Can Arabs fully understand the Quran?

[sazk]

oh wow i m making so many threads.. but then again, i have so many questions..

If a verse is read from the Quran to you Arabs, can you understand what it is saying? i m Ajmi so i can understand parts of it but for most verses i need to look at the translation.

i've heard that some arabs cant even read the Quran. is this true? can you arabs fully understand the Ayat and see the beauty of the Verses?

 

[pcozzy]

:salam2:

come on are you serious?

 

[sazk]

yes! i really wanna know! can arabs fully understand the Quran? is it possible to reach that stage by an Ajmi? i truly believe the full pleasure of the Quran comes when u can read and understand the Arabic in itself. translations are only closest meanings to the original word. e.g. there is no correct word in english for Rabb, Alamin, Saihah, Iqamat us Salah, etc.

r u arab my brother? can anyone give me a more constructive answer rather than just snide remarks.

Jazak Allah Khairan

 

[Asja]

:salam2:

come on are you serious?

:salam2:

Yes dear brother,ofcourse that he is serious Alhamdulillah,

Dont you know dear brother that Holy Quran is real miracle and that is written in very unfamilar form SubhanAllah,because it is from Allah subhan we teale,and that some verse can not be understood comletely SubhanAllah although reeders of Holy Quran are Arabs,or for example with translateing Holy Quran many translator made some diffrence is some words because for example the same word in Arabic can also have double meaning,and that is also one of the reason why Arabs may not understood comletely Holy Quran.

But Alhadmulillah Allahs words are clear SubhanAllah and that all seas gather together they could not write the words of Allah.

May Allah bless you dear brother.

 

[BigAk]

A short answer is YES.... I do not need to read the translation to understand the arabic written words.. However, I do need to rely on the commentary in order to understand how the verses came about; hence more clarity in their meaning... Sometimes I would run into some arabic words that are not used very frequently, then I would look them up in the arabic dictionary if needed.

I have not heard of an arabic speaking person who does not understand the Quran when reading it.

.

 

[naaad]

A short answer is YES.... I do not need to read the translation to understand the arabic written words.. However, I do need to rely on the comentory in order to understand how the verses came about; hence more clarity in their meaning... Sometimes I would run into some arabic words that are not used very frequently, then I would look them up in the arabic dictionary if needed.

.

yes brother i was about to say the same.
( i m an arab) even i can understand the Holy Qur'an while reading it but yes, there are a few words for which i look into the translation. i have read the english translation of the Holy Qur'an completely alongwith the commentary which is very useful in understanding the complete and overall meaning of the ayaat.
don't know about others but i can understand (would'nt say all of it but) most of it ALHAMDULILLAH!

 

[sazk]

Subhan Allah

you're very lucky. you can understand such a gift just by directly looking at the actual words.
i'll tell u something strange. most of the people from my country can understand urdu, they can speak urdu, they can read urdu, but very few can fully understand the national anthem of pakistan. even though it is in urdu! .

the reason is that its in pure urdu and not the colloquial urdu that we common people speak.

so i was under the impression that maybe the same happens with arabs because arabs normally speak words like kaifa haluka which are not Classical Arabic. but its good to know. some Libyans told me that they can understand like 25% of the Quran not fully. i thought it was strange.

Arabic is one language, right? if an egyptian arab meets with a yemeni and they both speak in arabic, will they understand one another?

 

[BigAk]

Actually Kaifa haluka is pure classic arabic even... I can imagine our rasul Allah Muhammad (pbu) running into someone on the street and saying "Kaifa haluka ya Bilal"...

As far as all the arabs, we are taught the classical arabic at school.. All my school life, we had an arabic class in every grade where we were taught the real classical arabic; the kind you read in the Quran. The classes got too tough sometimes; we were to write poetry and memorize so many poems written by poets of Al-Jahilya period (pre islam) and after. We used to have to evaluate the poems according to their classification which was called "bahr". We also had to study what is called "I3rab".. Which basically write paragraphs about each word in a given letter to convey its grammatical status.. By the time I finished high school, I was an arabian poet myself; along with some top students in my class.. hahaha.

On the other hand, the arabic slang that people spoke on the street was very very different from the classical arabic. The slang differed from one arabic country to another that people would have a hard time understanding a far away dialect.. For instance being a Syrian, I would have a hard time understanding a guy from Saudi Arabia.. However, in this case the solution would be to resort to speaking the classical arabic which is called "Al-Luga Al Fusha" which is understood by any arab anywhere anytime.

It is very fortunate that the arabic language is still very alive and surviving despite all the historical occupations that the arabic countries have encountered.

I am currently living in the US and I am working on teaching my 6 year old boy the arabic language... I have been asking Allah (3aza wa jal) to grant us the chance to live in an arabic country soon so I can be helped in my efforts to pass on this great gift to my son.... Insha Allah; He will grant us this opportunity.

.

 

[sazk]

well then brother i have to ask this question on my mind; why are there still christians among the arabs? can they not see that the structure and complexity of the Quran can only come from Allah and not from a man?

