Mujahid (rahimahullah) said:

It is not allowed for someone to explain the Quran (i.e., tafseer, commentary, explanation), if they do not understand the Arabic language.

[Mabahith fee ‘Uloom Al-Qur’an, 331]

The Arabic Teachers

Once the status of the language is clear, we will understand the reward and status of the one who teaches Arabic: 

1. By teaching Arabic he is helping to spread this virtue among people, and teaching the language of the Holy Qur’aan and the language that was chosen by the Lord of the Worlds.

2. He is playing a role in the memorization and understanding of the Qur’aan, teaching it and acting upon it.

He is also playing a role in spreading understanding of the Prophet’s hadeeth, preserving it, explaining it and acting upon it.

Any branch of knowledge that is connected to the Qur’aan and Sunnah is praiseworthy knowledge for which the one who teaches it will be rewarded.

1. The one who teaches Arabic is the direct cause of the spread of Islamic knowledge and education of people, because understanding Islam is based on understanding of Arabic language.

So whoever helps the people to understand it has helped them to understand Islam, and has become a means of spreading goodness among people.

1. Especially since the effects of learning a language are not limited to the person who learns it only; rather they also spread to the people around him.

When the person who learns Arabic studies and reads Islamic sources, he becomes a means of transmitting that culture that he reads to the culture whose language he speaks.

This is undoubtedly part of spreading Islam and calling people to it.

1. The reward that the one who learns Arabic attains because of his worship and the manners that he learns from Arabic, the one who teaches him will have a similar reward, in sha Allah, and that will not detract from the reward of the one who does those things in the slightest.

The Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:

“The one who tells another about something good is like the one who does it.”

— Narrated by Muslim, 1983.

Whoever does not have an excuse for refusing to teach Arabic to the one who needs it has deprived himself of a great reward, and has fallen short in his duty towards his ummah and his religion, as he is expected to be a caller to it and the means of spreading it and calling people to it, and he is content to be with those who fail to convey this religion and who are too lazy to call others to it. 

And Allah knows best.

[“Virtue of teaching Arabic”, Fataawa: 161844, al-Islam al-Su’al al-Jawab, dated: 16.07.2011]

🛡Are you an Arabic teacher?

➡️Share this channel with motivational quotes on the benefits and importance of Arabic with your students to motivate them to learn this language!

To highlight the virtue of the Arabic language it is sufficient to note that it is the language of the Holy Qur’aan, the eternal miracle, which was revealed to be a way of life for mankind until the Hour begins.

Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, chose the Arabic language to be the vessel which would carry this light and guidance to mankind.

This is mentioned in approximately ten places in the Qur’aan, such as the verse in which Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation):

“And indeed We have put forth for men, in this Qur'ân every kind of similitude in order that they may remember.

An Arabic Quran, without any crookedness (therein) in order that they may avoid all evil which Allâh has ordered them to avoid, fear Him and keep their duty to Him”

[al-Zumar 39:27-28].

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

The Arabic language is the symbol of Islam and its people. 

[End quote from Iqtida’ al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem, 1/519]

[“Virtue of teaching Arabic”, Fataawa: 161844, al-Islam al-Su’al al-Jawab, dated: 16.07.2011]

Concise Arabic: The Arabic language conveys a wealth of knowledge and meaning in a few words. Few Words, Great Impact

قال سفيان ابن عيينة (رحمه الله) : لا تنظروا إلى عقل الرجل في كلامه، ولكن انظروا إلى عقله في مخارج أموره

(العقل وفضله لابن أبي الدنيا، ٣٩)

Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah (rahimahullah) said:

Do not look at (i.e., measure) a man’s intelligence by (the eloquence of) his speech (because any person can talk),

Rather, look to see (i.e., measure) his intelligence by the outcomes of his affairs.

[Intelligence and Its Virtue, Ibn Abi ad-Dunya (rahimahullah), 39]

[Explanation:

- in short, don’t judge a man’s intelligence by his words, but by his actions, (and their viable outcomes).

