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The use of language and religion
from a sociolinguistic perspective
Ali Alsaawi
Majmaah University
Religion plays a pivotal role in some societies, but the interaction between
language and religion as a sociolinguistic eld of study has not fully been
explored. The overlap between the two has recently been considered by
Omoniyi and Fishman (). Many studies have been conducted
regarding language use within institutional settings, such as schools,
universities, workplaces and courtrooms. However, less attention has been
paid to language use outside of these settings, such as within religious
contexts, although mosques are viewed as institutional in nature. In
particular, imams may switch between languages in their sermons in the
mosque. To explore this phenomenon, a qualitative study was undertaken
by means of simulated recall interviews and non-participant observation
with imams (n=) and mosque audiences (n=) where the participants
are of Asian pacic origins (Pakistan, India & Indonesia). The study reveals
that employing more than one language in one-way religious speech is a
means of increasing historical authenticity, exposing audiences to Arabic,
overcoming a lack of easy equivalents in English, emphasizing religious
authority, assuming audiences’ knowledge of some Arabic features, or
accommodating the diverse backgrounds of the audience, some member of
whom have knowledge of Arabic. This has been described as having
spiritual, historical and emotional signicance, invoking religious links
associated between Arabic and Islam. Stakeholders, especially audiences,
claim benets beyond the language used in the sermons themselves. Imams,
in addition, tend to see the use of both English and Arabic as socially and
culturally salient, a means of uniting people in an otherwise oen fractured
world, or one frequently presented as such in the media.
Keywords: authority, language use, religion, authenticity, sermons,
bilingual, Arabic in the Asia-Pacic
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.00039.als |Published online: 13 January 2020
Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 32:2 (2022), pp. 236–253. ISSN 0957-6851 |E‑ISSN 1569-9838
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
1. Introduction
An important area in sociolinguistics is the interaction between language and reli-
gion, which share a long history together. According to Davis (, p.), “it
is clear that language and religion depend on one another in both immediate
and profound ways”. This interface may produce bilingual speech when religious
language or the language medium of the religion is not the same as outside the
religious context. The reason for the occurrence of bilingual speech is the desire
to include religious language, such as that in which the religion was rst articu-
lated, as well as ocial or dominant languages among believers. For instance, in
the United Kingdom (UK), the interaction between Christianity and English may
include Latin, the interaction between Judaism and English may include Hebrew
and the interaction between Islam and English may include Arabic. It is important
to note that the variety of Arabic under consideration in this study is “Classical
Arabic”. This means that whenever Islam is invoked in the UK, where English is
dominant, Arabic may also be expected given its close historical links to Islam (see
Jaspal and Coyle, ). This has led many researchers to argue that the interface
between language and religion can result in the use of more than one language
in religious settings, such as the combination of Arabic/Latin/Hebrew and ver-
nacular/local languages among Muslims/Christians/Jews (Chew, ; Ferguson,
; Omoniyi and Fishman, ; Sawyer, ; Spolsky, ). Moving between
two or more languages or language varieties oen occurs in bilingual societies
and communities (Gardner-Chloros, ). Many studies have been conducted
regarding language use within institutional settings, such as schools, universi-
ties, workplaces and courtrooms. Examples of such studies are those of Gumperz
(a), Ferguson (), Halliday () and more recently Bhatia (). How-
ever, less attention has been paid to language use outside these settings, such as
within religious settings, although mosques are viewed as institutional in nature.
In particular, Islamic preachers (hereinaer imams) may switch between lan-
guages in their sermons in the mosque, perhaps similar to priests’ practices in
churches, potentially switching between Latin and English. The shortage of such
studies regarding this phenomenon could be a result of the assumption that
secularism is increasingly dominant and widespread, especially in Europe. This
assumption can lead to an underestimation of the depth of religion in peoples’
lives and of the signicance of the languages used to express it. Indeed, peoples’
attachment to religion in the UK is not the same as it was years ago. It is evi-
dently noticeable that the world is gradually becoming less religious. Yet secular-
ism was ranked second aer Christianity in the UK National Census of . This
might indicate either that religion still aects believers’ behaviour, including lan-
guage, or that people are still not comfortable acknowledging their lack of reli-
The use of language and religion from a sociolinguistic perspective 237
giosity. Another salient aspect underpinning the lack of research is the view that
prayers tend not to change much over time and thus there is no need for such
studies to be conducted. However, this is not actually the case, especially in the
case of Friday sermons in mosques, which tend to be less formulaic than prayers
and in which ordinary talk also occurs.
