Translations of the Qur’an in other languages are not called the Qur’an. They are called ma’al or explanations of the Qur’an. If they have been prepared by devout Muslims who are experts and who have good intentions towards the subject, they can be read in order to understand the meaning of the Qur’an. There is nothing wrong in this. They cannot be read as the Qur’an itself. It is not reward-deserving to read them as the Qur’an. It is a sin, instead. Muslims should read the Qur’an as Allahu ta’ala revealed it. It is reward-deserving also to read it without understanding the meaning. Certainly it is all the more reward-deserving and better to read it and to understand the meaning.
The Arabic spoken in Egypt, Iraq, Hijaz and Morocco is not the same in each of these countries. In which of these dialects of Arabic will the Qur’an be explained? For understanding the Qur’an, it is necessary to know Quraysh Arabic, not today’s Arabic. For understanding the Qur’an, it is necessary to wear out the elbows with studying for years. We should understand it by reading the interpretations, the explanations written by Islamic savants who have understood it by studying so. Youngsters who read the jerry-made translations will consider the Qur’an as a book consisting of mythological stories, unnecessary and useless thoughts, or only ordinary words. Taking a dislike to the Qur’an, to Islam, they will become disbelievers. That seems to be a new tactic, a new trick of Islam’s enemies who want Muslim children, martyrs’ children, to be trained irreligiously by offering the Qur’an’s translations to them by saying, “Read the Qur’an in your native language. Do not read the Arabic Qur’an, which is in a foreign language.”