 

[BigAk]

well then brother i have to ask this question on my mind; why are there still christians among the arabs? can they not see that the structure and complexity of the Quran can only come from Allah and not from a man?

Very good question brother... Actually it's interesting that you ask. I myself pondered this question not long ago and just on a recent trip to Dubai, I asked my father this same question. My father claimed that prejudice comes in the way and blinds people. They will reject the truth no matter what.. Even during the prophet Muhammad (pbu) his people gave him endless trouble and tried to kill him despite the fact that they can attest to the Quran's miraculous poetry. Like Allah described them in the Quran; deaf, dumb and blind, and they will never believe. Hidaya (guidance) is all in the hands of Allah.. He's the only One Who leads one to the right path, and then no one can misslead him.. And He's the only one that can lead one astray, then no one can lead him to the right path. His wisdom is beyond our comprehension.

May Allah keep us on the right path. May Allah never make our hearts go astray after He's lead us to His right path. Ameen..

.

 

[sazk]

BigAk, I must say u're a very strange arab ... u're english is very good.. plus u're also very kind spoken. i've had some pakistani friends who have been ridiculed by arabs before. generally the arabs say that we are the aulaad of the Sahabis, you are not true muslims, you cant understand the Quran. some of my colleagues have also been slapped by arabs.

but the magical thing is that even though we are held in contempt, we still love the Arabs. Here in Pakistan an arab man has a very high respect. probably because they are the aulaad of sahabi and they can understand the Quran. Also if they hadn't come to my part of the world, we would still be drinking cow urine and worshipping monkeys and cows and donkeys. No offence to anyone but Islam freed us from these things and reminded us that we have to meet our Creator soon.

 

[ed209]

If a verse is read from the Quran to you Arabs, can you understand what it is saying? i m Ajmi so i can understand parts of it but for most verses i need to look at the translation.

QUOTE]

Excuse me,bro, what's the meaning of "Ajmi"? Is it the name of a nation or a social class?

 

[sazk]

Ajmi literally means dumb;mute; one who is not eloquent

Arabi literally means one who is eloquent; one who can speak.

The arabs used to be masters of poetry. They had 100 words for camel, 100 words for sword, 10 words for water (maybe more but i've heard 10 so far). Their language is so complex that a thing or a situation can be described in 10 different ways. there are 13 sciences in the art of constructing a sentence.
a sentence can be constructed in many different ways as to make it sound like poetry.

So they used to call themselves Arabi, while the one who could not speak Arabic was called Ajmi, meaning this person is mute, indicative that he is not eloquent enough.

While its a derogatory term like 'nigger' but now we use it in a playful sense just like black people in america call themselves niggers now even though its origins were derogatory.

 

[sazk]

so when i say I am Ajmi, or I am mute. it means that I cannot speak Arabic, i read the Quran like a mute, my Salah is that like a mute. but i dont take offence because the Holy Prophet Muhammed said: "An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, neither does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab..."

so accordingly my arab brother and I are equal, we stand equal in salah before Allah, the only criteria for being a better person is piety.

 

[sazk]

some more interesting facts about Arabic

like i said before: the Arabs were master poets and considered themselves highly eloquent. that is precisely why Allah (SWT) challenged them that if they think that the Quran is from anyone other than Allah, then produce a Surah (a chapter) like it.

This challenge was thrown not only to arabs but to all of mankind and jinns.

here are the verses:

[2:23]
And if you are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down (i.e. the Quran) to Our slave (Muhammad Peace be upon him ), then produce a Surah (chapter) of the like thereof and call your witnesses (supporters and helpers) besides Allah, if you are truthful.

 

[sazk]

[17:88]
Say: "If the mankind and the jinns were together to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they helped one another."

in 1430 years, nothing comparable to the Quran has ever been produced.

According to the laws of poetry in arabic, The Quran is not exactly poetry, its not exactly prose. the closest description is that it is Rhythmic Prose.

There have been attempts to imitate the Quran but all have failed.

 

[sazk]

The fact that the Quran can never be imitated and is exactly the same, word for word, for centuries is the greatest proof that it is really from An Almighty God.

 

[Nazihah]

Assalamualaikum,

Interesting thread I must say.

 

[ed209]

Thx,bro Sazk,yr explanation is very very helpful. So it seems that im also an "Ajmi" in arabic language,hehe. Well i'll trying my best to memorize Qur'aan and make my recitation beautiful. Surely, no human or jinn can imitate the Qur'aan, i understood it even when i was reading the translation, before reading the Arabic scripture. For me, the Qur'aan means utmost beauty. Even though im not an arabic speaker, i still feel such beauty deeply. Really it's a miracle!

 

[TheHumbleWun]

BigAk, I must say u're a very strange arab ... u're english is very good.. plus u're also very kind spoken.

Salaam,

I enjoyed reading your shrewd observations brother sazk. Good questions.

Don't worry BigAk, my English is better than my native language (Farsi). Looks like there are two strange people here LOL.