We have millions of non-Arabic speaking Muslims living among us. They attend Friday prayers in the mosques and listen to sermons given in a language they do not understand. The imam speaks to an audience the overwhelming majority of whom do not understand what he says. These people leave without even knowing what the imam was talking about.
Is there any way of having the Friday sermons translated for the sake of these Muslims? This is an issue of extreme importance. Keeping these people in the dark makes them ignorant of even the basic Islamic teachings. They need to know more about worship and human relations, the two crucial issues that matter most for Muslims and figure prominently in Friday sermons.
The matter assumes even greater importance since these people have come to work and live in a country which is the cradle of Islam and home to the two most sacred sites on earth — the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. Our responsibility to educate and enlighten them cannot be ignored.
I personally know many Muslims of different nationalities; Pakistanis, Indians, Filipinos, Indonesians and others who yearn to have greater understanding of their religion and be able to understand what is said in Friday sermons. Their ignorance of Arabic remains the stumbling block. Instead of listening and becoming a part of the prevailing spiritual atmosphere, they find themselves carried away by their own thoughts. Long sermons, as is too often the case with some imams, may sometimes be boring.
Many others before me have raised this issue, hoping to see some means that would allow these Muslims to benefit from Friday sermons. I have some suggestions. Prepare a concise translation for distribution among the congregation before and after prayer. Interpreters in different languages can be used for the sermon; their presence would depend on the number of non-Arabic speakers in a mosque. And some mosques where the worshippers are not Arabic speakers might have sermon delivered in a language other than Arabic. I hope these suggestions and others will meet a positive response.
Arab News From the Local Press 7 January 2003
