Becoming the Servants of the Most Merciful Series
Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV | Part XV

The distinguishing characteristics of the true Servants of the Merciful have been laid out for us by our Most Merciful Creator. They are humility, forbearance, praying the vigil, seeking the guidance and support of God from sins, fearing the possibility of going to Hell for one moment, balance in spending wealth, avoiding the major sins, protecting the major objectives of Islam, repentance, not witnessing the glorification of falsehood, avoiding useless speech, submitting to scripture, building one’s family on piety and seeking the help of God while doing so.

After guiding us to these most noble characteristics, our Beloved Creator than told us the reward of working to attain them:

“These Servants of the Merciful will be rewarded with a high position in Heaven as a result of their perseverance.  They will be greeted therein with the glad tidings of eternal life free of enmity, discontent or any other defects.” (Qur’an 25:75)

Surely life is a test and it is not easy. The guidance has been facilitated and the path to the eternal bliss in the pleasure of our creator is clear. Now it is upon us to work for it as God said,

“How excellent is the reward of those who work for it.” (Qur’an 3:136)

In the verse about the reward of the Servants of the Merciful, the qualifying clause was “as a result of their perseverance”. This is the translation of “bi maa sabaroo”. God is telling us that the whole of life and the test therein is about perseverance in showing Him our devotion, loyalty, and gratitude.  Our scholars have defined for us the three types of “sabr” that we all face in life. Basically our test is in disciplining ourselves to rise above our carnal egotistical instincts to become spiritual servants of our Creator. There are basically three aspects of perseverance that we are facing.

The first of these is persevering by fulfilling all of our religious obligations. The fact is we value our time and we incline towards instant gratification of our desire to enjoy our time. We must regulate our time so that we do everything we possibly can to fulfill whatever God has commanded us to do (i.e. practicing the 5 pillars of Islam).  In doing this we make the divine obligations the most important thing in life. If they weren’t important then God wouldn’t have obligated us to do them. If we don’t feel the importance of them then we need to strengthen our faith by reading about the miracles of the Qur’an, the biography of the Prophet ﷺ and his companions and the previous prophecies about the coming of our Prophet. After building a strong faith, we must increase our knowledge so we can understand why we have been obligated to perform these acts of worship. After completing these steps we are on our way to a fruitful life of service to the Almighty. In today’s secular world we are brainwashed from a young age that worship is a matter of choice and not a requirement whereas our scripture treats intentionally leaving obligatory worship as even more sinful than committing acts prohibited by God.

The second aspect of perseverance in life is in avoiding all of the things prohibited by scripture. We have certain carnal desires as animals that we are inclined to. A big test in life is in breaking down our ego and our desires so that we may protect our souls. Again weak faith is a reason for committing sins so we must seek to feed and nurture our faith as mentioned previously. Similarly, we should seek the knowledge of the wisdom behind prohibitions so that we may see the big picture and how God is protecting us from great harm by prohibiting us from things we incline to egotistically and materialistically. One of the biggest means in avoiding sins is the environment we choose. If we choose friends and surroundings which facilitate piety then we will be much more likely to stay free of major sins. God almighty commanded us,

“Train yourself to persevere with the company of those who live in sincere servitude to their Lord throughout the day… “ (Quran 18:28)

Our beloved Prophet ﷺ said, “A person is influenced by the ways of his close friends. So pay close attention to those who you take as close friends.” (Abu Dawood 4833)

Finally, we have the last aspect of the perseverance required to pass the test of life. This is the way we deal with hardship and difficulty that we face. One of the main arguments of atheism is that if God is good and in control of everything then why does He decree so much violence, evil, and corruption.  The fact is that this argument doesn’t hold up to a day in court with Islamic theology. It is crystal clear in Islam that this life is a test. We have been blessed with life, intelligence, creativity and all our sustenance at our finger tips. We are asked to persevere through life by disciplining ourselves through knowledge and human struggle to be spiritual entities who are not content as a result of material gain or worldly attachments, but through submitting to our Creator’s divine plan for us. If we fulfill this trust then we will attain eternal bliss. On the other hand, if we allow our ego and desires to get the best of us we will live and die as animals until the hereafter where we will be responsible for our rebellion against our Creator. The hardships and calamities we face in this life are one of two things for a believer. It is either a means of purifying ourselves from sins in this life or a means of pleasing God through showing our pure submission to His will even when it doesn’t serve our desires. The Prophet ﷺ said,

“If God has goodwill towards his servant, He hastens his punishment in this life. If He has bad will for His servant who is deserving of it, He leaves him to pay for his sins on the Day of Judgment.”(Tirmidhi)

“Verily the greatness of reward is according to the greatness of the trial. Surely if God loves a people then he tests them with hardship. So whoever is content with God’s decree then God is content with him and whoever is displeased with it then God will be displeased with them. (Tirmidhi)

We pray the Almighty Merciful One facilitate our struggle with perseverance that we may indeed be counted as His servants! Ameen

As we said in the last article, there are good and bad people from all countries and cultures. Sure these brothers speak colloquial Arabic, they call themselves “Muslims”, they would kiss the Qur’an and swear by Allah, but if I had the choice for my son, I would rather he hung out with more morally observant non-Muslims. Obviously the best company for any Muslim would be other devout Muslims who encourage each other to achieve piety, always hoping to follow the example of the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him).

That being said, the question has been brought up: can a Muslim be friends with a non-Muslim? When I embraced Islam, I remember reading translations of the Qur’an and hearing people say that having a non-Muslim friend is prohibited in Islam! I am sure we have all heard “religious” Muslims repeat the claim. Is Islam some exclusivist religion, or is it Divine Mercy for the world?

Some scholars have interpreted some verses of the Qur’an to give this meaning. These scholars generally come from and live in Muslim countries that have only a very small non-Muslim minority, if any. My biggest concern is that linguistically, and according to the commentary of the early scholars, these verses are better understood to mean not friends in the personal sense, but political allies or guardians from those who have an agenda against Muslims. Every single verse that seems to give that meaning was revealed in Medina, when Muslims were being constantly plotted against by non-Muslims and Hypocrites, who claimed Islam outwardly, yet secretly worked with the plotting disbelievers against the Muslims.

Why pick the harshest, most alienating and decontextualized understanding of a verse and pass that on in a general fatwa (legal verdict given on a religious basis), to be copied and pasted all over the Internet? And after that major error in scholarship, why do translators of the Qur’an pick that harsh and flawed interpretation to go into a book that will be spread where Muslims are expected to convey Islam as a small minority with little influence in society? Muslims are in such grave need of real, high-quality scholarship with deep and insightful wisdom.

