JRSSEM 2023, Vol. 02, No. 6, 1166 – 1185

E-ISSN: 2807 - 6311, P-ISSN: 2807 - 6494

DOI : 10.36418/jrssem.v2i06.162 https://jrssem.publikasiindonesia.id/index.php/jrssem/index

ANALYSIS OF DISTORTION FOR ISLAMIC TERMS USED

IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS FOR ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

STUDENTS BASED ON AL-FARUQI’S CONCEPT

Edi Setiawan

Post Graduate, Islamic Education, English Education, State Islamic University Sulthan Syarif

Kasim Riau, Indonesia

e-mail: edyse[email protected]

*Correspondence: edyseti@gmail.com

Submitted

: 20

Desember 2022

Revised

: 13

January 2023

Accepted

: 25

January 2023

Abstract: Islam taught by Rasulullah S.A.W, reached its golden age and became a reference to

world civilization during the Umayyah, Abbasiah, and other dynasties which finally collapsed during

the Ottoman Turks (1924 AD) which later made western civilization a reference point for civilization

in this world. Under these conditions a big idea emerged to restore the glory of Muslims, especially

in the field of science, the concept was known as the Islamization of knowledge, by Syed Naquib

Al-Attas and Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi. From the two scientists, Al-Faruqi specifically made the concept

of Islamization of knowledge in the context of teaching English by making a guide book "Toward

Islamic English". This then encouraged the author to examine three books, "Islamic English"

authored by Professor Muhibbin Syah, "English for Islamic Studies" by Professor Djamaluddin

Darwis, and "English for Islamic Studies" by Doctor Kardimin, to study what Islamic materials are

integrated into learning English and whether the textbooks apply the guide to avoid the distortion

of Islamic terms made by Al-Faruqi or not. The final results show, of the three books, the content

of "aqidah" is more than the content of "shariah" and "akhlak” and the three books also found

distortions in transliteration and translation of Islamic terms in English.

Keywords: Islamization of Knowledge; Distortion; Islamic English; Ismail Raji Al-Faruq.

Edi Setiawan | 1167

DOI : 10.36418/jrssem.v2i06.162 https://jrssem.publikasiindonesia.id/index.php/jrssem/index

INTRODUCTION

The first chapter discussed the

background of the research (Tanwar &

Tanwar, 2021). It consisted of eight parts,

namely: Background of the study (Peng,

Zhang, Zhou, & Nazir, 2021), Statement of

Problem, Limitation of Problem, Purpose,

and objective of the study (Osaba et al.,

2021), Research question, The significance

of the study, Rational of the Research and

Definition of the key terms. Followed by an

explanation (Hamel et al., 2021). The era of

the greatness of this ummah was marked

by a scientific revolution that took place on

a large scale in the Islamic world (Apriani,

Williams, Rahardja, Khoirunisa, & Avionita,

2021). Scholars also appear in various

disciplines of knowledge (Christensen,

2021), both in the religious and non-

religious fields (general knowledge) (Ihsan,

Pabbajah, Abdullah, & Hidayati, 2021). Not

only concerns the issues of jurisprudence

and theology (Kohantorabi, 2021), but also

in the fields of philosophy (Reynolds &

Burke, 2021), mathematics, astronomy,

medicine, and so on.

One interesting thing is that scientists

have a view that shows the existence of a

combination of science and faith (King &

Hicks, 2021). Many Muslim scholars in the

Golden Age of Islam studied nature in the

context of the Quran (Zakaria, Ahmad,

Awang, & Safar, 2021). The Quran depicted

the relationship between nature and man,

and this inspired Muslim scholars to study

natural phenomena, to understand God.

Islam’s contribution to the scientific

enterprise was complex and rich and it

spanned over three continents and nearly a

millennium (Yasmeen, 2006).

The industrial revolution in England

and the socio-political revolution in France

in the second half of the 18th century were

the starting points of enlightenment

(renaissance) in Europe toward a modern

civilization that had succeeded in leading

Western nations to achieve extraordinary

success in future technological

development. While the Muslims

experience systemic setbacks in the flow of

civilization.

