The Arabic language in Islam

[Darth Ultor]

I've been wondering something. Why is the Arabic language so important in Islam? At first I thought it was a cultural thing because Muhammad was an Arab. But it seems like you must pray Salat in Arabic for it to be validated and the Quran must be recited in Arabic.

[siam]

IMO, ....Although the Guidance and message of the Prophet(pbuh) and the Quran are for all mankind, they were primarily sent to the Arabs "who had not recieved a Prophet before" and so, the Prophet (pbuh) is an Arab and the Quran is Arabic. (God had promised Guidance to the decendants of Prophet Abraham(pbuh) and this fullfills that promise). Because the Quran was revealed in Arabic---it has to be preserved in the "original" ---exactly as revealed---and so Arabic is important. Another reason is that like Hebrew, Arabic has 3 letter root-word system adding a richness and depth to the meanings of the words. A Rabbi commented of the Torah as being "multi-faceted" and I think this can be said of the Quran as well as other wisdom teachings---in that --- the more we grow in knowledge and spirituality---the more the texts speak to us. There is another reason as well---The Quran says it is a revelation---but the Quran also warns against blind belief--so how/what way can a person trust that it is indeed from God? The Quran says that if one has doubts then any person can produce a surah like it or a group of people can produce 10 surah like it----because if this is a book composed by a human or a group of humans---then another person or group should be able to produce something of like quality.---it seems reasonable---but in order to produce something of like quality---one has to study the grammer/syntax/linguistics of the (Arabic) Quran--and there lies the proof.....

.........don't Jews recite the Torah in Hebrew?

[Innocent Soul]

Visit this thread and you will get the answer.
http://www.islamicboard.com/quran/13...-question.html

[siam]

How Islam and the Quran transformed Arabic........

"Conclusion
The Arabic language has without doubt served as a very effective medium for the communication of the message of Islam, and as the Prophet's strongest argument against the challenges of his articulate and eloquent contemporaries. It has also served as a means for preserving the cultural and religious heritage of Arabic-speaking and Muslim peoples. In this sense, the language has been extremely useful to the religion. However, in its role as the language of the Qur'an, Arabic has benefited enormously. There is a clear legitimacy to the claim that Islam and the Qur'an have helped to preserve Arabic from decay and deterioration, for it was mainly due to the need to preserve the accuracy and pronunciation of the verses of the Qur'an that efforts were instigated towards refining the Arabic alphabet. Subsequently, the Qur'an was instrumental in the codification of Arabic grammar in the second the third Islamic centuries. Furthermore, the need for Muslims, whether native or non-native speakers of Arabic, to memorize and recite verses from the Qur'an in their daily worship has helped to keep the Arabic language alive. It was due to its association with Islam and the Qur'an that Arabic gained a good deal of prestige as the language of a young faith, a faith that was gaining more and more followers with each new day. The interest in the new faith this brought with it interest in the language of that faith. It was under the banner of Islam that Arabic spread beyond the borders of the Arabian Peninsula to far-off areas in Europe, south-east Asia, and Africa. From literary, structural, and stylistic points of view, the Qur'an added immeasurably to the beauty of the language, introducing new styles, forms of expression, figures of speech, and structures. The Qur'an also enriched and expanded the vocabulary of the Arabic language by employing hundreds of words of foreign origin, thus demonstrating the legitimacy of lexical borrowing as a linguistic device. The Qur'an similarly presented Arab scholars with a higher criterion of literary excellence and set new and more rigid standards for literary composition for subsequent generations of Arab scholars. The model that the Qur'an provided, while remaining inimitable, has sharpened the literary skill and kindled the talent of generations of scholars in their attempts to emulate the style and literary excellence of the Qur'an, the first book in the Arabic language. Interest in the Qur'an, its language, and its exegesis gave rise to a number of related disciplines, which include philological, religious, and linguistic studies. There is no doubt that the Arabic language was extremely useful as a medium for the revelation of the Holy Qur'an and for communicating God's final message to the pre-Islamic Arabs of the seventh century. It is, however, the conclusion of this paper that the Arabic language underwent drastic changes in its structure, content, and status due to its association with Islam and the Qur'an, changes that the language would not have undergone had it not been for the new role it acquired in its bond with Islam and the Qur'an. "

www.al-islam.org/al-serat/arabic.htm

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[siam]

Though this is off topic----it might be interesting.......from wikipedia

Judeo-Arabic.