Let us take a look at some verses that are often misinterpreted in that way.

“Believers should not take disbelievers as ‘awliyaa’ to the exclusion of the believers. Whoever does so will have disconnected themselves from God…”” (Qur’an, 3:28)

The Imam of all Qur’anic commentators, Al-Tabari, makes it clear that this verse is to be understood within the context of hypocrisy and betrayal against the Muslims. He says, “This is God the Almighty and Exalted prohibiting the believers from taking disbelievers as political supporters. Muslims should not support disbelievers against other Muslims, exposing the weakness of the Muslims to them. Whoever does so is separated from God; considered as a deserter of faith.”

Clearly, the verse is not talking about having non-Muslim friends in general, regardless how close you are to them. The word which is used here—awliyaa’—is not the word any Arab uses to mean “friend”, even a close friend. Historically, Arabs have used rafeeq, sadeeq or sahib to refer to friends and acquaintances. Awliyaa’, on the other hand, is the plural of waliy, which is usually used in the context of political support or guardianship.  God is Al-Waliy, which means the Guardian and Supporter of the believers, not the “The Friend”. The term waliy al-amr means someone’s legal guardian (for example, their parents). When referring to the state, it means the ruler.

It is clear from both context and linguistics that the stronger interpretation relates to the seriousness of hypocrisy in Muslims who take non-Muslims as political allies against other Muslims. The application of this verse to our lives here in the United States, for example, might be not to support the Republican Party or take your information from Fox News. It could also be used as a prohibition against joining the military, given the current policy which does not value the sovereignty of Muslim lands or the sanctity of the lives of Muslim civilians. However, in no way could the verse be understood to prohibit us from making friends with our neighbors, co-workers, or schoolmates.

In another verse from surat Al-Ma’idah, God says:

“Dear Believers! Don’t take the Jews and the Christians as awliyaa’, they are but awliyaa’ of each other. And if any amongst you takes them as awliyaa’, then surely, he is one of them. Verily, God doesn’t guide the oppressors.” (Qur’an, 5:51)

Again, the point is clarified by our great scholars of Qur’anic commentary. Imam Al-Tabari comments on this verse, “The early generations have differed about this verse. Some said it was for all believers, and others said it was specific to a contextual event in the prophetic biography regarding hypocrites and certain treacherous Jews in Medina.” He then cites various evidence from the sunnah (traditions and practices of the Prophet ﷺ) which endorses the latter opinion.

Imam Al-Qurtubi is another giant in Qur’anic commentary. He was born in Cordoba, Spain and during his life made many non-Muslim friends on various occasions. In his own explanation of the verse, he cites the same difference of opinion yet again and he gives a detailed preference to the evidence from the cause of revelation and the context of application mentioned in the sunnah.

“This is referring to the Hypocrites. The understood meaning is ‘O open claimants to faith, yet who secretly support the polytheists by informing them of the internal matters of Muslims.’” He then goes on to give many examples from the biography of the Prophet ﷺ.

Some modern commentators and translators—attempting balance in their approach—claim that one is not allowed to love or have an intimate relationship with non-Muslims. This claim is baseless in the classic scholarly commentary of the previous verses. Such a claim is very hard to substantiate when you consider that in the 5^th verse of surat al-Ma’ida God permits marrying Jews and Christians and in surat al-Room God defines marriage as based in loving affection and compassion. Supporters of this erroneous claim rely on the following verse:

“You will not find a people who believe in God and the Last Day having affectionate love for those who have enmity to God and His messenger even if it be their parents, sons, brothers or other family members…”(Qur’an, 58:22)

The various commentaries noted that this verse was revealed after the battle of Badr, when Abu Ubaidah bin al-Jarrah killed his father. Again, there is a big difference between one who says they respectfully don’t believe in or follow Islam and one who has openly declared themselves an enemy of Islam,  outwardly expressing hatred and enmity towards Islam and Muslims.

Admittedly, a famous axiom of Qur’anic commentary states that the meaning of a text should be considered in its generality, and not in the specific circumstance in which it was revealed. However, scholars have argued that this axiom cannot apply to all things, as this would create much strife and iniquity, particularly in regards to verses dealing with a just war. That is not to say, of course, that verses of the Qur’an were only revealed for specific situations and are thus void of benefit thereafter; that would negate the purpose of revealing it in a book of universal guidance. The correct position is that understanding the context of a verse helps in understanding its proper future application.

Even disregarding the context of the above-mentioned verses, it is clear to the observant reader that they do not prohibit us from having non-Muslim friends. The contextual traditions merely serve to solidify the point and give clarity for future applications of the laws.

So what does Islam teach about having non-Muslim friends? The following three verses will help clear away any confusion regarding the topic.

“Perhaps God will bring loving affection between you and your enemies as God is Omnipotent. God is Forgiving and Merciful. God would not prohibit you from dealing good and fair with people who have not expelled you from your land or fought against your religion. He only prohibits you from any loyalty to those who have fought your religion and worked to expel you from your land. Whoever would have loyalty to such people are undoubtedly the iniquitous.”  (Quran, 60:7-9)

To my knowledge, all scholars are in agreement that the first of these verses is a miraculous prophecy, giving hope to the Muslims in early Medina that many of the leaders of the anti-Islam campaign from Mecca will embrace Islam. The second verse clarifies that the reason behind the enmity between Muslims and the tribe of Quraysh was because these people had abused, tortured, humiliated and ultimately expelled the Muslims from their homeland on account of their religion. If they had not done that, there would have been no enmity, rather mutual peace and respect.

As a rule of thumb, verses of the Qur’an that mention non-Muslims in harsh or severe terms refer only to those non-Muslims who have fought against Muslims and have openly expressed enmity towards them.

That being said, we continuously hear that America is fighting a war against Muslims, and so we should beware of its evil intentions toward Islam. However, the fact is that America is not fighting a war against Muslims. There is a military policy enforced by our representative style government known as a republic. The congressmen and the president’s administration have a complex policy on its “war on terror”. The policy has many sincere supporters who honestly think they are doing good in ridding the world of terror and threats to humanity. In many cases time and time again, they do this on false or faulty intelligence. Much evidence shows that the possible source of such faulty intelligence is a more sinister element in our government, that serves to defend imperial political ambitions and exploit natural resources of Muslim lands. Such a group is not representative of America any more than heretical jihadist groups represent the Muslims. It is completely unfair to judge all Americans by the corruption of a small group among them.

