|
ENGLISH, MUSLIMS, AND ISLAMISATION:
BETWEEN NEEDS AND DEEDS
Dahiru Muhammad Argungu
Department of Languages, Literature and Linguistics
Islamic University in Uganda
Out of several disciplines that have so far
attracted the attention of contemporary Islamicists, English
(as distinct from Linguistics and as a discipline in its own
right) [1] appears to have received little
attention. The discipline seems to be taken for granted, possibly
because of its common role in the dominant (western) educational
system. Yet it is precisely because of this important role
that the subject of English needs to be accorded priority
in the on-going Islamisation efforts.
Apart from its central role in education, English was (and
still is) one of the major weapons with which the West launched
its massive intellectual and cultural onslaught against the
Muslims. However, this same weapon can be used to counter
some of these cultural excesses and threats in the Muslim
lands. But it would require the Muslims to clearly identify
and define their English language needs both in general and
specific terms. For not only is English strategic but it is
also a catalyst in the Islamisation process since it cuts
across almost all disciplines acting as a conveyor of knowledge
and culture.
This probably explains why, about a decade ago, the late
Professor al-Faruqi expounded his idea of “Islamic English”
[2] urging Muslims to Islamise the language
in line with the Ummah’s own intellectual and cultural
needs. This appeal is now beginning to attract the attention
of Muslim teachers of English and linguistics in certain quarters
of the Ummah.[3]
The aim of this paper, therefore, is to further the frontiers
of al-Faruqi’s idea in relation to the Islamisation
of knowledge examining as it were, Muslims’ needs of
the English language and to see whether those needs are currently
being satisfied and how, in particular, in the field of learning
and teaching English to Muslim students, generally. The paper
also seeks to offer some suggestions in relation to these
problems.
THE CONCEPT OF ISLAMIC ENGLISH
Islamic English (IE) as a concrete theoretical reality appears
to be an idea almost wholly attributable to the late al-Faruqi
who in his “Toward Islamic English” (1986) defines
it thus:
Islamic English is the English language modified to enable
it to carry Islamic proper nouns and meanings without distortion,
and thus to serve the linguistic needs of Muslim users of
the English language [4]
To further elucidate his point, al-Faruqi argues thus:
Every Muslim who needs to have his name transliterated
into the Latin alphabet must have seen his name spelled
in a large variety of ways. Most of these ways mutilate
the Muslim’s name beyond recognition.[5]
He then discusses the seriousness of the problem:
Such bungling of Muslim names may sometimes be tolerated
as insignificant; or it may even constitute a joke which
people take light-heartedly. However, in other instances
where the name includes a divine attribute, or one of the
names of the Prophet (Salla Allah alayhi wa sallam), the
incorrect spelling is not only irritating, it can be down
right blasphemous.[6]
It is evident therefore that al-Faruqi’s IE is a remedial
measure which aims at bending the English language to accommodate
Muslim names and such other lexical concepts, terms and ideas
in their proper (Arabic) form, phonetically and orthographically.
This problem is mainly found in the domain of transliteration.
The author of IE has also gone further to clarify his intention
as well as explain the nature and methodology of the subject:
For the English-speaking Muslims to create a new language
- Islamic English - by adding to modern English the terms
of the religion, spirituality and culture of Islam, together
with a few pertinent roles of Arabic grammar, is a worthy,
creative and beneficial effort.[7]
And in trying to defend his suggestion al-Faruqi points to
similar developments in (mainly Muslim) history:
It is not the first time in history that it happened. The
Pahlavi speaking Muslims were the first to create Persian
by exactly the same method; and they were followed by the
speakers of Sanskrit and other languages of the Indian sub-continent
who created Urdu and other modern vernaculars such as Pushtu,
Punjabi, Sindi, Baluch and Bengali; by speakers of the Bantu
languages group, who created Swahili and Hausa; the speakers
of the Turkic group of languages who created Turkish, Uzbek
and Tajik, and of the Malay group who created Malay.[8]
The reasons and likely advantages of this anticipated linguistic
revolution both on the part of the English language and its
Muslim speakers, have also been expounded by the author:
In modern times, the English language stands in need of
the precepts and values of Islam which only the Qur’anic
language can provide. Constant use of their Arabic form
will help to shield the English-speaking Muslims from the
onslaught of materialism, utilitarianism, scepticism, relativism,
secularism and hedonism that the last two hundred years
have established firmly in English consciousness. And it
will - Insha Allah -inject a reforming influence into the
consciousness of all English speaking Muslims, pulling them
out of their tragic predicament in modern times.[9]
It is clear therefore that al-Faruqi is not, categorically
speaking, after the state of learning and teaching of English
as a discipline, per se, in Muslim educational institutions.
