Sacred Language, Vernacular Difference: Global Arabic and Counter-Imperial Literatures

"For Lienau, the idea that Arabic is a closed language, resisting translation by virtue of its status as the Islamic language of prophetic revelation, is manifestly belied by the modern history of Arabic and its relation to literatures across cultural and linguistic divides. . . . [Lienau] forcefully illustrates that the Orientalist position of Islam’s antagonism toward diversity and Quranic Arabic’s essential untranslatability are rooted not in historical fact but racist fantasy."—Henry Clements, Public Books

“Highlighting the complex entanglement of language, race, and religion, this brilliant book illuminates an entire anticolonial framework for comparative literature. From Egypt to Indonesia to Senegal, Lienau draws our attention to the sacred and secular valences of the Arabic language across transregional communities. Powerful, imaginative, and inspiring—a transformative rethinking of the grounds of world literary study.”—Michael Allan, University of Oregon

“Sacred Language, Vernacular Difference is a fascinating and important study of a global Arabophone literature that served as a crucial marker of Muslim identity and asserted belonging to Islamic culture for colonial subjects from sub-Saharan West Africa to Southeast Asia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This ambitious book substantially expands the horizons of global Arabic as an essential modern literary language.”—Karla Mallette, University of Michigan

“Combining a broad linguistic range and exciting methodological innovations, Sacred Language, Vernacular Difference is a compelling, original, and insightful book that meticulously unfolds a new understanding of global Arabic as a space of comparison.”—Tobias Warner, University of California, Davis