It is clear that all of the Muslims of the world are not Arab people. Perhaps approximately a milliard of Muslims across the world are non-Arab (as non-Arabic languages), as a result, probably, majority of them are not familiar with Arabic language.
So, as you probably know, the holy Qur'an and also traditions are in Arabic. Is there any Hadith ( or any verse of Qur'an) that mentioned the significance of learning Arabic for non-Arab Muslims?
In the name of Allah
الحمدلله خلق الانسان علَّمه البیان نَزَّل القرآن بلسان عربیّ مبین، و الصلاة و السلام علی النبیّ العربیّ سیّد ولد آدم و خاتم الانبیاء و المرسلین
As far as I searched, there is no tradition to point that it is considered as a Wajib (mandatory) act for Muslim, but there are some items which make us learning Arabic. For instance by learning Arabic, perhaps we can comprehend the Quran better which is in Arabic, or in reading the origin Ahadith and so on.
On the other hand, Arabic language is counted as one of the most populous language and according to my research, Arabic is considered as the Sixth language of the world (from the aspect of the population).
There is a tradition from Imam Ali (peace be upon him) that said:
« تَعـَلـَّموا العَرَبیّــﮥ و عَـلِّـموها النّاسَ . Learn Arabic and teach it to the people.
Or Imam Sadiq (a.s.) said:
تَـعَـلَّـموا العَرَبیّــﮥَ فَـإنَّـها کلامُ اللهِ الَّـذی یُـکَـلِّـمُ بِـهِ خَـلْـقَـهُ .
Learn Arabic, because this is the speech of the God who speaks to his creatures.
Even Imam Khomeini has illustrate concerning the significance of learning Arabic:
Do not say that Arabic is not from us, Arabic language is from us, Arabic language is the language of Islam and Islam is for all people.
It could be considered from other aspects such as:
Being able to speak with Arab Muslims in interchanging the Islamic knowledge and civilizations and so forth.
Being able to have discussion with other Muslims (Arabs) regarding
Islamic issues such as Quran, hadiths and so forth.
Being able to watching other Islamic Arabic channels of TV and radio and obtaining Islamic and scientific revenue by watching and hearing them.
Finally it could be a more unity between Muslims in different
languages.
Reference(s):
There is no indication that it is compulsory to learn Arabic. All of the foreign sahabah (Salman the Persian, Bilal the Abyssinian, and Suhayb the Roman) were bilingual and probably translated Islamic statements into their respective languages for their people. I have heard that Salman al-Farsi translated the first Surah into Persian (Farsi).
