"La": Arabic code switching in Dutch fundamentalist muslim

[Junes]

For some reason (don't ask me why) I've spent some time listening to lectures by the Dutch convert Abdul-Jabbar van de Ven, who is a Dutch convert to islam and a teacher of Islam (and from what I gather, quite knowledgable).

Here's one example. He uses a lot of Arabic (of which I understand nothing, except the honorifics and words like "Quran", "sunnah", etc.). What I find quite remarkably is his switching to Arabic for the word "La" - no. He says this for instance on 27:04:

Niet iemand die de dikr in de steek liet. La.
Not someone who abandonded the dikr (=type of meditation). No.

I suspect he's using Arabic to emphasize his "no", meaning "not at all" rather than just "no". Is this a common switch, like the formulaic "peace be upon him"? Does it have (religious) significance that he's saying it in Arabic?

[Αυτοβοτα]

It seems a likely switch to make, especially for emphasis, especially in that case where it's a saying no regarding a religious thing (which Arabic is intertwined).

In my experience, many Americans may frequently use other languages' words for "no" and other negatives for emphasis. "Nein! Nyet! Nil! Zilch! Nada!"

Also, "la" is fun to say for "no" and I will not fault anyone for using it.

[Ziz]

I wouldn't say it's code switching. It happens in Orthodox Jewish communities as well, where Hebrew, Yiddish and Aramaic words are sprinkled into English, most often as a way to avoid translating religious and legalistic terminology, but these words also occur where an English one would fine. This phenomenon is known as Yeshivish. I can't see any reason why a similar sociolect of the national language wouldn't emerge among religious Muslims as well. An example off the top of my head:

Mirtsashem, we should all be zocheh to see moshiach beyameinu. = God-willing, we should all merit to see the Messiah in our days.

[Copperknickers]

I'd categorise it as slang rather than code switching myself. It's always just individual words and set phrases, never whole sentences unless the speakers are actually native Arabic speakers talking amongst themselves or quoting from the Quran. 'La' is not a religious word but it's still within the remit of significant emphatic words, which are not all religious exclamations. There are other words, like 'akhi' (brother), used by Muslim communities throughout the western world when speaking western languages.

[Yng]

Yeah I don't think we can really term it code-switching - it's more like a very specific, often semi-nativised jargon. I think it comes under the same banner as western Muslims calling mosques 'masjid' or using Arabic technical (or not-so-technical) terms for thing where a perfectly good English word already exists (even arguably Allāh vs God falls under this). Lā is a slightly odd one, but I suspect comes from people imitating the v recognisable style of Arabic-speaking religious scholars, who have a very specific rhetorical style (I have no idea if people are taught to do this or if it's just become a common thing now, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's based on some traditional idea of rhetoric just because it often sounds to me much like traditional religious texts in Arabic read).