The loss of the sacred aspects of the

concept of Western science and Muslim

scientific attitudes which caused stagnation

after separating revelations from the

intellect and separating thoughts from

action and culture were seen as equally

dangerous for the development of Islamic

scholarship. Therefore, an idea emerged to

bring together the strengths between the

two, so that new modern sciences were

born but still religious and breathed on

monotheism (tauhid), this idea became

known as the Islamization of Knowledge.

The idea of Islamization of science

was raised again by Syed Hossein Nasr, an

American Muslim thinker born in Iran in the

1960s with his book Science and

Civilization in Islam (1968) and Islamic

Science (1976). Nasr even claimed that the

Islamization ideas that emerged later were

a continuation of the ideas he had raised

(Daud, 1998).

The hegemony of Western civilization,

which is dominated by scientific life views,

has a very negative impact on other

civilizations, including Islam (Armas, 2005).

At the epistemology level, there was a

process of westernization which was said by

Syed Naquib al-Attas was a "virus"

contained in modern-secular Western

1168 | Analysis of Distortion For Islamic Terms Used In English Textbooks For Islamic University

Students Based on Al-Faruqi’s Concept

science and this was the biggest challenge

for Muslims today. The purpose of studying

these books is to investigate what Islamic

material the authors had chosen for

integrating Islamic values into the teaching

of English and explore the distortion of

Islamic terms found in these three

textbooks. This research finding is expected

to be beneficial finding especially for

Muslim teachers and learners because no

such research before. This research is also

expected to enrich the knowledge related

to Islam and English and for other

researchers, this research can stimulate to

conduct of further research dealing with

integrating Islamic values and teaching

English. Explore the distortion of Islamic

terms found in these three textbooks.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The research was library research. In this

sense, the study is categorized into

qualitative research whereas the data is

derived from English Textbooks “Islamic

English by Muhibbin Syah, English for

Islamic Studies by Djamaluddin Darwis, and

English for Islamic Studies by Kardimin” and

other literature related to the topic of the

study in which the main focus is

Islamization of knowledge integrating

Islamic value into the teaching of English.

The data will be derived from primary and

secondary data.

Data Collecting Technique

In collecting data, firstly, the

researcher seeks the full text “Toward

Islamic English” book. Fortunately, it can be

downloaded from

https://www.scribd.com/doc/39849521/To

ward-Islamic-English, and then the “Islamic

English” textbook was bought by the

researcher and the two others were

borrowed from Main Library in UIN SUSKA

RIAU.

Secondly, after the primary data were

found, the secondary data collected from

the internet, the Main Library of UIN SUSKA

RIAU, and from Library of Post Graduated

Program of UIN SUSKA RIAU, then the

primary analyzed based on Al-Faruqi’s

concept about distortion and supported by

the secondary data sources.

Analyzing Data Technique

The data will be analyzed using

content analysis. Content analysis involves

the description and analysis of text to

represent its context (Miller and Brewer,

2003: 45). According to Webster’s

Dictionary of the English Language (second

edition 1961) in Krippendorff (2004),

defining content analysis as “analysis of the

manifest and latent content of a body of

communicated material (s a book or film)

through classification, tabulation, and

evaluation of its key symbols and themes to

ascertain its meaning and its probable

effect”.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Islamic Text Content in “Islamic English”

textbook

There are 22 Chapters in the “Islamic

English” Textbook. It will be categorized

into three parts, aqidah, syariah, and Okhla.

Aqidah content

Unit 1: ISLAM

Edi Setiawan |1169

This text introduces Islam in general, the

original text will be shown in the following

script:

Image 1. Script of chapter 1 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 2. Islam In European Thought

The text tells about Islam in European

thought and a brief history of Islam in

Europe. It was taken from Hourani, Albert,

Islam In European Thought, 1996 (book).

