Khwaja Mohammad Zubair
The importance of the Arabic language for Muslims all over the world is so obvious that it is hardly necessary to furnish any farfetched argument to project it.
It is the language in which the Holy Quran was revealed. It is the language which Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the last of the prophets, spoke. It is, therefore, the language in which stands recorded and preserved his sacred traditions. Thus, the two basic sources of Islam, the Holy Quran and the Sunnah, are available in the Arabic language.
Unity, fraternity and fellow feelings so desirable to pervade the entire Muslim world emanate from the common faith, Islam, which all Muslims profess. Close in importance to this common faith in the matter of Muslim brotherhood and cooperation comes the Arabic language.
The fact about the importance of the Arabic language in promoting unity and friendship in the Muslim world and thereby stabilising its position in the global comity of nations has always been keenly felt and stressed by sincere and right thinking Muslim leaders. They also warned that realising the benefit and importance of the Arabic language for the Muslims, the adversaries of Islam, particularly the Western imperialists, were very active in diverting the Muslim mind from the Arabic language and alluring it to the false glamour of the English, French, German or Russian languages. They have been doing so by dint of the political sway which they have held over Muslim lands for a considerable period. In certain cases, these political powers even succeeded in winning over the Muslims to abandon the Arabic Script in favour of the Roman script.
Realising the gravity of the situation and foreseeing the great harm that could be done to the Muslim culture, civilisation and the Muslim faith itself, the well-wishers of Islam raised their voices against this inherent danger and exhorted the Muslims of the world to adopt Arabic as their common language. It is, therefore, the duty of every Muslim to learn the Arabic language so that he may be able to understand the Holy Quran, the Sunnah and other literature on religious topics available in the Arabic language.
Allah has commanded all believers to understand and reflect upon the Holy Quran. How can a man ponder on the Holy Quran unless he understands the meaning of the verses of the Holy Quran, and for this understanding it is indispensable for him to learn the Arabic language.
The Holy Quran is a living miracle of Allah associated with Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It is unique in the beauty of its diction, expression and eloquence. It has a melody and symphony of its own that moved to tears even the most hard hearted enemies of Islam. It is a Muslim’s duty to qualify himself to be able to experience this unique miraculous distinction of the Holy Quran. This again requires a thorough knowledge of the Arabic language.
In addition to the many exhortations in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah for the believers to learn and teach the Book of Allah, there is another indication in Allah’s scheme of things that in order to preserve the Divine Book genuinely pure and unaltered till the Day of Judgment, the believers should be provided facility to learn the Arabic language without any let or hindrance. It is another clear miracle that Allah has in His grace protected the language of the Holy Quran from undergoing any drastic changes during the last fourteen centuries. This is a period sufficient for a language to fall into disuse and become dead or at least become so drastically changed that it is very difficult to understand it without the guidance of an expert.
The Arabic language has been safe from such changes and will remain so till the Day of Judgment. The entire non-Muslim world is striving hard to estrange the Muslims from their religion and culture and they know that the most effective way to achieve this nefarious objective is to weaken and ultimately sever, the relation of the Muslims from the Arabic language.
The counter effort made in this respect by Muslim countries or Muslim associations in their respective capacities will not be effective. This important issue must be studied and tackled on the international forum through orgnisations like World Muslim League or the Organisation of Islamic Conference.
They should have branches spread throughout the Muslim majority and minority countries to introduce a common syllabus for teaching the Arabic language by trained teachers, and to set up the requisite machinery to supervise, coordinate and promote the teaching programmes.
The responsibility of the Arabic speaking countries for launching and working these programmes is much greater and they should therefore step forward to play their due role in this important field without further loss of time.
Source: Yaqueen Internationa
Khaleej times