2. Literature review
The interaction between language and religion from a bilingual perspective has
scarcely been explored. This topic is relatively new to sociolinguistics and the
systematic development of language and religion. The overlap between the two,
such as “the way that religion and language interact to produce language contact”
(Spolsky, , p.), has recently been noted and has been considered by
Omoniyi and Fishman (). In addition, the importance of religion (Islam in
this case) in language (i.e. Arabic) choice is an area of interest for researchers
(Darquennes and Vandenbussche, ). This has even led some researchers to
argue that without language there would be no religion, as language is what con-
stitutes religion (Jensen and Rothstein, ). Samarin () considers any lan-
guage that is consistently used in religion to be “religious language”. By religious
language, Samarin means “the product of the intersection of language variables of
dierent sorts within this one domain of human experience” (p. ). The works of
Fishman (), Crystal (), Stewart (), Samarin (), Ferguson (),
Spolsky (), Sawyer () and Omoniyi and Fishman () explore the
interplay between religion and language and reveal the importance of religion as
a relevant factor in the study of language.
Religious language is listed among the language functions, which illustrates
the impact of religion on language (Stewart, , p. ). Sawyer and Simpson
(, cited in Spolsky, , p.), co-author of the Concise Encyclopaedia of
Language and Religion, states that “language and religion share a very long and
a very close history and it is perhaps surprising that this Concise Encyclopaedia
of Language and Religion is the rst of its kind”. Indeed, one might argue that as
long as there has been religion there must have been language to express religious
ideas. Therefore, language is not separate from religion. It has been alleged that
by “focusing on the role of religion in the spread of a language variety into new
domains of language use, one can also focus on the role of religion in the geo-
graphical spread of a language” (Darquennes and Vandenbussche, , p.). The
spread of religion, moreover, has accompanied trade and colonization and lan-
guage spread throughout history. Spolsky (, p.) rationalized the shortage
of relevant studies between religion and language contact as a result of “schol-
238 Ali Alsaawi
ars interested in language contact [being] themselves so steeped in secularism
that they did not easily become aware of the depth of religious beliefs and life”.
This statement shows the high impact of scholars’ opinions on the wider commu-
nity. Indeed, scholars’ assumption that religion is in decline while secularism is
on the rise has led to the neglect of religion and language. Previous studies that
have examined both language and religion show that there is a close relationship
between them among religious people (Harmaini, ). It is thus believed that
religion plays a signicant role in the change and spread of a language and vice-
versa (Ferguson, ). For instance, Spolsky (, p. ) states that “wherever
Western Christianity spread, it introduced a variety of Latin script for writing
previously unwritten languages” and the same would apply to Islam and Arabic.
It can then be agreed that “…one of the (many) factors that play a role in the
dynamic process of demarcation and the quest for solidarity is a shared language.
Another factor is religion” (Darquennes and Vandenbussche, , p.). In partic-
ular, language, in some places, is seen as integral to a nation (e.g. Saudi Arabia),
while in other places it is more a tool, but not necessarily a cultural or religious
symbol (e.g. Singapore).
The gap that should be highlighted and hence explored is that there is no the-
oretical framework or even clear image regarding the study of religion and lan-
guage contact (Spolsky, ). Clearly, there is a strong link between the spread of
religion and the spread of language. This connection urged Omoniyi and Fishman
() to propose a new eld to be named ‘the sociolinguistics of religious lan-
guage’. For instance, they link the spread of Spanish and English to the spread of
Catholicism and Protestantism in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Likewise, the
spread of Arabic is linked to the spread of Islam in Europe, Africa and East Asia.
