Some scholars and many zealous laymen claim that there is a consensus among jurists as to the prohibition of listening to any music with musical instruments. Some Imams say the opinion that allows it is a strange (شاذ) opinion, which is rejected as baseless by all prominent scholars and schools of thought. If this is true, how can so many Imams and scholars allow this new phenomenon of Islamic music using instruments?

Answer:

بسم الله و الحمد لله و الصلاة و السلام على رسول الله

In the name of Allah, and all praise and thanks is due to Allah,  and may He send peace and blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad

It is quite true that—historically—the prevalent (جمهور) opinion in Islamic jurisprudence regarding the use of and listening to musical instruments is that of prohibition (حرام). It is the official opinion of the four schools of thought, although various scholars from different schools held it is only disliked (مكروه) and many others deemed it permissible with the condition that the song is not immoral. It is not true that there is a consensus on it or that the opinion of permissibility is a strange opinion, which is a divergence from clear teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah. In today’s world there are a growing number of prominent scholars that allow listening to instruments that don’t accompany sinful poetry (song).

We will—with divine support—show that this issue is a matter of legitimate disagreement based on scholarly derivation and interpretation (اجتهاد). Unfortunately, one of the main reasons for this research is that there is actually a movement among modern scholars to dismiss, suppress, or misrepresent the opinion of permissibility!

There is a claim that no prominent scholars ruled for the permissibility of musical instruments except for Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who is purported to solely rely on a strange opinion of Imam Ibn Hazm. This is false. There are hundreds, dare I say thousands, of scholars who held the permissibility of listening to music as long as the song is morally upright. The following are some of the most prominent scholars (mujtahideen) in our history who, not only deemed it permissible, but in some cases wrote a whole research to prove it!

• Abdullah bin Ja’far bin Abi Talib (al-Aqd al-Fareed 6/12)
• Sh. Abu Hamed al-Ghazali (vol. 6 pg. 1150 al-Ihyaa’)
• Imam al-Shawkani (Ibtal da’wa al-Ijmaa ala mutlaq al-Sama’)
• Imam ibn Hazm (Al-Muhallah)
• Imam Abdul-Ghani al-Nablusi (Idaahat al-Dalalaat fee sama’ al-alaat)
• Sultan al-Ulema al-Iz ibn Abdul-Salam (Rislat al-Sama’)
• Al-Qadi Ibn Qutaiba al-Daynoor (al-Rukhsah fi al-Sama’)
• Imam Ibn Tahir al-Qaysirany (pg. 31 al-Sama’)
• Imam al-Thahabi (al-Rukhsah fil-Ghinaa wa al-Turb)
• Abu Talib al-Makky (Qoot al-Quloob)
• al-Qady Ibn Al-Araby al-Makky (Ahkam al-Quran vol. 3 pg. 1494)
• Sh. Yusuf al-Majishoon the prominent Muhaddith (#3399 ibn al-Khuthayma)
• Ibn Daqeeq al-Eid (Iqtinas al-Sawanih)
• Sh. Jad Ali jad al-Haqq (fatawah #3280)
• Sh. Mahmood Al-Shaltoot (pg. 375 fatawaah)

May God shower them all with His Mercy!

Some scholars try to say that many of these scholars were simply saying that it is permissible to listen to songs a cappella—and some of their works do make that point in addition to the permissibility of also using musical instruments. Each one of these references refers to the opinion of permissibility for songs with instruments.

The following are the juristic proofs used to illustrate prohibition and the response from the scholars who are not convinced by the evidence or who see the evidence in a different way:

From the Qur’an: There are two verses which are interpreted as justifying prohibition supporting the clearer hadith (narration) on the subject. They are as follows:

“There are some people who buy distracting/entertaining speech without knowledge in order to mislead people from the path of God…” (Qur’an 31:6)

Only a couple out of the dozens of exegetes thought this had anything to do with musical instruments.

Many exegetes took the more common path of general meaning in the absence of an authentic text and said it refers to preferring or liking to listen to false speech, thus distracting one from Islam.

The vast majority of exegetes said it is talking about the singing of jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic days). Imam al-Qurtubi said that this and the other verse are those that the scholars use as evidence for the disliked (مكروه) nature of singing. Imam al-Qurtubi also narrates that this verse was revealed in the life of the Prophet ﷺ when a man bought a slave known for singing unIslamic songs of jahiliyyah (ignorance).

Many exegetes pointed out a weak hadith that is strengthened by the aforementioned circumstantial cause of revelation. The weak hadith states:

“.لا يحل بيعُ المُغنّياتِ ولا شِراؤهنّ وثمنهنّ حرامٌ”

“It is prohibited to buy or sell women singers of jahiliyyah. The price of such transaction is prohibited.”

The evidence for prohibition of Islamic Music in this verse is very weak. Any true scholar will surely admit that the verse is not evidence in and of itself; rather it is supportive to a couple hadiths and the position of many Companions.

The second verse is:

“(God is saying to Satan) Incite whoever you can among them with your voice…” (Qur’an 17:64)

Some scholars from the early generations said this is literal and it means that Satan is whispering to us to follow him and disobey God as is mentioned in the famous verse in Surah Ibrahim, “I had no authority over you except that I called you and you followed me…” (Qur’an 14:22). The great Imam of tafsir (exegesis) al-Tabari took the position as is his style that it is general and since there is no clear evidence specifying what is meant by “your voice” then it is taken literally and generally.

Many other scholars noted that the verse is talking about playing (لعب) and wasting time (لهو). Once again, no real scholar will claim that this verse in and of itself can be used to prohibit listening to music.

