Language Ideological Hierarchisation in Madrasa in Pakistan

ABSTRACT This critical review examines the ideological hierarchisation of language within Pakistani Madaris as a lens into the entanglements of education, religion and identity in the Global South. The paper critiques how Arabic, Urdu and English are positioned across overlapping secular and religious systems by borrowing from concepts such as Bourdieu's symbolic power, critical theory and scholarship on the weaponisation of language. Given our focus on the currency and capital of language within the Madrasa context, we approach language hierarchies as performative forces that shape subjectivities, identities and ethical relations rather than as neutral tools of communication through an ethic‐onto‐epistemological lens. In doing so, we reframe language hierarchisation in Madaris as an intra‐active process through which linguistic practices co‐produce religious authority, moral boundaries and political effect. The analysis situates these hierarchies historically, highlights their reinforcement and contestation in Madrasa education, and considers their political use in relation to blasphemy, digital media and social control. The article concludes by proposing teacher education and ideological critique as pathways toward equitable practices that honour plurality and enact relational ethics within and beyond Pakistani Madaris.