Motivation To Learn Arabic

بسم الله والحمد الله

والصلاة واسلام على رسول الله

By Zaid

A desire everyone has or claims to have is the desire to meet the Prophet ﷺ or to meet one of the companions like Umar (ra) or Ali (ra) or even to meet one of the great scholars of Islam like Abu Hanifah or Ahmad (rh).

I want you to imagine you were granted that wish. Allah ﷻ gives you right now the ability to speak with one of them in a coffee shop. You go there, get a coffee, and sit down on the table in front of him. Then, you say, "Assalamu alaikum, I am Zaid! I've always wished to meet you." Perhaps you start crying out of happiness when you say this.

In front of you, he understands nothing you said except the Salam. He responds to your Salam, but doesn't really understand what you're saying or why you're crying. He doesn't know that you have always wished to meet him. You cannot talk to him, and he cannot talk to you.

This is how Muslims who don't know Arabic are. I am like that sadly, and (I suppose) you are like that too. We wish to meet these people, but we cannot even talk to them. What kind of wish or desire is this? If someone loves a person, the most basic thing he would do is try to communicate with him. How will you communicate with someone you don't speak the same language as?

Allah ﷻ has not blessed us with the ability to meet the Prophet ﷺ or his companions. He has not given us the blessing of meeting with Imam Abu Hanifah, Malik, Shafii or Ahmad (rh). But, he has given us the ability to listen to their speech. He has preserved their works and narrations for us.

It behooves us to learn how to communicate with them in the small amount we can.