The Language Of Al-Qur’An

[Rochdi]

Man is a social creature; we are inclined to communicate with each other and we strive to establish all possible links with our surroundings. Whatever the barriers, we always want to know how “the other” thinks and how he conceives of this world so that we may communicate and create that bridge which we want to have between us. In this respect, translation of scripts and books enable us to understand “the other” and to learn the maximum about him. In fact translation becomes a “key to the Universal Mind” in that it makes it possible for us to understand the philosophies and the beliefs of nations we thought we could never ever know. All the works of philosophers, scientists, men of letters and religious thinkers have been made accessible thanks to translation. We thus, became aware of the way all the most influential figures in human history used to think. We appreciated their work and we learned a lot of interesting things about a given civilization, a given philosophy or a given era.
When we were studying translation at the university, I remember that our teacher used to say that “translation is an act of killing”. He explained that a “word to word” translation is certainly not accepted for it will lead to “a non-sense text” and that when we translate an “original text” into a “target text” through the use of the semantic approach, we somehow “kill” the original text. In fact, we are unwillingly implicated in the action of translation for we subjectively come up to the text with our own understanding and our personal interpretation. We may therefore, wrongly interpret the text and thus; “kill or deform its original sense”. We cannot be sure, at one hundred percent, that our translation is definitely objective and correct. However, the translation is generally accepted when we do our best to stick to the meaning which is semantically conveyed.
It goes without saying that- to some extent- a text is more understood by the reader who speaks the language of the written text. In fact, he gives it all what it deserves and he has a better knowledge of its real value. As far as I am concerned, I only enjoy the writings of La Martine and Victor Hugo in French and I savor the poetry of Mahmoud Darwich only in Arabic, and I cannot read Shakespeare and appreciate his works but in English. Alhamdulillah, I have that privilege to speak the three languages as do a great number of people in my country. 
The great majority of Arabs like poetry and consider that it is the most beautiful way of expression that man has ever created. Poetry is actually, very typical to the Arabs, they like it so much and they strongly believe in the exaltation of the senses through the magic of poetry. When Al Qur’an was revealed to our Prophet Salla Allahu A’alayhi Wa Sallam, It was a miracle both in its language form and its consequential signs, It was communicated to Muhammad Salla Allahu A’alayhi Wa Sallam the illiterate Prophet and it brought about the destruction of all the fake religious believes that the Kuffar used to cherish and protect. It came as a Devine message from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala to the whole of mankind and at the same time, it challenged the Kuffar and made an end to their so called “poetical supremacy”. It was neither poetry nor prose; it was something new, something beautiful, something divinely orchestrated and something that could never ever be imitated. Thanks to the exceptional efforts made by Muslim translators, Al Qur’an was revealed to the world and its light spread through their extraordinary work. The reward they will get is certainly immeasurable for they have worked for the enlightenment of the world and have managed to give a tremendous advance to Dawah which is central in Islam. Now Alhamdulillah, thanks to them, all the nations of the world can read Al Qur’an and understand what it is all about through their “Interpretations of meaning”, but the beauty of Al Qur’an is such that even some of the people who did not understand Arabic have become Muslims simply after hearing it being recited. 
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala made it possible for every human being to understand His message and this is the unexplained; Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala Guides whom He Wills.

As humans, we always tend to appreciate all that is related to the persons we love and we usually make every effort in order to please them and to get close to them no matter what complicated the task could be. A Chinese girl learned French because she fell in love with a Muslim who couldn’t speak any other language except “la langue de Molière”. A tremendous effort was made by this girl so that she can communicate with the person whom she loves. This is natural; every human being who loves would do the same. This is what happens to most of us when we love someone; it is typical to the human nature but what if the subject was about “Divine Love”? 

The question here is “Would we make an effort for the sake of Allah? Would we transcend our infirmity and learn Arabic?” 

“Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an that you might understand” [Yusuf-12:2].
This is the Divine Choice; it’s not yours, it’s not mine. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala chose the Arabic language to transmit his message and the wisdom behind this choice is certainly difficult for us to grasp. 
Therefore, learning Arabic becomes
A necessity; 
A must:
“اقرأ”