Let’s see what evidence we can find from the Sunnah (traditions of the Prophet ﷺ):

There is a hadith mentioned as an attachment (معلق) to a section in the authentic collection of Bukhari under the chapter of drinks #5590 titled those who seek permission of drinking alcohol by calling it another name. Imam al-Bukhari did not put the Hadith as an official Hadith in his authentic collection. According to Imam al-Muhallab the reason was because Hisham was not sure of the name of the companion (Al-Ibtal Al-Shawkani pg. 9) The hadith goes:

“…ليكونَنَّ من أمَّتي أقوامٌ ، يستحلُّونَ الحِرَ والحريرَ ، والخمرَ والمعازِفَ”

“There will be a group of people from my nation who will deem silk, alcohol and musical instruments as permissible…”

Some hadith scholars found a connected chain for this type of hadith. The most famous is the book by Ibn Hajr in his book “closing the attachments” (تغليق التعليق). There are scholars who argued against his assertions, but even if we were to accept his findings about a connection between al-Bukhari and Hisham bin Ammar there is still a problem with Hisham as a narrator among some prominent hadith scholars.

There are many concerning issues with this hadith. According to Imam al-Thahabi in his famous 4-volume book Mizan al-I’tidaal which accounts for all the weak narrators he could gather. Imam al-Thahabi mentions that Hisham bin Ammar used to be a veracious narrator, then he changed. He has narrated 400 hadiths that have no basis. He used to not narrate unless someone paid him. He was accused of changing the text. Imam Ahmad said he was reckless. Some narrated that he said the Qur’an has words from Gabriel and Muhammad ﷺ and is created speech.

Ibn Hajar acknowledges this, but justifies his ruling of the hadith through a different narration that has someone else narrating it other than Hisham. That hadith varies in text but does mention the people deeming musical instruments as permissible (which linguistically and logically doesn’t necessarily mean that it is prohibited). The next problem with this hadith, which is not solved by Ibn Hajar’s book, is a narrator named Atiyah bin Qays.

Atiyah bin Qays was a righteous man who hadith scholars agreed regarding his character and honesty (عدالة), but there is an issue among some scholars about his precision of memory and narrating (ضبط). Some famous scholars of hadith call him trustworthy (ثقة) just because he is a known pious man while the issue of his precision with hadith is unknown (مجهول). Some of them said although he is acceptable (far from Saheeh ) to be careful in narrating from him. This is mentioned by the hadith scholar Abu Hatem al-Razi in his book al-Jarh wa al-Ta’deel 2/37 and by Abu Bakr al-Bazzaar in his book Kashf al-Astar 1/106.

This is the best proof that the proponents of prohibition bring forth according to them. Other hadiths are relying on this one. For example:

“.ليكونن في هذه الأمة خسف، وقذف، ومسخ، وذلك إذا شربوا الخمور، واتخذوا القينات، وضربوا بالمعازف”

“There will be disgrace and defamation in this nation when they will drink alcohol and listen to music (literally female singers while beating on instruments).” (al-Suyooti al-Sagheer 7720)

Even a layman can see that the linguistic connotation does not in any way show a prohibition for listening to music, but rather a prohibition of the “party” scene. There are many other hadiths like this one that show that the combination of alcohol and music is a shameful and immoral scene. On this fact there is a consensus among scholars.  Even in the narration of the other hadith seen as the strongest proof, there are variations which focus on drinking alcohol by a different name and don’t even mention musical instruments. Thus Imam Bukhari’s precise classification.

Many people feel that even though we see the issues in the proofs used for prohibiting music, still it is the official opinion of the 4 main schools of thought and that shows that it was clear to those scholars who know better than us. The assumption here is that every scholar from the different schools of thought over the centuries was a mujtahid and was willing to challenge the opinion and evidence of his own school. This was simply just not the case as Dr. Mana’ al-Qattan narrates in his book on the history of legislation in Islamic history. He elucidates on the well-known unfortunate part of our history known as the closing of the doors to juristic reasoning (إغلاق باب الاجتهاد). For close to 8 centuries, most of the scholars passed down by memory and book most of the rulings of Islamic Law. For various reasons, they were uncomfortable with people changing or questioning popular rulings. Some of those who didn’t agree with this methodology like Ibn Taymiyyah (ra) or al-Suyooti (ra) were seen as dissidents. There is also some historical evidence that this ruling of prohibition of all music was heavily promoted toward the end of the Abbasi Caliphate because of the widespread immorality with music and drinking as many of the hadiths indicate. In my research, which really requires a whole book, there is more than meets the eye on the prevalence of the opinion prohibiting all instrumental music.

Proofs for the Permission of Good, Morally Upright Music:

1. There is a false claim that the Companions all prohibited it. Abdullah bin al-Zubair used to keep women playing guitars (lutes) and singing in his presence. (Idahaat al-Dalalat al-Nablusi 96)
2. There is no disagreement about the Ibrahim bin Sa’d bin Abdul Rahman bin Awf listening to songs with guitars (al-Sama’ Ibn Tahir 63)
3. Jews have always attributed music to Prophet David ‘alahi assalatu wassalam (peace and blessings be upon him). It is in the Bible, “The priests stood in waiting at their assigned places, along with the descendants of Levi who carried musical instruments used in service to the LORD that King David had made for giving thanks to the LORD—because his gracious love is eternal…” (2 Chronicles 7:6). So in the following hadith and commentary we have some solid evidence for the praise of good music:

“يا أبا موسى ، لقد أوتيتَ مِزمارًا مِن مزاميرِ آلِ داود”

“Abu Musa, Surely you have been given a voice like the music of David.” (Bukhari 5048)

Many scholars want to say that this hadith is simply referring to a beautiful voice. When we look into Ibn Hajar’s explanation of this hadith he comments with another sound hadith, “I entered Abu Musa’s house and I have not heard a cymbal, lute or a flute better than his voice.” (al-Fath)

The clear linguistic indication here is that the Prophet ﷺ is talking about musical instruments as though they are beautiful and delightful. That cannot be the case in something prohibited. It would be like him saying to his companion who earned a lot of money, “That’s even better than hijacking a caravan!”

4. Imam al-Thahabi’s recordings about scholars in his book on prominent Muslims. Here are two examples:

“Ishaaq al-Nadeem an Imam who was a great scholar master of many sciences. Known for music with untainted poetry…” (Siyar 11/118)

“Ulayyah sister of the commander of the faithful Haroon al-Rasheed ‘Well-refined poetess known for singing and music with a pleasant voice. A modest pious women of precedence…’” (Siyar 10/187)

There are hadiths that led many scholars from the schools of thought to permit listening to drums. Other prominent Malikis and Shafi’ees (two different schools of thought) allowed trumpets, flutes and tambourines. Those are all musical instruments and the Islamic legal practice of analogy (قياس) allows other instruments in the absence of a clear text prohibiting them.

