native tongue.
However, for a significant portion of the world, the claim that Arabic is the
that uses it. In the field of language ideology, it is observed that, to many people,
language and culture are inseparable. If one's language of culture is also deemed the
eternal language of heaven, it is only one short step further to insist on ultimate cultural
superiority. As Nida observed in Customs and Cultures (1954:171):
word became a book' in contrast with Christianity which declares that `the
Word became flesh'. It is now heresy for a Mohammedan to say that
Mohammed wrote the Koran; rather, one must believe that the Koran is a
word-for-word copy of the pre-existent, eternal Koran which is in heaven.
An infallible Koran and an immutable social structure have frozen the
socio-religious culture and given it incalculable strength and defense
against penetration.
It may be that the particulars of what appears to be the Islamic doctrine of Qur'anic
inspiration, rather than being an incidental of the faith, are part-and-parcel with its
historic fortitude and resistance to other faiths and cultures. Some ideas have almost
incalculable consequences.