An Arabic Qur'an - Shaykh Ahsan Hanif

Khutbah Opening

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

O people, fear your Lord, Who created you from one soul, and created from it its wife, and spread among them many men and women. And fear Allah, with whom you ask for help and mercy. Indeed, Allah is ever watching over you.

O you who have believed, fear Allah and say the righteous word. He will correct your deeds and forgive your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has won a great triumph.

As for what follows: the most authentic hadith is the Book of Allah. And the best guide is the guide of Muhammad ﷺ. And the worst of things are its innovations, and every innovation is an invention, and every invention is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.

The Many Descriptions of the Qur'an

Allah in the Qur'an describes the Qur'an in a number of ways. Many of those descriptions are familiar to us — we've heard them before. Allah describes the Qur'an as a light, describes it as a book of guidance. He describes it as being a reminder from your Lord, a cure for what is in the hearts, a mercy for the believers. Allah describes and calls the Qur'an al-Furqan — a criterion, something that distinguishes between truth and falsehood.

These and other descriptions of the Qur'an are familiar to us, but there is one description of the Qur'an that perhaps is given to it in the Qur'an more than any other description. A description that perhaps you've come across, that you've read, but you've probably never stopped to reflect upon. In numerous places, multiple times, Allah describes the Qur'an as being an Arabic Qur'an.

An Arabic Qur'an — The Qur'anic Testimony

At the beginning of Surah Yusuf, Allah says:

We reveal to you this Arabic Qur'an that you may comprehend and understand.

The famous scholar of Tafsir, Ibn Kathir رحمه الله تعالى said in his explanation of this verse: that Allah revealed the greatest of books — the Qur'an — in the greatest of languages, the Arabic language, to the greatest of messengers, our Prophet ﷺ, by way of the greatest of angels, Jibreel عليه السلام, in the greatest of lands, the city of Mecca. And he began his revelation in the greatest of times, in the month of Ramadan.

And when Allah gathered all of that nobility, all of that superiority and virtue, from the things that Allah made clear about this Qur'an is that it is an Arabic Qur'an. And that should make us stop and pause and think — me, you, the vast majority of us who are sitting here and are non-Arabs. Arabic is not our mother tongue. We don't speak Arabic, or don't speak it very well. Our families aren't from Arab lands. And even those from amongst us here who are Arabs — maybe their level of Arabic is not up to scratch and not the way that it should be. It is a cause for us to pause and to think.

Numerous times in the Qur'an, Allah stresses that it is an Arabic Qur'an. In Surah Fussilat, at the very beginning, Allah says:

This is a book that We have made manifest and clear, its verses — an Arabic Qur'an for people who will know and they will understand.

Allah, when He describes the revelation of the Qur'an to a group of people who are Arabs — but who would claim that the Prophet ﷺ was a sorcerer, a magician, a poet; who would criticize and ridicule him ﷺ — Allah says towards the end of Surah al-Shu'ara:

Indeed, this is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds. The trusted spirit — Jibreel — descended with it, upon your heart, meaning the Prophet ﷺ, so that you may be a warner, in a clear Arabic tongue.

A language that the Arabs understood, and because by virtue of them being Arabs — by virtue of them being people of eloquence and understanding the intricacies of the Arabic language in literature and in poetry — they understood that this is revelation. That this isn't just normal speech. That this isn't something which the poets and others can come up with.

Allah says in Surah al-Zumar:

An Arabic Qur'an in which there is no crookedness, so that people may attain taqwa and piety.

Over and over again you find this description of the Qur'an — more so perhaps than any other description that Allah has given to His book in the Qur'an. Allah said to our Prophet ﷺ:

And likewise We have revealed to you — meaning Muhammad ﷺ — this Arabic Qur'an, that you may warn the people of Mecca and those that surround it.

The Claim That the Qur'an Came from a Non-Arab

When the Arabs, the Quraysh — one of the things that they said about the Qur'an and the Prophet ﷺ, one of the propaganda that they used — was that the Prophet ﷺ doesn't receive revelation, but there's a non-Arab in Mecca that he goes to. And this non-Arab is the one who comes up with the Qur'an, he's the one who comes up with the words, and then the Prophet ﷺ memorizes it and repeats it. That was one of the assertions that they made — one of the claims in order to discredit the Qur'an.

Allah rebuked it in the Qur'an. He said in Surah al-Nahl:

We know what they say concerning the Qur'an — the statements that they make, the claims and assertions that they make. And they claim that it came from a non-Arab tongue, because they claim the man giving it to the Prophet ﷺ was a non-Arab. But this is an Arabic Qur'an, Allah says. It is an Arabic Qur'an.

