Reply to Be Wary of Racism and Islamophobes

Forum Index » Religion

Reply to "Be Wary of Racism and Islamophobes"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

You may find it illogical but millions of children throughout the world, across different cultures, across different continents, have all learned to pray in Arabic, say their dua in Arabic, and read the Quran in Arabic, even though most of them are not Arab. Children are sent to Islamic schools and Sunday schools specifically to learn Quranic Arabic.

Schools need to do a better job of teaching tafsir but they are indeed teaching millions of people to read in Arabic.
[/quote]
Many of these children understand absolutely nothing about the meaning of the words coming out of their mouths. It's learning by rote.  Witness the multiple youtube videos of Indonesian or Daghestani 6-year old "hafez al-Quran" who can sing the whole book cover to cover.  Marvel at the feat of their memory.  And then ask them to translate these verses, hell, just one verse word by word and see what happens.  I can parrot O Sole Mio, but it doesn't mean I understand every word in it.

I stand by my belief that a god who would send down eternal guidance in an outdated language accessible to a tiny minority of people, and insist that it's not available in any other way is...well...unattractive. [/quote]

Not for the 1.4-1.6 billion Muslims its not. And not for those converting to Islam. And your assertion that they understand "nothing" is absolutely false. Children do not memorize the translation, true, but they learn enough about Islamic principles to know how to practice it and still be good muslims. Translations are not perfect but they are fine for getting a basic understanding and the Quran has been translated into many different languages. People read the translations as well as Quranic Arabic.[/quote]
I'm sure they do, but you are arguing that children all over the world learn to pray and say dua in Arabic.  I say to you - how many of these children understand the meaning of each word they are saying?  Weren't you arguing you can't understand Islam without learning the Quranic Arabic? [/quote]

Many understand dua because duas are relatively easy to translate. Children may have a general idea of some suras such as Sura Fatiha and the kuhls or other short or memorable suras. As a child I remember learning the meaning behind a few suras I was taught because sometimes there was a story attached to it. We were told the stories. But do children understand the entire Quran? No. They continue to study it hopefully throughout their lives, though, and their understanding improves with time. Even children who are hafiz may not know every word they memorized. But what is the relevance of not knowing every single word in the Quran? If they knew every single word, their faith would be even stronger.  They may be less terrorism in the world if every Muslim studied the Quran as God/Allah intended. But is their faith lacking? Despite knowing only the meaning of a few suras, their knowledge and faith is still remarkably strong.

The study of Quranic Arabic is a longterm endeavor. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics