Constructing Islamic Authority Through Arabic Discourse: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of Nigerian Tele-Preachers

The televised Islamic preaching of prominent Nigerian scholars represents a significant contemporary arena for the discursive construction of religious authority, in which Arabic language, Quranic citation, and Islamic scholarly rhetoric are deployed alongside visual and paralinguistic resources to constitute speaker credibility and audiences' submission to religious guidance. This study applies a multimodal critical discourse analysis framework to examine how Islamic authority is constructed through Arabic discourse in the televised preaching of six prominent Nigerian tele-preachers from Kano, Lagos, and Abuja, representing Salafi, Sufi, and progressive Islamic orientations. Using a multimodal corpus of 60 broadcast sermon episodes spanning 2020 to 2024, the research analyses the interplay of verbal Arabic discourse, visual authority cues, spatial arrangements, and paralinguistic features in authority construction processes. Discourse analysis examines Arabic citation practices, code-switching functions, rhetorical authority claims, and contested authority negotiations across different preacher orientations. Post-broadcast interviews with 120 audience members assess how authority constructions are received across different community types. The study develops an original multimodal authority construction model that accounts for the specific Islamic epistemic and Nigerian social context, making theoretical contributions to both Arabic discourse analysis and the sociology of Islamic authority in postcolonial Africa. Keywords: Islamic authority, Arabic discourse, tele-preaching, multimodal analysis, Nigerian Islam.