I have always had a healthy envy for those whose native tongue is Arabic. Take Emira, my online friend from Tunisia. She is even studying Arabic in London. However, she says that it doesn’t make reading the Qur’an any easier because the language of the Qur’an is too different from any reading that she is required to do for her course.

Shocking, but true that the Qur’an is not taught in an Arabic course in London. Being her native language, it must be easy for her to comprehend and memorize the Qur’an, I probed. “Yes and no,” is her answer. When recited, the Qur’an has often moved me to tears, without really knowing why. How much more depth they must convey to someone who can speak and understand Arabic!

The very first verse revealed to our Beloved Prophet (PBUH) was “Read! In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher Who created.” [Al-’Alaq; 96:1]

The point is rather lost when one doesn’t know how to read the Holy Scripture in its original form. Or if one has been well grounded in the vowels and consonants, one mimes the words like a parrot without an iota of understanding. At best, one relies on translations. And translations of the Qur’an are grossly inadequate, for who can translate the Words of Allah?

Marmaduke Pickthall begins his translation of the meaning of the Qur’an with the words, “It is the opinion of this translator and every other that the Qur’an cannot be translated.”

Arabic and the message of the Qur’an cannot be separated and translators throughout the ages have tried to convey to the non-Arabic speaking people the beauty of the meaning of the Qur’an.

But they have always called it “The translation of the meaning of the Qur’an,” stressing the fact that the Qur’an’s direct translation is not possible.

The Qur’an is the word of Allah. It is a direct message from Allah to us, His creation. Allah chose Arabic as the language of this message. Allah tells us this in the Qur’an emphasizing to us that to understand the message in its fuller form one must understand Arabic.

“Indeed we have sent it down as an Arabic Quran, in order that you may learn wisdom.” [Yusuf; 12:2]

“And thus we have inspired to you an Arabic Qur’an so that you may warn the Mother of Cities (Mecca) and all around her, warn them of a Day of Assembly of which there is no doubt; when some will be in the Garden and some in the blazing Fire. “ [Ash-Shura; 42:7]

Much of the potency of the words and their meanings, which are inextricably linked to the Arabic language are lost in translation to any other language. Even to appreciate the poetic beauty of the Qur’an one needs to have an understanding of Arabic.

The Arabs in the time of the Prophet (SAWS) were masters of eloquence and poetry. Yet for them the words of the Qur’an itself were unique compared to the poetry of even the most grandiloquent of poets. Many came to Islam recognizing that the Qur’an surpassed the handiwork of even the best human poet. The words could only come from Allah.

A renowned poet, Labeed on hearing the verses of Al Asr is reported to have blurted out, “These cannot be the words of any human!” After he embraced Islam, he gave up poetry.

There was a time the unbelievers of Mecca had just begun a new campaign of vilification of the Prophet (SAWS). They would intercept pilgrims and warn them to avoid Muhammad (SAWS) and not listen to anything he had to say, because his words wrought magic on the hearer, and would divide brother from brother, father from son and the husband from wife.

This only aroused the people’s curiosity further and they flocked to meet the Prophet, so their plan backfired!

When Tufail bin Umro Dosi, a poet, came to Mecca he was so stirred with the warnings that he resolved not to hear a single word of the Prophet (SAWS). He set out with his ears plugged with cotton. And yet, when he passed by the Prophet reciting some portion of the Qur’an, some words fell into his ears. He felt mortified and thought that Allah had provided him with enough sense to accept what was right and reject what was wrong. So he took the plugs out of his ears, and upon hearing the Qur’an, he accepted Islam.

The language itself is one of the miracles of the Qur’an. Allah challenges mankind, “And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down to our servant (Prophet), then produce a chapter like it and call your witnesses besides Allah if you are truthful. But if you do not do it, and you can never do it, then fear the Fire whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.” [Al Baqara; 2:23-24]

Another miracle is that the Qur’an is the only Book that is memorized by millions all over the world, down to the last syllable. This is impossible to do in any other language or for any other book. Allah has repeated four times in Suratu-Al-Qamar, “And We have indeed made the Qur’an easy to understand and remember: then is there any that will receive admonition?” [54:17, 22, 32, 40]

This way, the Book of Allah has been preserved by Him as He promised in the Qur’an: “Indeed we have sent down the Reminder and surely we will preserve it.” [Hijr; 15:9].

Imam ash-Shafi’e said, “Therefore it is imperative that every Muslim should strive to learn Arabic as hard as he can, so that he can testify the shahadah, and recite the Book of Allah and say the invocations that are mandatory upon him, such as the takbeer, tasbeeh, tashahhud and other prayers. And the more he learns the language that Allah Himself chose to be the language of him who sealed the Prophets (SAWS), and to be the language of His final revelation, the better it is for him!”

If one feels that it is difficult to learn Arabic due to lack of time, or facilities, or due to the pressure of work, then consider. Muslims have always faced a choice throughout the ages. It is the choice between this world and the next - both rarely come together. One requires the sacrifice of the other.

The Prophet (SAWS) has said in a hadith of Ahmad, “He who loved his world will do harm to his Hereafter. And he who loved his Hereafter, will do harm to his world. Therefore, give preference to what will last over what will perish.”

The Qur’an has not asked us to abandon this world. Its complaint is “But you give preference to the life of this world. But the Hereafter is better and more enduring.” [Al A’la; 87: 16-17]

Imam Bukhari faced a similar decision. Either he traded, or studied hadith. It is said that Imam Malik’s teacher Rabi’ah picked up rotten dates from garbage of Medina for his dinner. We might look into the lives of any number of renowned Muslims. We will discover them facing a similar dilemma.

There is nothing special then about modern man and his dilemma. The world is not more difficult now than it was in the past. If some things are difficult now than they were before, then there are other things that have become easier. The difficulties and eases balance out. Life makes the same demands and allows the same choices as before.

Religious demands too have always been of the same nature. They require sacrifices. The Qur’an referred to them as steep hills. One needs energy to climb. Nonetheless, these steep hills can be climbed. The Holy Book says “But he did not attempt to ascend the steep hill. And what will tell you (O Muhammad) what the steep hill is? Freeing of a neck, or feeding on a day of hunger.” [Balad; 90:12-14]

The point is, a choice has to be made. Do you want to climb, or do you not?

Allah has a personal message for us in Arabic. Arabic is the language of the Qur’an, the language of our Beloved Prophet, the language of the inhabitants of the Garden of Paradise. Shouldn’t we be learning it right now?