It is also worth mentioning that the spread of these religions together with their
languages has sometimes been accompanied by violence and the use of power.
Moreover, there is a belief among some followers of dierent religions that the
destruction of sacred texts would lead to the destruction of their religion (Byrnes,
).
This study, therefore, is a response to what Spolsky (cited in Omoniyi and
Fishman, , p.) called “a need for a detailed study of the linguistic inuence
of Islam in the many parts of the world where Arabic is not widely spoken”. It
also addresses Pandharipande’s () argument that the phenomenon of mix-
ing languages within the same religious event has not received sucient attention.
Although these statements are now years old, I am not aware of any other study
conducted in the manner of this research.
Arabic is the choice of language for inculcation in Islamic religious identity as
it is viewed as the authentic language of the prophet (Chew, ). The position
of Arabic among Muslims can be seen in the high status attributed to non-rst
The use of language and religion from a sociolinguistic perspective 239
language Arabic speakers who can articulate the Quran uently in Arabic (Chew,
). They also have “some of the prestige of the resurrection dispensation accru-
ing to them, with many turning that knowledge and prestige to good account”
(Sanneh, , p.). In addition to religion, English and some other languages
have borrowed from Arabic in mathematics and science. This prestigious position
of Arabic among Muslims is attributed to the Quran, which Muslims believe Allah
transmitted to the Prophet Mohammed via the Angel Gabriel in Arabic. This inti-
macy leads Holes (, p.) to name Arabic as “the liturgical language of Mus-
lims worldwide”. Indeed, religion has been mentioned as an important factor in
enhancing and boosting minority languages. Among Malays, for example, is has
been contended that the learning of Arabic is an inuential factor that has led
them to “gradually give up the animistic part of their Islamic beliefs and to become
more Muslim” (Chew, , p.).
In South Asia, according to Pandharipande (), previously only Arabic
and no other language was recognized as the legitimate code for Islam, although
this is not valid nowadays. Adams et al. () also note that imams’ use of Arabic
in mosques in Kibera, Kenya, boosted the maintenance and acquisition of Arabic
by non-Arabic Muslim natives. Another study conducted by Kouega and Baimada
() found that Arabic in Maroua, Cameroon, is employed solely for religious
purposes, namely Islam. This indicates that Arabic is seen as divine in this con-
text. Osman (, p. ) states that “the rapid expansion of Islam in the seventh
century was accompanied by another intriguing, little-studied phenomenon: the
spread of the Arabic language”. From the above review, we can conclude that Ara-
bic and Islam are very close to each other. They support one another and one can
hardly stand alone. Whenever Islam is mentioned, it is highly expected that Ara-
bic will be the language used. No doubt Arabic being the language of the Quran
has encouraged its spread and high status.
2.1 Functions of language use in religious contexts
Exploring the functions of languages in human lives is seen as an important ele-
ment in understanding the potential meaning of language (Halliday, ). Lan-
guage serves dierent functions and one of its main functions is “to serve as a
vehicle for rational thought” (Newmeyer, , p.). In addition, language func-
tions seek to reveal the purpose of the use of that language in a particular context.
By analyzing text, which is the language functioning in context, “we show what
meaningful choices have been made, each one seen in the context of what might
have been meant but was not” (Halliday, , p.). Language also, according to
Dunbar (), replaced scratching the backs of our friends and family and the
primary function of language is to establish and maintain human social relations.
240 Ali Alsaawi
The interface between language and religion sometimes arises through
employing more than one language, especially in highly multilingual societies. In
religious meetings, in which language and religion interrelate, special religious
languages or language varieties are employed for dierent purposes, such as
preaching and prayers. This interchange is termed “glossolalia” by Sawyer, or
speaking in tongues, which is “a conspicuous example where utterances in a lan-
guage unintelligible to virtually everybody present adds a prophetic dimension to
public worship” (Sawyer and Simpson, , p.). The reasons for employing
language varieties in these contexts, according to Sawyer, are “partly to heighten
peoples’ awareness of the sacredness of the moment, and partly to highlight the
continuity of what they are doing with the worship of other communities else-
where” (p.). Therefore, the functions and reasons for employing particular
languages in specic religious contexts vary and overlap. They depend on the
context, audience and intention of the speaker. As reviewed in this section, the
attempt to preserve liturgical languages because of their powerful position and
emotional impact on believers are some (but not all) of the reasons that encourage
speakers to choose carefully which language to employ.