Jews in Arab countries wrote—sometimes in their dialects, sometimes in a more classical style—in a mildly adapted Hebrew script (rather than using Arabic script), often including consonant dots from the Arabic alphabet to accommodate phonemes that did not exist in the Hebrew alphabet.
Some of the most important books of medieval Jewish thought were originally written in medieval Judeo-Arabic, as well as certain halakhic works and biblical commentaries. Only later were they translated into medieval Hebrew so that they could be read by the Ashkenazi Jews of Europe. These include:

• Saadia Gaon's Emunoth ve-Deoth, his Tafsir (biblical commentary and translation), and his siddur (the explanatory content; not the prayers themselves)
• Solomon ibn Gabirol's Tikkun Middot ha-Nefesh
• Bahya ibn Pakuda's Chovot ha-Levavot
• Judah Halevi's Kuzari
• Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah, Sefer ha-Mitzvot, Guide to the Perplexed, and many of his letters and shorter essays.

Most communities also had a traditional translation of the Bible into Judeo-Arabic, known as a sharħ (meaning): for more detail, see Bible translations (Arabic). The term sharħ sometimes came to mean "Judeo-Arabic" as such, in the same way that "Targum" was sometimes used to mean Aramaic.

[Darth Ultor]

IMO, ....Although the Guidance and message of the Prophet(pbuh) and the Quran are for all mankind, they were primarily sent to the Arabs "who had not recieved a Prophet before" and so, the Prophet (pbuh) is an Arab and the Quran is Arabic. (God had promised Guidance to the decendants of Prophet Abraham(pbuh) and this fullfills that promise). Because the Quran was revealed in Arabic---it has to be preserved in the "original" ---exactly as revealed---and so Arabic is important. Another reason is that like Hebrew, Arabic has 3 letter root-word system adding a richness and depth to the meanings of the words. A Rabbi commented of the Torah as being "multi-faceted" and I think this can be said of the Quran as well as other wisdom teachings---in that --- the more we grow in knowledge and spirituality---the more the texts speak to us. There is another reason as well---The Quran says it is a revelation---but the Quran also warns against blind belief--so how/what way can a person trust that it is indeed from God? The Quran says that if one has doubts then any person can produce a surah like it or a group of people can produce 10 surah like it----because if this is a book composed by a human or a group of humans---then another person or group should be able to produce something of like quality.---it seems reasonable---but in order to produce something of like quality---one has to study the grammer/syntax/linguistics of the (Arabic) Quran--and there lies the proof.....

.........don't Jews recite the Torah in Hebrew?

Thanks for the info. The Hebrew language is more of an identity thing in Judaism rather than religious. The Torah is always recited in Hebrew, but some prayers are read in English (or whatever the native language is) in some congregations. I personally can't read Hebrew too well, so I read the English translation.

[siam]

Do Jews have their own English translation directly from the Hebrew or do they use the (Christian) OT ?

[Darth Ultor]

We use our own.

[siam]

Do all Jews use the same (Hebrew) Torah ---that is, ----is the (Hebrew) Torah pretty standard or does it have "editions"/revisions...etc like the Christian Bible?---the (Arabic) Quran is standard.

[Darth Ultor]

The Hebrew is the same no matter what. There are no editions. Only the translations can differ. Some use the Shakespearean English and others use modern English. I think it's the same for the translations of the Quran.

[boriqee]

I've been wondering something. Why is the Arabic language so important in Islam? At first I thought it was a cultural thing because Muhammad was an Arab. But it seems like you must pray Salat in Arabic for it to be validated and the Quran must be recited in Arabic.

1. one reason is exactly for what you claimed, which is

The Hebrew is the same no matter what. There are no editions

likewise, there are no "editions" for the Qur'an

2. this was a pinnacle factor in the preservation of orthodoxy.

