The Necessity Of Arabic

As-Salaamu-Alaikum 'Verily, We have sent it down as an ARABIC Qur'an in order that you may understand.' (12:2) 'And thus have We sent it (the Qur'an) down to be a judgement of authority in ARABIC' (13:37) 'And thus We have sent it down as a Qur'an in ARABIC and have explained therein warnings, in order that they may fear Allah, or that it may cause them to have a lesson from it' 'An ARABIC Qur'an without any crookedness...'(39:28) 'A Book whereof the Verses are explained in detail a Qur'an in ARABIC for people who know' ((41:3) 'And thus We have revealed to you a Qur'an in ARABIC....' (42:7) 'We verily, have made it a Qur'an in ARABIC that you may be able to understand' (43:3) Know that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "The Arab is not by blood. The Arab is by tongue" The Prophet(peace be upon his) as also said: ".....the Qur'an is Arabic and the tongue of the People of Paradise is Arabic" Know that Sheikh Abdalqadir al-Murabit says in his at-Tarbiyat alIslamiyyat al-Asliyya: "....for someone approaching Islamic education there would be a primary requirement which we would not even list it -it would be the 'given', ....it is frankly, and there is no escaping it, a clear grasp of the Arabic language. And I would say for the ajami who does not speak Arabic, it is necessary for him to take it on and get it by the most traditional means possible in order to arrive at an Arabic which is in itself more related to fusaha, more connect you to the Qur'an and Islamic 'ilm." Let us be clear from the outset...to be a Muslim and derive the wonderful blessings of this great deen, one does not have to be fluent in Arabic language! Many beautiful and wonderful Muslims do not speak Arabic! My grandmother who is a wonderful Muslimah and a great inspiration in my life knows very little arabic! Just enough to say her salat! However, My grandmother does not claim to be a faqih either!She hasnt issued any fatwas, or made any outrageous claims like the ulema 'dont follow the Qur'an'! I find it incredible how many people make judgements, suppositions, and render 'fatwas' and are unable to read the Qur'an in the language which it was revealed! These same people then proceed to attack and criticize the ulema of our deen! Incredible!!!!!! To the english-speaking 'faqih' who insist upon 'judging' by way of the Qur'an only....that the reality is that you actually rely on the 'translators' of the Qur'an in your own 'judgements'! Everytime

the non-arabic reader/'faqih' of the Qur'an makes the claim that "Allah has said" the more accurate discription is that the "translator has intrepreted that Allah the Most High means by this statement" !!! This is an accurate discription of the process of what you read in the translations. Of course, we are on a medium where english language must be used....and english translations of the Qur'an are very important! We can and should give inspiration, advice and exhortations to do good, and things like this....however, the anti-scholar wants more than this.....he wants to issue fatwas and condemn the ulema, and convince people that his 'INTERPRETATION' of the Qur'an by way of the english medium is the actual word of Allah as a commandment and judgement! Therefore it is not surprising that the anti-hadith and anti-scholar who makes these fiqh judgements can not and does not discern this difference between the actual Qur'anic text and the translation which he relies upon!!! The anti-scholar ignorance is deep, he does not even realize that the translators of the Qur'an that he relies so heavily upon....they themselves rely on the 'mufassirs' or the ulema (scholars) who have written commentaries on the Qur'an!!! As they attack reliance on the ulema, they can not name one Muslim translator who does not refer to the very same ulema to aid the translation of the Book of Allah! Scholars like Ibn Katheer, Qurtabi, Fakhr ud-din al-Razi, Shawkani, Baydawi,Tabari, and others. There is not one translator of the Qur'an that does not utilize Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim and the hadith text!!!! Why is this? What is often not apparent to the non-arabic reader is that many ayats in the Qur'an can contain more than one meaning. Ta'wil is a process in arabic language where a shift in the meaning of word can occur with the availabliity of a proof that indicates that the word has another meaning which is plausible in the text. In many instances the translator chooses a meaning according to his understanding and reflections! A proof of this is obvious by simply picking up a Qur'an and examine some of the different renderings of the same arabic text! Learning and studying arabic frees one from being constrainted to what the translator has chosen for the non-arabic reader. The serious student of Islam can not be constrained by translations of others! He/she must learn arabic to expand his/her knowledge! If a student striving to struggle and learn the deen has to learn arabic....what does this say for the 'faqih' who will expouse, pontificate, and elucidate the meanings of the Qur'an for us.....without knowing the language of the Qur'an!!!! I say again.....beware of the anti-scholar/hadith!!! You can rest assure they have no knowledge of arabic language! Learn the language of the Qur'an and defend your deen against the corruption of the corrupters who desire to influence the hearts of people with their own vain desires!!!!!! Ma-Salaam Khalil Muhsin