QURAN THE ULTIMATE MIRACLE: IT IS INIMITABLE

Why did I decide to relearn to read the Quran in Arabic?

This is the short story of P.A.Mohamed Ameen. As a young boy of eight
or nine I went to a Madrasa in my native village (Ilayangudi, India)
to learn to read the Holy Quran and completed the entire Quran
probably when I was 14 years or so.

Then came the college days when my Islamic faith in monotheism still
remained rather unshakable but drastic change occurred in my view
about blindly reciting the Quran in Arabic again and again without
ever understanding the meaning of even the basic words.

Hence I gave up reciting the Quran in Arabic but concentrated in
reading the translations and interpretations in my mother tongue and
English until the age of thirty five or so.
As years rolled, I managed to recognise the Arabic script but could
not read the Quran fluently.

My folly and naivety was exposed only after my reading the FOLLOWING
QUOTATION about the unfathomable beauty of the Quran in Arabic. The
amazing thing was that author was a non-Muslim Professor of Arabic
language in an American University (John Alden Williams).

How immatured and stupid I had been at the age of thirty five?

Then at the age of 35 or so I sought the help of a Malaysian Ustaz in
Brunei to teach me to relearn to recite the Quran. Alhamdulillah
nowadays I read fairly regularly but still struggling a lot with
Tajwid and the pronunciation of a few glottal sounds such as ain,
ghain, ha, sad, zad etc.

I give below the Quotation for the benefit of the naïve; scatter
brained and spurious English educated youths, professionals and
intellectuals who are still living under the false illusion as I was
once due to my Jahiliah.

THE VERY QUOTATION THAT BROUGHT IN ME THE TRANSFORMATION

“The Quran was revealed in Arabic. It is a matter of faith in Islam
that it is of divine origin, it is inimitable and hence to translate
is always to betray. Muslims have always deprecated and at times
prohibited any attempt to render it in another language.

Anyone who has read it in the original is forced to admit that this
caution seems justified. No translation however faithful to the
meaning has ever been fully successful.

Arabic when expertly used is a remarkably tense, rich and forceful
language.
And the Arabic of the Quran is by turns, striking, soaring, vivid,
terrible, tender and breathtaking.

As Prof Gibb has put it “No man in 1500 years has ever played on that
deep toned instrument (Arabic Language) with such power, such boldness
and such range of emotional effect.”

It is meaningless to apply adjectives such as “beautiful” or
“persuasive” to the Quran, its flashing images and inexorable measure
go directly to the brain and intoxicate it. It is not surprising then,
that a skilled recitor of the Quran can reduce an Arabic speaking
audience to helpless tears.

QUOTATION TAKEN FROM THE BOOK:
TITLE: Islam
AUTHOR: John Alden Williams ( a non-Muslim University Professor on
Arabic Language)
PUBLISHER: Prentice Hall International, London.

The following Quotation taken from the foreword of Muhammad Marmaduke
Pickthall’s Glorious Quran reinforces the above views of Prof. Alden
equally effectively and forcefully.

“The Quran can not be translated. That is the belief of old- fashioned
sheykhs and the view of the present writer. The Book is here rendered
almost literally and every effort has been made to choose befitting
language.

But the result is not the Glorious Quran, that inimitable symphony,
the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy.

It is only an attempt to present the meaning of the Quran: and
peradventure something of the charm: in English.

It can never take the place of the Quran in Arabic nor is it meant to
do so.

So, may I humbly appeal to Brunei Muslims who are still ignorant, who
still do not know to read the Quran, to please start learning to read
the Quran. There are many opportunities to learn to read and
understand the Quran in Brunei. There are a few countries in the world
like Brunei where a Muslim can get the chance to learn to read the
Quran without spending a cent. Walalhi, those, who do not use this
golden opportunity to learn to read the Quran are definitely losers as
Allah swt says forcefully in the Quran, quote,

"By the declining day, Lo! Man is in a state of Loss except those
who believe, and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and
exhort one another to endurance"

SURAH 103( AL ASR)

Please make a start. May Allah swt Show Guidance and Hidaya to those
who doubt.

Writer
pam.ameen.