The following image is the full text:

Image 2. Script of chapter 2 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 3: Textbooks in Disciplines

This chapter discusses “Islamization of

Knowledge” so, it is about the belief

(faith/aqidah) that there is no dichotomy

between Islam and knowledge. Here is the

script:

Image 3. Script of chapter 3 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

1170 | Analysis of Distortion For Islamic Terms Used In English Textbooks For Islamic University

Students Based on Al-Faruqi’s Concept

DOI : 10.36418/jrssem.v2i06.162 https://jrssem.publikasiindonesia.id/index.php/jrssem/index

Unit 5. Crystallization Of Islamic Thought,

Concepts An Methodology

This text discusses Islamic thought so

it includes into aqidah category. Here is the

text:

Image 4. Script of chapter 5 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah

Unit 6: Education Systems In An Ideological

State: Major Issues And Concerns In

Pakistan.

The content of the text in this chapter talks

about the importance of Islamized

education system, especially in Pakistan.

The original text will be shown below:

Image 5. Script of chapter 6 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 7. Muhammad and Islam

This text tells about Prophet

Muhammad SAW and Islam (Pillars of

Faith). So text is included in the “Aqidah”

category. Here is the text:

Image 6. Script of chapter 7 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Edi Setiawan |1171

Unit 8: SQ Is Not About Being Religious

This text tells in general about results

from some studies by psychologists. The

result shows spiritual intelligence is the

soul’s intelligence not dependent upon any

religion. In Islam religion, it is about

someone caring or “pablum man naas”. The

text is shown below:

Image 7. Script of chapter 8 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 14: Unit 14. Islam: Working For God

This text tells about the role of Al-

Qur’qn as the main guidance of Muslim

people, so this text is included in the

“aqidah category”. The text is shown below:

Image 8. Script of chapter 14 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 15. Central Asia: From Communism To

Democracy And Islam.

This article was quoted from Malashenko,

Aleksei. Central Asia: From Communism to

Democracy an Islam?, in Nielson, Jorgen S.

(Editor), The Cristian-Muslim Frontier, 1998:

55-56) (Journal).

The text tells about the history of Central

Asia, after Uni Soviet broke, most them

become Muslim people Like Uzbekistan,

Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and others.

Here is the text:

1172 | Analysis of Distortion For Islamic Terms Used In English Textbooks For Islamic University

Students Based on Al-Faruqi’s Concept

Image 9. Script of chapter 15 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 17: Physical And Psychological Sense

Of The Qalb

This text was taken from Syah, Muhibbin,

1998. An Advanced Understanding Toward

The Qalb and Its Implication (Article). It is

the author's article in his previous article.

The article tells about Qalb, so this text is

included in the “Aqidah” category.

The text is shown in the following

image:

Image 10. Script of chapter 17 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 20. The Islamization Of Modern

Knowledge

This text tells about the agenda of the

Islamic Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)

established by Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi, to

emphasize the importance of the

Islamization of knowledge.

Here is the text:

Image 11. Script of chapter 20 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Edi Setiawan |1173

Unit 21: The Background Of Islam

This text tells about the history of Islam in

general. It was taken from Matthews,

Warren. World Religion, 1999;387 (book).

Here is the text:

Image 12. Script of chapter 21 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 22. The Absolute

It is the last chapter in the “Islamic English”

book. This text was taken from Matthews,

Warren. World Religion, 1999;387 (book).

The text tells “The absolute” God, so this

text contains the “aqidah” of Muslim

people. Here is the text:

Image 13. Script of chapter 22 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Syariah content

Unit 10. Shariah – Harmony Between Self

And Society

This article tells about shariah or Islamic

rule in society, so this text includes it in the

“shariah” category.

Here is the text:

1174 | Analysis of Distortion For Islamic Terms Used In English Textbooks For Islamic University

Students Based on Al-Faruqi’s Concept

Image 14. Script of chapter 10 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 11. Redefining Religion At SchoolThis

text gives guidance on how religious

education should be reviewed. The text was

written by Alwasilah, A.Chaedar.

Here is the text:

Image 15. Script of chapter 11 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 12. War And Human Rights In Islam

War and human rights, in general, are told

in this text, even this text is enforced by

giving ayah of Al-Qur’an, and this text was

adapted from The Australian Federation of

Islamic Councils Inc, Understanding Islam,

1991: 6) (book).

The text is shown below:

Edi Setiawan |1175

Image 16. Script of chapter 12 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 16: God’s Knowledge And Power

This text was adapted from Source:

Wainright, William J. Philosophy of Religion,

1998:22-23 (book). It tells about God’s

(Allah SWT) power and knowledge in

general.

The following is the text:

Image 17. Script of chapter 16 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 18: Santri Versus Abangan: General

Differences

It is an interesting topic in this text. It tells

about the term in Islamic society, abangan

and santri. The source of this text is Greertz,

Clifford. The Religion of Java. 1960: 127

(book)

Here is the text:

1176 | Analysis of Distortion For Islamic Terms Used In English Textbooks For Islamic University

Students Based on Al-Faruqi’s Concept

Image 18. Script of chapter 18 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Akhlak content

Unit 4: Islam In Australia

This text tells about Islam in Australia and

tells about Dost Mohammed, a man who

brought Islam to Australia. So, this text tells

about akhlak. It was taken from Australia

Overseas Information Service, Fact Sheet

on Australia, 1989 (article).

The complete text is shown below:

Image 19. Script of chapter 4 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

Unit 9. Community And Ethics

Ethics is very important in Islam. This text is

told about some Islamic ethics like not

being allowed for drinking alcohol, or

stealing, and other Islamic ethics.

The following image is the script:

Image 20. Script of chapter 9 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah

Edi Setiawan |1177

Unit 19. Redefining A Moral Education A

Must

This last chapter discusses akhlak or

morals in education. Here is the complete

text:

Image 21. Script of chapter 19 in “Islamic English” by Muhibbin Syah.

From all the texts above, there are 13

texts about aqidah, 5 texts about syariah

and 3 texts about aqidah and 1 text are not

Islamic material, chapter 13 (The Problems

Of Language Uses). There is no Islamic

material in this text, it discusses language.

Based on the statement of the problem

above, this research has the general

research questions, two questions that

should be answered by the researcher,

distortion of Islamic terms, and Islamic

material chosen by the authors of the three

textbooks.

The First focus is on the distortion of

Islamic Terms. The term’ Islamic English’

was introduced by Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi to

save the meaning of Islamic Terms that are

used in the English language. The word

“without distortion’ (p.7) can be concluded

that the Islamic terms must be used in the

original one, Arabic, to bring the spiritual

meaning of the words. As al-Faruqi states:

“Islamic English is the English language

modified to enable it to carry Islamic

proper nouns and meanings without

distortion, and, thus to serve the linguistic

needs of Muslim users of the English

language” (Al-Faruqi, 1986: 7)”.

Because of the limitations of English

words in conveying Islamic concepts,

Islamic English can be used to ‘serve the

linguistic needs of the Muslim users of the

English language(p. 7), which involves

―the infusion of religious, spiritual, and

cultural terms of Islam to modern English

(p. 7). In other words, Al-Faruqi advocates

for the need to use Islamic English in the

English language to shield English-

speaking Muslims from the influence of

negative culture and values (Othman &

Lothfi, 2013: 112).

In another study, Al Zubi ( 2013),

investigate the problem of translating Al-

Qur’an. He assumes that Islamic

expressions in the holy Quran produce a

deep meaning larger than that in any other

book. He adds that the translation of holy

texts into another language makes the

meaning weaker than that in the source

language. This may lead to violating the

original meaning. Also, he states that the

most difficult problem in translating holy

1178 | Analysis of Distortion For Islamic Terms Used In English Textbooks For Islamic University

Students Based on Al-Faruqi’s Concept

items is decoding the words with the same

sense without any distortion (Pitchappa et

al., 2021). Thus, it is problematic to produce

a translation with the same sense because

Islamic holy expressions involve

psychological, spiritual, mental, and ethical

senses (Al-Shiekh, 2021).

Likewise, Bahameed (2014) in his

research assumes that religious translation

is so sensitive. It requires a translator to be

more accurate than any other type of

translation. He asserts that a translator

should have more attention to lexical items

to pick out the suitable one. The researcher

claims that there is a similarity between

religious texts and literary ones because

both of them are immersed in affection and

expressiveness. Bahameed states that the

translator should regard emotiveness in

religious translation even in all translation

types (Mahdi, 2022). In addition, the

translator should provide much effort to

transfer the emotive expression meaning

from the source language to the target

language by applying translation

strategies.

Based on Al-Faruqi’s concept, there

are two distortions of Islamic terms,

distortion through transliteration and

distortion through translation. So this part

will be discussed these two kinds of

distortion based on Al-Frauqi’s concept. In

these three textbooks, distortion of Islamic

terms is found. In transliteration, there are

four kinds of distortions, Distortion of

Prophets’ Name, Distortion of Prophet

Muhammad’s Name, Distortion of the Term

Zakah, and Distortion of the term “salah”.

a. Distortion of Prophets’ Name

1. Abraham, found on page 1, of

“Islamic English” textbook by

Muhibbin Syah

2. Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses,

Jesus. Found on page 2, of “Islamic

English” textbook by Muhibbin Syah

3. Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Abraham,

David, Solomon, Joseph, and

Jesus. Found on page 56, “English for

Islamic Studies” textbook by

Djamaluddin Darwis.

4. Prophet Abraham was Found on

page 21 of the “English for Islamic

Studies” textbook by Kardimin.

All of the transliterations of the prophet

above are wrong and it means there are

distortions in the translation of the

prophet's name in it. Al Faruqi said:

“Muslims are particularly prone to having

their beautiful names mutilated, because

of the general ignorance of Arabic or the

difficulties of transliteration. Names that

have a Western equivalent (Yusuf, Ya’qub,

Ishaq, Yunus, Musa, Ibrahim, etc) are

hastily changed into Biblical equivalents

(Joseph, Jacob, Isaac, Jonah, Moses,

Abraham, etc) without awareness that

these Biblical personalities represent

entirely different meanings to the Cristian

and/or Jew than the Qur’anic names do

the Muslim”(p.10)

So, the correct ones in making

transliterations of the prophets’ names

above are:

- Abraham should be written, Ibrahim

- Ismael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus

should be written Ismail, Ishaq, Yakub,

Musa, and ‘Isa

Edi Setiawan |1179

- Noah, David, Solomon, and Joseph

should be written by Nuh, Daud, and

Sulaiman.

b. Distortion of Prophet Muhammad’s

Name

Distortion in making transliteration of

Prophet Muhammad’s name is found

on page 23 in the “Islamic English”

textbook. It was written “Mohammed”.

It is wrong, the correct one is

“Muhammad”. Mohammed and

Muhammad have different meanings

in the Arabic language especially. Al-

Faruqi said:

“Surely, it follows that Muslims ought

to insist that the Prophet’s name is

Muhammad (SAAS), and not

Mahomet, Mohamet, Mohamed,

Mohamad, or Maumet”(p.10)

c. Distortion of Angel’s Name Gabriel

It can be found on page 47, in the

“Islamic English” textbook by Muhibbin

Syah, and on page 39, in the “English

for Islamic Studies” textbook by

Djamaluddin. The transliteration of

Gabriel is wrong, the correct one is

Jibril. Al-Faruqi has made a “List of

Islamic Words” (p.27), and it can be

seen the correct one of making

translation Angel Jibril is not Gabriel

but Jibril.

d. Distortion of Words end with ة

(ta’marbutah)

- Mecca can be found on page 189, in

“Islamic English” textbook, on pages

1, 82, 110, 153, in “The English for

Islamic Studies” textbook by

Djamaluddin Darwis and it can be

found on page 32, in “English for

Islamic Studies” by Kardimin.

- Umra it can be found on page 154, in

the “English for Islamic Studies”

textbook by Djamaluddin Darwis.

- Ka’ba, on page 161, in the “English for

Islamic Studies” textbook by

Djamaluddin Darwis.

The correct ones in translating “mecca”,

“Umra” and “Ka’ba” are “Mekkah/Makkah”,

“Umroh” and “Kaaba”, because these words

end with ة (ta’marbutah), Al Faruqi said: “the

ending ة (ta’marbutah) should be rendered

h in all cases to distinguish it from ت or t”

(p.19)

e. Distortion of Term Zakah

“Zakat” can be found on page 143 in

the “English for Islamic Studies”

textbook by Djamaluddin Darwis and

can be found page16 and 73 in the

“English for Islamic Studies” textbook

by Kardimin.

The transliterations are wrong, the

correct one is “zakah, it should be

ended with “h”.

"Al-Faruqi said “ Or considering the

term zakah which is often translated

as charity, alms, poor-due, or

almsgiving. All these English terms

apply to any act of voluntary,

altruistic giving of anything useful in

any amount, made to help those in

need. Such would correspond to the

Arabic term shadow. On the other

hand, zakah is something quite

different. It is more of the nature of

a public welfare tax, with a specific

amount of 2,5 percent of

appropriate wealth beyond a

certain minimum amount

(excluding capital goods, land,

residence, personal house

furnishings, and customer’s goods

1180 | Analysis of Distortion For Islamic Terms Used In English Textbooks For Islamic University

Students Based on Al-Faruqi’s Concept

for domestic use). Its payment is

religiously and publicly obligatory

for all Muslims without exceptions,

and it is levied on all inheritances

before distribution. As the

etymology of the word indicates,

zakah is a “sweetening” of the total

income of the year and the owner’s

continued holding of accumulated

wealth. Zakah is not the equivalent

of any one of the English terms

mentioned. It must therefore never

be translated. Rather, it must be

understood as it stands in its Arabic

form. (p.12)

f. Distortion of the term “salah”

Term Salat, it can be found on page

15, in the “English for Islamic

Studies” textbook by Kardimin.

“Salat” is wrong, it should be written

“salah”. Al Faruqi said

“Consider for instance the word salah,

which is often translated as “prayer”.

“Prayer” is any communication with

whatever is taken to be one’s god, even

if that is an idol. To say that one prays

to God, to Jesus, or Fitzliputzli......(p11).”

The second kind of distortion based

on Al-Faruqi’s concept is distortion through

translation (Abas, Nizam bin Sahad,

Abusahyon, & Sa’ad, 2021). There are three

kinds of distortion through translation

found in these three books, distortion in

translating the word “Allah”, distortion in

translating words “shiyaam” and “hajj”

(Islamic pillars), and Distortion in

Translating the term “taqwa”

a. Distortion in Translating word 

Word  in ayat Surah Ali-

Imran: 84-85 (Chapter 1) (p.2) in Surah

Al-Baqarah:190 (chapter 12) (p.97),

other ayahs in “Islamic English”

textbook by Muhibbin Syah was

translated by “God”. It should be

changed by “Allah”. (List of Islamic

Words, Al-Faruqi (p.23)).

b. Distortion in Translating words

“Shiyaam” and “hajj” (Islamic Pillars)

- Shiyaam translated as “Fasting”, it can

be found on page 135 in “English for

Islamic Studies” by Djamaluddin

Darwis.

- Hajj was translated as “Pilgrimage”. It

can be found on page 153 in the

“English for Islamic Studies” textbook

by Djamaluddin Darwis.

The true translation is “shiyaam” and

“hajj” (can not be translated) it should

not be translated as fasting.

Al Faruqi said :

“The same considerations apply to

the most of vocabulary of Islam, both

the religion and culture. Words like

taqwa, Huda, Dalal, list, wahy,

spycam, hajj, fiqh, usul fiqh, hadith,

etc, have much more meaning in their

Arabic form than their English

approximations are ever capable of

carrying” (p.12)

c. Distortion in Translating the term

“taqwa”

The phrase “be dutiful” (p.328) in

“English for Islamic Studies” textbook by

Kardimin should be changed to “be taqwa”,

because as Al Faruqi said word “taqwa” has

much more meaning in its Arabic form than

the English.

It is easier in counting and comparing

distortion in the three books, which can be

seen in the following table:

Edi Setiawan |1181

Table 1. Indicators of using “Toward Islamic English” book as guidance

Indicators

“Islamic

English”

Textbook

“English for Islamic

Studies” by

Djamaluddin Darwis

“English for Islamic

Studies” by Kardimin

Distortion

throught

transliteration

1. Abraham

(p.1) it

should be

Ibrahim

2. Ismael,

Isaac,

Jacob,

Moses,

Jesus. (p.2)

These

should be

Ismail,

Ishaq,

Yaqub,

Musa, ‘Isa

3. Mohamme

d (p.23)

should be

written as

Muhamma

4. Gabriel

(p.47).

Should be

written as

Jibril (Al-

Faruqi List

of Islamic

Words,

(p.27))

5. Mecca

(p.189),

should be

written as

Makkah.

1. Mecca (p.1, p.82,

p.110, p.153)

should be written

Makkah

2. Gabriel (p.39)

should be written

Jibril

3. Noah, Isaac,

Jacob, Moses,

Abraham, David,

Solomon, Joseph

and Jesus (p.56)

should be written

Nuh, Ishaq,

Yakub, Musa,

Ibrahim, Daud,

Sulaiman, Yusuf,

and Isa

4. Zakat (p.143)

should be written

zakah

5. ‘Umra (p.154,

160) should be

‘umroh,

6. Ka’ba (p.161)

should be written

‘Ka’bah’.

1. Salat (p.15) should be

written salah.

2. Zakat (p.16, 73)

should be written

zakah

3. Prophet Abraham

(p.21) should be

written Prophet

Ibrahim

4. Mecca (p.32) should

be written

Makkah/Meccah.

1182 | Analysis of Distortion For Islamic Terms Used In English Textbooks For Islamic University

Students Based on Al-Faruqi’s Concept

Distortion

through

translation

1. Word  in

ayat Surah

Ali-Imran:

84-85

(Chapter 1)

(p.2) in

Surah Al-

Baqarah:19

0 (chapter

12) (p.97),

and other

ayah was

translated

by “God”. It

shoud be

changed

by Allah.

1. Fasting (p.135) it

is not true

translation of

“shiyaam”, it

should not be

translated as

fasting.

2. Pilgrimage

(p.153) is not the

true translation

of hajj

1. Phrase “be dutiful”

(p.328) should be

changed by “be

taqwa”.

Sheila and Zalika (2009) conducted

research about awareness of Islamic

English among Muslim students in Malaysia

the results show that the Americano-

Eurocentric perspective of the teaching of

the English Language hurts Muslim youths

living in the Muslim world. The weak

knowledge of the Arabic language, and as

a consequence limited understanding of

the religion of Islam, will lead many Muslim

students to adopt etiquettes that are

foreign to Islam.

It can be concluded that the

distortion of Islamic terms in these three

textbooks, can cause the author not how to

make correct translations or transliteration,

and some of the texts are adapted from

western sources.

The second focus of this research is

Islamic material chosen by the authors.

Madhkur and Muharom (2017) describe In

the Indonesian context, the teaching of a

foreign language needs to execute the

instilling of religious values (material).

The schools need to supply textbooks

with more Islamic values, especially, those

related to faith, worship, and morals to help

to build up and develop the Muslim youths’

personalities so that the teachers can have

a kind of guidance in the classroom. The

schools should support and motivate the

teachers to instill Islamic values into their

subjects. The values should be recognized

by delivering tips that would help students

to think of the current world issues

positively and prepare them for creativity.

The values should be presented in different

ways in the style of description, modeling,

and then demonstration.

