How can Arabic increase your faith ???

How can Arabic increase your faith ???
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When someone says, 'the Arabic language is foreign to me', that translates into 'the understanding of the Qur'an is foreign to me'. When the Arabic language is foreign to someone, that translates into 'the Sunnah of AlMustafa (sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam) is foreign to me.'

Whoever loves Allah must, by virtue of that true love, love Rasul Allah (sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam). And whoever loves Allah and His Messenger must, by virtue of that true love, love the Arabic language chosen by Allah.

It is the language spoken by the greatest book. It is the language spoken by the greatest human. It is the entry way to understanding all of the other Islamic sciences. Someone who never learns Arabic, can never fully understand the Qur'an and Sunnah.

But, brothers and sisters, have each of us done our part in protecting those words of Allah and his messenger? Rasul Allah (sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam) said, "Ballighu (notify, transmit, tell others) about me, if only with one Ayah." How do we do that if we ourselves do not understand the Ayaat that were revealed? How can we presume to know a text when we don't even understand the very language in which it was revealed? In order to fulfill the mission Allah and His Messenger (sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam) have sent us on, it is imperative that we become literate in the language of Islam.

The task of teaching others about Islam - for passing on that one Ayah at a time - is too important for us to waste yet another generation. Literacy and education of our Deen has to flood our communities in order for us to advance as a guiding nation.

The Qur'an is Allah's way of communicating with us, of directly guiding us on his path. But has that communication actually occurred? Look at any college level "Communications" textbook, and it will tell you that the definition of "communication" is that a message is sent, and that message is received with the understanding that the sender intended. If I say something and you can't hear me because my microphone isn't working, or you have gotten bored and are daydreaming, or you don't understand the language I'm speaking, then true communication has not occurred. To quote one "Communications" textbook, "If my meaning was not conveyed, I question if communication has occurred.. Language may be engaged in; words have transpired. But not an act of communication." The same is true for the words of Allah and his messenger. Have we really allowed Allah to communicate with us, if we have not received the meaning of His words?

Just because we understand a watered down, weakened English translation of the Qur'an doesn't mean we fully understand the Qur'an. There is so much subtlety and nuance within every language that simply can not be translated.

If Rasul Allah (sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam) spoke to you directly today - and naturally he would speak to us in Arabic - would you understand what he was saying? Or would you need a translator? You would want to capture every moment, understand every piece of advice he was giving you, but instead, you might be standing there helplessly, unable to communicate with him, or to understand his wisdom.

Those before us who did have that chance were changed by it. Shortly after the first Muslim migration to Habasha, Rasul Allah (sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam) recited Surah Najm at the Ka'bah. As he recited, everyone - Muslims and non-believers - listened in rapture to these Arabic verses.

He came to the final verses: [Do ye then wonder at this recital? / And will ye laugh and not weep / Wasting your time in vanities? / But fall ye down in prostration to Allah, and adore (Him)!]

At that moment, Rasul Allah (sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam) fell to the ground in prostration to Allah. The Muslims followed him, all of them falling in Sajdah to Allah.

Now, I want you to picture what happened next … every disbeliever in the gathering, every one of them, also fell in Sajdah to Allah! They were so moved by the beauty and complexity of the Qur'an, that they couldn't deny the message contained within.

[Verily we sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an so that you may understand] - Surah Yusuf, 2
One of the main Arabic teachers at AlHuda School in Maryland (www.alhuda.org) started his career teaching English to Muslims in Arab countries. He saw how serviced the English language was and how much money was being spent to teach and study it. He thought to himself that Arabic, the language chosen by Allah, is more worthy of such wealth, effort and time. He changed his career path and in his graduate studies took on the task of teaching Arabic to native English speakers. As immigrants or children of immigrants, most of us speak two languages. We convinced ourselves, "we must learn English so we can get ahead in this world." Now, we must remind ourselves, "we must learn Arabic, so we can get ahead in the next world."
What does learning Arabic do for us?

One: It molds our character. As Ibn Taymiyyah - rahimahullah - said, "Using a language has a profound effect on one's thinking, behavior and religious commitment. It also affects one's resemblance to the early generations of this Ummah, the Companions and the Taabi'een. Trying to emulate them refines one's thinking, religious commitment and behavior."

Two: It is our bridge to the culture of Islam. Undoubtedly, with the teaching of language comes the teaching of ways to think and behave, through understanding of the culture that speaks that language.

Let no Muslim think that Arabic is not their people's tongue. It is the language of our Deen. Calling people to this language is not a nationalistic call, it is a call to the Muslim to raise his or her head and say, 'My faith has a language, it's called Arabic!'

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MashaAllah.

Once again you have supplied us with a wonderful and inspiring read.


Jazakallah.

Truly inspiring brother. Makes one wonder why we are so often trying to better our english, be it accent or understanding when we hardly know the language of which we live.
Subhanallah!

Many thanks akhee ,ukhtee

JazakAllah khair for such a great post

Knowing the Quran, Hadeeth, and even the stories of the Companion on its original language is very difference than read them in English or any other language

Take the Quran for example. The main miracle in the Quran itself was to challenge the Arab of Quraish who was the most eloquence among all the other Arabs in the desert of Arabia. They stood hopeless in front of such amazing words. Even the best poets back then could not even came with a verse like the Quran. How we suppose to sense that feeling if we read it English translation.

There are many tiny details that meant a lot when the scholars explain the Quran in the Arabic interpretations....for Tafseer (interpretation) of Ibn Katheer, he used more than 20 pages of very big pages size with small text size as well just to interpret and go through all the eloquence sides in surah Al Fatiha which is only 7 verses and he was explaining from Arabic to Arabic SubhanAllah

in each word of the Quran there is a eloquence miracle in chosing the word position among the Ayah itself, sometimes the word can be placed in more than one position in our daily speaking, but in Quran for each position there is a reason for plaing it that way

Thanks sister for these very important additions .

Arabic is a very rich language ; and the choice of Arabic as the language of Qur'an shows how much important and valuable it is... , It's the language that we will all speak in the day of judgement ....,ALLAH (swta) will speak to us in Arabic , and it's the spoken language in al jannah .

The question that needs an answer is why we don't give Arabic what it deserves ???

^ simply because people these days are used to use English claiming that its easier and simple. Unfortunately, among arab themselves you will find them insert some English words to their daily arabic conversation

Its soo sad seeing what Arabic end up with !!!

ukhtee,

simply because people these days are used to use English claiming that its easier and simple. Unfortunately, among arab themselves you will find them insert some English words to their daily arabic conversation

Its soo sad seeing what Arabic end up with !!!

This is the resposibility of the family , muslim community,and the scholars of course, they should know that Arabic is the key to the "deen" and therefore
a path to " aljennah "inshallah...