LANGUAGE, IDENTITY AND FAITH: A SOCIOLINGUISTICS ANALYSIS OF RENAMING PRACTICES AMONG MUSLIM CONVERTS

Abstract

This research investigates how language, identity, and religious faith intersect within Northern Nigerian Muslim communities, focusing specifically on the social and linguistic dynamics of renaming practices among converts to Islam. The study specifically aims to interrogate whether the widespread expectation for converts to adopt Arabic names is theologically mandated by Islamic doctrine or whether it is a socioculturally constructed phenomenon shaped by ideology, linguistic hierarchy, and historical power relations. Drawing on Saussurean semiotics, Bourdieu's concepts of linguistic capital and symbolic power, Fishman's sociolinguistics of identity, and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's decolonial language theory, the study interrogates how Arabic came to assume a position of supreme onomastic legitimacy at the expense of indigenous languages. Methodologically, the paper uses a qualitative, interpretive research design featuring a conceptual and textual analysis. It crossreferences classical Islamic exegetical sources, specifically from Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, with naturally occurring illustrative examples of naming conventions and socioreligious indexicality in Northern Nigeria. The findings show a significant disjunction between localised sociolinguistics practice and Islamic theological doctrine; while communal ideologies enforce Arabic renaming as a rigid uniform of religious authenticity, core Islamic texts emphasise semantic moral purpose and the preservation of non-offensive indigenous linguistic identity over Arabic cultural absorption. Ultimately, the study implies the need for a decolonial reconfiguration of religious education in African contexts, demonstrating that decoupling universal theological faith from cultural-linguistic conformity can promote greater structural embracement within global Islam.