Sheikhul Islam Ibnu Taymiyyah said about learning Arabic:
“Moreover, the Arabic language itself is part of Islam,
and knowing Arabic is an obligatory duty. If it is a duty to understand the Qur‘an and Sunna, and they cannot be understood without knowing Arabic,
then the means that is needed to fulfill the duty is also obligatory.
There are things which are obligatory on all individuals (fard ‘ayn), and others which are obligatory o*n the community or Umma (fard kifayah, i.e., if some people fulfill them the rest are relieved of the obligation).
This is the meaning of the report narrated by Abu Bakr Ibn Abi Shaybah who said: ‘Isa Ibn Yunus told us from Thawri from ‘Umar Ibn Yazid that ‘Umar wrote to Abu Musa al-Ash’ari and said: “Learn the Sunna and learn Arabic; learn the Qur‘an in Arabic for it is Arabic.”
According to another hadith narrated from ‘Umar, he said: “Learn Arabic for it is part of your Religion, and learn how the estate of the deceased should be divided (fara‘id) for these are part of your Religion.”
This command of ‘Umar, to learn Arabic and the Shari’a combines the things that are needed, for Religion involves understanding words and actions. Understanding Arabic is the way to understand the words of Islam, and understanding the Sunna is the way to understand the actions of Islam…”
Sheikhul Islam Ibnu Taymiyyah said about this in his advise:
“Hence when the early Muslims went to live in Syria and Egypt, where the people spoke Byzantine Greek, and in ’Iraq and Khurasan, where the people spoke Persian, and North Africa (al-Maghrib) where the people spoke Berber, they taught the people of those countries to speak Arabic, so that Arabic became the prevalent language in those lands, and all the people, Muslim and Muslims alike, spoke Arabic. Such was also the case in Khurasan in the past, then they became lax with regard to the language and got used to speaking Farsi until it became prevalent and Arabic was forgotten by most of them. Undoubtedly this is disliked.”
It is reported that Shu'bah – Allâh have mercy on him – said, "Learn Arabic, for it increases the intelligence."
*Tahdhîb Al-Tahdhîb* Vol.4 p303.
format_quote Originally Posted by
Argamemnon
I'm a bit afraid of Arabic, I hope it's not too hard. Thanks for the replies.
There's a hadith that says do not say arabic is hard for it will be hard for you, say it is easy and Allah will make it easy.
Here's good place to get started:
http://abdurrahman.org/arabic/learningarabic.html
http://www.madinaharabic.com/