Diwan: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Arab

Translation as ideological practice: Negotiating cultural lexicon from Cantik Itu Luka into al-Jamāl Jarḥ

Retno Nindya Khoirunisa — 2026-05-04

The translation of Indonesian literary works into Arabic constitutes a growing yet insufficiently theorized area within cross-cultural literary exchange. While previous studies have examined the Arabic translation of Indonesian novels predominantly through linguistic lenses, no study has systematically analyzed the ideological orientations operative in the translation of cultural lexicon from Indonesian into Arabic. This study investigates domestication and foreignisation strategies in the Arabic translation of Eka Kurniawan's Cantik Itu Luka, rendered as al-Jamāl Jarḥ by Ahmad Syafi'i. Drawing on Venuti's domestication-foreignisation framework and Newmark's cultural lexicon taxonomy, this research employs a qualitative descriptive-comparative method. Data were drawn from the seventh edition of Cantik Itu Luka as the source text and al-Jamāl Jarḥ as the target text, comprising 125 cultural lexical items purposively sampled across five Newmark categories: ecology, material culture, social culture, social organization, and gestures and habits. The findings reveal that domestication predominates, accounting for 65.6% of attested strategies (82 items), while foreignisation accounts for 34.4% (43 items). Domestication prevails in the ecological and gesture categories, whereas foreignisation dominates in social organization through transliteration. These findings demonstrate that the translator's ideological orientation is contextually determined by the degree of cultural specificity embedded in each lexical item, and that foreignisation operates not merely as an ideological choice but as a structural necessity arising from the restricted cultural equivalence between Indonesian and Arabic. This study advances an Arabic-language perspective within the comparative translation scholarship on Cantik Itu Luka translations and extends the applicability of Venuti's framework to a non-European translation context.

Qur’anic intertextuality as discursive strategy in Bayt Baws by Ibrahim Muhammad Talha: A critical discourse analysis

Salma Ali Salem Mansoor — 2026-05-04

Although Qur’anic intertextuality in contemporary Arabic literature has attracted increasing scholarly attention, studies examining its role in contemporary Yemeni fiction remain limited, particularly those employing critical discourse analysis as their primary analytical framework. To address this gap, this study aims to identify the forms of Qur’anic intertextuality in Bayt Baws and analyze their functions in constructing narrative meaning and articulating socio-political critique. Employing a qualitative research design grounded in Fairclough's three-dimensional critical discourse analysis, this study systematically analyses seven representative excerpts from the novel. It classifies them according to Miftāḥ's typology of Qur’anic intertextuality. The findings reveal that Qur’anic intertextuality in Bayt Baws operates through external intertextuality, in which direct Qur’anic quotations provide symbolic authority and ethical weight to the narrative, and internal intertextuality, in which indirect Qur’anic resonances engage the reader's moral consciousness through implicit thematic engagement. These mechanisms function as deliberate discursive strategies to expose political corruption, critique social hypocrisy, and foreground moral contradictions between Qur’anic ideals and contemporary Yemeni realities. This study contributes to Arabic literary studies by demonstrating how Qur’anic intertextuality serves as a tool for reshaping narrative discourse and enhancing critical awareness, while extending the scope of Qur’anic intertextuality research into the largely underexplored domain of contemporary Yemeni literature.

Acehnese interference in students' spoken Arabic: A multi-level cross-linguistic analysis in an Indonesian Islamic boarding school