Surely one of the best ways to combat the bad image of Islam in America is through devout Muslims befriending their fellow countrymen among non-Muslims. Then they will come to know the truth of Islam by experiencing it firsthand. We should be strong in our faith and not feel threatened by people with different values. If we remain reclusive in our homes, mosques and restaurants, then we leave the media and those working against us to define us to the masses.

وهو الذي جعل الليل والنهار خلفة لمن اراد ان يذكر او اراد شكورا

“He is the One who made the night and day to follow each other for those who would reminisce or give thanks,” (Qur’an 25:62).

Our scholars teach us that this verse reminds us to keep up with our lives, taking account of our shortcomings, working hard toward progress and showing gratitude for all that we have and are able to do. Self-Accountability in the face of perfection is what Islam is all about. In Surah al-Hashr, God commands us to piety and God-Consciousness:

يا ايها الذين امنوا اتقوا الله ولتنظر نفس ما قدمت لغد واتقوا الله ان الله خبير بما تعملون

“Dear believers, be mindful of your duty to God and let every soul pay attention as to what it puts forward for the Day of Reckoning. So be mindful of God because surely He is fully aware of all that you do,” (Qur’an 59:18).

For us, every moment of each day is a time for change. God is the only constant in all of existence. He is The Absolute Perfection. We are all flawed and in need of evolving and progressing in hopes of being closer to Him. That is why He has revealed His guidance to us; in order that we may strive to become Godly.

To assume oneself is in no need of change is pure and simple arrogance which is the root of all evil. There are two extremes in morality. The first is where one sees their practice and understanding of religiosity as the pinnacle and the only true way. These people can’t see their flaws nor can they tolerate others. The second extreme is in those who would tolerate everyone without any solid foundation of creed and worship for themselves or others. These are willing to compromise the faith to please people. Without a doubt, the truth is between the two.

وكذلك جعلناكم امة وسطا لتكونوا شهداء على الناس ويكون الرسول عليكم شهيدا

“With this revelation, We have made you a moderate nation so that you may be proper witnesses upon mankind and thus the messenger will be a witness for you on the Day of Judgment…”(Qur’an 2:143).

We should be conservative, or should I say uncompromising, in the underlying objectives and agreed upon constants of our religion. At the same time, we should be open-minded towards interpretations of our religion and the effect they have on our lives and the lives of those around us. As Imam al-Shatibi explained, we must be guided by the objectives of benefit vs. harm outlined in the sacred law. We should be liberal in tolerating others and embrace humanity with a respectful merciful attitude.  This middle ground is hard to come by as most gravitate toward the two extremes one way or another because it empowers the self. The divine balance empowers none but God while humbling man to realize we are all just a small, yet significant part of something much greater than ourselves.

I’m sure you all have been keeping up with the recent news of our Saudi sisters making Jihad for their God-given right to drive. I was reading a recent article where the President of the committee for Promoting Good and Rebuking Evil, Sh. Abdul-Latif Aala al-Shaikh, as well as many other notable Saudi scholars stating publically that there is no legal basis for the prohibition. It’s simply a patriarchal cultural interpretation of the religion. It’s interesting to note that those “conservative/literalist” scholars who back this ban get very figurative and principled in order to “interpret” it from our scripture.

The response to those who were pulled over this time was different than before. The old response was either to sign an affidavit saying that you will not do this again or be detained. However, this time the affidavit required  them to not drive until obtaining a license. Some Saudi political analysts speculate that this is a step toward letting them obtain a license.

I also was recently reading an important declaration from the law department at al-Azhar that we have to correct some of the terminologies in our international relations terminology i.e. Land of Islam vs. The Land of disbelief/war (dar al-Islam vs. dar al-Kufr/harb).  They noted that the circumstances in which our jurists coined these terms, as well as their intended meaning, is greatly misunderstood by the casual untrained reader. The world used to be in a perpetual state of war and the nature of those empires was in most cases ruled by the religion of the emperor thus hostile to other empires/religions. The department thus cited the difference in the world situation between those ancient imperial realities to the modern day concept of sovereign nation states, in addition to the widespread modern concept of freedom and human rights. Their decree is that the whole world should generally be called land of treaty (dar al-Ahd) until one nation illegally invades another or until the government of a nation overtly violently oppresses its people.

These two examples represent a migration in ideology correcting the previous ways in favor of another more comfortable way in order for Islam to thrive. The Arabic word hijrah means “to leave”. Now we find ourselves a week into the Islamic New Year. When we look at the migration of the Prophet ﷺ  (peace be upon him), we see that it was difficult, required sacrifice and yet led to a better life.

The calendar was marked because of what it represents.  It is well documented that when Umar radi Allahu `anhu (may God be pleased with him) would send letters to his governors throughout the Caliphate, they started to ask about an official date. He gathered the companions of the Prophet ﷺ in consultation. Some suggested they mark the Islamic calendar year by the birth of the Prophet ﷺ, while others suggested the year he first received revelation, or the year the Muslims migrated from Makkah to Yathrib (Medina). Umar (ra) was convinced that the year of the migration was the best marker of the start of the Islamic calendar. He said that this is when God distinguished between truth and falsehood.  He was talking about how the physical migration was a process that represented a much bigger migration of deeper meaning: leaving one lifestyle for another because of its potential for virtue in the service of God.

It is of the utmost importance that those who migrate with their bodies also put their mind and heart into maximizing their potential to build future generations of Muslims particularly here in the West. It is equally important for the native Muslim community to not only avoid, but to bring plausible solutions to, sin and evil. This is what the Prophet ﷺ and his companions did when they migrated to Yathrib. They completely embraced the physical and abstract meaning of migration and thus fully fulfilled their potential.

The Prophet ﷺ taught us about true faith:

ألا أُخْبِرُكُمْ بالمؤمنينَ ؟ مَنْ أَمِنَهُ الناسُ على أَمْوَالِهمْ و أنْفُسِهمْ ، و المسلمُ مَنْ سَلِمَ الناسُ من لسانِهِ و يَدِه ، و المُجَاهِدُ مَنْ جَاهَدَ نفسَهُ في طَاعَةِ اللهِ ، و المُهاجِرُ مَنْ هجرَ الخَطَايا و الذَّنُوبَ

“Shall I inform you of the true believers? They are those whom others feel safe from in their property and livelihood. The true Muslims are those whom the people are safe from their tongue and their hands. The true warrior is the one who fights against his or her desires in the obedience of God. The Migrant is the one who leaves sin and evil,” (Ahmad).

