A CORPUS-ASSISTED STYLISTIC ANALYSIS OF MARYAM JAMEELAH’S ISLAM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive, corpus-assisted stylistic analysis of Maryam Jameelah's religious text, Islam in Theory and Practice. While existing studies on Jameelah’s work primarily employ interdisciplinary discourse or textual analysis, this research is pioneering in its application of corpus linguistics techniques to the stylistic features of religious literature. The investigation focuses on Jameelah’s lexical choices, linguistic features, and rhetorical strategies to illuminate her underlying ideological and theological perspectives, particularly her unapologetic presentation of Islamic concepts and values. The methodological framework integrates Stylistics, Corpus Linguistics, and the textual corpus of Islam in Theory and Practice (1990). Utilizing corpus linguistics methodologies, this research systematically examines the vocabulary, syntax, and recurring linguistic patterns to define Jameelah’s distinctive writing style. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach: quantitative analysis employs tools like AntConc and a Reference Corpus to generate word lists, identify keywords, and extract a concordance plot, while qualitative analysis focuses on the interpretation of selected chunks at different stylistic levels. The corpus model proposed by MacIntyre (1998) is applied. The analytical findings demonstrate how Jameelah’s linguistic and lexical selections consistently advocate a pure and Pristine Islam. Furthermore, the analysis reveals how her style navigates the complex intersection of stylistics, corpus linguistics, and Islamic studies to articulate the negotiation of multiple identities. The results provide novel insights into the linguistic construction of religious discourse and the sophisticated rhetorical strategies employed by a significant Muslim thinker in presenting an unapologetic stance of Islam before non-Muslim Europeans and Americans.