Mechanisms of Ideological Linguistic Bias in Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's "Critique of Religious Discourse": A Critical Analytical Study in Light of the Critical Discourse Analysis Approach

Abstract

 This study seeks to uncover the mechanisms of linguistic-ideological bias latent in the book Critique of Religious Discourse by Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1943–2010)—one of the most controversial contemporary Arabic texts، While the book focused on exposing the "mechanisms" of religious discourse, scholars have not paid sufficient attention to how Abu Zayd’s own discourse is built upon a set of linguistic, rhetorical, and argumentative mechanisms that construct an opposing ideological bias، The study stems from the hypothesis that "critique," as a linguistic act, does not stand outside the ideology it exposes; rather, it reproduces it through parallel lexical, syntactic, and rhetorical mechanisms, even if it differs in its direction and value reference.

The study adopts the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach as developed by Norman Fairclough and Teun van Dijk, applied to a textual corpus extracted from the book's three chapters، It further draws upon Abu Zayd's other writings (Discourse and Interpretation), testimonies of his contemporaries (Thus Spoke Nasr Abu Zayd), and literature on the theory of ideology (The Age of Ideology by Henry Aiken)، The study concludes that bias in Abu Zayd’s discourse operates through four major mechanisms: lexical labeling and categorization, semantic reduction, binary polar oppositions, and military and pathological metaphors، The study argues that these mechanisms—despite their critical legitimacy—render the "scientific" discourse claimed by the author a value-laden, argumentative discourse، Ultimately, this confronts the researcher with a deeper methodological question: Can a critical discourse on ideology ever be completely free from ideology?