2.2 Previous studies of language use in religious contexts
As mentioned above, language use is an area of considerable interest in sociolin-
guistics (Omoniyi and Fishman, ). Many studies have been conducted in
a variety of contexts: educational settings, family situations, courtroom settings
and the workplace environment. In contrast, far less work has been undertaken
within religious settings (Darquennes and Vandenbussche, ; Dillon, ).
Some of the very few valuable studies conducted in Islamic communities have
found that language use depends on several factors. Susanto () claims that
Muslims need Arabic to comprehend the Quran and hadith. Although transla-
tions are available in many dierent languages, Arabic is clearly a pertinent lan-
guage in the study of Islamic religious discourse. To date, very few studies have
explored the interaction between language and religion and it seems that some
previous studies have underestimated the impact of religion on (secular) com-
munities and societies. In particular, it is not clear what the functions of lan-
guage use are in religious settings and how people perceive them. Exceptions
are the studies of Samarin (), Ferguson (), Walbridge (), Barnes and
Mahomed (), Susanto (), Soliman (), Almansour (), Jaspal and
Coyle (), Kouega and Baimada (), Adams et al. () and Bassiouney
(). Although the focus of these studies varied between language choice, lan-
guage shi and codeswitching, all were concerned with language use in religious
contexts. Generally speaking, these studies have revealed that believers tend to
The use of language and religion from a sociolinguistic perspective 241
support the inclusion of the liturgical language in their religious activities. The
reasons for this support vary, but generally indicate the powerful and emotional
position of liturgical languages. They believe that they have to maintain and pre-
serve historical languages from being diminished.
3. Methodology
An interpretivist paradigm is adopted in this study due to its aim, namely to
explore and understand the phenomenon of language use in a religious context
(mosques). Some have called the interpretivist paradigm “anti-positivist” (Hatch
and Cunlie, ), while others have termed it “post-positivist” (Blaikie, )
due to the dierences in assumptions and interpretations between the social and
natural sciences. Interpretivists draw meaning from respondents’ point of view
and create realities to understand them. This position is mainly “inductive or
theory building” (Flowers, , p. ). In other words, it is a process through
which the observer tries to connect particular groups on his/her terms and from
his/her own perspectives. Crotty (, p. ) calls this paradigm “the making of
meaning” and it is associated with qualitative research methods (Flowers, ).
This study can be considered interpretive research, in which I as the researcher
explore the reality of the phenomenon of language use among a group of Muslims
(imams and audiences), who are united by a shared set of beliefs, with a view to
understanding dierent meanings. This study, therefore, employs mostly qualita-
tive research methods to gain data that reveal both imams’ and audience mem-
bers’ opinions of the functions of language use in Friday sermons in UK mosques.
The data in this study were gathered qualitatively through stimulated recall
interviews, based partly on what imams said in sermons and also on observations.
Observations of Friday sermons were used to obtain “real-time” language use.
Stimulated recall interviews were used to attain both imams’ and audiences’ opin-
ions regarding the observed phenomenon. These two methodological instru-
ments can provide rich and in-depth data about language use functions (Alsaawi,
). As this study aimed to explore language use in Friday sermons in a selection
of mosques in the UK, it is worth noting that the research questions below are
meant to be exploratory rather than conrmatory. The research questions, with
the methods employed, are set out in Table .
This study was undertaken in UK mosques and variation in language use was
expected. The target population of this study comprised imams and their audi-
ence members. Due to the multicultural background and diversity among imams
and audiences who attend mosques in the UK, the study focused on participants
attending sermons at mosques and the ocial imams regardless of their back-
242 Ali Alsaawi
Table 1. Research questions and methods
No. Research question Method(s) for addressing questions
What language(s) do imams use when giving
khutbah (sermons)?
