Classical Arabic philology produced significant concepts in various linguistic areas. Within Islamic hermeneutics those approaches established text linguistics that open up diverse perspectives on the text and propound potential meanings in a multifaceted way. A transformational and functional reading of that tradition can only be accomplished by referring to discourse analytical methods of modern linguistics. Mainly the pragmatic paradigms of speech act theory add to Arabic philological and Islam theological research. A synthesis of Arabic language tradition and modern linguistics may open up new perspectives.