Muslim Languages and Kuffar Languages

I heard a story recently of a small boy whose first language wasn't Arabic but he picked up Arabic and now insists on speaking it. He mentions that Arabic is the language of Islam while other languages are Kafir languages. This reminded me of Surah Rahman (55). A tafseer by brother Nouman Ali Khan here explains the Ayah 4 I was thinking about nicely.

Ayah 1:
الرَّحْمَٰنُ
ar-Rahman
The Abundantly Merciful

Ayah 2:
عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ
'Al-lama al Qur'an -
He taught the Qur'an.

Ayah 3:
خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ
Khalaq al Insaan -
Created the Human being.


Ayah 4:
عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ
'Al-lama hu al Bayaan -
Taught him the Beautiful Conveyance of Speech.

To make the human capable of understanding the Qur'an, Allah gave us the ability to speak in eloquence and to understand such speech.

For teaching the Qur'an, Allah said; 'Al-lama (Taught).

For teaching Bayaan/Eloquent speech - Allah also said; 'Al-lama (Taught).

This shows us that Allah taught us both the Qur'an, and also all Languages.

Allah taught Adam the name of all things:
وَعَلَّمَ آدَمَ الْأَسْمَاءَ كُلَّهَا
And taught Adam the names of all [things].. [alBaqarah 2:31]

Which shows that the honour of humans speaking -while knowing what they are saying- is an honour which belongs to Allah. So humans should be thankful to ar-Rahman (the Abundantly Merciful) because He has given us humans what no other animal has the ability to achieve [- to speak/communicate eloquently with understanding of what we are saying].

This shows that this honour of speech should be used for good and beautiful speech, and for reciting the Qur'an. Not for insults, swears and dirty language - since that is a sign of being ungrateful of Allah's favours.

Of all of the languages Allah taught; Allah honored the language in which He sent His final message; the Qur'an in Arabic speech.

إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ
We have surely revealed it in an Arabic Qur'an that perhaps you might understand. [surah Yusuf 12:2]

We see a Recurring Theme in these aayaat of Extreme and Magnificent Blessings of Allah;

Ayah 1: the Abundantly Merciful.
Ayah 2: the greatest manifestation of that Mercy = the Qur'an.
Ayah 3: the Greatest creation of Allah = Insaan (humankind).
Ayah 4: The Ability for us to Speak and Communicate with each other in Language.

Even Modern Philosophers are saying; the Root of all knowledge is language - that is the key. Just as Allah already told us.

One of the signs of being the best is to have speech, then to reach the best of the best is to become a student of the best speech - the Qur'an.

All languages are taught by Allah عزّ وجلّ and we should respect them whether it is English, French, Swahili, Afrikaans, Cantonese, Mandarin, Spanish, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, etc. There are no Kuffar languages.

In Surah 49 Verse 13, Allah عزّ وجلّ says:

يا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْناكُمْ مِنْ ذَكَرٍ وَ أُنْثى‏ وَ جَعَلْناكُمْ شُعُوباً وَ قَبائِلَ لِتَعارَفُوا إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ أَتْقاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَليمٌ خَبير

"O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted."

Here again, Allah عزّ وجلّ says that he not only gave us different languages but also made us different races, different tribes, etc. In the end, we are all children of Adam (peace be upon him)

A very old video from Ustadh explaining Ayah 4 from Surah Ar-Rahman.