Asalaam Alaikum. Recently, I keep coming across the idea that it is incumbent on every muslim to learn arabic in order to understand the Quran in its original form.
It is true that no translation, despite its best efforts (and may Allah reward those who have committed themselves to this task), can do justice to the eloquence and depth of the Word of Allah.
However, there is something that I find difficult to understand, and please excuse me if this sounds stupid. But surely, if one were to try and learn arabic then you would still have to use english to translate the language into one you recognise? Does this not bring you back to square one, in that, you will still be relying on an imperfect translation of the arabic word?
Please if anyone can explain this to me as I need to try and get my head round it. JazakAllah
Waalaikum Assalam. I appreciate your idea of learning arabic. Well iam sure you have answer for your question. If our mother tongue is urdu. How do we learn english without translating it at lower levels. Initially our teachers translate tought words so that we can memorize them. Now we directly understand english without translating it. Isn’t it?
Anyways you can get answers for all these question and more simplifications at www.understandquraan.com . There is a short term course here containing some 27 lessons. Each lesson is for some 15 minutes. If you download and learn those lessons i think in a duration of just 3-4 days we can completely learn salah with full understanding of its meaning and much more. While offering salah inshallah you will feel that directly you are speaking to Allah(swt) in arabic language since we learn this with full grammer and meaning . Download first four lessons inshallah you will get an idea about it, then you can proceed further.
Asalaam Alaikum. Recently, I keep coming across the idea that it is incumbent on every muslim to learn arabic in order to understand the Quran in its original form.
It is true that no translation, despite its best efforts (and may Allah reward those who have committed themselves to this task), can do justice to the eloquence and depth of the Word of Allah.
However, there is something that I find difficult to understand, and please excuse me if this sounds stupid. But surely, if one were to try and learn arabic then you would still have to use english to translate the language into one you recognise? Does this not bring you back to square one, in that, you will still be relying on an imperfect translation of the arabic word?
Please if anyone can explain this to me as I need to try and get my head round it. JazakAllah
I get that argument from many people that Quran cannot be translated. If it cannot be translated then how can those who do not know or understand Arabic relate to it ? How can they be closer to Allah ?
This argument is mostly thrown at your face by those who want their monopoly on the religion , it is the same argument Jew scholars used to give to their masses and they used to sell their religion for a little bit of money as mentioned in Quran.
I don't think its necessarily the fact that the Quran cannot be translated. Obviously, it is translated and for millions of us it is the closest understanding of Allah swt's word that we can get. And I don't think we should underestimate the value of this.
I think the reasoning that makes me want to, inshaAllah, try and achieve this objective is that the sheer beauty of the words used can only really be achieved by learning Quranic arabic. Truly appreciating that this can only be from Allah azzawajil.
Well, i think the reason why many people say that quraan cannot be translated properly is because of its accuracy of translation. We can understand the concept when we go for translation, while translation may not carry the same spirit and moreover we can't get the concept of word to word translation.
To support my statement i would like to give few small example which gives same meaning but makes much difference in grammer.
Example :1
Arabic: Aamantu Billahi (here Bi is translated as in)
Trnsltn: I believe in Allah
Urdu: Mai Allah** par** imaan laaya. (here par is translated as on)
Here both the translations give you two different words i.e I believe IN Allah/ I believe On Allah.
Example:2
WARHAMNI
Trans: And have mercy on me
Now we dont have the word** on** anywhere in WARHAMNI but without adding on it becomes 'AND HAVE MERCY ME'. And this sentence doesnot make anysense.
Thus this and many such more reasons may conclude that arabic is the most superior language and hence cannot be exactly or perfectly translated. But still its 1000 times better to recite Quraan along with translation so that we can get something into our brains.