But his powerful ideas were to have profound influence on
all those who had the intellectual progress of the Ummah at
heart and who cherish the laudable objectives of Islamisation
to whatever fields of educational endeavour they may belong.
In the meantime, let us take a quick glance at the English
language’s early entry into Muslim lands and their responses
to it.
MUSLIMS’ EARLY RESPONSE TO THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
From a very early period Muslims’ response to the coming
of the English language into their lands was marked by an
attitude that could be simply termed as “defensive suspicion”,
because of what they saw as that language’s inevitable
links with Christianity through the newly - introduced western
educational system. Mazrui (1971) notes this dilemma of the
English language in Muslim societies of Africa:
The equation of the English language with (Christian) missionary
education was a major factor in conditioning Islamic attitudes
towards it. Muslims became suspicious of the English language
on the basis of a presumed guilt by association. This was
aggravated by the sense of cultural defensiveness which
developed among Muslim communities.[10]
In Northern Nigeria, for example, due to Muslims’ open
hostility to British rule generally, Lugard, the architect
of British imperialism there, had to delay the introduction
of English in schools. Instead, Hausa (a widely-spoken Muslim
language in the area) was endorsed. It formed the bedrock
of British colonial educational policy. Consequently, it was
on Hausa (and not English) that the burden of Lugard’s
Indirect Rule fell in the North. English was gradually introduced
but only after it was evident that anti-British and anti-Christian
sentiments were on the decline among the northern Muslims.[11]
In reality Muslims everywhere did not need English by the
time it was introduced in their lands because the “civilising”
role the language was to play among them, intellectually and
culturally, had already been satisfied through such Muslim
languages as Arabic, Hausa, Swahili, Urdu, Malay, etc. Indeed,
at the time (and possibly even now) English seemed to lack
the qualities which over the centuries these languages had
acquired (largely through their association with Arabic) and
enabled them to act as important catalysts in the socio-cultural,
religious, linguistic and educational transformations of their
(Muslim) societies.[12]
Thus the enthusiasm and prestige with which the non-Muslims
generally welcomed the English language, could not be found
among most Muslims. Indeed, the Muslim, out of his strong
cultural pride and defensiveness, “accepted” English
largely as a matter of educational (and not cultural) necessity.
[13] In some Muslim communities in Africa,
English is seen as an alien language spoken only by cultural
misfits.
Such feelings and attitudes on the part of Muslims generally
sum up Muslims’ early reactions towards the English
language whether in Africa, the Middle East or the Far East.
But in spite of their hostility towards it, the Muslims soon
found themselves between the prestige, power and prosperity
which learning English often conferred on its adherents and
the doom and gloom which may await those who ignored its call.
But did this realization change Muslim attitudes towards English?
ENGLISH IN THE MUSLIM WORLD TODAY: OLD ATTITUDES,
ADDITIONAL NEEDS
Muslims’ old attitudes of culturally defending themselves
against the influences of English still persist in a variety
of ways and among many sections of the Ummah. Generally speaking,
non-native English-speaking Muslims (ESM) may not use or seek
to make English their cultural language as do some non-Muslims,
such as the Christians, many of whom see English as a status
symbol.