3. The issue that isolates Islam, and its language (Arabic) is that the term "Arabi" from its linguistic meaning means "to make something crystal clear". The subtleties inherent in the Arabic language are of such a magnitude, that it is incomparable to any other language. In reality, there is no such thing as a "synonym" in Arabic language. EACH word, while it may have extreme similarity with another word, actually does have a specific sentiment and meaning with it that is not associated with another word that conveys almost the same meaning. Likewise, there is a plethora of linguistic foreplay for just one single word all of which conveys a meaning of its own.

The Arabic language is so exhaustive that there were some linguists who drowned in its sea and ended up taking the language as its religion and worship. The nickname for Arabic is called "al-Bahr" i.e. the "sea" because that is exactly what it is. It is a language that knows no end

Tying this fact back to my point, because the term "arabi" entails the meaning of making something crystal clear, the Qur'an inherently exited itself out of the fold of being "manipulated" by altered meanings and allowed for itself to articulate the intent of Allah. In other words, no one can come and say that this verse means this or that

these are the three primary reasons.

[Tyrion]

From what I understand, Arabic is important because of the fact that the Quran is in Arabic. Seeing as it's the literal word of God, it's important to preserve it in its original form so that all the nuances, connotations, etc... are captured and not lost. It's for this reason that I think prayers have always been recited, and must be recited, in Arabic. We have to recite the Quran in prayer, and since the Quran (the literal word of God) can only be the Quran in Arabic (Since it wouldn't still be God's literal word in another language), translations in another language just won't suffice. Does that make sense?

[Who Am I?]

I was just going to ask about prayer, but I think the post above mine answered my question. But I was curious to know, if I pray in English to Allah, will He still hear my prayer? I'm currently learning Arabic (slowly), but it will be a while before I get to where I can pray confidently in Arabic.

[Tyrion]

I was just going to ask about prayer, but I think the post above mine answered my question. But I was curious to know, if I pray in English to Allah, will He still hear my prayer? I'm currently learning Arabic (slowly), but it will be a while before I get to where I can pray confidently in Arabic.

There might be some confusion here as to what the word "prayer" is referring to... When we say prayer, we're usually referring to Salah, which is our ritual worship that is to be performed 5 times a day. It's this that must be performed in Arabic. If you mean prayer like the prayer of Christians, as in a personal supplication to God (Du'a), then you can make that in any language you want. In Islam, we don't see anything as being between us and God, so if you want to make a supplication to him, then you just raise your hands and do it. (Also remember the role of sincerity and intention in Islam.)

For new Muslims who are learning how to perform Salah and how to say the parts in Arabic, then I believe it is okay for them to recite what they can in their native tongue until they have learned all the parts in Arabic. And by the way, even for Salah, you don't have to "know Arabic"... The vast majority of Muslims don't know Arabic, but they just learn the basic meaning of what they have to recite in Salah... So for new Muslims, the priority shouldn't really be to master Arabic before learning proper Salah, but I do believe eventually Arabic should be learned for a better understanding...

Hope that helps... :p

[Asiyah3]

The Qur'aan was revealed in Arabic from God to the Prophet (SAAS) via Gabriel. Hence, it wouldn't be the Qur'aan, God's words, recited if those revealed words are not being recited.

[Who Am I?]

There might be some confusion here as to what the word "prayer" is referring to... When we say prayer, we're usually referring to Salah, which is our ritual worship that is to be performed 5 times a day. It's this that must be performed in Arabic. If you mean prayer like the prayer of Christians, as in a personal supplication to God (Du'a), then you can make that in any language you want. In Islam, we don't see anything as being between us and God, so if you want to make a supplication to him, then you just raise your hands and do it. (Also remember the role of sincerity and intention in Islam.)

For new Muslims who are learning how to perform Salah and how to say the parts in Arabic, then I believe it is okay for them to recite what they can in their native tongue until they have learned all the parts in Arabic. And by the way, even for Salah, you don't have to "know Arabic"... The vast majority of Muslims don't know Arabic, but they just learn the basic meaning of what they have to recite in Salah... So for new Muslims, the priority shouldn't really be to master Arabic before learning proper Salah, but I do believe eventually Arabic should be learned for a better understanding...

Hope that helps... :p

Yep, that cleared that up, thanks.

I am actually taking Arabic classes at a local masjid so I am slowly learning Arabic. Learning to read it is the hardest part for me.