Focusing on the following three key words: language, migration and identity, we pursue how Muslim migrant workers maintain their religious identity through Arabic language from various perspectives.
The first perspective is to explore “imagined identities” (Barkhuizen & de Klerk, 2006) which Muslim Foreign Domestic Helpers (FDHs) have towards Arabic language and the value of their “investment” in learning Arabic language (Salami, 2010) as the sacred language of Islam. Most of them are eager to study Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) in the hope to increase their knowledge and familiarity with the religious text of the al-Qurʾān and ḥadīṯ in the original Arabic text. We discuss on the indexicality of Arabic language as Islamic religious identity.
The second perspective is to explore whether colloquial varieties of Arabic can contribute to the acquisition of standard variety to maintain their “imagined identities”. This clarifies how “imagined equality” between Classical Arabic by which Islamic sacred texts were written and its modernized variety MSA is created and maintained. Further more, we can pursue the “imagined link” between colloquial Arabic and Classical Arabic”, putting aside the true historical development of Arabic language. This certifies how greatly “imagined identities” have influenced the history of Arabic language, which is the true picture of Arabic language.
The third perspective is to explore how the discrepancy between proficiency of Arabic language and prestigious status assigned to Arabic language appears. FDHs from Indonesia and the Philippines are familiar with Arabic letters. However, they do not understand Arabic linguistic systems. High status and prestige are assigned to Arabic language by Muslims in spite of their low proficiency. (Owens 1995, 192)
References
Barkhuizen, G., & de Klerk, V. (2006). Imagined identities: Pre-immigrants’ narratives on language and identity. International Journal of Bilingualism, 10(3), 277-299.
Owens, J. (1995). Minority languages and urban norms: A case study. Linguistics, 33, 305-358.
Salami, L. O. (2010). Arabic and Sociocultural Change among the Yoruba. In T. Omoniyi (Ed.), The Sociology of Language and Religion: Change, Conflict and Accommodation (pp. 45-57). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