Indeed, it is the contemporary intranational and international
roles of English, across the Ummah, in government, international
relations and diplomacy, science and technology and in education
generally, that is strengthening Muslims’ needs for
the language. This, no doubt will mean a greater opening for
the Islamisation of English by the Muslims. It will also increase
the possibility for the emergence of IE proper, in whatever
form it may appear. This variety, when it matures, linguistically,
will add to the already mushrooming varieties of English now
prevalent among non-native speakers of the language in different
parts of the world, in the form of pidgins, creoles, etc.
It may be also added that Muslims, probably, are the single
largest non-native community of users of English in the world
today, along with whatever development this could mean for
the language.[15] From translation and
transliteration works to the mass media, public and private
education as well as in academic and general scholarship,
Muslims’ contributions to the spread and progress of
English have been enormous. In recent years, and as a result
of the ongoing Islamic resurgence, the volume of Islamic literature
in English in the Muslim world has tremendously shot up.[16]
Everywhere within the Ummah Muslim intellectuals, scholars,
young men and women, committed to the advancement of the deen
and to their own intellectual development, increasingly and
freely use the language. When the large numbers of hours Muslims
put in demonstrating their English language skills (i.e. listening,
speaking, reading and writing) through various educational,
government and media channels and programmes are calculated,
we would be talking of a ‘gigantic’ Muslim contribution,
over the century, to the spread and development of English.
So far, many English-speaking Muslims (particularly among
the new generations) appear to be much more familiar with,
and do in fact, show their preference for or dependency on
English, largely in educational matters (including religious
education) than they do with either Arabic or their primary
(mother tongue) languages. In some parts of the Ummah, this
includes the use of Latin script in place of Arabic and Arabised
(local) scripts. Indeed, the increasing dependence of modern
society on the TV or the mass-media in general as well as
the computer are developments that are certain to vigorously
raise and consolidate Muslims’ need for English.
Parts of the repercussions of the entrenchment of English
in Muslim societies is the increasing inroads the language
is making into the structures of Muslim languages and their
societies world-wide. The continued spread and influence of
English among Muslims would, no doubt, mean a more restrictive
role for Arabic and other Muslim Languages of Wider Communication
(MLWC). Presently, most of these languages are humbled, at
least officially, in their own cultural domains by English
(and French, as the case may be) through powerful government
support and legislation. Thus colonialism has deeply entrenched
English (and other foreign languages) as rivals to Muslim
languages world-wide.[17] This means
that English will, for quite sometime, be within Muslim territories
and societies enjoying its official status and, at the same
time keeping MLWC somehow at bay.
Muslims should, therefore, pay special attention to the potential
effects of the continued presence of English in their societies.
It is a doubled-edged problem which needs to be treated with
caution. Language learning is often said to be culture learning.
Whatever the truth about this statement, Muslims should not
take English learning and teaching for granted. Indeed it
is a policy matter and Muslims cannot afford to ignore it.
At every step and stage, Muslims’ Islamic goals and
objectives should guide and influence as to why they need
English.
Muslims definitely need English today, in particular, in
education. Apart from education, English is a strategic bridge
linking Muslims with a vast English-speaking non-Muslim world
with great potentials for outreach da‘awah activities,
business and international relations.
However, the difficulty lies not in learning or teaching
English to Muslims, but in the attendant (western) cultural
consequences that go with its learning, particularly among
the youths.
QUESTIONING ENGLISH TEXTBOOK MORALITY: CULTURE AND
IDEOLOGY
Cultural issues remain the most important aspects of English
Language Teaching (ELT) problem to watch in Muslim educational
institutions. However, unlike numerous western romantic novels,
magazines and thrillers that are prone to corrupting their
readers’ minds, conventional ELT textbooks enjoy some
moral standing of their own; yet they are not completely free
of cultural or ideological influences.
Morality, culture and even ideology play important roles
in motivating students’ learning of ELT materials. This
is why more ELT authors are becoming increasingly aware of
the need for cultural relevance of materials in relation to
the various cultures and societies where their products are
in demand.
