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When I was around 15 years till 16 years old I went to Arabic school mostly in the weekends. I learned some suras without really understanding it in my mother tongue. Mostly because we were taught at that school to study just suras by heart something I dislike about the teaching methods from Arabic schools in Belgium and the Netherlands. A few years ago I started to read the Quran in my mother tongue but I didn't spend much time on it. I know from very few suras the true meaning but of many others I know by heart I don't know anything which I will need to change in the near future.

"Does it make my salats when I recite suras which I don't know the true meaning of less valid as the salats when I perform suras which I do know the true meaning of." I need to say that those few suras that I fully understand I keep repeating now but it seems that isn't the way of doing the salat. Aren't you supposed to learn every day more and more suras and to fully understand them so that you can expand your knowledge about your own faith?

Please elaborate your answer till you think you have provided everything you know on this matter and please link some references to it so that I can look all the elaborations of the authors myself.

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  • Is this question unclear or too broad since it still didn't get any answers?
    – user24306
    Commented Oct 19, 2017 at 5:52
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    There are answers on the site which cover it partially, maybe nobody has a good answer or time to elaborate an answer. Basically you must or can only recite the quran when you recite it in Arabic. As even what is inside the book strictly speaking is not the quran, a translation is nothing but an interpretation of the meaning it isn't the quran nor comes close to that. The quran is and was orally transmitted from the time of the prophet until now.
    – Medi1Saif ♦
    Commented Oct 19, 2017 at 17:16
  • Ok, I understand your remark. But let's take a look at the 114th soera An-naas which clearly has very few aya's. There is very little doubt about the overall meaning of the surat which entails seeking the quidance from Allah and protection against the shaitan. In this way there aren't many interpretations possible that's why it needs to have a good translation with no to little room left for interpretation I would think.
    – user24306
    Commented Oct 19, 2017 at 17:41

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Salah (prayer) has conditions that were laid out by Allah (ﷻ) and His Messenger. There is no evidence that Salah is invalidated or its reward lost due to not having understanding of the recitation. Therefore you cannot assume so. [Anyone who says so needs to provide the textual evidence, as burden of proof lies on them]. Is it better to know and understand the meaning? Yes, because then you can properly apply it into your life which leads to more reward.

@"Aren't you supposed to learn every day more and more suras and to fully understand them so that you can expand your knowledge about your own faith?" - Yes. And I would even say, even better than learning it in your language is learning the meaning in the original language, i.e., Arabic. the "translations" are not the direct word of God. Things get lost in translation, etc. The absolute best way to learn the Qur'an is through studying the direct word of Allah (ﷻ) [Arabic]. This is how the scholars learn it and how the rest of us ought to. This is why those schools which teach non-Arabic students to memorize the Arabic Qur'an and learning to read Arabic are doing a great job. The next step for these students is learning Arabic (understanding) language itself.

Every effort made to learn more Islamic knowledge is rewarded.

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  • Thank you for the answer. I was looking for an elaborated answer and that's what I got. I really appreciate it.
    – user24306
    Commented Oct 21, 2017 at 16:25

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