Maulana Ihsan Ahmad — 2026-05-04

Although numerous studies have examined Arabic language interference among Indonesian learners, detailed analyses integrating multiple linguistic levels within a single Acehnese-speaking institutional context remain a significant gap in the literature. This study addresses that gap by investigating cross-linguistic influence in students’ spoken Arabic at Dayah Babul Maghfirah, an Islamic boarding school in Aceh that formally enforces Arabic-only communication. Adopting a qualitative descriptive approach, the study analyzes naturally occurring oral interactions collected through non-participant observation over one week. Data were examined using Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña’s interactive model. The findings reveal systematic Acehnese interference across four linguistic levels: 1) phonological substitutions of marked Arabic consonants; 2) morphological projection of Acehnese particles and affixes; 3) syntactic transfer of Acehnese-dominant structural templates; and 4) lexical insertion of discourse markers and interjections. These patterns demonstrate that local linguistic repertoires remain structurally active even within immersion-oriented institutional settings, challenging assumptions that policy-driven environments suppress first-language influence. By providing a systematic multi-level mapping of interference within a single pesantren environment, this study contributes empirically to cross-linguistic influence research and extends Indonesian interference scholarship to an underrepresented regional context. The findings offer evidence-based insight for Arabic pedagogy in multilingual religious education settings where immersion policies coexist with deeply entrenched vernacular linguistic identities.

Beyond literal commands in prophetic messages: Reinterpreting imperative meanings in Mukhtār al-Aḥādīth al-Nabawīyah wa-al-Ḥikam al-Muḥammadīyah

Nadina Sanraida Kedaton — 2026-05-04

The hadith corpus is a rich linguistic resource, but remains underexplored for its use of imperatives, whose meanings go far beyond the literal command. Prior scholarship has been predominantly confined to the Qur'anic text or to cross-thematic samples, and no study has systematically examined the meaning of imperatives in a thematic chapter of a classical hadith book, especially from the perspective of ʿilm al-maʿānī. This study addresses the gap by examining the pattern and meaning of imperatives (amr) in Mukhtār al-Aḥādīth al-Nabawīyah wa-al-Ḥikam al-Muḥammadīyah, specifically in the chapter Khātimah fī Tahdhīb al-Nufūs. Data were collected using the observation note technique and analyzed using the distributional method via substitution. A total of 103 imperatives were identified in three patterns: fiʿl al-amr (90), al-fiʿl al-muḍāriʿ bi lām al-amr (11), and ism fiʿl al-amr (2). A notable finding concerns the absence of the maṣdar, one of the four patterns in the ‘ilm al-maʿānī. This absence serves as a stylistic marker that distinguishes this thematic hadith from the Qur'anic imperative patterns. In terms of meaning, reinterpretation reveals the dominance of duʿāʾ (40), followed by ḥaqīqī (30), irshād (28), tahdīd (3), and iltimās (2). The dominance of duʿāʾ and irshād, collectively accounting for 66% of the corpus, demonstrates that imperatives function as a spiritual-pedagogical strategy rather than a binding normative command. These findings contribute to thematic hadith stylistics by establishing an empirical relationship between genre orientation and preference for imperative patterns. From an analytical framework perspective, they also emphasize the importance of the ʿilm al-maʿānī framework for reinterpreting the imperative meaning of hadith.

Vowel lengthening as the default strategy of arabization: Phonological adaptation of English culinary loanwords in Arabic digital media

Husnul Khatimah — 2026-06-05

Although the rapid proliferation of Arabic-language digital media platforms has significantly accelerated the process of arabization of English culinary vocabulary, the underlying phonological mechanisms have not been systematically studied in a digital domain-specific context. Addressing this gap, this study identifies and analyzes patterns of vowel change from English to Arabic in the maṭbakh section of the sayidaty.net website, using al-Jawaliqi's arabization theory as the primary analytical framework. A qualitative descriptive design was adopted, with data comprising English culinary loanwords sourced from the maṭbakh rubric of sayidaty.net. Data were collected through systematic non-participant observation and documented using structured note-taking techniques, then analyzed using distributional methods and translational equivalent methods with the International Phonetic Alphabet transcription system. The results show that the nine English vowel phonemes [i], [ɪ], [e], [ɛ], [æ], [a], [ə], [ʊ], and [ʌ] produce 21 distinct phonological adaptation patterns out of 112 instances found. Three cross-phonemic rules emerged as dominant: systematic vowel lengthening as the default strategy of arabization; lexical stress sensitivity; and segmental conditionality. This research contributes to the development of a domain-specific phonological model of arabization that extends al-Jawaliqi's classical framework with the dimension of contextual conditionality, while establishing a replicable methodology for the study of vowel adaptation on Arabic digital media platforms.