But few writers ever really make it when it comes to bridging
the gap between a writer’s source culture and the learner’s
target environment. Many writers become so much absorbed in
their own culture and worldview, consciously or unconsciously,
that the need to include the learner’s cultural idiom
is overlooked. Equally enough, a writer may be culturally
limited, technically, in relation to his reader. Thus, many
ELT authors have only superficial understanding of the reader’s
target culture.
This problem becomes even more acute when we talk of the
Muslim culture, because Islamic culture is bound by religious
injunctions. It is therefore sensitive and would require a
deeper understanding by non-Muslim ELT writers. As a result,
Muslim students encounter numerous culture shocks in many
(foreign) ELT texts even when an author possibly never meant
any malice. That shock could suddenly surface at the moral,
cultural, religious or ideological level and could slow down,
discourage, distort or completely obliterate comprehension
of a text by a student.
Indeed, no writer can predict all the possible phenomena
of culture shock that are likely to surface in the learner’s
mind, ranging from mild cultural irritations to deep psychological
disturbances. But a Muslim author with the necessary linguistic
skills and Islamic consciousness is more likely to produce
satisfactory ELT materials for purposes of Islamisation. This
is because a Muslim writer shares the same cultural code with
his (Muslim) reader. In other words, the wider the cultural,
moral or ideological distance between an author and a reader,
the greater the problem.
To demonstrate the nature and extent of the problem we have
selected and scrutinised some English textbooks meant for
teaching grammar at college and university levels written
at different times by authors from the United States of America,
United Kingdom and India.
We have grouped lexical items according to specific (western)
norms, concepts or behaviour. The underlined words show the
potentially offensive cultural idioms. But the total semantic
content in the sentences and the feelings or images they may
conjure up in the student’s mind should also be considered.
Notice that the sentences mostly have inducive (not prohibitive)
intent.
The examples cited here are mostly exercises in tense conjugations.
The names of the books form part of the references found at
the end of this paper.
A. Alcoholism or Drunkenness
1. We ran out of wine halfway through
2. This wine ……………(taste)
…………..
3. The men (drink) together when an argument (break out).
4. Wine-drinking (appear) to (gain) popularity in Britain.
5. I just (taste) the cocktail to see if there’s enough
gin in it
6. Here! How does it (taste) to you?
7. He shouldn’t drive this evening. He(drink).
8. We all know he had been drinking heavily since his wife
died
9. ………. the cupboard the wine glasses…………..?
10. This wine is made from grapes that have been grown in
Germany.
11. He’s been drinking and can’t walk straight.
12. The guests will be drunk before they leave
13. Beer is made from hops.
14. He is drinking scotch.
15. …………………..
in addition they drank three bottles of wine
16. Take a drink and then go to bed.
17. I’d better not drive. I already (drink) quite
a lot.
18. He likes wine.
19. He likes the wine of France.
20. I wondered if you’d like a drink.
21. There are several French wines available.
22. A pint of beer (as example of liquid measure).
23. The wines of France are the best in the world.
B. Sexual Perversion/Provocation, Sensuality, Pre-marital
Relationships
1. His fiancée writes to him every day.
2. Who was that girl you (talk) to when I (pass) you in
the street?
3. Peter has a charming wife
4. She all but kissed me
5. She’s a nice girl
6. She wished her parents (approve) of her boy friend.
7. Your daughter is pretty.
8. Which girls do you like best?
9. Mary likes John.
10. Did you see the girl sitting in the corner?
11. The fact that she’s good-looking is not the only
reason why I’d like to meet her
C. Cigarettes and Smoking
1. How many cigarettes have you smoked today?
2. I last smoked a cigarette four days ago.
3. Concert-goers are asked not to smoke in the auditorium
(refrain)
4. He stopped to smoke a cigarette.
5. You could smell that someone had been smoking a cigar.
6. He tried to limit himself to …… ten cigarettes
a day.
7. Can we smoke here?
8. You seem to be smoking rather heavily.
D. Crime and Violence
1. President Kennedy was killed by a bullet.
2. Standing near the door, the man held a gun on the crowd.
3. The man patiently …… chewing tobacco, a sharp
knife in his hand.
