Why language is irrelevant!
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Peace everyone peace
(This topic is a refutation against the notion that we should only /pray/read the Quran in Arabic.)Now the notion that might be in the so called "Muslim circle" is that you have to pray in Arabic, or read the Quran in Arabic, or that the Arabic language is better to use than other language.
This notion does not hold basis or roots in the Quran and here is why
There are many narrations and prayers in the Quran (i.e Abraham praying (1435), Moses praying (2025), Jesus Praying (5114), ZakarYAH doing his salat 339)... etc).Now the Question is, did these people speak Arabic? No!
Well how come in the Quran, they do speak Arabic?
Obviously what must have been done was that there prayers/narrations were TRANSLATED from their original languages that they spoke, respectively, into the Arabic Language. This means that some of what we have in the Quran, is not the original, but a translation!Yet God Almighty tells us that the Quran is a truthful narration! (362).
Well if that's so, This has to mean that it does not matter what language was used, and what really matter was the MEANING of the words that were said!
Thus If it was good enough for God Almighty to use translations, and also state that was the truth (362), then it is good enough for us to use translations of prayers/the Quran, in whatever language and try to convey their MEANING.Moreover, God Almighty cited to us that Even if the Quran was revealed in whatever language, people would have still complained, why didn't it's verses be explained?
And the after-comment to this complaint is that Arabic and Non-Arabic, it is a guidance and healing for the BELIEVERS. (4144)
Thus Again, the importance was laid upon the MEANING of the words, or what they convey, and not the Language itself!God Almighty cited to us that he did not send any messenger except in the language of his people to Explain to them (144). Thus If the Arabs spoke any other language, the Quran was going to be in that language, in order for the Prophet to try to explain to them (also 1997, 445, because they did not get a warner before him (323).
(If this notion is brought up, that we should pray in Arabic, or read the Quran in Arabic, or that the Arabic language is better to use than other language, ask the advocator, did Abraham, Moses, ZakarYAH, and so and so, in the Quran Pray in Arabic? Then Why does God Almighty cite to us them speaking in the Arabic Language?
Is this not an obvious translation? Thus If it was good enough for God Almighty to use translations, and also state that was the truth (362), then it is good enough for us to use translations of prayers/the Quran, in whatever language and try to convey their MEANING.) -
This was always one thing that made me hesitant about Islam (I am an agnostic seeker currently, studying Islam for about a year, and finally learning that the sectarian ways are definitely not the right path for me), the language part.
I was always told everyone was to pray in Arabic for "unity" or something along that line. And so I've tried and tried to learn this or that, but in the end all I've done is memorize a bunch of phrases that I have no idea what they mean.
Sure I've looked up the translations, but what I mean is.. when I say the words? I don't recognize what is coming out of my mouth. This makes no sense to me! If I am praying or devoting to God, how does it mean a single thing if I don't understand what I'm doing? I'm an English speaker. I was born in the English-speaking world. It does not make any sense for me to commune with God in any other language.
I think the Arabic language is lovely and beautiful, but I just don't have a knack for this language stuff. brickwall
sorry for the rant D
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Peace, Love, Wisdom
Consider
Consonants
VS
VowelsRock
Vs
WaterSoft fire
Hard waterAir
Heart
BrainArabic has just 3 vowels.
29 consonants.http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Qur%27anic_initial_letters_en.PNG
http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e7/Booba-Kiki.svg/250px-Booba-Kiki.svg.png
Which one is Booba and which one is Kiki? "Synesthesia is a perceptual experience in which a stimulus in one modality gives rise to an experience in different sensory modality."
Al-Quran is a musical composition and God is the lyricist. Who better than God supreme to compose and direct this masterpiece!
Peace, Love, Enlightenment
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Peace Raine & IAMOP peace
Well, fortunatelly, The Quran is a guidance & healing to the Believers. You do not need to speak Arabic, or Pray in Arabic. I don't currently Pray in 100% Arabic. I know Arabic, but i feel more sincere when praying in English.
And IAMOP, Lovely thing you brought Synesthesia up because at one time i was somewhat "fascinated" by it. Tasting Colors and sounds! hmmm, what would some of the Quranic Recitation Taste like laugh
I would think that Booba is the round-ish one and kiki is the sharp angular one, just like kiki has such a sharp angular sound.Another thing, is that Arabic is a phonetic language, if you have knowledge of it enough, you can rarely mispell a word, moreover the Quran is easy to memorize because it has a rythm into it. If you notice, most of the words in a given specific chapter have the same ending sound (Idk if all suras exhibit this effect), but obviously that would help with memorizing the worlds, partly because the serial position effect. Moreover, you can memorize a things better if they have a rythm, and if you hear them (can take 10-20x), in comparison with reading and looking at them (can take 50x+ times) (taken from a lanaguge study course book). Moreover, the Quran is easy to learn because its almost 80k words or so, are actually build from about 2k roots, thus if you learn these frequent roots, and the most used words, it would very much be lucrative in the time spend studying & progression level.