Whichever opinion you feel is stronger, you are welcome to follow. Please don’t judge someone else because they follow a different opinion than you. Our scholars teach us the following principle in dealing with law—there shall be no rebuking in matters of legitimate disagreement.

.لا إنكار في مسائل الاختلاف

Islam has a rich tradition of knowledge that by divine decree has differing interpretations as to the details of law. Only God owns the absolute truth.

If you choose to listen to music, observe piety and do not listen to immoral music or choose to be in immoral environments. There is no doubt that much of today’s music is prohibited by Islam and even some Islamic music still brings bad environments.

We are blessed with the finality of revelation preserved just as it was revealed to our beloved Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him). We should be attached to that message as much as possible. It should play a permeating role in our daily lives. In a misapplication of this love and ideal goal, we have established some practices here in the West which have been to our detriment. I have been studying these practices and their adverse effects through 12 years of close interaction with many youth, new-Muslims, and non-Muslims who were alienated from Islam. In looking at the Qur’an and Sunnah specifically, the impact of the Prophet’s biography as an Arab man among Arab non-Muslims, I have developed some solutions to this problem.

Some people feel that I am Americanizing Islam when, to the contrary, I am Islamicizing American culture using the faith, character, and worship found in the Arabic scripture and facilitating it as a more natural indigenous expression (rather than seemingly foreign) to the American culture. In practice through my own experiences, my family, and my community, I have seen a very positive impact from these methods.

The following are the primary concerns we addressed with the following suggestions:

Problem: Many non-Arab Muslims spend hours and hours reading and memorizing Qur’an and supplications in Arabic, and the priority is so heavily on the Arabic that we have a large percentage who don’t know the meaning of most of their prayers! Even many second-generation Americans of Arab parents have a hard time with this as a result of the difference between colloquial and pure classical Arabic. This greatly lowers the knowledge and spiritual development of millions of Muslims across the globe.

For example the custom of the “Bismillah” and “Ameen” celebration where non-Arab kids who will most likely never become anywhere near fluent in Arabic celebrate the beginning and completion of reading the Qur’an somewhere between 4 and 10 years of age. They will get much more knowledge and spiritual benefit if they read its meanings in their native tongue. But to suggest that means breaking an old culture which is hard even though they know the suggestion is better for the child.

I’ve met kids sent to memorization schools who memorized the whole Qur’an or most of it and have no idea what it means. If they were given a test as to the general teachings of its message they would have a very basic understanding. Many others forget most of what they memorized throughout their life. There is imbalance in the current method and thus this leads to many problems.

Solution: Of course for salah (prayer), Muslims should at some point be able to read the Qur’an in Arabic according to the rules of recitation. Having said that, anyone who is going to learn the Qur’an should do it as the Qur’an commands us to do it—with deep thought, concentration and contemplation. We should be focusing on explaining the meanings more than the Arabic at first. When a non-Arab is learning to pray they should first master it in English (even the Fatiha), then they should learn the Arabic in a word-for-word, sentence-to-sentence equivalent. Then they master reading both together; each verse Arabic-English. Then they assimilate into the consensus obligation of reading the Qur’an in Arabic as well as the widely-held recommendation of saying the prayers and remembrances of the Prophet ﷺ in Arabic during salah. Most schools/parents think mastering is sending home a translation and maybe going over it a few times at a young age. My idea of mastering is spending 6 months to a year praying that way by memory.

Outside of the prayer, the best case scenario is that they master both the Arabic and English meanings of the Qur’an and supplications. That being said, most people won’t be able to reach that ideal and that doesn’t mean that outside of the prayer they can’t become a deeply knowledgeable and pious Muslim of the highest capacity from the knowledge they gained from English and their religious expression therefrom.

That spiritual connection through one’s natural culture might arouse the desire to want to learn the language of the revelation for some meaning of the rest of the Qur’an we hear in salah. Or even better, they might want to become a scholar of Islamic sciences, which we are gravely in need of here in the US.

Problem: We act like Islam is foreign to the English language while the fact is that the English language has been highly impacted by the theology of previous scriptures, which, till this day, carry a large portion of what was originally revealed by God to the Israelites. As a native religion, we must use the English words and terms which agree with our theology. Yes, there are some words that must be inculcated into English, but you’ll be amazed at how many Arabic words we use that have English equivalents.

Solution: I will write a word and its definition from a dictionary or encyclopedia and you will know what that is. The question is why would you then insist on using the Arabic term while speaking English when there is already a word for that???

As we said in the previous article, we have most of the Prophets’ names in English: Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, David, John, Jesus etc. We need to introduce Hud, Salih, Khidr, and others.

• Ablution—a cleansing with water or other liquid, especially as a religious ritual
• Funeral—any of the ceremonial acts or customs employed at the time of death and burial
• Pulpit—an elevated platform, lectern, or stand usually surrounded by a barrier used in preaching or conducting a religious service
• Sermon—a discourse for the purpose of religious instruction or exhortation, especially one based on a text of Scripture and delivered by a member of the clergy as part of a religious service
• Lawful—allowed or permitted by law
• Prohibited—to be forbidden (an action, activity, etc.) by authority or law
• Satan—the chief evil spirit; the great adversary of humanity; the devil
• Prayer—a devout petition to God
• Supplication—to pray humbly; make humble and earnest entreaty or petition

Obviously the two words above fit the meaning of Du`a’. Salah or Salat needs to be introduced to English since this word has the meaning of a detailed prayer specific to Muslims. The praise is God’s that they have already done it:

• Salah/Salat—the second pillar of Islam is prayer; a prescribed liturgy performed five times a day (preferably in a mosque) and oriented toward Mecca
• Salah has times—dawn, early afternoon, mid-afternoon, sunset and night.
• Mosque—a Muslim temple or place of public worship. (For the Muslim conspiracy theorists the etymological root of the word is traced here. Origin: 1600–10; earlier mosquee  < Middle French  < Italian moschea ≪ Arabic masjid, derivative of sajada, to worship, literally, prostrate oneself; the -ee  seems to have been taken as diminutive suffix and dropped. So no it has nothing to do with a mosquito. Even if it did, nobody thinks that but foolish Muslims. There are no non-Muslims on planet Earth laughing amongst themselves wickedly when they hear the word Mosque to refer to our place of worship since they secretly know it means mosquito!)
• Amen—so be it! A term used at the end of a prayer or religious statement
• Religion—a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs
• Worship—to render religious reverence and homage to God
• Heaven—the dwelling place of God, the angels, and the souls of those who have gained salvation; a place of the greatest peace and beauty
• Paradise—heaven, as the final abode of the righteous
• Faith—the body of dogma of a religion
• Belief—a religious tenet or tenets; religious creed or faith
• Creed—any system, doctrine, or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination
• Blessing—a favor or gift bestowed by God, thereby bringing happiness
• Alms—money, food, or other donations given to the poor or needy; anything given as charity
• Charity—something given to a person or persons in need; alms
• God—the sole Supreme Being, eternal, spiritual, and transcendent, who is the Creator and ruler of all and is infinite in all attributes; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
• God willing—If God wants it to happen. (An expression indicating that there is a high certainty that something will happen, so high that only God could prevent it.) Think how many times you were talking to a non-Muslim and busted out with insha’Allah and they were like what!? Then when you say it means God willing, they may not tell you, but you seemed foreign because you prefer (or are used to) using Arabic phrases while speaking English. If there was no equivalent it would make sense.
• Praise—the offering of grateful homage in words or song, as an act of worship: a hymn of praise to God.
• Glory—also, glory be. Glory be to God (used to express surprise, elation, wonder, etc.)
• Caliph—the title of the successors of Mohammed as rulers of the Islamic world, later assumed by the Sultans of Turkey
• Caliphate—the rank, jurisdiction, or government of a caliph
• Torah—the Pentateuch, being the first of the three Jewish divisions of the Old Testament
• Gospel—the story of Christ’s life and teachings as narrated in the Gospels
• Piety—reverence for God or devout fulfillment of religious obligations
• Righteous—In accordance with virtue or morality

The following are words that need to be inculcated into the English language. The reason is because they would be easier to say then the translation: Islam, Muslim, athan (you could say call to prayer), salah/salat, zakat (you could say obligatory alms), nisab, Ka’bah, jihad, hadith, sunnah, hijab, imam, rak`a, sa`ee, and tawaf.

In conclusion, our religion is meant to be natural to anyone and it should be no different to Americans. Especially, since our American culture is rich with ideas, terms, names of Prophets, etc. which come from the Abrahamic covenant which we were meant to confirm for mankind. We must not allow politics to fuel a separatist attitude in this country if we are to succeed in having a thorough impact on this country by facilitating our message as an indigenous expression of faith. I know that what I am saying goes against the grain of what was built by the immigrant community and then adopted by many natives in hopes to fit in over the last 50 years, but I am only suggesting it because it is more in line with the reality the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) lived, the Qur’anic teachings, as well as a proven style in disseminating our message, which is our calling as Muslims living among non-Muslims.

Balancing Arabization Series: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX

The purpose of this series is to first please our Beloved Master in highlighting some points which will strengthen our ability to integrate and properly spread His message here in America. This was done by broadening our horizons as to the universality of Islam and realizing that no one has any more ownership of Islam over anyone else except by piety regardless of the language they speak. In the next two articles I will sum up the points of discussion and offer an action plan.

First and foremost Islam is not an Arabic religion; rather it was finally revealed and since then highly nurtured in the Arabic language. Similarly, God is not an Arabic god, nor does He speak just Arabic—or else Moses would not have understood Him. After long research and deep thought, I personally have come to the conclusion that God is exalted above a single proper noun or “name” derived from a terrestrial language. He is known by many descriptions which are in all languages by which He can be called upon. Of course many Jews are adamant that His proper name is YHWH and many Muslims are convinced it is Allah, the Persians have Khuda and all other languages have their word which denotes the Supreme Being. The Arabic Lexicon tells us that the word الله in its literal linguistic connotation means “The Worshipped Entity Worthy of Devotion”. Its historically understood meaning denotes the directly unperceived Almighty Supreme God who created the universe. This word was known and used by the Arabs before they ever received a prophet. The Qur’an indicates that God taught Adam language and obviously all of today’s languages have developed from that language. Archeologically it is categorically false to say Adam spoke Arabic or that Arabic is even close to one of the oldest languages spoken by man. Etymologically and literarily it can be said that Arabic is one of, if not the, oldest preserved language as well as one of the richest in potential eloquence to express meaning.

In each language there are meanings which relate God’s attributes to us. This point is alluded to in the famous sound tradition in which the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) taught us a supplication that would remove all anxiety and sadness from our hearts:

…أسألك بكل اسم هو لك سميت به نفسك أو أنزلته في كتابك أو علمته أحدا من خلقك أو استأثرت به في علم الغيب عندك…

[…]I beseech you with any name (description) that is yours; whether you named yourself with it, revealed it in your book, taught it to someone from your creation or if you kept it hidden with You in the realm of the unperceived [… ] (Ahmad 5/267)

The last thing you should understand from what I am saying is that it is wrong to call upon God by saying Allah. Indeed that is one of His primary descriptions by which He described Himself in His final revelation. The believers should refer to Him accordingly while speaking Arabic. It is the call of Arabic-speaking Muslims to define Him properly to the well over 40 million Christian Arabs who believe Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) is a trinity made up of the father, son and holy spirit. We too carry that responsibility to properly define God for our brothers and sisters in humanity here in America who describe God in ways other than through His pure revelation. When looking at the definition of God with a capital G in the different English dictionaries it becomes obvious that God with a capital G is the English equivalent to the word الله in Arabic. So for me it seems natural for us to say God while speaking English and الله while speaking Arabic. This idea is also supported by the following verse:

“ولله الاسماء الحسنى فادعوه بها”

“God has the best descriptions so call upon Him by them.” (Qur’an 7:180)

Let’s take a look at what are so often called the “names of God”. These are by nature all descriptions which all names/titles originally were. ((النهج الأسمى في شرح أسماء الله الحسنى د. محمد نجدي صفحة 19 مجلد 1  )) In Arabic rhetoric they say, “ الاسم يدل على المسمى ” which means, the noun indicates what it refers to. Other Arabic scholars noted, “ العبرة بالمسميات لا الأسماء ” which means, “The precept of consideration is in what you are talking about (meanings) not their titles.” English grammar views an adjective as a separate class of words that functionally describe nouns. On the other hand, Arabic grammar considers adjectives as a part of the category of nouns, thus my translation above. In Arabic grammar, nouns are called أسماء (asmaa’) which is the plural of the word اسم (ism) which also means name.  When we read the tafseer (commentary) of بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم  at the beginning of the Qur’an we often find the commentators saying that اسم here does not mean a proper name rather it reflects all descriptions of God.  They expound by saying we should begin everything we do remembering all that God is known by. ((http://www.thefreedictionary.com/In+the+name+of)) Another interesting point is how we all usually translate this verse: “In the name of God, The Beneficent, The Merciful.” Most all of our Qur’anic grammarians said that Rahman (The Beneficent) and Raheem (The Merciful) here are adjectives. ((إعراب القرآن الكريم للدرويش )) In English, as opposed to Arabic, we put the adjectives before the word they are describing. So shouldn’t it be translated In the name of the Beneficent Merciful God?

Another interesting point on this subject is that the scholars have differed on how many descriptions God has, although due to some authentic narrations they all agree that there are 99 which are special and crucial for us to know and be affected by. Since there are differing texts indicating them as well as various weaknesses in the chains of transmission narrating them, they differed as to which were those special 99 descriptions. They also differed over what is the greatest of those descriptions since the Prophet ﷺ did not clarify that either. Each one of the descriptions by which He described Himself is a word with a meaning known to the Arabic language before they received revelation. None of them are mysterious heavenly words unknown to man except through revelation. As individual words they carry universal meanings translatable into any language, whether it be with one word or a sentence.

Sadly I have heard Muslims directly, yet more so indirectly, framing the argument for the necessity to use the word Allah by the “Our God vs. their god” mentality. The emotional, politically-charged “east-vs.-west clash of civilizations” idea is completely against the Qur’an on many levels. We will suffice with one verse from the Holy Qur’an:

“وقولوا آمنا بالذي انزل الينا وانزل اليكم والهنا والهكم واحد ونحن له مسلمون”

“Say to the people who received scripture before you, ‘We believe in what was revealed to us as well as what was revealed to you and our God and your God is the same and we submit to His will.’” (Qur’an 29:46)

In a nutshell, God has revealed His descriptions through His creation. Language facilitates referring to Him and we should call Him as such using the meanings He revealed to us in His final revelation. The idea of needing to call Him by the Arabic word Allah in English seems to be superfluous, ethnocentric, and, worst of all, alienating many people from Islam by giving them the false idea that we worship a different god. The argument that Christians use the word God to mean a trinity or Jesus is a lack of knowing the general American thought found in all dictionaries. Furthermore, it is in forgetting the abovementioned fact that even today there are millions of Christian Arabs who describe Allah (swt) as a trinity just as the Polytheist Arabs to whom the Holy Qur’an was first revealed had a general understanding of the word Allah, but they used to describe Him with many false descriptions, e.g. that He is unable to resurrect us. That doesn’t change the true definition of the word الله any more than some devout Christians describing the English equivalent of God to mean other than what God revealed about Himself. It is our mission here to properly define God just as it was the Prophet’s ﷺ mission to define الله when He was sent to the people of Arabia speaking their language.

So who is God??? According to what He revealed in His final message to mankind:

God is One. He is the Eternally Living Absolute Truth Exalted on Most High. The Transcendental Sublime Glorious Creator Uniquely characterized by Pure Flawless Perfection. The Everlasting Originator Tirelessly Sustaining and Maintaining all that exists. The Supremely Greatest Entity of Magnificent Grandeur. The Majestic Manifest One who is also Hidden. The Omniscient Wise One. The Mighty Omnipotent Overwhelming Force. The Allower and Preventer in Whose hand is Benefit and Harm. The Praiseworthy Self-Sufficing One Whom all others need. The Munificent Provider and Protector. The Giver of life and Cause of death and resurrection. The Benevolent King of Kings Whose Expanse of Beneficence Encompasses creation. The Loving Source of Mercy and Compassion. The Enriching Guide who is the Beautiful Light of the Heavens and Earth. The Forgiving Pardoning One of Gracious Forbearance who Answers the call of those who call upon Him. The Inescapable Just Judge Who Calls all to account.

If someone asks what a Muslim believes about God then we should be able to have an enlightening spiritually uplifting discussion about these meanings and the others I may have left out. This is one of our primary responsibilities and priorities as Muslims. In so many cases I have heard Muslims of different levels of knowledge saying that simply God is One when asked about Him. That simply does not fulfill our duty, especially since Jews, Christians and even many Hindus believe that as well.

I beseech The Facilitator to help us in knowing Him and properly presenting Him to everyone around us.

“This is `Adel from Studio Arabiya Support,” said a voice through my computer. I introduced myself, and then he proceeded to ask me questions about my knowledge of Arabic (minimal, in case you were wondering). We scheduled my classes; I would simply log in and my Arabic instructor would contact me to begin our first class.

That day, I was a little hesitant as I logged into Skype (learning online? I wasn’t so sure). But I needn’t have worried. My instructor was friendly and cheerful, overcoming the initial awkwardness I felt and engaging my interest in the material. We connected right off the bat, and after that, it was smooth sailing.

And it all started with John and Stacy Graff, two of the founders of StudioArabiya.com, a website dedicated to teaming the best of instructors with the best of course materials for students who can’t go overseas.

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Stacy: Let me give you just a little bit of background on us and how we got started and you can take it from there.

My husband John (Yahya) Graff and I have been in Cairo studying Arabic and he has continued his studies to Al Azhar University. Throughout the years that we’ve been here, we’ve recognized the interest from others in the West to study as we have, however for most people, getting up and moving overseas is not feasible.

We started Studio Arabiya in May of last year as a means of helping to connect qualified teachers of Arabic and Quran here in Egypt with potential students in the West. We bring the Egypt Arabic Center ‘markaz’ system to online students, so that they, too, get the opportunity to study with Arabic specialists and Qur’an teachers.

To continue on the topic of background, what prompted the idea to connect students and teachers online? You’ve mentioned the latest interest of the students in the West and the qualifications of the teachers in Egypt, but learning Arabic and Qur’an online– and I understand you use Skype to simulate the learning experience–seems to be a novel idea.

John: I have actually been involved in teaching online as far back as 2007 while I was an Arabic student in Cairo.  I began by simply acquainting my Arabic teacher with the idea of teaching his current students through the Internet. I got him set up on Skype and showed him the ropes.  In the beginning, this was merely for the sake of my teacher to teach myself and other students through the Internet.  This new phenomenon (learning Arabic Online) then quickly gained popularity amongst both students in the west and with teachers in Egypt until it became quite clear to me that it needed to be expanded and organized on a much larger scale.   In the beginning of 2011, all the puzzle pieces began to fit together to where we could launch a full and comprehensive program with Studio Arabiya.  Launching Studio Arabiya took a lot of time and brainstorming.  My wife and I, along with our good friend and co-partner, Muhammad, spent a lot of time developing the best system for our online program.  We wanted to model it after the Arabic center system that we’ve studied under here in Egypt, after we saw how effective it has helped us to learn and become fluent in the language.

Can you share with us any stories about launching Studio Arabiya or signing up your first teachers? What challenges did you face? 

John: Our first interview with teachers was interesting.  We held a large interview, where 40 or 50 teachers showed up to apply.  We hold high standards for our teachers and in the end of this interview we only accepted 2 to work with us.  We have found this to be one of our biggest challenges.  There are a lot of great teachers here in Egypt, it takes a lot of weeding through to find the gems.

You say you were involved in teaching online as far back as 2007; was this in the capacity of teacher or student, and what was your subject? I can see your experience was a positive one.

John: I began getting involved in the teaching online idea when we took a one-year break from school a few years ago.  I wanted to continue with my Arabic studies online with my teacher, so before we left Egypt, I taught my teacher how to work Skype, and we continued our regular weekly lessons online.  At the time, I was preparing for my first year at Al-Azhar University, so we studied more advanced Arabic studies as well as the first year Azhar curriculum.
Since I began the online studies with my teacher, it was always in the back of my mind to make it more available for others in the West that wanted to study Arabic and Qur’an from teachers like whom I had studied with.  Life and school kept us too busy to start anything official. So at the time Iset up my personal teacher with a few of my friends in the U.S.  One of whom—a convert like us—started as an Arabic student in level 1 and after only 7 months of part-time classes through Skype, he and I were able to carry-on a 30-minute conversation, only speaking in Arabic.  He obtained all the same skills and successes that other students (of our Shaykh) achieved by coming to Egypt and in the same amount of time without even setting foot in the country.  So the benefits and viability to learn online became obvious to us and we started brainstorming how to offer this khayr (good) on a much larger scale.  Finally, last year, a few months after we had our second child, we decided to get it started officially.

What exactly were the puzzle pieces you had to put together before launching?

Can you tell us about the system the three of you developed for Studio Arabiya?

Stacy: Egypt is known for their Markaz model of teaching Arabic to non-native speakers.  This is the same model that countless non-Arabic scholars, Azharis, and others have gone through and testified to its affordability and superiority over other models.  The only shortcoming of this model – where students get to learn one-on-one with an experienced certified Arabic teacher – is that it wasn’t very accessible.  Really, how many people can drop everything they’re doing, travel overseas and live for months in an overly crowded foreign country to study Arabic? And not to mention, rarely do children have the chance to come to benefit from the independent personal attention that this model has to offer, which they most certainly need.  We wanted Studio Arabiya to be an online version of that system wherein we perfect the model and assure the quality of each teacher.  By the use of Skype, an electronic whiteboard, and various media aides – we offer students a virtual classroom where they can meet with their personal tutor, one-on-one every day to learn Arabic or Qur’an.  This allows that Egyptian Markaz system to be accessible to the rest of the world.

John mentioned that one of your biggest challenges is finding teachers, although many apply. What are your qualifications for teachers? What makes this such a challenge for Studio Arabiya?

Stacy and John: The qualification for our Arabic teachers is that they have all graduated with higher degrees in the Arabic Language from Universities such as Al Azhar and Dar al-Uloom.  Our Qur’an teachers must be a hafiz (a person who has memorized the Qur’an) and hold an ijaazah (certification), as well as they must speak sufficient English to communicate at the basic level with our students.  Since their duty as teachers is greater than just conveying knowledge, they must additionally be role models that portray a good Islamic character such as honesty and patience.  Those who require additional experience or abilities such as speaking English are initially required to complete our specialized training course, which we have crafted ourselves.

We have had hundreds of applicants to teach for us since we began and on average, we can only accept about 1 out of every 25 applicants, due to our high standards.  For our Qur’an teachers, if they meet our initial requirements, they then meet with and read for Shaykh Ali, a highly sought after Qur’an teacher among the students (who was one of Suhaib’s teachers) here in Egypt.  Shaykh Ali tests them on their Qur’an reading, tajweed (rules of recitation), etc., and determines whether they are really qualified to teach Qur’an to our students.

For our Arabic applicants, we administer a test on both Arabic content and one that determines a potential teacher’s flexibility, Arabic cultural awareness, personality, how to deal with a student, etc. Some come out of university with experience, but we make it mandatory for them to get training. We have had some teachers that have scored very well on their content area, but they had a dry, impersonal, unenthusiastic manner. Much of the time, our training course really turns that around and infuses those who pass the content area exam with an energy and enthusiasm for the teaching aspect.  And they have had great feedback from students—it’s created a totally different person than the one that came in with just strong Arabic or Qur’an.

