Why Is Arabic Central to Islam?
Arabic: The mother language of the Islamic faith
As of 2021, there are 1.9 billion Muslims in the world who make up 25% of the world’s population. Currently, over fifty countries have a majority-Muslim population, and these nations are located both inside and outside of the Middle East. These countries include the Maldives, a nation with a 100% Muslim population as required by their constitution, Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, and Mauritania, an African Islamic Republic. As expected, these nations have a lot of cultural differences and as mandated by Muhammed, the prophet of Islam, Arabic is the language that unites Muslims around the globe.
Arabic is a Semitic language, which means it features elements of both Asian and African languages. Other notable Semitic languages are Hebrew, Ethiopic, and Aramaic. The language began in the Arabian Peninsula and currently has 280 million speakers, making it the fifth most spoken language worldwide. Interesting facts about Arabic include that it is written right to left; that it has influenced a number of languages; has given English words such as alcohol, algebra, average, and algorithm; that it has fourteen ways to describe different stages of falling in love; and that it lacks capital letters and instead uses quotation marks to signal emphasis. Arabic is the powerful and dynamic language that Muhammed decided to use to write the Quran and to be the basis of the Islamic faith.
Muhammed received the Quran as a revelation from the angel Gabriel over twenty-three years. He saw it as a continuation of Judaism and Christianity and did not see it as the beginning of a new religion. Although Muhammed was unable to read or write, Gabriel presented it to him in a format that he was able to read. The words presented are considered to be the literal word of Allah or God and as a result, since they were presented in Arabic, and are not supposed to be altered, they have remained in Arabic ever since.
There are additional reasons to why Muslims believe that the Quran should remain in Arabic. First, Arabic in the seventh century was a highly developed, specific, and rich language that gave great precision to the wording of the Quran. Secondly, Arabic has sounds and grammatical rules that other languages lack, which means that if it was translated it would have likely lost some of its meaning, and perhaps what they see as the sacred word of God would have been unacceptably altered. Lastly, reading the Quran in Arabic is seen as the preferred choice for the world’s Muslims as they are able to connect with their fellow believers in many nations regardless of their native language and they are able to share in the richness and beauty of the Quran as it was originally intended to be read.
The Quran is one of the major holy books of the world and is a sacred and integral part of daily life for the world’s Muslim population. The artistry of its writing in Arabic allows Muslims around the world to share in its beauty together while reading what they see as the final revelation of Allah. The Arabic Quran always has and will continue to be the guiding force for Muslims worldwide.
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