Observation of Friday sermons
What are the functions of imams’ language use in
their sermons, according to the imams and
audience members interviewed?
Observation of Friday sermons and
stimulated recall interviews with
imams and audience members
How do listeners respond to imams’ language use
in their sermons?
Stimulated interviews with audience
members
ground. However, it is worth mentioning though that all participants in this study
are of Asian pacic origins (Pakistan, India & Indonesia).
Prior to collecting the main data, a pilot study was conducted with two par-
ticipants, an imam and an audience member, to reveal any potential challenges
regarding the participants, interview questions and data analysis. Having con-
ducted the pilot study, I began to collect the main data in the same way as in
the pilot study. In all, Friday sermons were observed and stimulated recall
interviews were implemented ( imams and audience members). All the
imams were video-taped while delivering one of their sermons before the inter-
views were conducted. Although I was open to carrying out more interviews with
both imams and audiences, based on the data collected, it appeared that “satu-
ration” or “redundancy” was reached in that no new themes emerged. Aer the
successful completion of the data collection phase, the next step was to organize
and transform the data into an analysable form of information. To do this, both
the audio-recorded interviews and video-recorded Friday sermons were manu-
ally transcribed verbatim. Therefore, prosodic and non-verbal elements were not
included in the transcription as they were not needed for the analysis (Dresing
et al., ). The focus of the transcription for both interviews and observations
was on the features pertinent to the study. Codes were used to anonymize the
identity of the participants. Line numbering was also used in transcribing both
the interviews and observational data (Friday sermons) for ease of reference.
Thematic analysis, “a method for identifying, analysing and reporting pat-
terns (themes) within data” (Braun and Clarke, , p.), was used to analyse
the transcribed data from the interviews and observations. Bryman () states
that thematic analysis is one of the most common approaches in qualitative data
analysis. The analytic procedures in this study, similar to Jaspal and Coyle (),
began by repeatedly reading the whole transcripts to become familiar with the
accounts. In doing so, I noted preliminary impressions and interpretations in the
le margin, leaving the right margin for noting emerging themes. I then started
The use of language and religion from a sociolinguistic perspective 243
coding features related to the research questions across the entire data set. Codes
were “applied to the textual data to dissect it into text segments: meaningful and
manageable chunks of text” (Attride-Stirling, , p.), resulting in the identi-
cation of codes. These codes were then listed under potential themes, leading
to the emergence of main themes.
4. Results and discussion
4.1 Functions
Exploring the functions of languages in human lives is seen as an important ele-
ment in understanding the potential meaning of language (Halliday, ). Lan-
guage serves dierent functions and a primary function of language is “to serve
as a vehicle for rational thought” (Newmeyer, , p.). The functions discussed
below start with the more frequent and common functions identied in the data
on the basis that the more particular functions occur, the more important they
might be. Thus, they take priority in the analysis and warrant being discussed
in greater depth and breadth. It should be noted that out of the functions/
themes that emerged from the interviews with imams and audience members,
were reported by both imams and audience members, whereas emerged from
imams only and from the audience only. This may indicate the importance of
the ve shared functions among the participants, as they may reect the intended
functions and reasons for language use in Friday sermons. Therefore, and due to
the word limits of this paper, only three functions shared by imams and audiences
are highlighted.
Considering religion as a sociolinguistic variable, the majority of the sermons
observed showed that imams use both English and Arabic in their speech: English
as the language most widely used in the UK and Arabic as the liturgical language
for Muslims. In contexts other than the UK, it can be claimed that Arabic can be
found in any Friday sermon around the globe. The titles of the functions below
were derived to capture the essential qualities of the accounts. Each function is
presented respectively. The functions identied in this study are not the only
possible functions of language use in the data set; rather, they represent those
revealed in this study. In the quotations from the sermons and interviews pre-
sented below, material in bold and italics indicates utterances in Arabic and mate-
rial included within round brackets provides clarication for the material in bold.
