Yusuf (Joseph)

2. “Verily We have sent it down - an Arabic Qur’an - that you may understand. ”

No matter in what language the Qur’an had been revealed, other people would have had to become acquainted with that language. However, the revelation of the Qur’an in the Arabic language has several advantages, among which are the following:

A - The Arabic language has a very great capacity for word formation and has so fixed grammatical rules that cannot be easily found in any other language.

B - According to some narrations, Arabic is the language spoken in Paradise.

C - The region in which the Qur’an was revealed was an Arabic speaking region, and it was apparently impossible for the Holy Book to be revealed into any other language.

Regarding the revelation of the Qur’an, Allah (s.w.t.) has employed the word descend /nuzul/ the same word He has used for the falling of rain.

In any rate, the aim of the Qur’an is not merely reading, chanting, browsing through, or barely reciting it for blessedness. The main aim is understanding it, that kind of understanding which is comprehensive and goes deep into its meaning and encourages man to put what he reads into practice.

The indication, occurred in ten suras, to the fact that the Qur’an has been revealed in Arabic is an answer to the accusation that the holy Prophet (S) had learned it from a non Arab and that its content was an imported way of thinking, and not a revelation originated from Allah.

In the meantime, all Muslims must try to learn Arabic as a second language, for it is the language of Divine revelation and the key to understanding the holy Qur’an and Islamic knowledge.