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Constraint Of Arabic For Recitation In Salah
according to the current understanding, the five obligatory parts of namaz are to be recited specifically in arabic. how have we understood this restriction from sunnah. No specific statement exists in deen about this.
My concern is specificaly about the recitation of quran in namaz.
The reasons given for this restriction are:
1) unification when praying behind an imaam.
>when we pray behind the imaam, i cannot understand a single word that he is saying. than what is the point of this unification when the fundamental purpose is not fulfilled? wouldn’t it be better if the imaam recited in a language that local people could understand, there would still be unification.
2) translations are not equivalent to the original language.
>I believe, this statement is only half true. Translations are semantically equivalent, albeit they are not the same aesthetically.
if it was true than people speaking hundreds of different languages would not have been able to cross-communicate. and their knowledge would have remained just in their specific social group. even deen would not have been able to reach us. i do not understand arabic but i know what our deen is.
A solution prescribed for this problem is:
memorize the quran in arabic as well as its translation in the second language.
>this is simply impractical. the imaam can recite the quran from anywhere. how can i memorize the whole quran in two languages, including one which i do not understand. if i am told to keep the translation in mind during recitation, why can’t the imaam just recite in my local language?
What do I have to say:
Obviously our prophet and his followers spoke arabic solely and he taught them deen and namaz in that language. When deen spread to other regions, non-arabs had to learn arabic to understand it because they had no other way to do so and similarly prayed in arabic too. As in those times, a person who seeked knowlegde had to learn the language of the wise. With time, we have become able to translate whole disciplines of knowledge to other languages and so, this is no longer a requirement.
if deen is for all the people, of all times than everyone should be free to pray in the language they please.
if we offer namaz to remember allah and it is a soulful act than the best way is to recite the Quran in the language that we know, so that it reaches our heart. otherwise it is simply deficient.
most aalims of deen are taught arabic language at young ages. therefore, i believe, they do not understand the severity of this issue. this restriction is taking muslims further away from deen.
I believe that it is just something that kept going on for ages and has not been changed. it has become a tradition, a thing that just forced upon, lacking a critical approach.
i would be very obliged if these questions are discussed with Ghamidi Sahab on video session, if possible. Thank you
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2 Replies
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Constraint Of Arabic For Recitation In Salah
updated 1 year, 9 months ago
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Kindy, watch the Ghamidi saheb’s response on this issue:
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Please also refer to the following response by Ghamidi Sahab from 1:21:11 to 1:23:42
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