In addition, all numbered extracts in this section are from sermons, while non-
numbered extracts are from interviews.
244 Ali Alsaawi
4.1.1 Religious authority of Arabic
Arabic is the ocial language of more than countries and is ranked fourth
among the most spoken languages in the world. Islam was and remains a key fac-
tor in the spread of Arabic around the globe (Ferguson, ; Osman, ). This
function of Arabic was the most frequently referenced among the participants.
Jubayr () noted that most Muslims, from dierent parts of the world, attend-
ing the annual pilgrimage and visiting the two holy mosques in Islam (Makkah
and Madinah) in Arabia a long time ago probably interacted in Arabic as the
language most applicable to Muslims. This positively boosted the authority of
Arabic and its spread among Muslims. Keane (), for instance, believes that rit-
ual speech has an authoritative position over hearers. Therefore, the authority of
Arabic sources of religious speech is unquestionable for the majority of Muslims
(Errihani, ). In addition, in being able to speak “the words of the scripture”,
the imam is capable of invoking a grand style (rhetoric) in front of the audience
(Augustine, , cited in Rogers, ). Indeed, Arabic has a prestigious posi-
tion among Muslim imams. The imam’s religious authority with his congregation,
according to Errihani (), will ultimately eliminate the barriers between them
by building trust in what the imam says.
A central function repeatedly raised by the participants for including Arabic
with English in Friday sermons is the powerful and authoritative stance of Arabic
among Muslim believers in that Arabic is the medium in which the original source
of Islamic knowledge is conveyed. According to Pandharipande (cited in Omoniyi
and Fishman, , p.), “authority should be treated as a mechanism of change
in the structure and function of religious languages in particular and languages
in general”. Some of the imam participants believe that Arabic has a power over
other languages in Islamic discourse. Imam , for instance, stated that:
Arabic language has a power that other languages don’t have. When Arabic is
used, it aects people in a way that other languages don’t. It has a power to shape
a person. For people who don’t understand Arabic, I personally believe that they
will be in some spiritual level aected by it even if they don’t understand it.
This claim from an imam who is still learning Arabic is an indication of how Mus-
lims, regardless of their ethnicity or background, are strongly touched by Arabic,
especially in a religious setting. This shows that in the case of religion, beliefs are
likely to be more important to believers than ethnicity or nationality. The follow-
ing extract shows how Arabic terms potentially have greater religious inuence
than English equivalents when it comes to discussing Islam:
The use of language and religion from a sociolinguistic perspective 245
Extract .
…so for a Muslim to carry out this humble call, calling the people to Islam, bring-
ing the people to peace, taking the people out of darkness into light, from out of
Jahannam (hell) into Jannah (heaven), know the fact that this is a composed
(Imam , Lines –; time: :–:)react upon every Muslim…
Imam in the above extract used two Arabic words ‘jahannam’ (hell) and ‘jannah’
(paradise or heaven). This extract came in the middle of the sermon, when he was
talking about Muslims’ duty to call people to Islam. He stresses the point that as
Muslims believe in hell and paradise, by calling people to Islam, they simply raise
their chance of going to the latter. This is an important aspect for Muslims, similar
to Christian missionaries who call people to Christianity. The imam repeatedly
used the word jannah (seven times), but mentioned jahannam only once.
Moreover, in the entire data set, jahannam was not used in any other sermon,
whereas jannah was employed times in sermons by imams, regardless of
the topic of the sermon. This indicates the impact of positive reinforcement. For
Muslims and especially Islamic teachers, knowing Arabic is like having access
to a precious source. This opinion was also shared by audience member , who
stated “…I think he tries to reach to the public by using Arabic language”. Again,
this comment shows that the audience is aware of the imams’ intentions and that
both imams and their audiences share similar opinions concerning the author-
itative stance of Arabic among Muslims. The reference to “reaching the public”
in the above quotation perhaps reects Cummings’ () point, namely that by
using Arabic, imams are keen to gain the audience members’ respect, demonstrat-
ing they are highly qualied as imams to deliver Friday sermons, which of course
includes knowing the Islamic liturgical language (Chew, ; Nadwi, ).
