When people convert to Islam do they have to learn fluent Arabic?

Question

Or are prayers at the Mosque said in both Arabic and the local language?

Answer 1

There are three types of Muslim prayer:

1. Salat--the formal five-times-per-day prayer.

2. Dua--supplications.

3. Athkar--recitation of phrases in praise of Allah and asking for His help.

Only the salat must be performed in Arabic. In order to offer salat, you have to recite the Fatihah, the first chapter of the Qur'an, and should memorize at least two other short chapters (some are only a few words.) If you're young, you can do all of this in an hour or two. (I was in my late 30's, and had to read from a paper while praying, for the first several days.)

Dua and thikr, which are optional, can be offered in any language, although there is a preference for Arabic.

Before a new Muslim begins to pray for the first time, s/he should perform ghusl, which means taking a ritual shower, during which all of his/her sins are washed away. However, if s/he can't get home to shower before the prayer time is over, s/he can offer tayammum, a waterless alternative to the shower.

See the links below for more information.

Congregational prayers are said in Arabic. The dawn, sunset, and evening prayers are said aloud. The noon and midafternoon prayers are offered silently. For the dawn, sunset, and evening prayers, the imam, or prayer reader, does the recitation aloud; the other worshippers, silently. The imam also indicates to the congregation when to stand, bow, kneel and prostrate.

As part of the Friday congregational prayer, the imam gives a sermon in Arabic. He may translate the sermon into whatever languages the congregation understands. In my city in the Northeastern US, the sermon is given in Arabic, English, and Urdu. In other areas, it might be translated into Spanish or other languages. I imagine that in Canada, it's translated into French.

Answer 2

Great question. I am a Muslim, an Imam and I am not fluent in Arabic. I struggle every day with understanding the original language of the Quran. But there is a Hadith which tells us that God loves those that struggle (do you know the Arabic word for struggle?) for knowledge, including understanding the Quran. Even those that speak modern standard Arabic do not necessarily understand the laguage of the Quran and may struggle with it's meaning. Additionally I have heard it said that any revealed scripture has at least seven deeper meanings and that we can contemplate on the words to find the deeper meanings. Personally, I find most of the English translations of the Quran to be less than adequate. I use several different ones as well as an 8 volume lexicon to try and tease out all the different meanings. One has to persevere. But God is merciful and guides those with a true heart to the essence of the meanings. If one approaches any scripture with true intention of an open heart and mind, God will lead one. As far as a translation not being the Quran, any well educated Muslim will tell you that even the Arabic writing is not the Quran! Quran literally means "recitation" and the book form is called a Mushaff. No printed book is the Quran even if it is in Arabic. If you dropped a Quran book into the sea and the water washed away the ink, the Quran would still exist. Lastly, I would pose the same question about other translated works, the speicific example I would give here is the King James translation of the "Lord's Prayer". If you read it in the Aramaic, which some say that Jesus (peace be upon him) spoke, you might find a totally different meaning. If you are interested in that you can read "Desert Wisdom" by Niel Douglas-Klotz, an expert on Semitic languages and translations of scripture. Peace and Blessings, Salim

Answer 3

No - you don't have to speak Arabic at all -what you need is to
learn few phrases from Koran to pronounce them during prayers and few Arabic sentences that are used in the prayers as well - the whole Arabic you use in prayers is not more than a page of your notebook - somebody has to teach you what you say in your prayers - there are 5 prayers a day - every prayer can be as short 2 - 3 minutes - but you can lengthen it as much as you like - you are a very good Muslim if you just stick only to this .

Answer 4

No you are not required to learn fluent Arabic, but you must recite prayers etc in Arabic are the people above have said that's because when you translate words into another language you can lose its meaning for example the word "Rabb" in Arabic is translated as "Lord" but the word in Arabic is much more powerful than it's equivalent in English.

Answer 5

If you going to teach other Muslims the Quran you must learn Arabic to answer people questions about God words. But you do not have to be fluent in Arabic. Most Arabs are not fluent in Arabic or Quran language. So if you are a Muslim you must ask your local Mossaq teacher or Imam that is why he is the Imam or the teacher.

Answer 6

you are only required to recite the prayers in Arabic. The prayers in the Mosque are also recited in Arabic. The reason being is that there are particular verses from the Quran which must be recited for prayer to be valid. For everything else like asking Allah ( God in Arabic) for forgiveness, or guidance, or anything personal between you and Allah, that can be said in any language

Answer 7

You dont have to learn fluent arabic, however, when you pray, you should recite verses from quran in its original language (arabic) cause it loses its divinity when its translated to other languages and use translations of the quran to understand the meaning.
The most accurate translations are by Yusuf Ali.

Answer 8

Not fluent Arabic... but enough Arabic to be able to pray five times a day and read the Quran.....

Answer 9

You're required to learn the Koran in the original Arabic as soon as it's possible for you to do so.

Answer 10

no its not neccesry that u must be fluent in it....just for five times prayers first..then u can learn it slowly for reading Quran ....its always step by step...