there is a fatoa called jihad el nekah which
allow women to have sex with as many jihadi people as they
can. Such terrible actions are done only because the sheik
announces them as legal actions. Of course this sheikh is not
using the scientific kind of language but rather the religious
one. In an attempt to convince his people that these actions
are legal, the sheik will tell that the Quran or prophet
Mohammad used to do the same.
Here Islamic Sheikh announcing Jihad Alnikah( sex in war)

8. "He said that any Muslims girl above 14 years or widow and divorcee
should do the duty of Jihad by going to war and have sex with them as a
way of relief them from tension and who will do this they will go to
heaven ."
One important example to be referred to here is the expression
“Allah Akbar” which is said when slaughtering those people who

9. do not belong to the same sect . This incident is taking place
nowadays in many Arab countries in order to have the so-called
Islamic state.
Conclusion:-
In the end, religious language is supposed to be the language
which connects us with God. It is the most powerful and well
preserved language in the society especially in Arab world. But
because of this power, the language become too rigid and it is
almost locked in the books. This language mostly used by
patriarchal society to exploit the other gender. Even it is also
misused by powerful ones for their own selfishness. It is a
powerful weapon in the wrong hands.
References:

10. - "Arabic language." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved on 29 July 2009.
- "World Arabic Language Day" . UNESCO. 18 December 2012.
Retrieved 12 February 2014.
- Steingass, Francis Joseph (1993), Arabic–English Dictionary ,
Asian Educational Services, ISBN 978-81-206-0855-9
Suileman, Yasir. Arabic, Self and Identity: A Study in Conflict
and Displacement.Oxford University Press, 10 August
2011. ISBN 0199747016, 9780199747016.
http://www.nypl.org/blog/2010/12/10/shazam-power-language-
judaism-christianity-and-islam.
- Eaton, "5. Mass Conversion to Islam: Theories and
Protagonists"
- Jump up^ The preaching of Islam: a history of the propagation
of the Muslim faith By Sir Thomas Walker Arnold
- The Quran.
Written by :
Nadine Al-Qafee