Do muslims speak english?

Question

Why is it that so many people think that if you are a muslim, you are an illiterate person who can barely speak or understand english? I've gotten this a lot. My skin is whiter than most, it's obvious I'm American. But I get a lot "What country are you from?" And I just kind of look at them and say "uhh, from here?" I also get this a lot "Wow, for a muslim you speak very good english!" and one of two replies is either "I should, I'm American!" or "What, is a muslim supposed to speak something else?".

Even with muslims the world over, why do these stereotypes still exist? Especially of the women. "Oh, poor uneducated beaten woman. I feel so sorry for you". If it's a woman, I say "ohh, ok, can you show me the bruises on my arms because I can't find them". Or "Uhhh, yeahhh, why are you asking me this in the college classroom we're both in?" I mean, it's just hilarious! The things that we hear, where does this come from?

Answer 1

This question makes me giggle. I always enjoy stumping people with my answer when they ask where I am from.

Here's a real conversation, which took place at my former employer's "Christmas Lunch".

Lady from the office upstairs: Hi, you're ______ from Engineering, right?

Me: Yes, nice to meet you.

LFOU: How do you like working here?

Me: I like it pretty well.

LFOU: So. . .where are you from.

Me: I lived in Redneckville before.

LFOU: (Smiling) No, I meant before that.

Me: Well, I grew up in West Virginia

LFOU: No, I mean where are you FROM?

Me: (With a quizzical look) I was born in Chicago.

LFOU: Where are your folks from?

Me: My mom's from Pennsylvania, and my dad's from Iowa.

LFOU: Oh. Well, where is your husband from?

Me: I'm not married. My ex-husband was from Delaware.

LFOU: (looking extremely confused) I see. Well, nice talking to you.

Me: Nice talking with you too. :)

Answer 2

Many people get confused between Muslims & Arabs. Well, but yet, many Arabs speak good English. This is just to show that maybe they know things that you don't. Most Arabs speak two or more languages, how many languages do Americans usually speak? Europeans? mostly one I guess. I am an Arab, I speak 3 languages.

There are many Muslim countries also that dont speak Arabic: Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Iran ...... etc. Does this mean that they don't speak English as well? Sulaiman Al-Faresi, who was one of the most trusted companions of the prophet, the one who suggested to dig up the Trench for the battle of the trench, his Arabic was very weak when he first converted to Islam, he was Persian.

When I was studying in Ireland, there was this Chinese guy who everone was making fun of his English, until the Professor stood up with him and asked one of the guys who laughed: Do you speak Chinese? The guy said: No. Professor: Then shut up because I am quite sure that his English is much better than your Chinese. I was so glad he said that, I surely respected him even more after that incident.

Answer 3

Arabic is the language of Muslims..It is the language of Prophet (pbuh)....It is the language of sahabis and It is the language of here after and it is the language of the people of paradise!!Generally People think that only christians can speak in English.......and sum muslims can do it....they think rare muslims knew it.As media is the main source today to spread the misconceptions about muslims and Islam....

They dont know about our religion..they think that musli women are not given education...if Islam sayz so why did prophet(pbuh) said""""Seeking knowledge is an obligatory upon every single muslim""""

May be sum men beat their wives...........but it doesnt mean that muslims only do it....But i see it more among the alcohol drinkers....

DONT JUDGE THE RELIGION BY ITS FOLLOWERS!!
I know that there are many blackshit in the world.....
you want to judge how good is the latest model of the "Mercedes" car and a person who does not know how to drive sits at the steering wheel and bangs up the car, who will you blame? The car or the driver? But naturally, the driver. To analyze how good the car is, a person should not look at the driver but see the ability and features of the car. How fast is it, what is its average fuel consumption, what are the safety measures, etc. Even if I agree for the sake of argument that the Muslims are bad, we can’t judge Islam by its followers? If you want to judge how good Islam is then judge it according to its authentic sources, i.e. the Glorious Qur’an and the Sahih Hadith.

Judge Islam by its best follower i.e. Prophet Mohammed (pbuh):


If you practically want to check how good a car is put an expert driver behind the steering wheel. Similarly the best and the most exemplary follower of Islam by whom you can check how good Islam is, is the last and final messenger of God, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Besides Muslims, there are several honest and unbiased non-Muslim historians who have acclaimed that prophet Muhammad was the best human being. According to Michael H. Hart who wrote the book, ‘The Hundred Most Influential Men in History’, the topmost position, i.e. the number one position goes to the beloved prophet of Islam, Muhammad (pbuh). There are several such examples of non-Muslims paying great tributes to the prophet, like Thomas Carlyle, La-Martine, etc.

