Why in Arabic
Apr 25, 2003
What can I say. The quran was sent to a people, where Arabic was the language, and that was the language God decided the quran should be kept in. So you might say way not have a version of the quran in each language and then have people pray in their language. The problem of translation is that you cant get a 100% exact meaning, when you translate. For example, take a page off the internet, translate it to french, then from french to german, and then back from german to english, and see what you end up with. By keeping Arabic in its original form, you have something to go back to, but for the Bible are their any copies of it in Hebrew (if so then please let me know)?
One thing you should know is the word 'Allah' is the Arabic word for God and not the god of the Arabs. If you go to other languages, they will have a word which means god, so 'Allah' shouldnt be understood related to Arabs, but should be understood as the translation of the word god in Arabic.
The problem of picking up the Quran in English and reading through it, is that their are many translation of it that are in poor English. Alot of the quran also cant be understood simply by reading, and would involve reading the commentary to truly understand the meaning of the verses.
So if you understand what Islam is all about and you decide this is for you, then what follows will be nothing. My grandparents who were over 70 became Muslim and they pray in Arabic. No one is asking you to learn a language, no body is asking you to memorize the whole quran. Even if you learn a few soorah (chapters) from the quran, that is the minimum you need to pray. Many soorahs are less than 20 verses and can easily be memorized if you hear them enough times. If you are eager to understand what you are saying then you can pick up the quran in your language and read through it. And if you are more eager, then you can learn Arabic.
If you want to read more about islam, there are thousands of websites on the net in English that will guide you. Some are below
http://www.islamworld.net/
http://www.islam-guide.com/
http://www.islam101.com/
http://www.understanding-islam.com/
If you are a christian the website below should help alittle
http://www.thegreatestpuzzle.com/similarities.htm