Understanding Sources of Islamic Law through the Arabic Language

Arabic in Indonesian Islamic higher education is learned not only as a foreign language but also as a medium for approaching the Qur’an, hadith, tafsir, fiqh, and the wider Arabic Islamic scholarly tradition. This study examines how translanguaging mediates that access without equating language learning with the authority to perform Islamic legal interpretation. Using a qualitative case study at IAIN Parepare, data were drawn from classroom observations, semi-structured interviews with students, lecturers, programmed leaders and curriculum administrators, as well as document study. The data were analyzed using a multidisciplinary approach as proposed by M. Amin Abdullah, which revealed three interconnected thematic patterns. First, Arabic acquires religious-epistemic meaning because students associate it with authoritative Islamic texts, while Indonesian provides interpretive scaffolding for concepts that cannot yet be processed independently in Arabic. Second, academic translanguaging supports gradual access to Arabic scholarly and legal knowledge through guided reading, grammar, translation, digital resources, and discussion, although students remain strongly dependent on course materials. Third, communicative translanguaging enables participation through group work, presentations, teaching assistance, and digital practice, but productive Arabic remains uneven. The study argues that translanguaging functions as epistemic mediation: it can move learners from recognition of Arabic’s sacred authority toward increasingly independent engagement with Arabic-based Islamic knowledge and in line with a multidisciplinary approach. Its contribution to Islamic legal education lies at the preparatory level of textual access, not in claiming juristic competence. Pedagogically, translanguaging should therefore be designed directionally, with Indonesian support gradually converted into Arabic reading, explanation, discussion, and writing.