Questioner: Why is the Holy Qur’an in Arabic?
Huzoor (rh): It had to be some language. And if it were not Arabic, you would ask the same question again. If it were in English, you would say, why is it in English? So this question is not valid. It had to be some language. Had it not? So whenever a language were to be chosen, you would say, why this language? But Arabic, of course, because it is the most perfect language. It is the mother of all tongues. It’s most expressive for the type of subject which is discussed in religion, or subjects which are discussed in religion. In the shortest possible words, it conveys vast meanings. And it contains meanings in a sort of concentrated form. So because of this special ability of Arabic to express more in less words, this language was chosen in particular. Hazrat Masih Maud A.S. has also spoken of other possible reasons. One particularly is that Hazrat Masih Maud A.S. has told us that this is the first language revealed by God. Man did not invent language by himself. He’s one of the animals before he learned to speak. According to the Holy Quran, God taught man how to speak. So the first culture was born out of the first language which was taught to man by God. And as such, Hazrat Masih Maud A.S. was told by Allah that it was the Arabic which was the chosen language which God taught to human beings. So because of its importance as such, because it’s being the oldest language, because it’s being the mother of all tongues, the book which was addressed to the whole of mankind had to be in Arabic. Because Arabic once was the language of the entire mankind. No other language can boast of this. So that language which justifies to be chosen for address to the entire mankind has to be Arabic.
