Why is the Qur’an in Arabic? ; How can the Qur’an have a universal nature if it was revealed in Arabic?.Part2

It is quite clear that even a Book with a universal nature must perforce use of the words of one of the many languages in the world so that people can understand teachings of the Book and convey its messages to other people, especially to those who are not conversant with the original language.

This is the only way by which the Divine Message can become  niversally widespread. 

The verse,

“We send it down as a qur’an (discourse) in Arabic so that you may reflect (on both its meaning and wording) and understand” (Yusuf 12:1)

implies that the Revelation is sent in the language of the Arabs. The addressees of the Prophet at the time were unable to make any excuses or to say that they could not understand whether the message was true or not, as they did not understand the language.

The words, subject, style and language of the Qur’an are all clear and it cannot be alleged that it was written by the Prophet himself or by any other Arabic speaking person.

God did not send any Prophet to people with a message that was in a different language. He sent them all Revelations in the language of their communities. This is Sunnatullah, or practice of God.

Indeed, the fact that God sent every Messenger with a Book to their respective communities in their own languages so that the Prophets could easily communicate the religion to these communities and so that these communities could understand God’s commands and transmit them to others is one of God’s blessings. It is in this way that Almighty God made it easier for them to find and reach the truth.

Thus, all Messengers were sent with a Book in the language of their people so that they would be able to explain the message for which they were responsible. They were also reminded that those who know something have a duty to inform others and those who are present must inform those who are absent.

The mission of Prophets is to declare their Prophethood to their communities and to invite them to faith in God, whether they were sent to only a particular community or to other communities, or whether this is, as in the case of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, all of humanity and the jinn.

Such a duty is best fulfilled in the language that the community most easily understands. As in the verse,

“And (O Messenger) warn your nearest kinsfolk” (Shuara 26:214),

God’s Messenger is ordered to warn first his kith and kin. Starting from his close relatives, the Prophet delivers the divine Message to all of his community and, during the course of such a delivery, those who know Arabic can render the Message into the languages of other communities and thus convey the Message to them.

People with knowledge of more than one language thus have the honor of being messengers of the Messenger and heirs of the Prophet. In order to enjoy the same honor, other individuals also learn Arabic and the Message is conveyed widely from one language to another and from one community to another.

It should be noted that there must be other divine reasons for the revelation of the Qur’an in Arabic; some of these we can know, while others we cannot. One of these reasons may be that Arabic could be the most appropriate language in the human realm for Divine discourse. In the Qur’an, God Almighty described it as the “Arabic Qur’an,” thus making the Arabic language the vessel for His miraculous Book.