Cover not available
Article published In:
Language and Islam in the Asian Pacific
Edited by Ali H. Al-Hoorie
[Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 32:2] 2022
► pp. 214–235

Islam, language and intra-Asian student mobility

A case study of three Indonesian male students in Saudi Arabia

| Royal Commission for Yanbu Colleges and Institutes
In this study I examine the interplay of Islam, Arabic and intra-Asian student mobility. Specifically, through semi-structured interviews with three Indonesian male students who are pursuing their Arabic medium of instruction (AMI) degrees in Islamic Sharia at the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia, I investigate two central questions: (1) What are the driving forces behind Indonesian Muslim students’ mobility to Saudi Arabia for pursuing their degrees in AMI? (2) How do Indonesian Muslim students perceive Arabic in general and AMI programs in particular? The findings reveal that the participants’ desire to move and pursue their AMI degrees in Saudi Arabia were charged with different expectations, objectives and agendas. At the heart of these differences lies what I term as the sacralization of language phenomenon among the participants. This very phenomenon refers to the ways in which Arabic (including its practice) is construed by the participants as beneficial in this world and the Hereafter; as a linguistic vehicle for sustaining Islamic identity; and as a tool through which they show their true engagement with and commitment to Islam and Islamic life. I conclude the paper with a call for serious scholarly engagement with the sacralization of language phenomenon in the emerging scholarship of intra-Asian student mobility within the Asian region.
Keywords: intra-Asia, student, mobility, Arabic, medium of instruction, Islam
Article outline
  • Foregrounding the charge
  • Conceptual framework: Islam, Arabic, and transnationalism
  • Intra-Asian student mobility, Islam, and Arabic in Asia Pacific
  • Research site, methodological overview, and focal participants
  • The focal participants
  • Research methodology
  • Results and discussion
    • Religion, Arabic, and scholarship as driving forces for education mobility
      • Noor: Studying in Saudi Arabia is a validation of my Arabic and understanding of Islamic sciences
      • Mohammed: From religious to monetary gains
      • Ali: Studying in the land of Islam is the dream of all Indonesians
      • Unpacking the desires for AMI among three transnational Indonesian students in Saudi Arabia
      • Noor:
      • Mohammed: Arabic is a sacred language and it has a spiritual value in Aceh community
      • Ali: Through Arabic we can sustain our identity as Muslims
      • Putting it all together: Sacralization of Arabic among Indonesian students in Saudi Arabia
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 February 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/japc.00074.bar
References (38)
References
Abdul Hamid, A. (2009). Transnational Islam in Malaysia. In P. Mandaville, F. Noor & A. Horstmann (Eds.), Transnational Islam in South and Southeast Asia: Movements, networks, and conflict dynamics (pp. 141–165). The National Bureau of Asian Research. Washington: USA.Google Scholar
Abu-Lughod, J. (1999). Before European hegemony: The world system, A.D. 1250–1350. Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Al Qurtuby, S. (2021). Saudi Arabia and Indonesian networks: On Islamic and Muslim scholars. Journal for the Study of Islamic History and Culture, 2 (2), 17–44. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barnawi, O. (2018). Neoliberalism and English language education policies in the Arabian Gulf. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
(2021). EMI-cum-acceleration policy in the contemporary transnational HE market: Experiences of Saudi engineering students. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics. 44 (2), 208–228. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Barnawi, O., & Anwar, A. (2020). TESOL teacher education in a transnational world: Turning challenges into innovative prospects. London/New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In G.R. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241-258). New York, NY: Greenwood Press.Google Scholar
Brooks, R., & Waters, J. (2009). A second chance at ‘success’: UK students and global circuits of higher education. Sociology 43 (6),1085–1102. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chao, R. (2017). Mobility, mutual recognition and ASEAN community building: The road to sustainable ASEAN integration, Journal of International and Comparative Education, 6 (2), pp. 105–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2020). Intra-ASEAN student mobility: Overview, challenges and opportunities. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education. Available at: [URL]. DOI logo
De Costa, P. I., Park, J. S., & Wee, L. (2016). Language learning as linguistic entrepreneurship: Implications for language education. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher 25(5), 695–702. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Duff, P. A. (2015). Transnationalism, multilingualism, and identity. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 351, 57–80. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gumperz, J. J. (1999). On interactional sociolinguistic method. In S. Sarangi & C. Roberts (Eds.), Talk, work and institutional order: Discourse in medical, mediation and management settings (pp. 453–471). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hassan, N. (2009). Transnational Islam in Indonesia. In P. Mandaville, F. Noor & A. Horstmann (eds.). Transnational Islam in South and Southeast Asia: Movements, networks, and conflict dynamics (pp. 121–140). Washington: USA. The National Bureau of Asian Research.Google Scholar