Helpful sites
http//corpus.quran.com/
http//understandquran.com/
http//tanzil.net/Also, words have power built into them, partly because sound is energy. Sounds can effect things on a molecular level, as seen by the research of Masaru Emoto, and his book "Message of Water".
Also he also expiremented with some Quranic verses/words etc, see the arabic video (parts 1 & 2)
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfOTouziEig
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaLbPyx7hvA -
Salam,
I also pray in English. I know the prayer in Arabic and used to say it that way, but it is just sounds. I was still "speaking"/translating the Arabic sounds I make with my mouth, into english in my head so whats the point? We also pray to God outside of the Contact Prayers during our day as well and we call on God with our hearts as well, all in the language we were born with and God knows and understands it all of course!
The language you pray in means nothing. You pray in your heart in the language God willed for you. God has no need for you to pray in a language you don't know or understand.
Arabic is the language of the Quran and thats what we refer to, to study and understand our translations and to understand the Message better, but Prayer is personal between you and God and should be done in the language you know and understand.
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God is the originator of language;
The important thing is that you pray and EXPRESS the prayer. You have input, process, output. As long as a prayer is coming in as OUTPUT it does not matter.
Not all forms of prayer are equal either. Some forms of prayer may be far more powerful to your body than other forms of prayer. Work out what works best for you.
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Salam,
I also pray in English. I know the prayer in Arabic and used to say it that way, but it is just sounds. I was still "speaking"/translating the Arabic sounds I make with my mouth, into english in my head so whats the point?
This is exactly it, in a nutshell. I'm translating in my head anyway, and God knows what's in my head, so really it is a touch unnecessary.
I do love the Arabic language though and I like to encompass some Arabic into my prayers because I think it is beautiful and it makes me feel peaceful. If that makes any sense at all
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Also, words have power built into them, partly because sound is energy. Sounds can effect things on a molecular level, as seen by the research of Masaru Emoto, and his book "Message of Water".
Also he also expiremented with some Quranic verses/words etc, see the arabic video (parts 1 & 2)
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfOTouziEig
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaLbPyx7hvAAs-salaam Alaikum - M HTP
Excellent point, I was going to bring this up. When you speak the Qur'an in the Arabic tounge (since that is the tounge it was revealed in), you are literally speaking the Qur'an into existance, making it come alive. It is truly a great power, divine energy. Remember, everything that exist was created by the Word. That alone is a sign of the importance of language. It's also true that Isa and Musa did not speak Arabic, but they still spoke a language that came from the same root, the Semetic tounge. That tongue and it's many dialects are much more powerful languages than English and modern day languages. And again, reciting the Qur'an and Salat in Arabic is important because that is the language it was revealed in and is the language that when spoken, brings it to life.
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When you speak the quran in ANY tongue you are making it come alive.
As long as you are speaking THE clear message, not your own opinion/interpretation into it.
As long as the ears around you are open and receptive to ALL of what you are saying, ready to respond to the reminder;
Then have you made quran come alive.
Arabic is a clear language where there is no room for error, at least in the quranic sense. That does not necessarily mean that praying in Arabic without knowing what you are saying will help. The aim is clarity of mind how YOUR prayer connects YOU to God and guards YOU from evil. The prayer is not to feed God but to protect YOU from your own hands and feet and others' too.
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When you speak the quran in ANY tongue you are making it come alive.
As long as you are speaking THE clear message, not your own opinion/interpretation into it.
As long as the ears around you are open and receptive to ALL of what you are saying, ready to respond to the reminder;
Then have you made quran come alive.
Arabic is a clear language where there is no room for error, at least in the quranic sense. That does not necessarily mean that praying in Arabic without knowing what you are saying will help. The aim is clarity of mind how YOUR prayer connects YOU to God and guards YOU from evil. The prayer is not to feed God but to protect YOU from your own hands and feet and others' too.
I'm not saying you can't pray and recite the Qur'an in a different language, I'm just pointing out that speaking it in it's mother tongue is the most powerful and proper way of doing so. You get the full effect. As the brother said before, words are energy, vibrations. If I say the prayer in English with the correct understanding of what the Arabic text is trying to say, yes it is accepted in prayer, but when spoken it still won't have the same vibrational energy effect as speaking it in Arabic would have, for they are different vibrations and energies.
The prayers aren't to feed Allah and are meant to protect you, you get the full effect of this energy when you recite it in the language it was revealed in.
