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Due to the fact that Allah is All-wise, there must've been a reason for sending down Quran in Arabic. So what is it? What would have happened if Allah had used another language?

I'm asking this question because of the second verse of Surah Yusof where Allah says:

إِنَّا أَنْزَلْناهُ قُرْآناً عَرَبِيًّا لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ

Indeed We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an so that you may apply reason.

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    If English was good enough for Jesus, it ought to be good enough for the people of Arabia. ;) (Joke, not serious)
    – Golden Cuy
    Jul 27, 2014 at 9:38
  • @AndrewGrimm Are you suggesting Bible was originally written in English. I surmise it must've originally been written in Hebrew since all the events it chronicles happened around Jerusalem and Jesus was himself a Jew.
    – Juzer Ali
    Jul 28, 2014 at 4:16
  • @JuzerAli It was meant as a joke. It's a variant on the joke which goes "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me." skeptics.stackexchange.com/q/20877/104
    – Golden Cuy
    Jul 28, 2014 at 4:21
  • Why would people ask a question they will never find the answer to, why you may say? well you don't really know gods intentions and it is not recommended to make assumptions about God (this is disrespectful to god), we have been provided with facts to proof the existence of god and how to worship him, in this life that's enough really since some stuff we will never know. but one may ask questions to seek knowledge
    – Aboudi
    Sep 26, 2014 at 20:15

11 Answers 11

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Qur'an was revealed in 7th century Arabia in the region of Makkah. It was simply revealed in the language of region of that people of that time. As clearly stated in 44:58

فَإِنَّمَا يَسَّرْنَاهُ بِلِسَانِكَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ

Thus We have revealed this [Qur'an] to you in your own tongue so that they may take heed.

It was a coincidence that it was Arabic, had it been English or French or Urdu it would have revealed in that language. But now, since the revelation was done in a particular language, care had to be taken to preserve the dialect, idioms, sayings, poetry of that language so that the correct understanding of Qur'an can be reached. This was always a priority for our scholars. As in the following Narration of Ibn Abbas (Suyuti, al-Itqan fi 'Ulum al-Qur'an, 1st ed., vol. 1 (Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1996), 347)

إذا سألتم عن غريب القرآن فالتمسوه في الشعر فإن الشعر ديوان العرب

If you want to understand the meaning of a Qur'anic word little known to you, search for it in poetry because it is this poetry which is the anthology of the Arabs.

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What would have happened if Allah had used another language?

People would have doubted the whole system.

And if We had sent this as a Quran in a foreign language other than Arabic, they would have said: "Why are not its Verses explained in detail (in our language)? What! (A Book) not in Arabic and (the Messenger) an Arab?" [41:44]

There must've been a reason for sending down Quran in Arabic

of course! The first step of teaching the path of Islam to the whole world is to teach it to the very people of Makkah. And for that, it needed to be in Arabic. Read verse 42:7 and Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi's Tafhim al-Qur'an here.

Also read Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi's Tafhim al-Qur'an of verse 41:44 here.

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Because He decided to send His messenger to the people who spoke Arabic. The same reason He revealed Torah in Hebrew. Had He decided to send His messenger to the people who spoke Urdu He would have chosen Urdu and would have created a literary masterpiece in this language too.

Now if you ask why did He choose Arabs then it is due to the Covenant He had with Abraham.

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It's a simple answer...not rocket science. Prophet Muhammed was an Arab. For him to understand the Quran, it had to be in Arabic. Otherwise how can he understand the message and tell/teach other people. Revelations came down to the Arabs specially due to their jahaaaliah. Eventually for the entire mankind.

One does not have to know Arabic to learn Quran. The motive is to understand an live it. People waste years learning Quran in Arabic but do not understand the divine message.

People should read and understand the message of Allah in the easiest possible language that they can understand, not necessarily Arabic. Arabic language is for Arabs only.

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I believe the question to have multiple layers of truth; sure, the simplest explanation is that because it's the language of the people of Arabia; however, God is capable of everything and everything he does is for a reason, if He wanted the people of Arabia could have spoken Latin for example; I believe there is a deeper reason that we haven't discovered yet and that's the beauty of asking questions with apparently simple answers as they often direct us to deeper levels of understanding.

I completely agree with answers recommending learning Quran in other languages that they can understand best for non-native Arabs as what matters the most is what we can understand and how do we apply that in our daily lives.

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  • Salam and welcome to Islam SE the Q&A site about Islam. To learn more about our site and model and to not confound us with a typical internet forum, I strongly recommend you to take our tour and check our help center. This doesn't answer the question (read How to Answer).
    – Medi1Saif
    Apr 9, 2018 at 5:26
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Allah chose Arabic to reveal Qur'an for its eloquence and the other features it has. The possibility of a hidden wisdom is always there in His decisions. Besides, rationally speaking, the question in itself is not wise to ask, because, had Qur'an been revealed in some other language, same query would have been repeated.

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  • I suppose we should not presume to know the reasons for God's choices.
    – Daniel
    Jan 3, 2015 at 4:37
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Arabic was selected because of it is Vast, Deep & Wide Ranged And it is Scientific in Nature. Arabic Language have a scientific system of CV Root Word, Chapters etc For Details Download from internet & See "LUGATUL QUR'AAN" By Allama Gulam Ahmad Parvez.

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    More reference would be a great addition to your answer. Jul 8, 2016 at 0:01
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    Salam and welcome to Islam SE. I strongly recommend you to read How to Answer to learn what we expect answers to look like also consider taking our tour and checking our help center to learn more about the site and how it works!
    – Medi1Saif
    Jul 8, 2016 at 5:56
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There are many mathematical systems and examples in the Holy Quran, scholars now are suggesting that because the Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letter, and 28 is a perfect number. Look into this, it might answer your question or at least point you in the right directions. Just look up “the holy Quran and mathematics”. It’s amazing.

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    The Arabic linguists have three opinions on the amount of Arabic letters 28, 29 or 30, the strongest is 29 counting the hamza as a letter. Also note that actually in the qira'a of Hafs -which is actually the most wide spread- the hamza is strongly present.
    – Medi1Saif
    Aug 7, 2018 at 19:28
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Assalmualaikum,

Arabic is a detailed language.Allah says in one ayah that:-

And if We had made it a non-Arabic Qur'an, they would have said, "Why are its verses not explained in detail"

For example Al kitab means "The Book".Quran means "Reading from Al kitab".and Qirat derives from the same root letter as quran that means "Recitation".Qari means "Reciter".Similarly Torah means "Law" which are the do's and dont's from Al kitab.Injeel means "good news".

The Arabic itself is the tafseer of the Ayat.If it is other than arabic,people would have asked where is the tafseer(explanation) of the ayat.

Allah made this arabic quran easy to be translated in other languages

And indeed, We have eased the Qur'an in your tongue that they might be reminded.

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Quran revealed in the Arabic language because no other language can cover the whole Quran like Arabic covering in one book form. if written in any other language then it may be required many books to cover all the Quran. Arabic is the best language in a world, point of view by Grammarly and easy to learn and speak, etc.

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No one knows why, people are guessing. Allah knows why and have not told us. But in that Ayah it clearly says that we have sent it that you may get educated. This was directed at the Arabs then because they were so stubborn they would not get it.

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