We must all individually reflect on these meanings of Islamic Migration so that we may maximize our potential for living, representing and conveying the divine message we were sent with.

“Guide us to the straight path; the path of those whom you have favored, not the path of those who have earned your displeasure or those who have gone astray.”  (Qu’ran, 1:6-7)

Why do we have to repeat that prayer so much every day? How do we know if that prayer is being answered? Should we just assume that we are guided and we are guaranteed a place in Heaven? Why are we guided and others are not?

The Holy Qu’ran has all the answers of life that we are looking for, and these are some of the questions that all people ask at some point in life. It is imperative that we all have a thorough understanding and thus be readily able to answer them. Unfortunately, many Muslims have a quite distorted view of the meanings of verses which state that God  subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) guides whom He wills and “misguides” whom He wills. This misunderstanding stagnates the faith and practice of many Muslims since it can move them away from God (swt).

So the literal meaning is that He chooses to guide some and “misguide” others from Himself. If so, then why?

First, we must realize that it is unacceptable to define God (swt) according to one of His many descriptions without relating all of them together as many interconnect and overlap. Let us take a look at the other descriptions of Him—The Just, The Wise, The All-Aware, The Knower of what is in the depths of the hearts. He guides who deserves His guidance. He guides those whose hearts incline to Him. If we look at what the Qur’an says:

“[…] Whoever has faith in God, then He guides their heart. God’s Omniscience encompasses everything.” (64:11)

“He guides to Himself whoever turns to Him.” (13:27)

“God will increase in guidance and piety [to] those who strive to attain it.” (47:17)

According to the previous verses, if one changes his/her inclination inside the heart then not only will the seal/veil be lifted, but guidance will soak into the heart and become quite natural to the person. This is evident in so many reverts.

We find the same causal relationship to God “misguiding” people in the following verse:

“Indeed those who have disbelieved… (Consequently) God has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing and there is a veil drawn over their sight…” (2:6-7)

“When they deviated, then God caused their hearts to deviate. God does not guide the deviant rebels.” (61:5)

Perhaps the best depiction of the reason God guides a person is in Sura Al-layl:

“As for the selfless pious one who has affirmed the bliss of the Hereafter, then We will facilitate their path to Heaven. On the other hand, the greedy self-sufficing one who doesn’t affirm the bliss of the Hereafter, then We will facilitate their path to Hell.” (Qur’an 92:5-10)

The parable of divine guidance is like a school that chose to expel one student or make another skip a grade or get a scholarship. Yes, the school does that and has full authority to do so, but it is based on what the student has done. Similar is the system of either promoting or firing in a business!

Many people incorrectly believe that God has made us like puppets. We have even heard Imams say that God chose us to be believers as if He made us believers and others disbelievers and as if we have not done anything to earn it. The verses that talk about Him choosing Prophets and others are surely related to something He knows of them that makes them qualified. He is the only one who knows what is in our hearts and who is truly pious.

“Indeed the best among you to God are those who are most pious. Indeed God is Omniscient and All-Aware.” (Qur’an 49:13)

At the end of the day, the Qur’an shows how we make our own choices:

“So whoever wishes, let him believe and whoever wishes let him disbelieve…” (18:29)

But some people take issue with God’s Omniscience and how He knows our future actions and final abode in the Hereafter. In philosophizing our faith let us be careful; let us not forget the overarching principle of full faith in things beyond our perception which are clear in scripture. There are obviously things beyond our perception, and Ayat al-Kursi is clear:

“…People do not encompass of His knowledge except what He wills…”

It is like seeing our reflection in a mirror. The mirror captures it all; the good and the bad, but it does not cause us to look a certain way. The same goes for God’s knowledge. He knows all about us, but our reflection is our own doing. Remember God is also The First and The Last who is not existing in nor is He (Glory be to Him) governed by time! Never forget that He is Greater than anything you can imagine or fathom.

He has guided all of creation to what is best for it:

“Moses said to Pharaoh, Our Lord is the One who created everything and guided it.” (Qur’an 20:50)

This is the innate instinct of all creation in how it is made into its own distinguishable reality with certain intrinsic functions and inclinations that support its existence. It is why your brain, heart and digestive system are programmed to do such complex systematic organized function. It is why a baby knows to look for its mother’s breast. In fact, among life forms, humans rely least on instinct as they get older. Throw a 6-year-old cat or dog in the water, and it swims to safety!

(If you haven’t seen it and are interested in a huge faith boost, then watch Disney’s documentary “Wings of Life”.)

Non-human life forms are instinctually in submission to the will of God, and thus their very existence glorifies His Perfection. This is their purpose and it gives them a state of peace in fulfilling that daily innately inspired program.

In contrast, we were blessed and tested with conscious, morally aware, intelligent reasoning and creativity. Going back to swimming, some are scared to learn while others achieve amazing skill in diving/swimming techniques as good as and better than the best dolphins and seals.

To achieve conscious peace as individuals and as a society, we must embrace the guidance of revelation by choice and effort. The purpose of our life for us is to use our creative intelligence to make choices that lead to divinely guided action.

God is The Guide who shows us guidance, but for us we must choose:

“By the soul and He who created it, then inspired it to know that which is harmful to it and that which will protect it. Surely the one who purifies and nurtures their soul has succeeded (aflaha) while the one who corrupts it has failed (khab).” (Qu’ran 91:7-10)

The word here used to refer to the success of the one who nurtured their soul is rooted in the meaning of cultivating crops. It is like the relationship between the farmer (fallah) and growing his crops. It is all there; soil, seeds, water and sunlight. But it has to be done right and proportioned properly. The farmer has been given the ability to figure it out, and the harder he works at it, the better the crops he will grow. If he learns from those who have worked at it, it will be much easier! Still, at the end of the day, it is Divine providence since He gave the materials and made the system.

On the other hand, the word used to refer to failure is the same root that refers to a miscarriage, which means there was either an infection, a lack of proper nutrients or the wrong environment for that fetus for it to grow and thrive in life.

