LANGUAGE AND RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND PERSUASIVE STRATEGIES IN ISLAMIC SERMONS

Razzaq, Nasir

doi:10.36755/iqan.v5i02.427

Research Article (Vol. 5(2)) 2023

LANGUAGE AND RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND PERSUASIVE STRATEGIES IN ISLAMIC SERMONS

ĪQĀN

33 Cited by 50 References Full access PDF

Abstract

This study explores the linguistic features and persuasive strategies employed in Islamic sermons, aiming to deepen our understanding of the role of language in religious discourse. By examining lexical choices, grammatical structures, rhetorical devices, emotional appeals, logical reasoning, religious authority, and storytelling, the research highlights the various elements that contribute to the persuasive power of these sermons. A comparative analysis of different contexts and speakers reveals variations in linguistic features and persuasive strategies. The findings of this study contribute to both the fields of linguistics and Islamic Studies by offering a comprehensive analysis of language use in Islamic sermons and demonstrating the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in understanding religious discourse. The research encourages further exploration of linguistic aspects of religious discourse across various contexts and religious traditions, ultimately shedding light on the role of language in shaping beliefs and attitudes in religious settings.

Keywords: Linguistic; Islamic Study; Religious Discourse; Language and Religious Discourse; Linguistic Features

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Title

LANGUAGE AND RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND PERSUASIVE STRATEGIES IN ISLAMIC SERMONS

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ĪQĀN

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424:iqan

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Active

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Research Article

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JournalArticle

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424:iqan:2023n8

Language

English

Publication Date

25 Aug 2023

Record Entered On

14 Nov 2026

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14 Nov 2026

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Active

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ĪQĀN

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Riphah International University, Faisalabad Campus

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2617-3336

eISSN

2617-3700

Volume / Issue

5 (2)

Pages

25-42

Peer Reviewed

Yes

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Corresponding

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8 Apr 2023

Accepted

20 Aug 2023

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Social Sciences and Humanities

Islamic Studies

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CC BY 4.0

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DOI

10.36755/iqan.v5i02.427

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https://iqan.com.pk/ojs_archive/index.php/iqan/article/view/427

