Not what you say, but the way you say it
by Jamie Bartlett
The battle for the soul of British Islam often comes down to legitimacy. Anjem Choudary and Majiid Nawaz represent two distinct strands. The first, is an ultra-orthodox radical who hopes to turn the UK into an Islamic Caliphate; the second a secular moderniser who fights extremism.
They sparred on Newsnight last week, and anyone watching might have noticed something interesting. Words with an Arabic base, such as Hizb Ut-Tahrir were pronounced with a heavy Arabic locution, such as stressing the soft breathed ‘h’ in Tahrir. Choudary (who was born Welling and has lived in the UK all his life) pronounces ‘Afghanistan’ like he’s never stepped foot outside Saudi Arabia. It is a dog whistle, a way to make sure people know you speak Arabic.
And this is important. The role of the Arabic language in Islam is fundamental. One cannot understand the Qur’an without being a linguistic who has mastered classical ‘fusha’ Arabic. It is a beautiful, romantic, and difficult language. Our recent research into radicalisation across Europe & Canada found that, for many young people, legitimacy about speaking for ‘true’ Islam was tied to who had the most Arabic sounding accent. Indeed, most recent terror cells have had ‘leaders’ who could speak a smattering of Arabic and thus appeared more learned in the eyes of others. In the battle for legitimacy, accents matter.
Tachi
You have observed Islam's inherent Arabocentricity, not much of a surprise. It has been evident throughout Islam's history and is today in the treatment of Sudan's black Muslims by the Arab janjaweed. This has very little bearing on how we, non-Arabic speakers, can understand the Qur'an. For if you, an Arabic reader, after reading the Qur'an in Arabic can explain to me what it means in English, then you have undermined your argument that one needs to understand the Qur'an in Arabic. For there is no essential difference in you explaining to me in English from me reading a number of English translations and commentaries supplemented by reading the hadiths and sira. Your comment thus veers over the edge of cultural relativism of the nonsensical type. And yet you don't even make your point, to which the comment on language is leading. What advantage can knowing Arabic give you, what can it actually help you understand? You've made the point that amongst radicals or would-be radicals the authenticity of one's Arabic is important to understand. But for what? To second guess who might be higher up the heirachy of radical Islam in the UK? That would clearly be wrong since it is actually not one's Arabic at the end of the day that matters in the eyes of radicals, it is the knowledge of the Qur'anic teachings, the hadiths and sira, as well as their embodiment in the shari'a, inasmuch as they relate to Islam's relation with the non-Islamic world, to the strategic objectives of Islam to restore its rightful place in the world ... these are the things, the knowledge that matters to young Muslims looking up to radicals. They admire the ability to quote, to refer, to argue for the sake of Islam based on these canonical sources. So I don't think Choudary's pronounciation of Afghanistan matters one jot to his followers since they know that he is citing accurately what the Islamic law states.
Alex Johnson
The only point I would like to make is to comment on your comment: "One cannot understand the Qur’an without being a linguistic who has mastered classical ‘fusha’ Arabic."
I don't speak a word of Russian and yet I understood War and Peace perfectly. The translation is different to the original, but it captures its essence and ideas, and thats the main thing. It's the same with the Qur’an. This isn't some mystical book which only someone steeped in generations of Arabic culutre can understand, its just a book of ideas.