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That's very true however the maximal benefit is for persons who know arabic and know the quran and believe and do good. Then everything is in unison and there is constructive resonance from the quran's message if you are in tune with your words, thoughts and feelings and heart, then quran will carry these vibrational signatures.
For example if a non-arabic speaker recites the quran in the presence of arabs who are as described above, then the vibrational harmonics will impact the arabic speakers. The non-arabic speaker observes the results of these harmonics in the movements of the arabs.
Cymatics is very interesting thing; All life is created from water (2445)!
Watch this video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIoFJibzww8Now imagine the water patterns that occur everytime you go to the masjid!
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This is my video Version
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3PLxNprSig -
Many excellent posts here.
I also agree that prayer/communication/expression to Allah doesn't need to be in arabic. Of course not!
I see it like this You have an intention, a vibration, a feeling, that you want to express.... and you express it as best as you can through the words and expressions you have learned during your life. The important thing is what vibration you send out... and that is definitely not determined by the language.
Arabic may be a great, or the greatest, language to express things precisely with... and that's why the quran (as I see it) is conveyed in this language. It is simply for clarity sake, and so that the fullest, richest and most precise meaning can be conveyed. This is to the benefit of the reader... the "receiver"... us.
When we pray/communicate we are on the other end... we are the "transmitter". The important thing now is our intentions. Allah knows our intentions and does not need the formulated words to "pick up" the prayers. No one else but us will hear the words. The wordings and language of the prayers are just a tool for us to focus, articulate and express ourselves. Whatever words, sounds, language or anything on which we can hang meaning, will do just fine and suit the purpose.
Personally I use a mix of three different languages when I pray... to get the maximum feeling and accuracy of what I want to express. Different languages are good in different cases... and it also depend on how comfortable you are in the languages.
Second of all, even if Musa and Isa et al did speak arabic, or an earlier form of arabic... STILL there is no need to use arabic in prayers, for the reasons mentioned above. I believe forum member Pazuzu has ideas about that all messengers mentioned in the quran lived in arabia... so if those theories are correct.. perhaps even Musa and Isa spoke arabic... but like I said... I don't think it changes the issue at hand anyway.
Peace
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Peace,
Thank you for sharing your views.
I myself do pray in a mix of Arabic and english, somtimes more.... when people are around i might pray in arabic or a language they don't understand it for privacy purposes.
yes pazuzu has brought up that notion, however, Moses and Jesus would not have spoken Arabic, they would have spoken the older semetic languages such as Hebrew and Aramaic., which are close to Arabic.Pray in the lanaguge you feel comfortable with and are able to speak sincerely
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I also agree that prayer/communication/expression to Allah doesn't need to be in arabic. Of course not!
I see it like this You have an intention, a vibration, a feeling, that you want to express.... and you express it as best as you can through the words and expressions you have learned during your life. The important thing is what vibration you send out... and that is definitely not determined by the language.
Thereby Adam acquainted himself with words learnt from his Sustainer Lord for expressing regrets.
Thereupon, on expressing words of regret seeking overlooking it, his Sustainer Lord focused mercy upon him. It is a fact that He is the One Who is repeatedly forgiving/pays attention, the Merciful.When we intend to convey an idea to others, it is that thought that vibrates the vocal cord to convert that idea into buzzy sound which arrives in mouth. Thereat we vowelize the sound and eject it in peices-syllables for the auditory faculty of listeners.
- How human thoughts convert to cognizable sound, then articulated and thrown out.
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Thereby Adam acquainted himself with words learnt from his Sustainer Lord for expressing regrets.
Thereupon, on expressing words of regret seeking overlooking it, his Sustainer Lord focused mercy upon him. It is a fact that He is the One Who is repeatedly forgiving/pays attention, the Merciful.When we intend to convey an idea to others, it is that thought that vibrates the vocal cord to convert that idea into buzzy sound which arrives in mouth. Thereat we vowelize the sound and eject it in peices-syllables for the auditory faculty of listeners.
- How human thoughts convert to cognizable sound, then articulated and thrown out.
Thank you for sharing that too Mazhar,
Are you the compiler of the website?May i also suggest adding to that article about 5017 of how the human can think within himself that the DEVIL can also do the same to us (possibly sounding himself as if it was our own conscience....
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Sorry to re-open an old topic, but my feelings are as such
It's insulting to say that things can only be done in one language, etc. In my opinion, that is like limiting Allah. A creator that created us to live in different places, speak different tongues, and even have the ability to learn new languages can obviously understand a sincere prayer no matter what language.
The Qu'ran wasn't created only for the Arabs, although many of them would tell us otherwise.
Allah knows best.
With Peace,
Amina