4.1.2 Authenticity
The second most common theme in the data was authenticity. Authenticity here
refers to the language used by imams “as a means to stimulate interpretations
of the intended message” (Breen, , p.). Retaining the language used in the
Muslims’ holy book (the Quran), which Muslims generally believe is the “word of
God” and the native language of the Prophet Mohammed, with a history of more
than , years in an Islamic religious context, is a sign of an attempt to pre-
serve the authenticity of the religion. Indeed, Arabic is seen as a valuable tradition
among Muslims that must be preserved, especially in non-Arabic contexts.
Errihani (, p.) comments on the former quotation that “these stylistic
features are what prove the miracle of the Quran, its perfection and thus the inabil-
ity of humans to imitate its composition”, according to believers. This authentic
tradition of employing Arabic in Friday sermons and other Islamic religious con-
246 Ali Alsaawi
texts is not conned to spoken code, but also “ensures that all Muslims are initi-
ated into the written code of Quranic Arabic” (Rosowsky, , p.). Moreover,
the circulation of traditional religious materials in standard Arabic has played a
crucial role in the spread of Islam (Sanneh, ). A function of religious bodies is
to disseminate their message to try and ensure as many followers as possible. Some
religions do not do this though, or not to the same extent. For example, Hinduism
was not successfully assimilated in the regions through which it passed (Gumperz,
b). Imam , in addition, states that “…knowing Arabic language would make
you appreciate the eloquence, values and sweetness of lots of conceptual issues
in Islam as well as understanding the beauty of the Quran”. This quote illustrates
how authenticity in the use of Arabic is linked to the ability to understand the
Quran and the religion in general, regardless of the availability and accessibility of
related sources in other languages. Although non-Arabic speakers can understand
the Quran and religion without learning Arabic, this positive stance towards Ara-
bic among the participants could be a result of what Imam reported, namely that
“It goes back to the issue of authenticity as it is the language of Quran and hadith
and even outside of these two”.
Indeed, the special value of Arabic, the language of the Quran – which Mus-
lims believe contains the “word of God” and the prophet’s sayings – is endorsed
in the old manuscripts of Islamic scholars and placed in a superior position for all
Muslims. However, the desire among Muslims to maintain Arabic in non-Arabic
religious contexts is not employed excessively such that it could aect compre-
hension of the sermons. Evidently, most of the imams were aware of this, as can
be seen through their practice in their observed sermons. An example of this is
provided in a sermon by Imam :
Extract .
…that a believer, the similitude, the example of a believer to another believer is
just like a building, yashuddu baedahu baedan (support one another): one part
of building is supporting another part, this is how the ummah is supposed to be,
one part of a building supporting another part.
(Imam , Lines −; time: :−:)
The above extract is a detailed explanation of one of the prophet’s sayings
(hadith). Imam quoted the hadith literally rst in Arabic, although he was not
a native speaker of Arabic, then he explained it thoroughly in English via transla-
tion. The above extract came in the early part of the sermon, when the imam was
trying to exemplify his claim that Muslims should treat each other with support
and care. It is thought that mentioning the Prophet’s sayings rst in Arabic then
in English, not vice versa, is an indication of the importance and authenticity of
Arabic in this particular context. Moreover, referencing in Arabic rst could be
The use of language and religion from a sociolinguistic perspective 247
an attempt to attract the attention of the audience, bearing in mind that the dom-
inant language in the sermon is English, in terms of quantity. Thus, by shiing
and uttering a phrase in Arabic rst will help attract the attention of the audience
more than if it is said vice versa. The audience members considered that imams
try to authenticate their sermons by employing Arabic: “…it is more traditional
as the time of the prophet and early khutbahs (sermons) were delivered in Arabic
so they may try to retain that” (AM). Audience member correlated the authen-
ticity/tradition of Arabic with the sermons delivered by the Prophet Mohammed
solely in Arabic. This view from an audience member could indicate the level of
involvement of non-Arabic Muslims in the Arabic literature on Islam regardless of
the availability of translated literature.