Guidance is about a give and take relationship with God. The more you put into faith the more you get out of it! When we seek and follow it, praying for His help in understanding, then he supports us and facilitates our preservation and growth in it. On the other hand, if we are heedless, not very concerned about our soul, then as a result, He will misguide us. This is why the Prophet so often supplicated:

يا مقلِّبَ القلوبِ ثبِّت قلبي على دينِكَ  أو اللَّهمَّ مُصرِّفَ القلوبِ صرِّف قلوبَنا على طاعتِكَ

“Dear Controller of the hearts, stabilize our hearts upon Your religion and move our hearts to Your obedience.” (Tirmidhi 3522 , Muslim 2654)

When we incline toward arrogance and believe ourselves to be “the chosen” without continuous effort from ourselves, then we lose it and go astray. It is a lifelong struggle. In fact, it is the purpose of life. No action can be righteous unless it is purely for the sake of God and in accordance with a proper understanding of guidance in our scripture.

“He is the One who created death and life and all in between for the purpose of testing us to seek perfection in our choices of action.” (Qur’an 67:2)

Judging any argument should not be done with preconceived notions or according to cultural influence, rather it should be judged objectively after looking into its intrinsic merit. As Muslims, our criterion of validity for religious matters is that it must be in agreement with both scriptural and rational evidence.

The power of popular culture is a strong reality that has major influence upon any community.  Anytime someone suggests something contrary to the way we were raised, we often take offense, become annoyed, and/or feel threatened. Self-review/accountability are proven tools of success. They are primary means to growth and progress as humans/believers. The assumption that what we do or say is unquestionably right is obviously arrogance which is the primary trait of Satan, our clear enemy.

In the past months I wrote several articles about balancing the Arabization of Islamic expression in the west. Perceptions of these articles varied significantly. Some understood my point and others allowed their cultural upbringing, suspicions and assumptions to mislead them regarding my points. For example at no point was I suggesting the suppression or downplay of learning Arabic to attain a deeper and more precise spiritual insight into our faith nor has any article I have written been some sort of attack on our Arab/immigrant community. So before concluding this series I thought I would clarify my intention, purpose, and objective which some may have completely missed.

First and foremost my intention is to please our Exalted Creator, Master, and Merciful Loving Guide. In Islam we can only please Him in a way that is guided by His revelation.

The following are the verses which guided my ideas:

“We merely sent messengers speaking in the language of their people so that they can properly clarify the religion to them.” (Qur’an 14:3)

“Let there be a community from among you that invites to all good, enjoining virtue and discouraging vice. Those are truly the successful.” (Qur’an 3:104)

“Call to the path of your Lord with wisdom and good preaching…” (Qur’an 16:125)

“[…] Say to the people of the book, We believe in what was revealed to us and what was revealed to you and our God and your God is One in the same […]” (Qur’an 29:46)

“Thus We have revealed to you an Arabic Qur’an so that you may warn the mother of villages (Makkah) and those people surrounding it (i.e. the Arabs).” (Qur’an 42:7)

Also ponder over Qur’an 41:44, 12:2, 3:41 and 43:3.

The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) said, ادعوا الناس ، و بشروا و لا تنفروا ، و يسروا لا تعسروا
“Call the people to Islam. Give glad tidings and don’t alienate people. Facilitate things for people and don’t make things difficult.” (Saheeh al-Jami’ 246)

As stated before there were revelations and/or inspired messages sent to the many Prophets many of whom we were not told about since the Qur’an is focusing on a confirmation of the covenant of Abraham. There is a weak hadith (prophetic narration) which states that there were 124,000 prophets and 315 messengers. The following verses support the idea, but not necessarily the count:

“There were some messengers from before which we have told you about while other messengers we did not tell you about […]” (Qur’an 4:164)

“[…] There was never a nation which was void of a warner.” (Qur’an 35:42)

Obviously these messengers taught a message which is universal that could be expressed quite clearly in any language.

The current culture of Islamic linguistic expression in the West is undoubtedly Arabized. But why? The Prophet ﷺ did not teach that we should Arabize all languages and cultures. Rather he taught us to live Islam and spread its message to those around us. The companions obviously established the Caliphate and naturally as the politically dominant people they incorporated Arabic as a native tongue where it was not previously a spoken language or at least it was not the native tongue. That was positively a good thing they did for those lands. As a result of their efforts, since then, people in Sham, Persia and North Africa were raised with a solid foundation in the language of our scripture. That said, that doesn’t make Arabs more pious or even more knowledgeable than non-Arabs. It simply gives them more potential to have a deeper understanding of the original texts.

The following are the main factors that led to the current linguistic expression of Islam among American Muslims:

The immigrant community who founded the vast majority of mosques, schools, and organizations here is comprised of either Arabs or people from countries where Arabic wasn’t adopted as a native tongue, but Islam is the dominant religion. These countries developed a culture in which most religious jargon is in Arabic, scripture is memorized in Arabic, and prayers are said in Arabic even if someone doesn’t know what any of it means. To be honest, there is very little emphasis on meaning while the Qur’an persistently guides its readers to ponder, think, contemplate and rationalize God, His creation, and most importantly the revelation.

The Arab immigrant community is naturally proud to have a language which is generally Qur’anic Arabic, although in many cases an offshoot of it. Many of them were struggling with learning the native English for secular purposes so they felt that since Islam was revealed in their language then they will attempt to inculcate Arabic words and phrases into their English Islamic expression. Others have passed on this historical pre-Qur’anic Arab bias that Arabic is superior to all languages and therefore true religious expression can only be in Arabic and that to translate it would lose the meaning. When we look into the prominent comprehensive Arabic dictionary “The Tongue of Arabs” by Ibn Manthoor in volume 6 under “عجم”   we see that the word which is used to mean non-Arab by language or ethnicity originally meant—and I am quoting— “الذي لا يفصح ولا يبين كلامه” which means one who is not eloquent and cannot express their speech clearly!

As someone who has been blessed with a certification of mastery of Arabic with a daily intimate relationship to it in my research, sure it is a beautiful language with deep meaning. That being said, as a lesser qualified student of English poetry and oratory eloquence, they were quite arrogant about their love for their language. The truth is that outside of the Qur’an and Sunnah (prophetic tradition) which are pure Holy Scriptures of divine expression, Arabic is a language like any other with its own unique qualities subject to human influence. Linguistic meaning is universal. Sure Arabic often carries a lot of meaning in a small sentence which requires a long translation, but at the same time in many cases you can throw out much of the sentence while translating the meaning from Arabic to English i.e. in the rule of Arabic rhetoric called الإطناب or unnecessarily added words to the sentence for either praise or blame.