References 50

Abdel Haleem, M. A. (2004). Understanding the Qur'an: Themes and style. I.B. Tauris.
Al-Ali, M. N. (2010). The pragmatics of deference and politeness in the Arabic religious sermon (khutba). Intercultural Pragmatics, 7(4), 605-635.
Al-Mahadin, S. (2013). Rhetoric in religious discourse: A critical study of the language of Friday sermons in Jordan. In E. Archer & P. Jagodziński (Eds.), What's in a text? (pp. 15-34). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Al-Maqtari, F. (2013). The speech act theory in English and Arabic: A comparative study. International Journal of English and Education, 2(1), 193-206.
Al-Saqqaf, A. (2015). The language of Islamic sermons: A study of classical Arabic religious discourse. Journal of Islamic Studies, 26(2), 125-154.
Alter, R. (1985). The art of biblical narrative. Basic Books.
Banks, J. (2014). Religious discourse and emotional language. In E. Weigand & J. P. Gee (Eds.), Discourse, language, and social change (pp. 117-133). Routledge.
Brinton, L. J. (2008). The structure of modern English: A linguistic introduction. John Benjamins Publishing.
Bruner, J. (1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry, 18(1), 1 - 21.
Bulut, D. (2009). Language and identity in the Turkish religious sermon: A sociolinguistic analysis. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13(2), 216-237.
Burke, K. (1969). A rhetoric of motives. University of California Press.
Cameron, D. (2017). Language and religion. In A. Barras & S. Palmieri (Eds.), Language, communication, and the economy: Discourse approaches to politics, society, and culture (Vol. 71, pp. 53-67). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Chau, R. (2011). Religion and the state in post -war Taiwan. The China Quarterly, 208, 986-1006.
Chilton, P., & Schäffner, C. (2012). Language and politics. In J. P. Gee & M. Handford (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 303 -316). Routledge.
Cotter, C. R., & Robertson, D. G. (2016). New directions in the study of language and religion. In C. R. Cotter & D. G. Robertson (Eds.), After world religions: Reconstructing religious studies (pp. 119-134). Routledge.
Dananjaya, A. (2012). The structure of Islamic sermons: A study of sermon organization. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 1-12.
Davies, D. (2016). A new dictionary of Christian theology. SCM Press.
De Blois, F. (2000). Arabic and other Semitic languages in the Qur'an and in the Islamic religious discourse. Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 2(2), 1-28.
Fowler, R., Hodge, B., Kress, G., & Trew, T. (1979). Language and control. Routledge.
Ghazali, A. (2011). The art of Islamic preaching: A rhetorical analysis of selected Friday sermons. Intellectual Discourse, 19(2), 201-223.
Gibbs, R. W. (1994). The poetics of mind: Figurative thought, language, and understanding. Cambridge University Press.
Gibbs, R. W., & Cameron, L. (2008). The social -cognitive dynamics of metaphor performance. Cognitive Systems Research, 9(1), 64-75.
Giles, H., & Johnson, P. (1987). Ethnolinguistic identity theory: A social psychological approach to language maintenance. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1987(68), 69-99.
Gimenez, J. (2017). Discourse strategies in Islamic preaching: A critical discourse analysis of Friday sermons in Turkey. Journal of Language and Religion, 6(1), 1 - 23.
Grimes, R. L., & Whitehouse, H. (2015). Research methods in the study of religion. In S. Sutcliffe & I. S. Gilhus (Eds.), New approaches to the study of religion (pp. 33-60). Walter de Gruyter.
Hadler, M. N., Gatchel, R. J., & Mayer, T. G. (2011). The relationship between language and health status in the assessment of chronic low back pain patients. Spine, 36(7), E468-E472.
Heritage, J., & Stivers, T. (2011). Allocating tasks and synthesizing perspectives in doctor-patient interaction. In C. Antaki (Ed.), Applied conversation analysis: Intervention and change in institutional talk (pp. 71-89). Palgrave Macmillan.
Ismail, N. (2017). Metaphor in religious discourse: A study of sermons in a Malaysian mosque. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 17(1), 19-36.
Ismail, N. A. (2019). A linguistic analysis of selected Islamic sermons in Malaysia: The case of the discourse strategies. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 9(2), 391-400.
Jaspal, R. (2016). Language, social identity and religion. In H. Giles & A. Maass (Eds.), Advances in intergroup communication (pp. 201-217). Peter Lang.
Jones, A. (2003). Some ethical considerations for conversation analysis as a therapy research tool. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 38(1), 13-28.
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Khan, F., Amatya, B., & Ng, L. (2016). Rehabilitation in Madagascar: Challenges in implementing the World Health Organization Disability Action Plan. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 48(10), 825-829.
Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford University Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
Matoesian, G. M. (2009). The language of persuasion. Language & Communication, 29(2), 109-123. Mitchell, P., Wynia, M., Golden, R., McNellis, B., Okun, S., Webb, C. E., ... & Von
Kohorn, I. (2012). Core principles & values of effective team -based health care. Discussion Paper, Institute of Medicine, Washington, DC.
Nagy, K. (2016). The role of language in shaping the international cultural and political landscape. Language Policy, 15(2), 157-179.
Nekmard, F. (2016). The role of context in shaping the linguistic features of Islamic sermons: A comparative study of sermons delivered in Iran and the United States. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 4(2), 90-102.
Nofal, M. Y., & Badeeb, R. M. (2018). Persuasive strategies in religious discourse: A case study of Friday sermons in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 7(5), 109-116.
Pawelczyk, J. (2011). Talk as therapy: Psychotherapy, the discursive turn, and the language of the personal. De Gruyter Mouton.
Rahim, H. A. (2016). Figurative language in religious discourse: A study of metaphors in Friday sermons. International Journal of Language Studies, 10(2), 1 - 18.
Rahman, M. A. (2015). The dynamics of Islamic sermons: A comparative analysis of Friday sermons delivered in different socio-political contexts. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 35(3), 388-406.
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Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge University Press.
Smith, J. Z. (2015). On teaching religion: Essays by Jonathan Z. Smith. Oxford University Press.
Souag, L. (2011). The linguistic representation of Islamic authority: A comparative study of Arabic and Berber sermons in Algeria. Journal of North African Studies, 16(2), 297-312.
Suleiman, Y. (2006). The Arabic language and national identity: A study in ideology. Georgetown University Press.
Tannen, D. (1999). The argument culture: Moving from debate to dialogue. Random House.
Vásquez, M. A. (2011). The world made flesh: The language of embodiment in the study of religion. Religion, 41(2), 129-142.