Semantic broadening in the translation of Arabic religious terms: Evidence from al-raḥīq al-makhtūm

Ditania Rakhma Andini — 2026-06-08

Al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm is a globally recognized and authoritative biography of the Prophet Muhammad. Translating its religious terms requires precise translation to avoid conceptual misunderstandings. While previous studies have extensively examined religious translation strategies, ideologies, and equivalence, research explicitly investigating micro-level mechanisms of semantic broadening through semantic decomposition remains scarce. This article examines the phenomenon of semantic broadening in the translation of Arabic religious terms in al-Raḥīq al-Makhtūm and its Indonesian translated version, Sirah Nabawiyyah. The study aims to identify the forms of semantic broadening and to examine the factors underlying this phenomenon. It employs a descriptive qualitative method incorporating a comparative approach. The data are analyzed using semantic decomposition to compare terms between the source and target texts. Findings indicate that semantic broadening occurs consistently through the omission of diagnostic semantic features in the source language. Of the ten categories identified, five are examined in depth: eschatological terms, specialized religious activities, religious figures, religious morals and ethics, and revelatory terms. Four main factors underlie this phenomenon: the demand for natural collocational patterns in the target language, the translator’s communicative strategies through generalization and modulation techniques, lexical gaps, and differences in cultural and religious contexts. The findings confirm that semantic broadening is not a translation error, but rather a natural consequence of cross-cultural translation aimed at maintaining textual acceptability and readability. Theoretically, this study demonstrates that semantic decomposition effectively traces meaning shifts in religious texts. Practically, it guides translators of Islamic history to prioritize general equivalents for readability over rigid literalism.

Pragmatic acts and bilingual audience design: A critical pragmatics analysis of Al Jazeera Arabic and English in the 2026 Iran–Israel–US conflict report

Awliya Rahmi — 2026-06-28

How a single media institution constructs divergent meanings for two linguistically distinct audiences constitutes a salient question in media studies, particularly where that institution operates at the intersection of Arab and international news. Al Jazeera's Arabic (AJA) and English (AJE) services have attracted considerable scholarly attention as paradigmatic instances of this phenomenon. Previous research has mostly approached both media through framing theory or critical discourse analysis, neglecting the pragmatic mechanisms that direct meaning for different readers. Jacob Mey's critical pragmatics, through its concept of the pragmatic act (pract), affords a more precise entry point into this gap. Employing this framework for comparative analysis, the study examines AJA and AJE coverage of the Iran-Israel-US conflict across five thematic events (February-June 2026). Twenty purposively sampled news articles were coded deductively using Mey's six pract categories: alluding, implying, hinting, voicing, quoting, and echoing. Both AJA and AJE rely most heavily on voicing and implying pract, but diverge in a distinctive secondary pract: AJA layers echoing pract onto this shared foundation, activating Arab collective memory and positioning readers within a solidarity-oriented frame, while AJE layers hinting pract, distributing epistemic authority through formally qualified attribution to cultivate critical consensus among a heterogeneous readership.

Metaphorization of Palestine in political rhetoric: Interpreting types and functions of isti‘ārah in Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's speeches

Istiqomah Nur Aqilah — 2026-06-28

Despite numerous studies have been conducted on contemporary Arab political speeches, the application of isti'ārah as an analytical category, particularly in discourse addressing the Palestinian issue, remains underexplored. Furthermore, prior work drawing on Arabic balāghah theory has concentrated predominantly on religious texts, poetry, and literary works, leaving the official speeches of Arab leaders largely unexamined. This study addresses that gap by identifying the types and structures of isti'ārah and examining the rhetorical and ideological representations they construct across five official Arabic speeches delivered by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Palestine. A qualitative textual analysis grounded in Arabic balāghah was employed. Non-literal expressions were identified and classified as either isti'ārah taṣrīḥiyyah or isti'ārah makniyyah through the identification of musta'ār lahu, musta'ār minhu, qarīnah, and al-jāmi', and subsequently mapped into representational patterns. Fourteen isti'ārah expressions were identified: five instances of isti'ārah taṣrīḥiyyah (35.71%) and nine of isti'ārah makniyyah (64.29%), indicating a predominance of implicit comparison. Four interrelated representational patterns emerged: Palestine as a suffering yet morally central issue; conflict as destructive and dehumanizing violence; morality as historical judgment and lost values; and political resolution as restoration, reconciliation, and reconstruction. Theoretically, the findings demonstrate that isti'ārah operates not as mere rhetorical ornamentation but as a structured linguistic strategy that concretizes political realities, intensifies moral evaluation, and legitimizes diplomatic solutions. Practically, the findings affirm the analytical relevance of classical balāghah to the study of contemporary Arab political discourse.

Riffaterre’s semiotic reading of yā nahḍat al-’ulamā’: Ideological reverence and spiritual loyalty in pesantren poetry

Imam Bonjol Juhari — 2026-06-28

Although pesantren poetry occupies a distinctive place within Indonesian Islamic literary tradition, it remains largely overlooked in semiotic scholarship. The poem Yā Nahḍat al-ʿUlamāʾ, composed by KH. Fuad Hasyim, as a devotional expression of Nahdlatul Ulama's religious identity, has received no sustained academic attention whatsoever in this context. This study fills that gap by examining how the poem constructs ideological meaning through Riffaterre's semiotic framework. Using a descriptive-qualitative approach, the analysis proceeds through heuristic and hermeneutic readings, identifies mechanisms of indirect expression, and reconstructs the poem's semiotic structures across its fifteen stanzas. The poem derives from a single matrix, Nahdlatul Ulama, as a source of light, protection, and supplication. This proposition is never stated outright but realized through imagery that moves steadily from the personal toward the cosmic and collective. Displacement and distortion draw on the conventions of the ghazal and the madāḥ qaṣīdah to legitimize institutional devotion, while recurring vocative formulas accumulate a performative weight comparable to dhikr. These findings demonstrate that ideological meaning in religious poetry operates through linguistic architecture rather than through explicit doctrinal statement. The study offers a replicable semiotic methodology for analyzing pesantren literature, and it illuminates how contemporary Indonesian Islamic organizations draw on poetic tradition to construct, reinforce, and sustain collective ideological identity. These findings also open productive directions for future research into the intersection of literary form, religious practice, and ideological production in Muslim societies more broadly.

Writing the resistance on the eve of martyrdom: Rhetorical features in Hiba Abū Nadā's last Facebook posts (Gaza, 7-20 October 2023)

Wartiman — 2026-06-28

During the final fourteen days of her life, Hiba Abū Nadā published 67 posts on her personal Facebook page from within the Gaza bombing zone, a corpus that closed on the day she was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Research on balāghah has so far concentrated on resistance literature composed at some remove from the events it depicts, leaving unexamined how the classical Arabic rhetorical system operates when produced in real time under genuine mortal threat. Addressing that gap, this qualitative descriptive-analytical study identifies the balāghah figures that predominate in Abū Nadā's posts, drawing on the classical framework of al-Jurjānī and Ibn al-Athīr to classify and decompose three figurative units: isti'ārah 'metaphor', kināyah 'metonymy', and tashbīh 'simile'. The analysis identified 39 figures: 20 isti'ārah (11 tashrīḥiyyah, 9 makniyyah), 9 kināyah, and 10 tashbīh. Isti'ārah predominates through a shift of wahān 'tenor' from the concrete to the existential domain; tashbīh balīgh prevails by collapsing comparative distance; and kināyah, although least frequent, proves the most argumentatively dense. These findings constitute early textual evidence of how Arabic balāghah functions when a trained writer confronts her own mortality in real time, extending the tradition of Palestinian resistance literature into a register that earlier generations, writing from exile, were never required to occupy.