Answer 4

Well, that's a silly question. I assume you live in North America, and yes, I would say the vast majority of Muslims, excluding perhaps the elderly and some new immigrants, speak English.

In the rest of the world, however, it is obviously not possible that all Muslims speak English! Those in countries where English is a second language (KSA, UAE, Lebanon, Egypt, etc) certainly do, but those in the Maghreb most often do not, as well as many of those in say, Central Asia or Russia. European Muslims may or may not, depending on where they're from and where they live.

REGARDLESS of your religion, remember that you (and I) are women of privilege. Many women, Muslim and non-Muslim, the world over, do not have the rights that we do, regardless of what their religion may or may not grant them. In Pakistan, only 40% of women are literate in their own language. In Morocco, it's still only about 70%. Women in many countries are still subjugated - look at KSA, where they can't drive and have to cover their heads even if they don't want to. In Kuwait, they can't vote.

So please, remember that you are privileged because of the country you live in. Islam grants women privileges, sure, but most Muslim countries do not.

Answer 5

Wow! Just a while ago I wrote a message to our college's ex-students alumni in Yahoo! Group about English, which has some similarities to this question. Therefore, please allow me to post the same here so that you get the idea of where we the Muslims of Pakistan and Bangladesh stand in the field of learning/acquiring English language as against that of our close neighbor - India.

Quote:
It is indeed a pleasure to read messages from ex-students of our beloved institution – PSTC Karachi; since there are two more PSTC (Quetta and Lahore) I hope the population of ex-students would now breed faster and we have larger members here (lol).

We in Bangladesh are not that fortunate since we do not have anything of PSTC caliber here. It is our long-felt desire that we also have Pak-Swiss and Indo-Swiss type training centre in Bangladesh. It is very difficult to let the policy/decision-makers in our country appreciate that we also need “Precision Mechanics” for Bangladesh’s development. We do have MAWTS, Bangladesh German Technical School, Swedish Bangladesh Institute of Technology here, but the qualities of students passing out from these institutes are not as good as we saw in PSTC system of training.

I think one of the reasons may be abandoning English as medium of instructions in our schools for which our whole nation is paying the price now, when we compete with India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka etc. I do hope that PSTC will uphold the quality of English among the students so that they do not fall behind in present day world.

I’m impressed by the grasp of English by Mr. Faisal and some of the ex-students of the generations whom we could not see due to our departure in 1973. Please take it in your heart that no matter how much we cite the examples of Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Iranians, Arabs etc that if they can survive without English then why not we stick to our mother tongues in schools, colleges and universities. Again I would cite the examples of the Indians who are now almost at the verge of becoming economic super power if not military super power and these are realities on the ground.

I’m sorry if I have touched a controversial (English) issue here, but sometimes I feel a bit pain reading mails written in English, but not given adequate attention to the spellings and grammars. I’m also guilty of this fault, but when I would try to achieve 100% I may end up at 80%. My request would be to read your message before pressing the ‘Send’ button so that your message is well read and evokes pleasant feelings after reading. This is being said here by me as a part of my being of the Mods of PakSwissians and hope it would be taken in right perspective.
Un-Quote

Sorry for the lengthy post and hope this would answer your question too. It is time that Muslims learn not only English but also German, French, Chinese and other leading languages of the world.

Happy learning!

Answer 6

Of course some Muslims speak English. I certainly speak English

Answer 7

Well, America is a case in the extreme for most things foreign, they are so insular... but don't get too paranoid, people in the US and my country (Australia) still do it to anybody with an accent or even a foreign sounding name, regardless of religion. My kids are third generation and when people hear their surname and ask "What nationality is that ?" I tell them to say "Australian !" Lot of them miss the point and just give quizzical looks.

Answer 8

Well I'm 13, Muslim, and I speak English perfectly. I write VERY neatly, with NO mistakes, and I truly believe a muslim can speak english.

Answer 9

Of course Muslims speak English :) it seems that people who put down Islam do too.

Answer 10

Yo no me espek engleese.

Who said that we Muslims cant speak english, actually this and spanish are the only two languages that I do know, and english is mother tounge and spanish was learnt.