The Companions and the Arabic Language

These and other verses, when we understand them, we realize why the senior companions of the Prophet ﷺ, when the Prophet ﷺ would sit and narrate to them, he would mention the hadith, he would speak about issues — if they didn't understand a word, they would stop and say: "O Messenger of Allah, what does that mean?" And the Prophet ﷺ was speaking Arabic, but he was the most eloquent of Arabs. And because of his level of eloquence, sometimes the other Arabs, despite their own eloquence, wouldn't be familiar with certain words. They would say: "O Messenger of Allah, what does that refer to? What does that mean?" They were eager to know this.

Why? Because as Allah said in the verses I recited — in order for you to comprehend, in order for you to know, in order for you to understand, in order for you to attain piety and taqwa — then you need to learn some of the Arabic language, if not know a great deal of the Arabic language.

And that is why when the companions, رضي الله عنهم أجمعين, after the death of the Prophet ﷺ, when they dispersed across the world — from Byzantium to Persia, to other lands that they visited, all the way up to southern Spain in Andalus — one of the things that they brought with them was the Arabic language. The people of Byzantium were not Arabs. They didn't speak Arabic. Nor did the people of Persia. Nor did the people of southern Europe. But those early Muslims, when they came, they brought Arabic with them. Why? Because they understood its importance based on these verses of the Qur'an.

Umar, رضي الله عنه — and Umar, as Khalifa, had many senior companions still living around him, people who had spent many years with the Prophet ﷺ — he would say to them:

Learn the Arabic language, for it is part of your religion. (Reported from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, رضي الله عنه)

As Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله تعالى said: when you bring all of these verses together and look at all of these narrations and the way that the companions approached the Arabic language, you realize that Allah chose Arabic for His book and for His Prophet ﷺ. And so therefore, from the symbols of Islam is the Arabic language.

The Scholars of Islam and the Arabic Language

Those companions, when they traveled across the world, they took Arabic with them. And that is why some of the greatest scholars of this religion were non-Arabs originally. They didn't live in Arab lands, but by virtue of the Arabic language, they became from the greatest scholars of hadith, aqeedah, tafsir, and so on and so forth.

Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, al-Nasa'i, al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah — these were not people living in Mecca or Medina or in Baghdad or in Damascus. They lived many thousands of miles away from those places. But they knew Arabic, they learned Arabic, and they understood its importance. And through it, by Allah's permission, they were able to become amazing scholars and leaders of this religion.

And Imam al-Shafi'i رحمه الله تعالى was known for his proficiency, his mastery of the Arabic language. And they would say to him: why do you dedicate so much time to learning the Arabic language? He said: I dedicate time so that I can understand the religion of Allah.

So therefore, for me and you, in order for us to understand the Qur'an and understand the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, it is important for us to be aware of the Arabic language. Its importance isn't something which can be understated.

Arabic Is Inseparable From Islamic Practice

The Arabic language, as we know, is so important that if you were going to pray now — the salah that we are going to pray, the Jumu'ah prayer — there are certain verses that you must read in Arabic. Du'as that you must say in Arabic. You can't pray in English. You can't pray in French, or Chinese, or in any other language. It must be in Arabic — unless you have a valid excuse, for those very few people who are an exception to that rule. It has to be in the Arabic language.

And so from a very young age, from when we were very young, our parents impressed upon us to learn the salah in Arabic. They impressed upon us to learn to read the Qur'an in Arabic. Because this is something that all Muslims across the world know — the importance of the Arabic language.

And that is why it was even the position of some of the scholars of the Salaf — such as what is narrated from Sufyan al-Thawri رحمه الله and others — that they said the language of the people of Jannah will be Arabic based upon this. And Allah knows best. But this is how important they considered it to be — how much of a cornerstone of our religion, a symbol of our Islam, that people should be familiar with the Arabic language.

Our Neglect of the Arabic Language Today

So what is the point of all of this discussion? Why am I mentioning these verses? One of the main points that I want to put across to you in this short time that we have is how we, in our time, have unfortunately neglected the Arabic language.

How? Because by virtue, perhaps — and Allah knows best — Allah has made things easier and more accessible for us. It is from Allah's blessings that we can speak and converse in English and we can understand our religion in other languages. That our Qur'an, its meanings have been translated into English and other languages. That many of the works of the scholars have been translated. That we can teach and learn in a language other than Arabic. But that has led also to us becoming lazy and to neglecting the importance of this language that is the language of Islam.

