Strangers to the Qur`an

The state of this great language (Arabic) amongst its own people is shocking and disgraceful. They have become alien to it, yet it remains of high status despite its sons turning away from it. In fact, it has become underestimated among us as we surrender to our enemy’s attack against it. It started by undervaluing its status and then followed by calls to establish different dialects in its place, which resulted in what we are suffering at present. It is often that we think that we understand the problem, when in fact we are just misinterpreting it. The defect is in us not in our heritage or in the books of our ancestors. The deficiency lies in our linguistic taste. It is enough to ponder on the the words of al-Waleed bin al-Mugheerah regarding the effect of the Qur`an on him. Despite his disbelief and his whole rejection of the Qur`an, he said:

“Verily, the Qur`an has sweetness; it has gracefulness upon it; its highest is fruitful, its lowest is copious; it rises aloft and is never surpassed.”

Despite our embracing of Islam and our glorification of the Qur`an, we do not feel this meaning except with the glorified nature of the Qur`an.

‘On the Way to Our Culture’ by Mahmud Shakir – about the issue of our brave language.