4. The young man at the teller’s desk demanded money;
the older man standing
near the door.......held a gun on the crowd.
5. Give me that money or else…………
.
6. He told Oliver that if he faltered he would shoot him.
7. If the attempted assassination had succeeded, there would
…… .
8. The terrorists blew up the dam.
9. Your money or your life.
E. Christian Imagery/Beliefs/Attitudes
1. By next Christmas I shall be living in London for two
years.
2. The wedding bells rang out.
3. Ethiopians celebrate Christmas on 7 January.
4. A new translation of the Bible is being made by some
British Scholars.
5. When I saw him in church, he was wearing a blue suit.
6. God save the Queen
7. Heaven forbid that ……..
8. The memorial service for Lord Kitchener was held at St.
Paul’s.
9. The Vicar read the first Lesson.
10. The time to decorate the house for Christmas had come.
11. We stayed with my parents over Christmas.
F. Euro-neo-colonialism, Imperialism and Racial
Superiority
1. America is rich country in the world.
2. Have you been to Paris?
3. The French are a hard-working and brave people.
4. Queen Elizabeth II, who came to the throne in 1952, was
crowned the following year.
5. Europeans (live) in Australia since the eighteenth century
6. Pasteur benefited the whole of mankind
7. When Queen Victoria (died) in 1901, She (reign) for over
60 years.
8. The United States of America is one of the most powerful
nations in the world.
G. Other Pro-Western social Habits (Music, Dancing,
Social Parties. etc.)
1. Will you come to the concert this evening?
2. My children love watching TV. They sit for hours without
saving a word.
3. I (look) for you in the theatre
4. I wish you (like) ‘pop’ music.
5. I’m taking dancing lessons this winter.
6. He plays guitar very well.
7. When I told her what a good film was on at the cinema,
she (wants) to go.
8. After the beginning of the opera, late comers had to
wait before taking their seat.
9. He is arranging for an artist to paint his wife’s
portrait.
10. I would have enjoyed the party much more if …….
H. Beliefs and Attitudes Relating to Individualism,
Materialism and Secularism
1. If I came into a fortune, I would give up working.
2. I detest people.
3. Considering all problems, it was a miracle we succeeded
4. She disbelieves her own, father.
I. Author/Reader Socio-cultural Distance
1. Take the dog for a walk.
2. Candy and soda cause cavities.
3. Restaurants in New York City serve ants and grasshoppers.
4. Steve bought his mother a music box for her birthday.
5. Karen skated across the frozen pond.
6. Last summer Mark went to a dude ranch for two weeks.
POST MORTEM
As we have noted in these examples, there are a number of
implications in what constitutes the vocabulary or language
of ELT textbooks. The fundamental questions remain the same:
who writes and/or teaches what, when, how, for whom and why?
In the specific examples cited above, what factors led the
writers to select or prefer such words or lexical items than
numerous others in the (English) language? The probably logical
answer is to say that the writers’ materials are in
accord with their own socio-cultural circumstances and goals
of life as rooted in the worldview. While such cultural idioms
are socially acceptable and, in fact, compatible with Western
beliefs and values, they tend to clash with Islamic values
and morality.
These examples, therefore, have real and practical implications
for ELT purposes of a Muslim student, particularly, the very
young among them. We should avoid taking language for granted.
Behind every statement, are well-defined patterns of life
and experience, for good or bad, being sold out to the reader.
And if we combine this with the power of the printed word,
then we will realise the implications and gravity of exposing
Muslim children to such materials. The negative influences
of such statements as cultural irritants, are to some degree,
similar to the feelings a conscious Muslim has toward some
of those morally-debasing and culturally provocative western
TV programmes and other published materials with pornographic
intent. The continued use of such ELT materials in schools
will mean, Muslims are gradually accepting and validating
western concepts and categories of life as part of their cultural
existence.
