Shakir Mustafa All Experts

Teaching Professor of Arabic

Expertise

Arabic

Contact

s.mustafa@northeastern.edu

617.373.6103

Shakir Mustafa for Northeastern

Weaponizing language: How the meaning of ‘Allahu akbar’ has been distorted

The man who shouted “Allahu akbar” after driving into a crowd in Manhattan last week was not the first to do so after an attack. But his use of the Arabic phrase, according to two Northeastern scholars of linguistics and the Arabic language, illustrates a fundamental misunderstanding of its use and syntax in the Quran and highlights the ability of people to abuse the tools of language.
- by Molly Callahan November 8, 2017
3Qs: What using the name ‘Daesh,’ rather than ‘ISIS’ or ‘ISIL,’ really means

Three faculty members—Jonathan Kaufman, director of the School of Journalism, Shakir Mustafa, teaching professor of Arabic, and Heather Littlefield, associate teaching professor in linguistics—explain the differences among the names ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh and why they matter.
- by Thea Singer November 24, 2015

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