4.1.3 Accommodation
Among the participants, the imams’ endeavours to include and accommodate
the congregation’s preferences were addressed. This function was the third most
prevalent in the data. Usually accommodation occurs when people attempt to
integrate and/or assimilate with others (Omoniyi, ). Arabic has an inclusive
function in the context of this study. According to Llamas et al. (, p.),
accommodation comprises “the convergence of two or more interactants’ way of
speaking within an interactional episode”. Indeed, by employing two languages in
Friday sermons, imams are trying to accommodate everyone’s preferred language,
thus ensuring the congregation feels comfortable and comprehends the key mes-
sage. According to Meyerho (), this behaviour is termed “audience design”,
in which speakers tend to design their speech according to their audience’s needs
(see also Bell, ). Some of the imams revealed that using both Arabic and Eng-
lish in the sermons is the optimal choice in order to be able to address an audi-
ence with a diverse background so that no-one feels excluded. For example, Imam
stated that “Both languages must be used in the khutbah (sermon), especially
Friday sermons where dierent ethnic minority attends the praying”. This kind of
awareness indicates that imams are trying to accommodate the dierences among
the audience members, particularly with regard to language use, as articulated
by Imam , “In the UK here, Muslims are from dierent backgrounds, some will
understand Arabic while others will understand English”. It also shows that Arabic
is used to put the audience on the same level, where they share something in com-
mon. The following extract from Imam ’s sermon is an example of how imams
use both languages to accommodate audience preferences:
Extract .
…When the prophet – salla allahu alayhi wa sallam – even the orientalist, they
appreciate that no a single unique brotherhood ever on the surface of the earth as
248 Ali Alsaawi
like the prophet of the Islam did to sahaba (companions), to the companions,
(Imam , Lines −; time: :−:)when he met them …
The above extract came in the middle of the sermon, when the imam was talking
about the brotherhood in Islam and mentioned the companions of the Prophet as
an example to show how they treated each other as a large family. In the context
of this topic, the imam mentioned the word ‘sahaba’ three times in the whole ser-
mon. Aer using the Arabic word ‘sahaba’, Imam uses the English equivalent
‘companions’. This behaviour, according to the imam himself, is an accommoda-
tion practice, so that he can include the audience’s language preferences. This is
loosely related to “the convergence of two or more interactants’ way of speaking
within an interactional episode” (Llamas et al., , p.). For instance, audi-
ence member stated:
…I think it depends on the audience. If he got Arabs then he should uses Arabic
but if he got English then he must uses English. So, the point is use the language
(AM)that people know and understand in order to reach them.
This comment from an audience member reveals his awareness of imams’ con-
scious practice. He considers that imams are willing to include the congregations’
preferences and capabilities. Indeed, the imams indicated their attempts to take
account of such preferences and capabilities in their sermons.
5. Conclusion
This study aimed to explore a phenomenon that results from the interaction
between language and religion, namely the use of more than one language (Arabic
and English) and switching in a religious context (Friday sermons) in UK
mosques. From a sociolinguistic perspective, the purpose was to explore the func-
tions underlying this linguistic behaviour from the perspectives of both imams
and their audiences. Three research questions were addressed: () What languages
do imams use when giving khutbah? () What are the functions of imams’ lan-
guage use in their sermons? () How do listeners respond to imams’ language use
in their sermons? It seems that imams’ use of Arabic together with English serves
cultural, emotional and social functions, based on the data. Imams and audience
members share similar opinions towards the use of Arabic with English in Friday
sermons in the UK. The Muslim participants’ awareness of events to which they
are spiritually attached and in which they are regularly involved indicate that they
pay attention to anything interacting with their religion, such as the language.
The use of language and religion from a sociolinguistic perspective 249
Funding
The author would like to thank Deanship of Scientic Research at Majmaah University for sup-
porting this work under project number (–).
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