[1] Abdel Haleem, M. A. (2004). Understanding the Qur'an: Themes and style. I.B. Tauris.

[2] Al-Ali, M. N. (2010). The pragmatics of deference and politeness in the Arabic religious sermon (khutba). Intercultural Pragmatics, 7(4), 605-635.

[3] Al-Mahadin, S. (2013). Rhetoric in religious discourse: A critical study of the language of Friday sermons in Jordan. In E. Archer & P. Jagodziński (Eds.), What's in a text? (pp. 15-34). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

[4] Al-Maqtari, F. (2013). The speech act theory in English and Arabic: A comparative study. International Journal of English and Education, 2(1), 193-206.

[5] Al-Saqqaf, A. (2015). The language of Islamic sermons: A study of classical Arabic religious discourse. Journal of Islamic Studies, 26(2), 125-154.

[6] Alter, R. (1985). The art of biblical narrative. Basic Books.

[7] Banks, J. (2014). Religious discourse and emotional language. In E. Weigand & J. P. Gee (Eds.), Discourse, language, and social change (pp. 117-133). Routledge.

[8] Brinton, L. J. (2008). The structure of modern English: A linguistic introduction. John Benjamins Publishing.

[9] Bruner, J. (1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical Inquiry, 18(1), 1 - 21.

[10] Bulut, D. (2009). Language and identity in the Turkish religious sermon: A sociolinguistic analysis. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 13(2), 216-237.

[11] Burke, K. (1969). A rhetoric of motives. University of California Press.

[12] Cameron, D. (2017). Language and religion. In A. Barras & S. Palmieri (Eds.), Language, communication, and the economy: Discourse approaches to politics, society, and culture (Vol. 71, pp. 53-67). John Benjamins Publishing Company.

[13] Chau, R. (2011). Religion and the state in post -war Taiwan. The China Quarterly, 208, 986-1006.

[14] Chilton, P., & Schäffner, C. (2012). Language and politics. In J. P. Gee & M. Handford (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of discourse analysis (pp. 303 -316). Routledge.

[15] Cotter, C. R., & Robertson, D. G. (2016). New directions in the study of language and religion. In C. R. Cotter & D. G. Robertson (Eds.), After world religions: Reconstructing religious studies (pp. 119-134). Routledge.

[16] Dananjaya, A. (2012). The structure of Islamic sermons: A study of sermon organization. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(2), 1-12.

[17] Davies, D. (2016). A new dictionary of Christian theology. SCM Press.

[18] De Blois, F. (2000). Arabic and other Semitic languages in the Qur'an and in the Islamic religious discourse. Journal of Qur'anic Studies, 2(2), 1-28.

[19] Fowler, R., Hodge, B., Kress, G., & Trew, T. (1979). Language and control. Routledge.

[20] Ghazali, A. (2011). The art of Islamic preaching: A rhetorical analysis of selected Friday sermons. Intellectual Discourse, 19(2), 201-223.

[21] Gibbs, R. W. (1994). The poetics of mind: Figurative thought, language, and understanding. Cambridge University Press.

[22] Gibbs, R. W., & Cameron, L. (2008). The social -cognitive dynamics of metaphor performance. Cognitive Systems Research, 9(1), 64-75.

[23] Giles, H., & Johnson, P. (1987). Ethnolinguistic identity theory: A social psychological approach to language maintenance. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 1987(68), 69-99.

[24] Gimenez, J. (2017). Discourse strategies in Islamic preaching: A critical discourse analysis of Friday sermons in Turkey. Journal of Language and Religion, 6(1), 1 - 23.