Subhanallah (glory be to God), it sounds like the Markaz system is working really well for you. Can you expand on the Markaz system? What are its key features and how does it differ from any other system used to learn Arabic?

Stacy and John: In a classroom setting, there are always some students that are ahead of the pack, some that are behind, but with the Markaz system, you get one-on-one learning with your teacher. It’s just you and your teacher, so you take the course at your own pace and there are no other students or distractions that hold you back from achieving your full capacity.

I hadn’t heard of the Markaz system before this interview, so just so I know I got this straight, does it only refer to the one-on-one style of teaching?

Stacy and John: The Markaz systems often teach one-on-one, but they also offer group classes for those that can’t afford one-on-one.  One of the key features of the Markaz style is learning Arabic through the Arabic language with a Native speaker who specializes in Arabic, as opposed to the lessons being taught by using English translations or by non-Native speakers, who often don’t have an Arabic degree.  This system has been the dominant and most successful system in the Arab world.  We strive to implement this in our programs, however every student has a different learning style and we do have to adapt our teaching styles for some students, such as children.

So far you’ve mentioned Arabic classes and Qur’an classes. Are these the only two classes you offer?
Stacy and John: Arabic and Qur’an classes are the main courses that we offer.  Our Qur’an classes focus on three areas: reading properly (tajweed), memorization, and review.  The Fus’ha (Classic) and Business Arabic classes cover reading, writing, understanding and speaking, as well as preparing for the understanding of Qur’an.  We have teachers that are trained to teach children and adults, from the beginning levels to the advanced.  For the advanced students, we offer preparatory classes for entering Al-Azhar University.
What can people expect when they register for a class? 

Stacy: After filling out the registration form on our website, www.studioarabiya.com, our management team will contact the student to schedule their evaluation. The evaluation allows us to place them in the correct level and with the best teacher for their needs.  We work out a weekly schedule that works best for the student and they begin their lessons soon after.
What costs do the course fees cover, and how does this compare to what you might find in Egypt?
Stacy and John: The basic tuition covers the private, one-on-one lessons with your teacher.  Our standard rate of $79 per month will allow the student to take lessons 5 days a week for 30 minutes.  We also offer a more intensive schedule, doubling the amount of one-on-one time the students get with the teachers for only $139 per month.

What you find in Egypt differs among the centers.  You’ll find some centers that have really low fees where the quality of the teachers is often poor and you’ll find others (centers that are more well-known among Western students) that charge outrageous fees.  Because we have very low overhead in our operations, we are able to give our teachers higher salaries than even the most expensive centers in Egypt, thus enabling us to hire the highest quality of teachers.  In addition, what sets us apart from these centers is that students don’t have the extra costs of moving to Egypt to get the same quality of education.

What advice do you have for students of Arabic and Qur’an?

John: From my experience, there are 3 factors necessary for success in one-on-one learning of Arabic and Qur’an: the best student, the best teacher, and the best curriculum.  All three need to be present to assure optimal success.

A poor student with lack of motivation, who is studying to please someone else, will not attain success – even if he are she has the best teacher and is studying from the best book ever written on the subject, unless the student changes that which is in his or herself.  Sincerity, the purification of intentions, and then asking for tawfeeq (success) from Allah subahanhu wa ta’ala (Glory to God)  should be present in the student.

Next is to find the best teacher, which means making sure that he or she who is teaching you is a properly trained and an experienced SPECIALIST in the subject you are learning.  Not doing this results in substandard learning, or even learning mistakes costing the unnecessary time and money with both the so-called qualified teacher and then again with the expert specialist to painstakingly correct your mistakes.  For example, teachers who are not native speakers or are native speakers but are not properly trained as a specialist, then quality screened, will often make mistakes in pronunciation.  A mistake in just one letter in Arabic means uncountable mistakes in reading Qur’an, and could even take years for the student to unlearn in their speaking and recitation.

There are many Arabic curricula out there and choosing the best should be a priority.  This is quite difficult for a new student being a layperson who, for the most part, relies on what he or she hears.  Foremost, your Arabic curriculum should cover all foundational aspects of the language, and secondly, it should be proven as the most thorough and effective curriculum by the consensus of educators who have compared and taught all the leading books on the subject.  This will enable you to learn the subject using the most sequential and structured method that exists and to eliminate any weaknesses in your skills that holes in a curriculum cause, thus leading to proficiency and then fluency.

The eloquence, preciseness, depth and vastness of the Arabic language make it (as some say) the most difficult language to master. Therefore I would remind all who wish to dismantle the language filter of translations – those who desire to understand Allah’s words in the language He intended that obtaining proficiency in the language is not a microwave process and doesn’t happen overnight.  It is step-by-step, level-by-level, using a proven process, with sincerity, consistency, and a trusted guide that success in this life for the sake of the next can be obtained. Anything hard can be achieved with Allah. Allah says in the Qur’an:

“And We have certainly made the Qur’an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?” (Qur’an 54:17).

What are some of your short-term and long-term goals for Studio Arabiya?

John: Our goal from the beginning was and will always be to provide an affordable learning experience for those who can’t move overseas to study Arabic or Qur’an with qualified teachers.

What plans do you have for Studio Arabiya now? What areas of the site do you plan to develop, and what effects do you expect?

Stacy: One of the areas we are currently developing and perfecting is the curriculum that we teach for Arabic.  There are so many options out there and we want to offer the best and most beneficial curriculum we can.  We have recently completed our very own beginner’s Arabic Reading book that allows our students to learn to read Arabic at a faster pace, while learning their first words in the language, in which approximately 90% of the words come from the Qur’an.  (Here’s a little more information about our book: http://studioarabiya.com/blog/a-revolutionary-new-way-to-learn-to-read-arabic/)

Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about Studio Arabiya?

Stacy: We offer a free 1-week trial of classes to every new student, so you can try us out and see if it fits your learning style.  For virtualmosque.com readers, we will also add an additional 5% off the monthly tuition for anyone who uses the promotional code “WEBB05”.