Hashim, A., Leitner, G., & Al Qad, M. (2016). Arabic in contact with English in Asia. English Today, 33 (1), 25–32. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
ICEF Monitor. (2015). The state of international student mobility in 2015 (November). [URL]
Ikhlas, N. (2020). The effect of learning abroad on the students' career direction and employability through Australian-Indonesian student mobility programs. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, 12(6), 112-121.Google Scholar
Kedzierski, M. (2016). English as a medium of instruction in East Asia’s higher education sector: A critical realist cultural political economy analysis of underlying logics. Comparative Education 52 (3): 375–391. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
King, B. (2017). Hip hop headz in sex ed: Gender, agency, and styling in New Zealand. Language in Society, 471, 487–512. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Knight, J., & McNamara, J. (2017). Transnational education: A classification framework and data collection guidelines for international program and provider mobility (IPPM), British Council and DAAD, Manchester and Bonn.Google Scholar
Kubota, R. (2021). Critical engagement with teaching EFL: Towards a trivalent focus on ideology, political economy, and praxis. In O. Barnawi & A. Ahmed (Eds.), TESOL teacher education in a transnational world: Turning challenges into innovative prospects (pp. 49–64). London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Kuroda, C. (2014). The new sphere of international student education in Chinese higher education: A focus on English-medium degree programs. Journal of Studies in International Education 18 (5), 445–462. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
OECD. (2013). Education indicators in focus – 2013/05 (July). [URL]
Leonard, K. (2009). Transnational and cosmopolitan forms of Islam in the West. Harvard Middle Eastern and Islamic Review 8 1, 176–199Google Scholar
Mandaville, P. (2009). Transnational Islam in Asia: Background, typology, and conceptual overview. In P. Mandaville, F. Noor & A. Horstmann (Eds.), Transnational Islam in South and Southeast Asia: Movements, networks, and conflict dynamics (pp. 1–21). Washington, USA: The National Bureau of Asian Research.Google Scholar
Miles, M., & Huberman, A. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded source book. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Phan, L. (2017). Transnational education crossing “Asia” and “the West”: Adjusted desire, transformative mediocrity and neoColonial disguise. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Phan, L., & Fry, G. (2021). International educational mobilities and new developments in Asia’s higher education: Putting transformations at the centre of inquiries. Research in Comparative and International Education. 16 (3), 199–208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shah, M. (2011). Arabic Language and Islam. Oxford Bibliographies Online. Available at [URL]
Stake, R. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Stoeckel, F. (2016). Contact and community: The role of social interactions for a political identity. Political Psychology, 37 (3), 431–442. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thompson, J. B. (1990). Ideology and modern culture. Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Toth, A. (2012). “Unity in diversity- and in Erasmus?”, Nouvelle-Europe. [URL]
Yang, P., & Cheng, Y. (2018). Educational mobility and transnationalization. In N. W. Gleason (Ed.), Higher education in the era of the fourth industrial revolution (pp. 39–63). Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yin, R. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Vertovec, S. (1999). Conceiving and researching transnationalism, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22 (2), 447–462. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009). Transnationalism. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wong, D., & Weng, P. (2013). The globalization of tertiary education and Intra-Asian student mobility: Mainland Chinese student mobility to Malaysia. Asian and Pacific Migration Journal, 22 (1), 55–76. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (4)

Cited by four other publications

Alhamami, Munassir
2024. A Systematic Review of English as a Medium of Instruction Policy in the Arab World. Education as Change 28 DOI logo
R’boul, Hamza, Osman Z. Barnawi & Benachour Saidi
2024. Islamic Ethics As Alternative Epistemology In Intercultural Education: Educators’ Situated Knowledges. British Journal of Educational Studies 72:2 ► pp. 199 ff. DOI logo
Al-Hoorie, Ali H.
2022. Language and Islam in the Asian Pacific. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 32:2 ► pp. 193 ff. DOI logo
Qurtuby, Sumanto Al
2022. Language, Islam, and Muslim societies. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 32:2 ► pp. 276 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.