The examples may appear insignificant, but their cumulative
effect on the young Muslim psyche is easily visible. We are
particularly concerned here with such effect developed over
a period of time in the students’ ELT process. For an
idea or belief incubated at school especially where the Islamic
cultural training is weak in a child.
The necessity for morally correct and culturally relevant
ELT materials, Islamically, is borne by the fact that an alert
Muslim mind reacts to even the slightest form of moral or
religious provocation, be it bodily or psychological. Thus
the psycho-Islamic reality which links a linguistic form (e.g.
wine, beer, smoking, murder etc.) with their physical translations
in the real world (the extra-linguistic meaning), has the
tendency to injure or offend a Muslim psyche on hearing or
reading such lexical items, especially if a sentence or statement
18 is clothed with words to arouse certain (immoral) feelings.
[18] As a result of this, difficulties
could arise in the Muslim students’ ELT learning.
We therefore cannot justify the selection and inclusion of
this kind of vocabulary or statements, culturally, as part
of ELT material for a Muslim student. A Muslim teacher, acting
according to his/her true Islamic conscience, will normally
not come up with such examples in an ELT class. Indeed, in
order to maintain respect which is an important element in
student/teacher relations, a Muslim ELT teacher must mind
his/her language. While we strongly believe in the importance
of skills, we also attach importance to Islamic morality.
To make ELT learning interesting and effective as well as
create genuine motivation, the trio-the teacher, the text
and student - must somehow share a common cultural and moral
code which is easily comprehensible, appreciated and assimilated
by all. Muslim students of English will definitely want to
understand other (non-Muslim) cultures and idea as part of
learning, but this need not drag them into vulgarity or injure
their religious beliefs. After all, no text is a universal
ideal type. All texts have their soft religious beliefs. After
all, no text is a universal ideal type. All texts have their
soft centres - a dominant cultural qibla which consistently
reminds a reader of their source.
PICTORIAL ELT MATERIALS
The problem of moral cohesion of texts does not stop at the
level of specimen examples alone. Numerous pictures and drawings
often accompany such examples. In many textbooks, the dominant
western culture (say, Africa) the form of culture could be
depicting Africans adopting European dress, manners and attitudes.
Thus very rarely do ELT textbooks portray the hjjab wearing
and beard-sporting young Muslim women and men respectively.
Instead, mini-skirted arid clean-shaven caricatures of women
and men fill the books, supporting and validating these aspects
of western lifestyles and attitudes as the ‘right’
norms for all societies. Such pictorial notions and definitions
of life in ELT materials may have considerable influence on
the young Muslim mind.
IDEOLOGY IN ELT MATERIALS
Another related problem is question of ideology which we
consider essential in ELT material writing and teaching for
Muslim students. Currently, what passes for ELT in most Muslim
educational institutions, has a lot to do with the propagation
of the dominant ideologies of particular cultures and peoples,
individual authors and societies alike. When a writer freely
employs such notions as “freedom”, “liberty”
or “democracy” and a host of other modern (western)
political niceties in his material, without being specific,
he is merely is acting as a propagator of (Europeanised) secular
ideas which, politically and aqida-wise, could have serious
consequences on Muslim thinking and life.
We believe that even when an ELT text has been found morally
“upright” and culturally cohesive, it should portray
a corresponding (Islamic) ideological stance. This will means
injecting into the ELT material sufficient Islamic political,
economic, etc.; terms and concepts such as “Jihad”,
“Shahada”, “Zakat” “Islamic
banking, “Islamic economy”, etc. so that the currently
confused and dormant Muslim mind could find meaning, vigour
and self-confidence in itself, as a result of contact with
such material in class.
Nowadays, conscious writers in all communities and societies
are increasingly exploiting language for very specific purposes.
Muslims too need focus critically on such usages and needs
in line with the current utility of English among them.
It is true that Muslims currently do not have control over
numerous ELT texts and other materials coming into their lands.