Most of the non-Arab immigrant population comes from Muslim majority countries that were ruled by the caliphate, but didn’t adopt Arabic as the native tongue while some adopted the Arabic script for writing.  Obviously there is some regret among these communities that they didn’t adopt the language of the Qur’an so they developed a culture of trying to incorporate as much Arabic as possible. They also formed the perception that the more Arabic words you use the more Islamic you seem. A key point about these countries is that—pre-Islam—they did not have a local theology similar to the Qur’an (i.e. people of the book) so they adopted many of the Arabic words like the word Allah to refer to God and the Arabic/Qur’anic rendering of prophets’ names.

It is also important to note here that in those countries Islam was the dominant respected reality so this practice did not seem arrogant or foreign. It was natural and realistic for the language of the revelation to be prevalent in the theocracy.

So that is how we got to where we are now. So let’s discuss the positive/negative impacts the current system has had on our growth and development as American Muslims.

The only positive effect that comes to mind is in recognizing the value of having a pure divine revelation available to all believers through a living language. Indeed, that is a luxury not afforded our counterparts from the people of the book. This is truly a faith builder within our small minority community. So of course this point can’t be ignored, but is the current method the only way to instill/express this fact in our community?

As previously mentioned, I am content that the immigrant community devised this style with the best of intentions. My contention is as part of the new generation of native Imams who have a better insight into building the future generations is that we should review all cultural norms of those who came from other lands before we pass them on to future generations. Our method is first to make sure they are in line with our scripture and secondly if they are matters of interpretation to decide if they are compatible with the native culture in order to facilitate the most effective representation of our faith. The reason I am writing this series is because of the adverse impacts this aspect of our current culture has on our identity as well as the propagation of our faith. The following are the prevailing negative impacts I have seen through my research on this subject:

The focus is on memorizing Qur’an, remembrances (dhikr) and supplications (du`a’) in Arabic and most American Muslims have no idea what much of it means. This greatly hinders the spiritual depth and knowledge in our community. As a result of this, most Muslims cannot explain their faith to others whether it is to their own children or non-Muslims. Many youth spend hundreds of hours—in many cases by force—memorizing the Qur’an and supplications in Arabic. Many of them forget most of these later in life and the vast majority of them who remembered them as adults have almost no idea what they mean. Similarly many people feel compelled to try and learn some Arabic to solve this dilemma even though circumstances dictate that most likely they will never have the time or ability to learn enough Arabic to give them special insight into the revelation. So they spend hundreds of hours trying to learn Arabic while it is an unrealistic goal. Essentially, they have wasted hundreds of hours building a superficial meaningless attachment to Arabic. Had they spent that time seeking knowledge in English and memorizing Qur’an and supplications by translation then they would have much more spiritual depth and knowledge.  No doubt in English there is a minute fraction of Islamic literature compared to what’s available in Arabic. That being said, how many have completely researched the wealth of information available in English? Most people aren’t aware of the breadth of high quality knowledge available in English especially over the last 10 years. Believe it or not, there is some critical knowledge available in English not available in Arabic.

Disclaimer on this paragraph: It is very valuable to recite/memorize the Qur’an in Arabic, but at the same time it is just as much, if not more important, to study its meaning as it is a book of guidance. I highly encourage those who have the will and opportunity to study Arabic intensively to do as I have and thoroughly study Arabic for an intimate depth into our revelation and its rich scholarly tradition of interpretation and explanation. 

We make points using statistics that Islam is indeed not an Arab religion, but a universal message for all times, peoples and places. In many cases Imams or even laymen talk about Islam with many Arabic words and phrases without clarification, thus not getting across our message to non-Muslims. Many converts and youth leave Friday sermons confused. Pushing Arabic names on converts only adds to this confusion. Islam doesn’t seem natural and familiar to the American faith tradition; rather it seems foreign and strange and we already talked about the meaning of that hadith.

Balance is a key to every aspect of our faith. We should reflect and see if we have taken the path of excess regarding any part of our practice of Islam and adjust accordingly. Our scripture says that this is how we are qualified to bear witness of our faith upon mankind as well as the qualification to have our beloved Prophet’s witness ﷺ.

“Accordingly, We have made you a balanced moderate nation so that you may be witnesses upon mankind and the Prophet ﷺ a witness for you.” (Qur’an 2:143)

The next article—God willing—will be the conclusion of this series in which I will propose a balanced plan of action.

We have all witnessed the declaration of faith administered to a new Muslim and it is generally accepted as a compelling occasion. Naturally, some will be surprised by my usage of the phrase “generally accepted as compelling” to describe the administering of the declaration of faith. Don’t get me wrong, someone being guided aright is indeed a blessed and joyous occasion, but that phrase is indeed the subject of this article. In this series we attempt to challenge accepted norms of practice here in the West regarding the Arabization of our identity. When judging anything, we should undoubtedly look to the pristine legacy of our beloved Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) and the distinguished tutelage of his noble companions.

In the time of the Prophet ﷺ, there were multitudes of men, women, and children who were graced by divine light in embracing the absolute truth of our very existence, “I declare that there is no deity other than God and that Muhammad ﷺ is His messenger.” But the question is how did that take place? Did it ever happen that someone who indicated their interest in Islam would come to the Prophet ﷺ or his companions and then be brought in front of the people and be administered word for word the declaration of faith? The answer of any student of the Prophet’s ﷺ biography and the early history of our lofty predecessors is NO.

This article is not by any means attempting to call the declaring of faith in front of a crowd an innovation. Rather the hope is to reform the practice to make it in line with the example of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, about whom Almighty God has stated,

“God is pleased with the early Muslim immigrants, their helpers in Madinah and those who follow them to the best of their ability and God is pleased with them […]” (Qur’an 9:100)

Islam is a spiritual reality that when embraced should be expressed quite naturally with no confusion. It should appear as a sincere conviction coming from the heart of the person. The current process of the declaration of faith has an element which takes away from its glory. It brings down the person taking that great leap of faith, especially in today’s world. By giving him or her the idea that although you have ratified your innate knowledge of Islam through the Qur’an and prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ, you can’t truly express that unless it is in Arabic. Of course since he or she does not know Arabic this is often the beginning of an inferiority complex that is thrust upon the fresh revert from the get go.

One time in Kuwait, I administered a declaration of faith in front of an audience at a large Mosque. The audience was about 200, maybe a quarter of them spoke English fluently and the majority understood basic conversational English. So first, in Arabic I summarized for the crowd his story and that the brother was going to declare his newfound faith. Then I asked him to repeat after me in English, “I declare that there is no deity other than God and Muhammad is His Messenger.” Many people were elated and came to embrace their new brother while you can hear some objections rustling through the crowd. The Imam of the Mosque took me aside and began telling me that it is a condition or obligation for the declaration to be in Arabic. I asked the sheikh for some evidence and he said that it is well known. Of course well known is not a proof of Islamic Law so I researched the matter and, until now, to my surprise, I have found no such claim in the books of Islamic jurisprudence. That said, it is confirmed by various sheikhs as being “well known.”