If you’d like more information about Studio Arabiya and the lessons we offer, you can contact us through our website, www.studioarabiya.com, or find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/StudioArabiya.

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!

Issue #4 – Changing the name of a new Muslim

It was the summer of 1999 in Tulsa, OK, when I walked into a sandwich shop. My pants sagging and hat turned back and to the side, I looked at the seemingly Greek guy behind the desk and said, “Let me get a Gyro with extra sauce yo.” After I sat down waiting for my sandwich, I heard the guy answer the phone with As-Salamu `alaykum (Islamic greeting of peace) and thought, “Wow that Greek cat is Muslim.” You see I had been reading the Qur’an for over a year and believing it to be the message of God, yet heavily struggling with a corrupt lifestyle. I had only met 3 Muslims before, but they didn’t practice hence they don’t even know where a Mosque might be. So when I went to get my Gyro I told him As-Salamu Alaiakum. He looked me up and down and asked, “Are you a Muslim???” I quickly affirmed confused by his question “Yeah man, can you hook me up with a Mosque around here?” He had no clue what a Mosque is but after I explained, he said that they had just opened a nice newly built mazjid and he gave me directions. So then I asked him if many Greeks are Muslim and he said, “I’m not Greek I’m Syrian!” That was the first time I had ever heard of Syria in my life.* There is a lot to learn from that event, primarily that we need to step up our da`wah (call to Islam) skills folks!*

So the next day I went to the Mosque around 1pm. I walked in and—thanks to the disorderliness we often have—I noticed a pair of shoes sitting in front of the doors to the Prayer Sanctuary (musalla). So I took off my shoes and saw a man praying and went in and did my own form of prayer which I learned from the scene where Denzel is praying on his Hajj pilgrimage in the movie Malcolm X. Then as I was walking out, the elderly gentleman followed me and made salaam (Islamic greeting) to me and I responded. He then asked if I was Muslim and I affirmed. Then he asked me, “What is your name?” I told him my name is John. He responded, “No, no. That’s not a Muslim name. That is a name of the kuffar (disbelievers).”  I was like whaaat? He said yeah that is not an Islamic name. So I told him that John originally means “God is gracious” and it is the name of Jesus’ cousin who is a Prophet mentioned in the Qur’an, but he said, “No, his name is `Esa and his cousin is Yahya, so your name is Yahya.” I thought okay this guy is hardcore, man, taking it back to the original…

Since that day, I have been called Yahya among my Muslim brothers and sisters. It is a beautiful name that I don’t mind being called by, but as we mentioned before it wasn’t the exact name of the prophet who was Jesus’ cousin nor was عيسى  (`Esa) the name by which Jesus was called. John was more like Yohanna (( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist)) and Jesus more like Yeshu’a  (( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_of_Nazareth)) . So after realizing that this is just an Arabization of their names to facilitate the Qur’an’s Arabic flow I regretted having changed my name since it now seemed Islamically logical to have kept my name in English for the flow and familiarity of English. Let’s now discuss the issue of changing your name from an Islamic legal perspective.

The vast majority of scholars throughout our history say that it is an obligation to change a name only if it represents other, polytheistic beliefs or if it is a foul name with a bad meaning. For example if someone’s name was Christian then upon becoming Muslim they would change their name. The customary practice of encouraging a new revert to Islam to change their name is not an Islamic teaching as the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) left mostly all of his companions with common names that carry little or no meaning like `Umar, Talhah, Khadeejah, etc. Some of these people with very simple names became great leaders. As a matter of fact Salman is a Persian name and while the Prophet ﷺ witnessed his embracing Islam and spent much time with him, he never suggested Salman radi allahu `anhu(may God have mercy on him) change his name. He only changed the names which were either indicating the worship of other than God or a name that was a bad meaning like the following:

1. ‘Aasiyah (sinner) to Jameelah (beautiful)
2. Abdul-Shams (Slave of the sun) to Abdul-Rahman (Slave of the Merciful God)
3. Haram (forbidden) to Halal (permissible)
4. Thalim (oppressor) to Rashid (rightly guided)
5. Harb (war) to Muslim (committed to God)

In retrospect, after being trained in the Islamic sciences and objectives, I have come to realize that this brother who sought to change my name was no doubt sincere, but ignorant of the big picture of Islam in America. This settled in when I was sitting with a sheikh (scholar) in Egypt who asked me my name. I told him Yahya to which he responded, “That can’t be your name!” I was like, “Eh al-Kalam dah?” (What is he talking about?) So I tried to explain how that is my Islamic name. He responded, ghalat (you’re mistaken). He then went on to give two reasons why I should have not changed my name and why I should return to John.

1. Islam teaches the utmost respect and honor for ones parents—Muslim or not. This is clear in the many verses of the Qur’an which command us to do so and some of them specify that the only exception is in obeying a parent’s call to an evil lifestyle. Changing your name not only erases and invalidates their very first interaction with you as parents, but gives the idea of you splitting from your family which can be perceived as breaking the ties of the womb.
2. As long as your original name’s meaning isn’t contrary to Islam then it would be in the best interest of promoting our faith (da`wah). When people see that Matt, Dave, Robert, Sarah, Lisa, Emily, etc, are Muslims whose language and general customs are similar to them it takes away that “Islam is a foreign religion” vibe we often give off. This in light of the hadith (record of the words or actions of the Prophet ﷺ): “Facilitate things for people and don’t make things difficult for them. Give glad tidings and don’t alienate people,” (Bukhari 69).

Of course for someone who has been known to many people by a name for some time it would be a hassle to change it back. The fact is that, as the Sheikh said, my mother was indeed somewhat offended and told me that “my brothers” can call me what they want, but that she will always call me John. It is no one’s business what a person chooses to be called as long as it carries a good meaning. The advice of this article is that it is not part of the sunnah (prophetic tradition) to change someone’s name as a result of their embracing Islam. If someone,of their own accord, wishes to change their name, then that is their right, but don’t encourage it as the benefits are there for them to keep it. And God knows best!