But if the dictum that he who pays the piper dictates the
tune still holds, then ELT authors could be asked to do our
bidding. The Saudis already have their own (Europe-manufactured)
Saudi Arabian English [19] which basically
reflects Islamic culture in ELT though largely Saudi. Muslims
everywhere can adopt the Saudi strategy based on local Islamic
needs as a way of supplementing current ELT texts in their
educational institutions.
We must therefore be prepared to make the approved Islamic
attitudes and behaviour the starting point and focus of the
Muslim student’s ELT materials and method. This can
only be done with a change in the Muslim teacher’s attitude
towards the language so that English is considered as a means
of teaching Islam through carefully prepared materials.
This kind of creative work has the advantage of immunising
Muslim students against invading cultures and ideologies and,
at the same time, enriching their linguistic repertoires through
effective ELT.
WHERE DO WE START AND HOW?
As a preliminary measure, current (western or westernised)
ELT texts containing unsuitable materials, Islamically, should
as far as possible be changed, that is Islamised by the local
ELT Muslim teacher. Much would depend, however, on the teacher’s
linguistic competence and skills, interest, creativity, commitment
and Islamic consciousness. He would also need to be well-versed
in general knowledge and modern language teaching methods.
Such texts can be Islamised largely through heavy (oral) editing
of their contents - vocabulary and even sentence structures
- as the teacher goes along with his teaching in class so
that the language can conform to Islamic concepts, ideas,
names and norms, such as the examples cited earlier in this
paper. For example “wine” could turn into “water”
while instead of “kissing and dancing”, specimen
sentences could portray girls praying or doing some Islamically
virtuous things.
The second task, which is even greater, is the writing of
fresh (new) ELT materials along the lines of IE at all levels
of education. Such materials should be presented in such a
way as to allow Muslim students to sharpen their understanding
of Islam as well as stimulate them culturally and ideologically.
We should be able to teach wuzu, salat, zakat, hajj, jihad
etc. in ELT, each based on its cultural idioms. The materials
should also help to awaken students (especially at an advanced
level) through a critical analysis of the nature and processes
of local and international events. Through this kind of ELT
material, we may minimise the chances of breeding linguistic
robots who would see English learning not as a means but as
an end in itself.
Numerous write-ups and other articles in several areas of
knowledge and life written by eminent and qualified Muslim
academics throughout the Ummah, could provide a good source
from which to start compiling materials for such (IE) texts.
Any text produced could be tested, with time, over and over
again, in class, until the desired stuff is obtained. Of particular
relevance, here is a composition writing and comprehension
exercises. Even sentences for grammatical analyses could be
elicited from such articles as well as objective and multiple
- choice questions.
In order to systematise the problems and work towards concrete
solutions, we will briefly suggest the following:
- The need to reveal the nature and dimensions of these
ELT problems and to map out a plan of action, through meetings,
seminars, workshops, conferences etc. This will include
assessing current Muslim needs of English in their educational
institutions as well as its current role in their societies.
- The question of Islamic English (IE); its present and
future trends, in short, the reality of its existence and
nature should be carefully examined, discussed and brought
to light.
The need for a coordinating centre of these activities, most
certainly from among the Islamic Universities, or similar
Muslim institutions, at home and abroad.
CONCLUSION
We have in the preceding discussions examined the historical
and contemporary roles of English among Muslims generally,
and in particular, as it relates to the Muslim student of
English as well as Islamisation. We have seen that Muslims,
generally, do not need English as a cultural language. Rather,
it is the language’s international role as well as the
factors of religion (Islamic self-education and da’awah
purposes) and employment that is increasingly consolidating
the needs for learning English among them.
But in trying to achieve their linguistics needs, Muslims
have to define how the learning and teaching of English could
affect their cultures, both as individuals and as an Ummah.
Some of the answers to these questions, we identified in creating
and adopting Islamic English as already proffered to the Ummah
by the late Professor, al-Faruqi. If the idea of IE is widened
in its scope and used effectively in ELT in Muslim educational
institutions, the Ummah would have achieved a lot in its duty
of defending Muslim societies and cultures against the current
(western) cultural onslaught threatening it.