Of course it doesn’t make sense to have someone declare their faith in a language that they don’t have the slightest clue about, but we should be fair to our legal tradition and not use our logic as an indisputable gauge. That being said, with the absence of any text or juristic precedence, I will now suggest how and why it should be done differently than the “well known” way we are accustomed to.

In the history of our pious predecessors we find that the people who declared their faith to the Prophet ﷺ and his companions did so without any coaching necessary. It came naturally as a result of the certainty of their heart. Since they were Arabs that declaration was in their own language. As mentioned before, the scholars of the principles of jurisprudence (usool al-fiqh) say, “That which is significant is not in names or titles rather the meaning and implication behind them.” The meaning is completely rendered in the English translation and thus the intended action has been performed.

In reflection, the form which I followed in Kuwait is still faulty! The Prophet ﷺ  said something quite crux to this article,

” ما من أحد يشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأن محمدا رسول الله ، صدقا من قلبه إلا حرمه الله على النار.
(و في رواية خالصا من قلبه)”

“Anyone who declares that there is no deity other than God and that and that Muhammad is the messenger of God genuinely and sincerely from his or her heart will be saved from the Hellfire.” (Bukhari 128)

It is my hope that when someone enters Islam they do so with conviction and sufficient knowledge and understanding. So if they feel comfortable with it, I would encourage them to stand in front of the Muslims and tell their story and make their declaration in confidence and clarity without the help of any Imam. This would be keeping in line with the generation that carried and conveyed this message which is, after divine blessing, why we are all able to be Muslim in the first place. All praise and gratitude go to our beloved Guide and May He bestow His peace and blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ and the early generations!

Prayer Mats, Kevin Schoenmakers

Issue #5 – Dealing with a Non-Arab Beginner to Prayer

I worked for almost 4 years in Kuwait as the Director of English Da’wah on the Islam Presentation Committee. I witnessed many conversions and interacted with many new Muslims over those years.  When I first started there, the official legal system in compliance with the Ministry of Justice is to give new-Muslims an Islamic (Arabic) name ((see previous article in the series)) and then to begin teaching them to pray in Arabic. The official test of sufficient knowledge and practice for a convert man to marry a born Muslim woman was that he could say the prayer in Arabic! By the grace of God and a few sittings with some scholars and the ministry, we changed that ludicrous criterion.

Islam is a universal divine message to mankind with guidance on how to properly interact with both the Creator and the creation. The gist of this message is to develop a spiritual focus in one’s life, preparing for the afterlife in which we will be judged for our decisions in this life. In living this divine purpose and calling others to it, we must develop a strong understanding and representation of that message in our own native tongue. Here I would like to remind you of the verse which is the basis for this whole series:

“And We did not send any messenger except [speaking] in the language of his people to state clearly for them […]” (Qur’an 14:4).

Sadly, the Arabization of Islam for non-Arabs has basically led us all to feel like the more Arabic words we use, the more authentic of a Muslim we are. I have been to many Islamic schools and found that most kids from non-Arabic backgrounds can readily recite many chapters of the Qur’an as well as many supplications in Arabic. The problem, however, is that most of them have no clue what it means. Worse than that, they have been programmed to think that it’s not important to know what it means as long as it is said in Arabic. I have even met children of Arab parents who speak conversational colloquial Arabic quite fluently, yet still cannot explain with any accuracy some of the things they have memorized.

I cringe when I hear a non-Arab say that they will “offer” their prayers. Linguistically, you can make sense of it, but spiritually, it sounds like you are doing something for God without benefit to yourself, or worse, something that He needs. Maybe I’m making a wrong assumption here, but the Qur’an makes it crystal clear that God is not in need of anything from us and that “[w]hoever does righteousness—it is for his own soul […]” (Qur’an 41:46).

I’ve never heard an Arab say such a thing in Arabic, the equivalent of which would be “سأقدم صلاتي (sa uqaddim salaati)”. They say, “سأصلي (sa usallee),” which means “I will pray” or more precisely “I will supplicate and seek the forgiveness of my Lord.” ((p.386-387 lisaan al-arab dar al-hadeeth al-Qahirah)) It seems that since some non-Arabs generally don’t understand their prayers they feel like it is something they are offering God whom they feel needs it from them.

The purpose of this article is to take personal/social experience coupled with our scholarly tradition in order to raise the level of Islamic spirituality in the masses. Case in point, the crux of the problem we are attempting to solve is in the well-known claim that salah (prayer) must be completely in Arabic, otherwise it is invalid. To be fair, there are some scholars who have made such a broad, sweeping dogmatic statement. The reason why they make this statement is that this particular detail of Islamic Law is taken as a “given” and thus not taught comprehensively in most Islamic degree programs. The truth of our tradition is that there is no such statement by the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) nor is that by any means an agreed upon opinion amongst our scholars. The fact is, which I will, God willing, illustrate with ample references that such a statement may be the position of some scholars, but is not representative of prevailing opinions among traditional scholars of Islamic legal theory especially when it comes to a new Muslim.

First of all, so that people will not miss the point, the leader (Imam) of a prayer must have certain qualifications and one of them is that they have mastered the prayer as it was practiced by the Prophet ﷺ, which includes Arabic. Therefore, I am not calling for the tradition of Islamic prayer to be changed. Rather we are looking into Islamic legal theory to solve a problem leading to spiritual weakness in new-Muslims and kids raised in non-Arab environments. What I am suggesting is specifically for converts and children raised in non-Arab environments who are trying to learn the prayer which is supposed to be a deeply spiritual experience.

The position that I will be defending is that the Qur’an must be said in Arabic, but can be translated for silent prayers until one masters the meaning in their native tongue and then masters both the word-for-word and comprehensive meaning analysis in relating the Arabic to the English (or their respective native language). The remembrances (adhkar) which are said may be translated, but are preferred to remain in Arabic so the system would be similar to learning the Qur’an. The salah (prayer) of one who uses a translation for the remembrances is still a valid prayer, albeit not preferred, regardless of how long they rely on the translations.  Supplications which were said by the Prophet ﷺ follow the same suit, whereas it is permissible in prostration (sujood) to supplicate to your Lord from your heart in your own language, Arabic or otherwise.

The following are the textual and scholarly references to support this suggested practice.