[25] Grimes, R. L., & Whitehouse, H. (2015). Research methods in the study of religion. In S. Sutcliffe & I. S. Gilhus (Eds.), New approaches to the study of religion (pp. 33-60). Walter de Gruyter.

[26] Hadler, M. N., Gatchel, R. J., & Mayer, T. G. (2011). The relationship between language and health status in the assessment of chronic low back pain patients. Spine, 36(7), E468-E472.

[27] Heritage, J., & Stivers, T. (2011). Allocating tasks and synthesizing perspectives in doctor-patient interaction. In C. Antaki (Ed.), Applied conversation analysis: Intervention and change in institutional talk (pp. 71-89). Palgrave Macmillan.

[28] Ismail, N. (2017). Metaphor in religious discourse: A study of sermons in a Malaysian mosque. GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies, 17(1), 19-36.

[29] Ismail, N. A. (2019). A linguistic analysis of selected Islamic sermons in Malaysia: The case of the discourse strategies. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 9(2), 391-400.

[30] Jaspal, R. (2016). Language, social identity and religion. In H. Giles & A. Maass (Eds.), Advances in intergroup communication (pp. 201-217). Peter Lang.

[31] Jones, A. (2003). Some ethical considerations for conversation analysis as a therapy research tool. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 38(1), 13-28.

[32] Karapolat, H., Eyigor, S., Zoghi, M., & Akkoc, Y. (2009). The effects of a pulmonary rehabilitation program on pulmonary function tests and exercise tolerance in patients with COPD. Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, 55(2), 60-65.

[33] Khan, F., Amatya, B., & Ng, L. (2016). Rehabilitation in Madagascar: Challenges in implementing the World Health Organization Disability Action Plan. Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 48(10), 825-829.

[34] Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford University Press.

[35] Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.

[36] Matoesian, G. M. (2009). The language of persuasion. Language & Communication, 29(2), 109-123. Mitchell, P., Wynia, M., Golden, R., McNellis, B., Okun, S., Webb, C. E., ... & Von

[37] Kohorn, I. (2012). Core principles & values of effective team -based health care. Discussion Paper, Institute of Medicine, Washington, DC.

[38] Nagy, K. (2016). The role of language in shaping the international cultural and political landscape. Language Policy, 15(2), 157-179.

[39] Nekmard, F. (2016). The role of context in shaping the linguistic features of Islamic sermons: A comparative study of sermons delivered in Iran and the United States. International Journal of Language and Linguistics, 4(2), 90-102.

[40] Nofal, M. Y., & Badeeb, R. M. (2018). Persuasive strategies in religious discourse: A case study of Friday sermons in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 7(5), 109-116.

[41] Pawelczyk, J. (2011). Talk as therapy: Psychotherapy, the discursive turn, and the language of the personal. De Gruyter Mouton.

[42] Rahim, H. A. (2016). Figurative language in religious discourse: A study of metaphors in Friday sermons. International Journal of Language Studies, 10(2), 1 - 18.

[43] Rahman, M. A. (2015). The dynamics of Islamic sermons: A comparative analysis of Friday sermons delivered in different socio-political contexts. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 35(3), 388-406.

[44] Ryding, K. C. (2014). A reference grammar of Modern Standard Arabic. Cambridge University Press.

[45] Searle, J. R. (1969). Speech acts: An essay in the philosophy of language. Cambridge University Press.

[46] Smith, J. Z. (2015). On teaching religion: Essays by Jonathan Z. Smith. Oxford University Press.

[47] Souag, L. (2011). The linguistic representation of Islamic authority: A comparative study of Arabic and Berber sermons in Algeria. Journal of North African Studies, 16(2), 297-312.

[48] Suleiman, Y. (2006). The Arabic language and national identity: A study in ideology. Georgetown University Press.

[49] Tannen, D. (1999). The argument culture: Moving from debate to dialogue. Random House.

[50] Vásquez, M. A. (2011). The world made flesh: The language of embodiment in the study of religion. Religion, 41(2), 129-142.

LANGUAGE AND RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE: AN ANALYSIS OF THE LINGUISTIC FEATURES AND PERSUASIVE STRATEGIES IN ISLAMIC SERMONS

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