It means that, henceforth, Muslim teachers of English, at
all levels of Muslim education, should be prepared mentally
and academically to push this idea forward. Moral sensitivity
and cultural defensiveness remain the watch words for the
contemporary ELT Muslim teacher, but above all, he/she must
be creative, the ultimate goal being the attainment of communicative
competence or fluency in English among Muslim learners through
the medium of (Islamic) culture and systematic application
of the modern methods of English language teaching and learning.
top >>
NOTES
1. I have read a number of articles on the
Islamisation of Linguistics such those of Sayyid Muhammad
Syeed, Ahmad Khalil Aziz, Mohammad Akram A.M. Sa’Adedddin
all in the IIIT & AJISS publications, but apart from the
late al-Faruqi’s Toward Islamic English there is virtually
nothing on the Islamisation of English as a discipline.
2. This paper sees it necessary to bring together
Muslim teachers of English and linguists for the exchange
of ideas in relation to Islamisation of English.
3. See, Toward Islamic English. IIIT, Virginia.
1406/1986
4. Ibid, 7
5. Ibid, 8
6. Ibid, 8
7. Ibid, 14
8. Ibid, 14-5
9. Ibid, 15
10. Mazrui, A.A. 1971. Islam and English Language
in East and West Africa, in W.H. Whiteley, (ed) Language Use
and Social Change: Problems of Multilingualism with special
Reference to Eastern Africa. London, OUP, 1971:180
11. Tibenderana, P.K., Sokoto Province Under
British Rule 1903-1939, ABUP Zaria, 1988, 195-208
12. Centuries before colonialism introduced
English in Muslim lands, Muslim languages such as Arabic,
Swahili, Hausa, Urdu, Malay had excelled in many aspects of
literary and linguistic studies including the production of
a lot of literature in these fields.
13. Muslims resistance to the encroachment
of western culture includes a strong attachment to their languages
even in those domains where English is strongly required such
as in government.
14. Depending on the author, many Islamic
books and articles in English contain some Islamised code
that can only be understood and interpreted by a literate
Muslim reader.
15. In many Muslim personal and institutional
libraries, in particular outside the Middle-East or Arab communities,
most books on Islam are likely to be in English than in Arabic
or even the local Muslim languages. This trend has enabled
English to spread among Muslims while Muslim writers, over
the century or more of its spread among them, have helped
to boost its linguistic structures
16. Irfani has mentioned that in Iran Between
1981-91, the number of book tides published annually increased
from 3,500 to 8,600, periodical from 100 to 501, and public
libraries from 415 to 550 units, while the number of people
using libraries rose from 4 million (1981) to 14 million (1991).
Though this is not based on any linguistic classification,
English is certain to be included among the prominent languages
in these figures, most probably coming after Farsi and Arabic
especially for those publications meant for external readership.
See Suroosh Irfani in his article on New Discourses and Modernity
in Post -revolutionary Iran, in the American Journal of Islamic
Social Sciences Vol 13 Spring 1996, Number 1.
17. Indeed, the continued presence of English
in Muslim societies has certain (negative) socio linguistic
consequences, as it does in other (non-Muslim) societies such
as the alienation of the non English-speaking Muslim populations
and the English-speaking Muslim elite’s monopoly in
several areas - politics, education and economy etc, - mainly
by virtue of the elite’s possession of this “weapon
of mass oppression” (English) in society.
18. Many Muslims avoid reading such western
novels because they see them as a “linguistic filth”
with potential (socio-cultural and religious) implications
in the Muslim mind and society.
19. The Saudi experiment is probably the first
and the only one so far I am aware of in relation to Islamisation
of English within the Ummah. However, the success or otherwise
of the experiment needs to be assessed.
____________
For reference purposes, please cite this article
as follows:
Argungu, D M (1996) English Muslims and Islamisation:
Between Needs and Deeds in English and Islam: Creative Encounters
96, Proceedings of the International Conference, pp331-347,
Department of English Language and Literature, International
Islamic University Malaysia |