1. In discussing the pillars or obligations of prayer, there is almost no reference to requiring it to be in Arabic in the classical books of legal theory.
2. “If a non-Arab wasn’t proficient and he wasn’t able to properly enunciate Arabic then he could even say the beginning takbeer [Allahu Akbar, or “God is Greater”, said to begin prayer, and at intervals within the prayer] in his own language and that would suffice according to the majority of Islamic jurists as is well documented by the Shafi’ee and Hanbali scholars. That is because takbeer is a remembrance and the remembrance of God the Exalted is performed in all languages. The Maliki school and some Hanbalites said that if they couldn’t enunciate it then the obligation is lifted and it will suffice him to have the intention to enter into prayer. All other remembrances of the prayer fall under this scholarly difference. As for the reading of the Qur’an the majority opinion is that it must be in Arabic, with the exception of Abu Hanifa who is reported to have changed his opinion to that of the majority in his later years.” ((The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence v. 5 p. 232-233. Refrencing al-fatawa al-Hindiyyah 1/69, al-Dasooqi 1/233, al-Mugni 1/462))
3. “Originally Abu Hanifa allowed people to read the Qur’an in a Persian translation regardless if they knew Arabic or not. His famed student Abu Yusuf diverged and said that if they knew Arabic then it would be prohibited for them to read it in Persian whereas it would only be permitted to those who didn’t know Arabic. Later in Abu Hanifa’s life he adopted Abu Yusuf’s opinion on this as it is mentioned in Ibn Abideen.” ((The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence v. 27 p. 73))
4. “The majority of the schools of thought (Hanbalites, Shafites, Maliki’s) prohibited reading the Qur’an through a translation. […] The Hanafi’s held it impermissible for the one who is proficient in Arabic to read it in another language while they permitted one to read it through a translation […]” ((The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence v. 11 p. 169. Refrencing Ibn Abideen 1/325, Bada’I al-Sana’I 1/112-113))
5. My summary of a long quote: Abu Hanifa carried his original ruling of permissibility for the remembrances in salah and the Friday sermon regardless of whether the person was proficient in Arabic or not. His students, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad, disagreed and held the same position as they did for the Qur’an. The following is a quote from the same passage: “It was reported by Ibn Abideen in the explanation of al-Tahawi, if a person were to make the takbeer of prayer, the remembrance upon slaughtering an animal, or said his remembrance for Hajj in Persian or any other language then that would be permissible according to both Abu Hanifa and his students regardless if they knew Arabic or not. This means that they later agreed with Abu Hanifa on this whereas he later agreed with them about the Qur’an. […] The Shafites and the Hanbalites agreed that it would be impermissible for one to say the remembrances in a translation if they were proficient in Arabic whereas it would be permissible to say them in translation if they were not proficient in Arabic. This also applies to the tashahhud [remembrances including the declaration of faith] and prayers for the Prophet ﷺ ((The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence v. 11 p. 170-171. Referencing al-Majmoo’ 3/299-301, Nihayatul-Muhtaj 1/46, Rawdatul-Talibeen 1/221,226, Kashaf al-Qannaa’ 2/34 )) .”
6. “It is reported by the Hanafi’s that supplication with other than Arabic is disliked (makrooh). […] The apparent justification is that supplicating with other than Arabic is not the primary preference. [The following is the interpretation of the Encyclopedia researchers.] It would be a fair interpretation to say that the dislike was closer to prohibition (karahah tahreemiyyah) in prayer whereas outside of prayer it would be just better (karahah tanzihiyyah) to avoid supplicating with other than Arabic. [Back to quoting the classical texts] The Maliki’s prohibited supplication in other than Arabic because it negates true exaltation. The great Maliki scholar al-Laqani restricted the previous statement of al-Qarafi by saying that the prohibition would be for the one who was supplicating in a non-Arabic tongue that they did not understand. Whereas if the supplicator knew what they are saying then it would be permissible to supplicate in prayer or outside of prayer as a result of verse 31 of al-Baqarah: ‘Adam taught the names of everything’ and verse 4 of Ibrahim ‘We merely sent messengers preaching in their people’s native tongue…’ Imam al-Shafi’ee distinguished between a remembrance/supplication that was narrated from the Prophet ﷺ and the supplication of one’s own making. The supplication/remembrance that was taught by the Prophet has three cases:
   • The most authentic position in the Shafi’ee school as agreed by the Hanbalites is that it is permissible to translate them for the prayer of those who are not proficient in Arabic as opposed to those who are proficient in Arabic whose prayer wouldn’t be acceptable that way.
   • That it is permissible either way.
   • It is prohibited to translate it either way since there is no necessity for it.

   The non-Arabic supplication which is made up by the one who is praying is generally prohibited among the Shafi’ee scholars…” ((The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Islamic Jurisprudence v. 11 p. 172-173. Referencing al-Manthoor fil-Qawa’id lil-Zarkashi 1/282-283, al-Majmoo’3/299-300, 4/522, Ibn Abideen 1/350, hashiyat al-Dasooqi 1/233, al-Mugni 3/292, Kashaf al-Qanaa’ 2/420-421))

7. Ibn Taymiyyah said, “Supplication is allowed in Arabic or any other language as God knows the intention and meaning of the supplicator. God knows the sounds of his creation crying out regardless of the language.” ((Majmoo al-Fatawa 22/488-489))
8. The difference between reading the Qur’an versus the reading of remembrances and supplications taught by the Prophet ﷺ is based on a well-known fact about our scripture that the Qur’an is the word, the exact divine words, of Almighty God which is in itself miraculous. On the other hand, hadiths (records) are only divinely inspired by meaning, and are the articulation of the Prophet ﷺ who sometimes worded the same hadith differently. It was accepted to narrate a hadith according to meaning as that was what was important. Many scholars say, “يجوز أن يروى الحديث بالمعنى” which means it is allowed to narrate a hadith according to its meaning even if you change some words. ((al-Ghazali fil-Mustasfa p. 133, al-Razi al-mahsool fee ‘Ilm al-Usool  4/669, al-Suyooti tadreeb al-Rawi))
9. For reference of modern prominent scholars who give fatwas (rulings) in line with this article:
   http://www.islamweb.net/fatwa/index.php?page=showfatwa&Option=FatwaId&Id=35811
   http://www.ahlalhdeeth.com/vb/showthread.php?t=37998
   http://www.islamqa.com/ar/ref/20953
   http://islamic-fatwa.net/fatawa/index.php?module=fatwa&id=11522