Then, Rohmah (2012) explains

teachers and students, especially, in Islamic

schools, need English materials with some

Islamic messages (Muhajir, Syafrizal,

Nadhirah, & Mu’izzuddin, 2022), writers

Edi Setiawan |1183

have opportunities to provide them with

English course-books tailored with Islamic

messages. In this case, in addition to the

basic requirements for good English book

writers, a good understanding of Islamic

messages is highly recommended for such

writers so that messages inserted in the

books will accurately represent Islamic

principles.

In these three textbooks, there are

two materials about faith (aqidah), worship

(syariah), and morals (akhlak) like

recommendations from Madhkur and

Muharom above.

In the Islamic materials “Islamic

English” Textbook by Muhibbin Syah, There

are 22 Chapters in Islamic English Textbook.

13 chapters discuss Aqidah, 5 chapters

discuss syariah and 3 chapters discuss

akhlak.

From the sources of the reading

section in the “Islamic English” book, there

are 17 reading materials were taken from

books, 2 from journals, 2 from articles, and

1 from the thesis (writer’s thesis).

Furthermore, from all reading materials

chapters 3, 5, and 20 were taken from the

same book, Islamization of Knowledge, and

chapters 9, 12, and 22 were taken from the

same book as well, World Religion, and the

last chapter 11 and 19 were taken from

Language, Culture and Education book,

written by Chaedar Alwasilah.

Then, from all the reading material

above there are 3 chapters enforced by the

verse of Alqur’an Chapter 1 about Islam (Ali

Imran, 84-85), Chapter 12 about war a

Human Rights in Islam (2:190, 8: 61 and

49:13) and chapter 17 about Physical and

Psychological sense of the Qalb (Al-

Baqarah: 7, Al-Baqarah: 10, Al-Hajj:46),

however from all verses of Al-Qur’an, there

are no transcriptions, thus it can not be

analyzed there is a distortion or not (Al-

Faruqi’s concept).

Next, in “The English for Islamic

Studies” Textbook by Djamaluddin Darwis,

like the previous one, generally, there are

three big parts of Islamic material, aqidah,

Syariah, and akhlak content.

In part one, there are 15 chapters, all

of which discuss aqidah. In part two, there

are 15 chapters too, aqidah 4 chapters,

Syariah 5 chapters, and akhlak 5 chapters,

while 1 chapter (chapter 1, in part 2) An

Approach to Study of Religion), is an

opening text about how to study Islam

scientifically.

The writer of the book (Mr.

Djamaluddin Darwis) did not write directly

the sources of the text, so it should be

studied more to detect the sources of the

reading text and there are no verses of Al-

Qur’an or Hadits.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on this research it can be

concluded that Islamic material in the three

textbooks is as follow textbook 1, “Islamic

English” by Muhibbin Syah, 13 chapters

discuss aqidah, 5 chapters discuss syariah,

and 3 chapters discuss akhlak, textbook 2,

“English for Islamic Studies” by

Djamaluddin Darwis, 19 chapters tells

about aqidah, 5 chapters about syariah and

5 chapters tells about akhlak. Textbook 3,

“English for Islamic Studies” by Kardimin, 11

explains aqidah content, 9 chapters about

syariah, and 10 about akhlak. So, it can be

concluded that Islamic material in the three

textbooks is dominated by aqidah or faith

1184 | Analysis of Distortion For Islamic Terms Used In English Textbooks For Islamic University

Students Based on Al-Faruqi’s Concept

content. Distortion of Islamic terms is found

in the three textbooks. The distortions are

as follows distortion through transliteration

there are six kinds of distortion through

transliteration in these three textbooks

distortion of prophets’ name, distortion of

prophet Muhammad’s name, distortion of

angel’s name, distortion of words ending

with ة (ta’marbutah), distortion of term

zakah, distortion of term “salah”. Distortion

through translation is there are four kinds

of distortion through transliteration found

in these three textbooks, distortion in

translating the word , distortion in

translating the word “shiyaam” and “hajj”

(Islamic pillars), distortion in translating the

term “taqwa”.

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