When writing about Islam what do you prefer to use, the actual Arabic phrase Romanised or do you prefer using the English alternative if available? Which one do you think is better?
Is it Makkah or Mecca? Madeenah or Medina? Qur’aan or Koran? Allaah or Allah? Ka’abah or Kaaba? Masjid or Mosque? Khalifah or Caliph?
I think it’s better to use the English since the Arabic one confuses non-Muslims, English sentences loose the flow if we don’t use a word which has already evolved and assimilated into the English language, we can’t spell the exact Arabic pronunciation in English anyway (unless we use weird symbols but that just confuses further), and there is no one way of spelling an Arabic word in English so we’ll never be able to agree on a common Islamic English which everyone can use and understand therefore it’s better to use those words which have already made their way into the dictionary.
It’s silly how some Muslims insist on spelling words like Allah as Allaah, Bukhari as Bukhaaree, Albani as Albaanee, even then you can’t get the exact pronunciation and it doesn’t look good, it’s usually brothers/sisters who are actually presenting a true image of Islam free from innovation and polytheism but the message doesn’t get across because the big words confuse and bore the reader.
And some scholars (who are actually upon the truth) need to do a course in English so that they can benefit more people from their knowledge because most of them write in English in an Arabic kind of tone… And sometimes they have problems translating from Arabic to English; they use a word or phrase that is so longwinded instead of a far more shorter and simpler word, which would have conveyed the same meaning.
Also another issue is the peace, mercy, pleasure and blessings of Allah we pray for prophets, their companions, disciples and the scholars after their names, I think it is better to use a cute little Arabic calligraphy .gif image instead of English translation so that the flow of sentences is not spoilt. I would have liked to use those on here but a) they are far too big and it breaks up the writing b) there is a limit on how many we can use in each post.
