Arabic as a lingua franca in the Muslim World

Arabic as a Lingua franca in the Muslim World:

An Annotated Bibliography

 

Reem M. Moshabab Buhran

 

 

     Much has been written about the relationship between religion and language. No doubt that Islam and Arabic has a strong relationship since the Holy Quran is written in Arabic. The articles selected for this bibliography represent the strong relationship between Muslims and the Arabic Language. However, it is intended to select only three separate articles which study Arabic as a lingua franca for Muslims. These articles state that Arabic is a lingua franca. The authors of these articles do agree on the importance of Arabic as a religious language for Muslims.

     This annotated bibliography will help a researcher to discuss the relationship between language and religion, particularly, Arabic and Islam. The articles selected for this annotated bibliography may differ in their methodology, but all agree that there is a strong relationship between Arabic and Islam, and that Arabic is the lingua franca of the Islamic world due to the huge number of Muslims.

 

(1)

Lexical Borrowing from the Arabic Language in an Islamic Course Conducted in English

Arshad, N. I. & Shah, M. I. A. (2014). Lexical Borrowing from the Arabic Language in an Islamic Course Conducted in English, Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research, 20, 110-117.

This article analyzes the processes of borrowing that occur in the retention of Islamic Arabic words. Actually, it finds out that the Islamic Arabic words make up the majority of the borrowed features. Finally, it suggests teaching Islamic studies in Arabic besides English. So, this study strengthens the idea that Arabic has a strong relationship with Islam.

 

(2)

 

A Melkite Arabic literary lingua franca from the second half of the first millennium

Blau, J. (1994). A Melkite Arabic literary lingua franca from the second half of the first millennium. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 57 (01), 14-16.

This article states that the Greek Orthodox, Molkite, adopted Arabic as its literary language. It presents many Arabic manuscripts. Also, it states that these manuscripts are important for the history of Arabic. Thus, this article demonstrates that Arabic was a lingua franca for a long time because of the religion of their speakers. 

 

(3)

Language Use in the Islamic faith in Cameroon: The Case of a Mosque in the city of Maroua

Kouega, J. & Baimada, F. G. (2011). Language Use in the Islamic faith in Cameroon: The Case of a Mosque in the city of Maroua. Journal of Language and Culture, 3 (1), pp. 10-19.

This article examines language use and religion, Arabic and Islam in particular. It checks what language is used in what part and in what purpose. Finally, it finds out that Arabic is the dominant language used. So, the findings of this study prove that Arabic is used broadly due to the number of its speakers who are Muslims.

 

 

     The previous articles proved that Arabic has a strong relationship with Islam. The findings of these articles showed that Arabic is the lingua franca of Muslims. Since Arabic has all the features to be a lingua franca, and since the number of the Islamic countries is huge, we can treat Arabic as a lingua franca for all. It is hoped from the responsible and the applied linguistics to work hard and conduct more studies regarding the lingua franca of Muslims, Arabic.

 

References

Arshad, N. I. & Shah, M. I. A. (2014). Lexical Borrowing from the Arabic Language in an Islamic Course Conducted in English, Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research, 20, 110-117.

 

Blau, J. (1994). A Melkite Arabic literary lingua franca from the second half of the first millennium. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 57 (01), 14-16.

 

Kouega, J. & Baimada, F. G. (2011). Language Use in the Islamic Faith in Cameroon: The Case of a Mosque in the city of Maroua. Journal of Language and Culture, 3 (1), pp. 10-19.