Allah is making it clear in the Qur'an that if you truly want to understand the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, you must learn Arabic. And even though it's perhaps not in everyone's capability and ability to do so at the same level — just as all of us are able to learn the Qur'an or some of it, all of us can read the Qur'an or some of it, all of us have memorized certain surahs of the Qur'an because we understand its importance — there is no reason why the vast majority of us cannot seek to learn the Arabic language, or at least some of the Arabic language.

Because as Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله تعالى has said — when you bring all of these verses of the Qur'an together, it shows you that at the very least it is a fard kifaya, a collective obligation, that in every community there must be people who can understand and speak Arabic. Otherwise, how do you understand the Qur'an? How do you understand the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ?

Because those translations that we have are human efforts trying to give us the meanings of the Qur'an and the meanings of the Sunnah. And humans make mistakes. The translator, no matter how diligent, how knowledgeable, how experienced — as a human, he makes mistakes. He makes errors. There are printing problems. There are all sorts of issues that can occur. But for you to take out that middle man, go straight to the original source and the text by knowing Arabic — being able to learn and speak some Arabic, understanding certain words and Arabic grammar rules, trying your best to come closer to the Book of Allah with that intention — as Imam al-Shafi'i رحمه الله تعالى said, "That's why I do it — to come and understand the Qur'an and the Sunnah" — it is something which is at the very least a collective obligation, if not then highly recommended for every single Muslim.

And that is one of the messages I wanted to impart upon you today in this khutbah. As Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله تعالى said, it is something which — if you go to the books of scholars of the past and look at their works — one of the things they would stress is the importance of the Arabic language.

Weakness in Arabic Leads to Weakness in the Ummah

This applies to our Arab brothers and sisters as well. Because when the Arabic language becomes weak — when we don't understand its classical form, when we don't understand the language of the Qur'an and the Sunnah in the way that it was spoken in the time of the Prophet ﷺ — we become distanced from the Qur'an and the Sunnah. That is when mistakes enter.

And that is why the scholars said that most of the problems — many of the problems that arose in this ummah in terms of innovations, in terms of people misinterpreting the Qur'an and the Sunnah, in terms of major mistakes that were made in the history of Islam — one of the core reasons was the weakness that started to develop in the Arabic language. People didn't understand Arabic, so they didn't understand the Qur'an. They didn't understand Arabic, so they took the Qur'an and the Sunnah out of context. And because of that weakness, it caused and led to other problems.

So it is something which all of us should be diligent about. All of us should try our best and utmost to revive within ourselves and within our families.

Our Islamic Identity and the Next Generation

One of the things that our elders often speak about is how we're losing our cultural identity. If you're originally from the Indian subcontinent, from North Africa, from Somalia, living in the West, adopting a new culture, becoming westernized — unfortunately, you lose a great deal of your heritage and your cultural identity. But more important to us than our heritage and our cultural identity is our Islamic identity, our identity as Muslims.

And one of the things that gathers all of us together and unites us is our religion. Wherever you come from, whatever your background, whatever language your parents used to speak — the language of Islam, without doubt, is the Arabic language.

One of the things that all of us as parents are diligent about — eager to do — is when we have children and those children are four, five, six years old, we ensure to the best of our ability that they can learn the Qur'an, they can read the Qur'an, they can memorize some of the Qur'an. And perhaps they can do more than what we were able to do — they become more proficient in the Book of Allah than we ever were. That same level of enthusiasm, diligence, and effort should be placed in the Arabic language, especially for our children.

Otherwise, we risk, within a generation or two, very few Muslims in the West knowing the Arabic language. And that is something which we have to be careful about. Because just as we are putting in a great deal of time and effort into other forms and other means of seeking knowledge of Islam, the Arabic language will always be the key of this religion in terms of seeking that knowledge.

Du'a

I ask Allah that He gives us the ability to learn Arabic, and that Allah makes us from amongst those people who understand it so that we can come closer to Allah. That through it we can understand the Qur'an and the Sunnah and attain piety as Allah mentions. I ask Allah that He makes our affairs easy for us, that Allah showers His mercy and blessings upon us, that Allah relieves distress and hardship from amongst us and from amongst those who are suffering in the world. I ask Allah that He safeguards us from the traps of Shaitan. And that Allah gives us life upon Iman and death upon Iman, and resurrects us with the people of Iman under the leadership of the leader of the people of Iman, our Prophet ﷺ.

Al-Fatiha.