Why don't non-arab muslims pray in their language?

Question

They pray 5 times a day which is a nice dedication i think...
But I noticed that they all pray in Arabic!
Chantes from mosques are all Arabic.
Of course I am talking about non arabic muslim countries such as Turkey, Indonesia etc...
Chantes are for calling people to pray. Whats the point of chanting in a language that no one understands??

Oh C'mon people!
What you are saying is furdiculus!
What are you saying? God only speaks Arabic? Arabic was the propher Mohammad's language so he wrote in Arabic. I refuse the idea of learning another languge in order to perform a religion...
Islam sent to all people, not just arabs...

Answer 1

Chances are it is symbolic and ritualistic as to why the prayers are said in Arabic and chants are done in Arabic. Until the twentieth century Catholic tradition was to perform the entire mass in Latin. In Coptic Christianity the mass is performed in Coptic. Greek Orthodox churches outside of Greece and Russian Orthodox churches outside of Russia often still perform rituals in Greek and Russian. Buddhists, Hindus, and Jains all pray and chant in Sanskrit and Sikhs, even outside of India, chant and pray in Punjabi. Jews chant and pray in Hebrew. Each religion has their own reasons as to why they do it. Hindus believe that Sanskrit is a sacred language because the sounds are energies that consciousness can ride upon (or simply: God is also in the very sounds). The word Sanskrit literally means, in Sanskrit, perfect language. Buddhism and Jainism both emerged out of Hinduism and kept this principle going. Sikhs view Punjabi as a sacred language that connects Sikhs. All the Sikh gurus spoke Punjabi (Sikhism began in the Punjab region in what is now India and Pakistan). I have been told by my Jewish friends that they don't necessarily believe Hebrew is some sort of divine language, but use Hebrew for a sense of unity amongst Jewish people.
However, I can say that besides the prayers that are recited by the devotees of the various religions that they still also pray in their native language, too. Just the prayers that are often spoken aloud are the ones done in the "sacred" language of that religion. Like in Protestant Christianity where individuals sit silently alone and pray in their native language, so too do individuals in each of the other religions, too. So it is a mixture....the sacred language and the native language. The sacred language is "formal" language and the native language is "informal" language. If that example makes sense.

Answer 2

I think this question is perfectly acceptable. Why should non arabic muslims pray in arabic when they do not understand? If you cannot understand what you are praying, how are you meant to embrace your faith? You may as well not bother praying if you do not gain anything from it. Praying should strengthen your soul and connection to God. Catholic masses where said in Latin in the Middle Ages, but the religion adapted to the needs of the people and recognised masses needed to be translated for people to understand. Perhaps islam should adapt to the new world; or are they afraid the ancient teachings do not appeal to modern society, henceforth the decline in Islam?

Answer 3

it symbolizes unity...

juz imagine when a muslim from Turkey go to Indonesia....does he/she understand indonesia language?? and what the other way round? or maybe a muslim from malaysia go to Japan?

when chantes from mosques are all Arabic, all Muslim could understand that is the call for prayer....same goes to the prayer...

chantes use simple words....most Muslim in the world are thaught about the meaning and how to pray since they were small...even Quran is in Arabic....

Answer 4

Most Muslims, even non-Arabs, know Arabic. Since the Koran is considered the literal word of Allah, they want to read it in the original Arabic so that meaning is not lost in translation. Ergo, Muslims learn Arabic. Most if not all Muslims chanting Arabic know exactly what it means.

Answer 5

The language of the Qur'an is Arabic, regardless of the native languages of Muslims worldwide.

Answer 6

I'm not an arab, I don't speak arab, yet I understand every single meaning in my solah or call of azan from the mosque (and I read arabic).

That's actually the beauty of Islam... being unity from a simple solah, one direction to Kaabah where ever you are.
Why Arabic? This to avoid confusion, misinterpretation and further arguements with other languages.

Answer 7

Arabic is the language of the Koran (or Qu'ran, if you'd prefer). The Koran is the Prophet's faithful transcription of Allah's words, so the Koran basically designates Arabic as Islam's sacred language. When Muslims speak Arabic in prayer or read it in Scripture (many observant Muslims don't believe in translating the Koran into other languages), they're using the language sacred to Allah. Non-Arabic speaking Muslims study the language so they can do this.

Answer 8

Qura'n is The Only Scripture not yet corrupted by humans.
And God Almighty took this responsibility to save it from any corruption and alteration.
Reading and praying in Arabic one of the Reason Qura'n is still alive in Original state.
When you translate any scripture always there is possibility of little /small deviation and that creates a big gap from original by the time as what happened to other Holy Scriptures.
Muslims are proude to read and study Qura'n in Arabic, they can also study translations in any language, but still keep original language copy beside to reffer original unchanged scripture.

http://www.irf.net

Answer 9

I know seriously, God should be praised in all tounges. For me, praying/praising in different language would be like trying to cover myself up to try and be more pleasing to God. What a croc! Chase after God and be yourself because He sees right through all of us. There was an American muslim I saw who stopped saying God and switched to Allah. It foolish though because it's the same exact thing, but as an American he's only fooling himself. I think it's most pure when you say it in your own tongue.

Answer 10

Indonesia has the largest muslim population
they pray in arabic b/c the quran is written in arabic and we are not suppose to translate the quran to english,spanish,hindi or any language b/c its a sin and when you translate arabic to english it just sounds stupid honestly