There is a common pious person (not an A’alim) who is either attached to any Khanqah or spending time with tableeghi jammat with strict adherence to its rules. He knows just sufficient Shariah rulings for Ibadat, Mua’amalat, Ma’ashrat, Ma’aishat, Ikhlaq, which are required for him to spend life according to Shariah or in case he don’t have knowledge, he contact any A’alim and get the answer of his query. He understands the meaning of few Surahs of Quraan, but he doesn’t understand the entire Quraan. As a result when he is praying alone or in congregation, he only concentrate on what he or Imam is reciting without understanding it. Though he listen the Islahi speaches of Ullamah and his daily life is molded in Shairah and Sunnah but still he never dare to understand the Quraan. If I am not wrong this is the state of 99% pious non-arab common Muslims who are either attached to any Saleh Sheikh or Tableeghi jamaat
With this reference to the context please let me know
1. Whether it is necessary (farz/wajib/sunnat) for such a person to spare some time to learn Quraan and Quraanic Arabic so that when he or Imam read the Quraan he should know what he or Imam is reciting?
2. Whether it is necessary (farz/wajib/sunnat) for such a person to only read the Quraan and read the translation/tafseer or listen Dars-e-Quraan from an Aalim so that he understand what else is there in Quraan but in prayer he still doesn’t understand the meaning because he can’t understand Quranic Arabic.
3. The person did not learn Quraanic Arabic but learned other languages for some worldly benefits. Since he is capable to learn Quraanic Arabic but he doesn’t learn it either because of his worldly commitments, spending time in tableegh, spending more time in Zikr, etc, is he committing a major sin?
Please explain this issue in detail as this is the point which most of the contemporary scholars (who are not in the actual stream of our Ullamah like those from Jamat-e-Islami, Salafi scholars, Dr Israr Ahmad, Dr Farhat Hashmi, Dr Abdul Aziz, etc) are exploiting. They emphasis that in order to learn Islam, one should necessarily learn the Quraan and Quraanic Arabic. They have managed to make the Quranic Arabic easy for the common people by giving a series of simple lectures (which are readily available free of cost from internet) and we have observed few of the friends that with little effort they are really able to understand Quraan. Unfortunately I could not locate such an extensive effort and emphasis on this issue from our Ullamah for common people. I would be grateful if you could be of help in this regard also.
It is very highly commendable that the person you are referring to is linked to Deeni activities. These efforts are according to Qur’aan and Sunnah. For each individual to know that amount of Shari’ah that pertains to his own life is Fardh. Nabi [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] have said, ‘The acquisition of knowledge is Fardh on every believer’. It is also highly commendable that he keeps in contact with Ulama and directs his queries to them. Allah mentions in the Qur’aan, ‘Ask the people of knowledge if you do not know!’
With regard to the Qur’aan, there are two separate issues. One is the recitation of the Qur’aan which is highly meritorious. Nabi [sallallaahu alayhi wasallam] is reported to have mentioned that for each letter one receives ten rewards. The second aspect is to understand the Qur’aan. This is also very highly meritorious and the Qur’aan was revealed for pondering and reflecting. One should only acquire this from an authentic translation and commentary. This too should be done under the supervision of a reliable scholar who has acquired the knowledge of Tafseer. We are based in South Africa and we are unfortunately unable to comment on the scholars regarding whom you asked.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai