Linguistic Hang-Ups in Communicating with Muslims
Why have so many Christian missionaries to Muslims been reluctant to use the name Allah for God? Dr. Khair-Ullah traces this reluctance, along with other semantic tensions, to deeper East-West differences. Specifically, he documents a prejudice of the West against the East (in general, and Islam in...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Sage
1976
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| In: |
Missiology
Year: 1976, Volume: 4, Issue: 3, Pages: 301-316 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Why have so many Christian missionaries to Muslims been reluctant to use the name Allah for God? Dr. Khair-Ullah traces this reluctance, along with other semantic tensions, to deeper East-West differences. Specifically, he documents a prejudice of the West against the East (in general, and Islam in particular), and a Western prejudice for words. This word bias tends to hold the receptor at a safe distance, confining communication to a “words-deep” level. Even in our penchant for definitions we seldom probe behind words to the deeper meanings that involve intention, tone and feeling in addition to sense. The author also argues persuasively for another essential ingredient in understanding Eastern thought forms: genuine respect for Eastern life styles. |
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| ISSN: | 2051-3623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Missiology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/009182967600400305 |