Why do our elders insist on having all the sermons and religious lectures in Urdu?
Half the people who attend the Mosque are not even Pakistani, Indian or Bengali so they just sit there gazing down getting bored out of their arses.
Then there are the British born Desi youth who can’t understand much of what is being said because the Imam is using big tongue twisting words and phrases.
Why can’t they just do it all in English, that way the whole congregation can understand what is going on.
I mean ok the five Prayers, Quranic recitation and the Friday sermon have to be in Arabic but the rest should be in English so that we all understand it.
Our religion is so great yet our generation is being deprived of it. I swear British born Imams and Islamic missionaries have got so many Muslim kids on the right path, its unbelievable, kids who were into drugs, dating, alcohol and violence etc. are now coming to the Mosque five times a day, growing beards, and living according to the Sunnah because of the efforts of English speaking Imams.
Our religion appeals to people’s hearts and intellects but the problem is getting the message across.
Prayers and fasting were pretty much just empty rituals for me and Tarawee prayers felt like hell especially if the Imam couldn’t recite well but after learning about what Islam is all about, prayer translation, finding out about the Prophet (S) and his Companions (R), Islam doesn’t feel like a burden or boring anymore, its actually quite cool.
The imported Imams are such a bad idea, they can’t communicate well, understand us or address our spiritual needs.
Why don't you volunteer to give it in English. Go ahead, give this proposal to the mosque administration. If they are narrow minded, then may Allah help them.
Dunno, we got an aussie imam so he speaks in english. I think its only polite to speak in language which every body can understand. Somebody should talk to these people
here in bahrain all the sermons etc at the mosque r in arabic, naturally....
while some of the non-arabs attending the prayers understand what the imam says, most of them just sit their killing their time by drawing cartoons on the carpet or picking something from their feet, biting nails, checking out their mobile's features etc....
however, to make sure they do benefit from the khutbah, the major mosques, with non-arab majority, have a translation of the khutba after the prayers (in english, urdu and malayalam) according to the majority of the attendance....
in pakistan, where everyone does not necessarily understand urdu, the imam always gives the sermon in urdu (as far as the mosques i have attended, dunno about the others)....
^
i dont think they wud understand any language....
its kind of difficult to find a language that statues carved from stone/wood/metal wud understand....