- in detail, if a man truly was intelligent and wise, you would see the affect of his wise decisions on his life’s affairs (because anyone can talk, but only a real person of intelligence walks the talk). Do not think that a person is intelligent or wise just because he speaks eloquently, but rather if you see someone whose affairs are being taken care of by Allah in wondrous ways, then look at his actions, what kind of intelligent and wise decisions is he making with his life and deeds (i.e., in manners, heart, worship, etc) that Allah is making his life blessed, content and peaceful for him (even in the face of tests)? Therefore if you see a man who has contentment in his life then seek to understand his intelligent decisions.]

A Hadith that clarifies this quote (this is not commentary on the Hadith, but the opposite)

Anas ibn Malik (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) reported:

We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and he said,

“A man from the people of Paradise is coming to you.”

A man from the Ansar came whose beard was disheveled by the water of ablution, and he was carrying both of his shoes with his left hand.

The next day the Prophet of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) repeated the same words, and the man came in the same condition.

On the third day, the Prophet of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) repeated the same again, and the man came in the same condition.

When the Prophet of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) stood up to leave,

Abdullah ibn Amr (radiyAllahu ‘anhu) followed the man and said to him,

“I am in an argument with my father, and I have sworn not to enter my home for three days. May I stay with you?”

The man said yes.

Abdullah stayed three nights with the man, but he never saw him praying at night.

Whenever he went to bed, the man would make the rememberance of Allah (adhkar before sleep) and rest until he woke up for morning (fajr) prayer.

— Abdullah said that he had never heard anything but good words coming from his mouth —

When three nights had passed, and he did not see anything special about his actions,

(so) Abdullah asked him, “O servant of Allah, I have not been in an argument with my father, nor have I cut off relations with him.

I heard the Prophet say three times that a man from the people of Paradise was coming to us and then you came.

I thought I would stay with you to see what you are doing that I could follow, but I did not see you do many good deeds.

What is it that made the Messenger of Allah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) say what he said about you?'

The man said, 'I am as you have seen, except that:

1. I do not find dishonesty inside me towards any Muslim,
2. and I do not envy anyone because of the good that Allah has given them.

Abdullah said, ‘This is what made you reach that level, and it is what we find very difficult to achieve.’”

Musnad of Imam Ahmad (ragimahullah) 12697, Sahih(authentic) by Shu’ayb al-Arna’ut (rahimahullab) in Musnad al-Shu’ayb, 20/125. [Further Reading]

Footnote: In this Hadith we are to note the actions of the man who the Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said referring to him “A man from the people of Paradise”.

Sincerity to Allah and Arabic will Show You Who is Upon the Truth and Who is Feigning Knowledge

Imām ash-Shāf'iī (rahīmahullāh) said:

…(the people did not) differ (with each other) except due to their abandonment of the language of the Arabs and their inclination to the language of Aristotle.

[Imām ash-Shāf'iī (rahīmahullāh), adh-Dhahabī (rahīmahullāh), Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalā, 10/74]

The example of (the Arabic language is) a house made of cane (the likes of sugar cane), but its door is made of steel (metal or iron, and is heavy). Meaning, it is difficult for one to enter, but once one does enter, it is then made easy.
[Sharh al-Ajroomiyyah of Ibn Ajroom (rahimahullah), Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (rahimahullah), pg. 9]

al-Hasan al-Basri (rahīmahullāh) said:

They (the innovators) were destroyed by their inability in Arabic (al-‘ujmah).

[Abdullah ibn Zayd an-Numayri (rahimahullah) reports from al-Hasan al-Basri (rahimahullah), al-Bukhari (rahimahullah), at-Taareekh al-Kabeer, vol. 5, pg. 99]

“But he’s not from us” “he’s not Arab!”
A foreigner is the one who is not eloquent/proficient in the Arabic language, even if he is of Arab origin.

[Ibn Hajr al-Asaqalani (rahimahullah), al-Fath al-Bari, 1/339]

Black, White, Arab, Non-Arab The Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) **said:

There is no superiority for the Arab over the non-Arab,

nor the non-Arab over the Arab,

nor a white person over a black person

nor a black person over a white person

except in

• terms of piety and
• dutifulness to Allaah.

The people (all of them) came from Adam (alayhis salam),

and Adam came from the soil.**

[Saheeh aj-Jaami’, 1780]

Non-arabs do not have an excuse or a justification in that the Quran is not in their language. Rather it is upon them to learn the (Arabic) language.

[Shaykh ibn Uthaymīn (rahīmahullāh), Noor ‘Alaa ad-Darb]