Though this is a bit of a strange question, Arabic happens to be a very rich language.

The following is an extract from the Fatwa Bank of Islam On-Line:

�Allah Almighty says, � And We never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he might make (the message) clear for them�� (Ibrahim: 4)

He Almighty also says, � Lo! We have revealed it, a Lecture in Arabic, that ye may understand.� (Yusuf: 2)

It is clear from the aforementioned verses that the Glorious Qur�an was revealed in Arabic as Arabic was the tongue of the target people of Arabia. Revealing the Qur�an in Arabic was necessary for the Arabian people to fathom the message of the Qur�an and understand it easily.

Dear Brothers Peace be on You all

Arabic is a unique language in the world which is so vast that it can contain 3000 words for soward, 500 words for lion over 70 words regarding moon etc. It is a verstile language whose words can deliver wide ranging meanings full of depth and yet not contradictory.

The Arabs were so proud of their language and its rich text that they would call non-arabs as "AJMEES" or dumb, or with no language or with no voice or with no verbal expression. See for yourself how many meanings can be attributed for the word ajmee. So once Muhammad, who was an illitrate delivered Quran Arabs were shocked that how come this man could produced a book of such a calibar. That is why Allah challanged the unbelievers to bring forth even one verse of such a calibar if they say that these are the words of Muhammad and not God. They all failed.

This is why Quran is the only miracle given to Muhammad. Thirdly Muhammad was sent to land of Arabia and there people spoke Arabic and if it would have revealed in Hebrew or Greek it would have been useless for the Arabs.

Shams Zaman   Pakistan    

God love pronouns, obviously.

(I studied Arabic a little bit back in late 2001, after a trip to Egypt and Lebanon. Trying to learn 12 pronouns in a different script, backwards sorta broke my brain a bit...)

We now return you to our regularly scheduled serious conversation...

Kim...

I, you(masc), you(fem), you(2), you(masc plu), you(fem plu), he, she, we, they (fem), they(masc), they(2)...

Bismillah,

Brother Shams Zaman, thank you for your contribution, it has some very strong points that could help one in seeking the answer to the question posed. In fact, it is true that today we do not completely understand the true miracle of the Qur'an mainly because we are far from understanding the language it was revealed in. The translation may help us grasp a portion of something but never in depth and in the way the original Arabic does... You do not have to be an Arab to admit the wisdom of the language, but a little Arabic may be needed. After all, most of us communicate in English on this board, but that doesn't make us any Englishmen, does it?

Why Arabic? There can be many answers but not many, if any, will provide information that will satisfy all, especially non-Arabs or non-speakers of Arabic. The language being lingua franca at a time of revelation may also not be the explanation. Or there can be no answers at all. It would be important however to remind that the Qur'aan was sent in Arabic not because it was meant for Arabs or certain community only. The Qur'aan and its message is universal.

"Parables in The Qur'an", a TV show popular in the Gulf not so long ago, may help one understand to some extent additional wisdom that unfolds through Qur'aanic language and its Arabic words. Its an enlighting programme, that may motivate one to learn Arabic to get closer to the meaning of the Qur'aan, too. Some episodes are available for downloads from the following website:

http://www.moezmasoud.com - www.moezmasoud.com

Another way to get closer to understanding the Message in Arabic is reading the translation of the meaning seeking additional assistance from "The Easy Dictionary of he Qur'aan".

http://www.ymofmd.com/quran/Quran_Dictionary/Easy_Dictionary.htm - http://www.ymofmd.com/quran/Quran_Dictionary/Easy_Dictionary .htm

I believe only once we know Arabic, each will be able to deduce his own opinion of why the Qur'aan was sent in Arabic.

Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullah,

Brother Mockba, I would like to comment a little on your post.

Indeed what Shams Zaman said is true and informative about arabic as you acknoledged. - I myself do not know arabic, but am very much interested in learning, and always looking out for a chance. I do agree with you, not everyone has the proper means to understand arabic, and probably this the reason why Quran is the only book in the world that has been translated into maximum number of languages.

There are many ppl however, who have learnt arabic because it is the language of the Quran. One shcolar (american, revert) said, that Quran is not made for arabic, but arabic is made for the Quran. The language evoleved in such a way that it retains and expresses all the subtlities of the Quran efficiently.

If you look into the history of language, it is the first language in which dictionary was developed. The preservation of Quran is a promise of Allah, and this has been interpreted by many as the preservation of Arabic, because if the orginial language is not preserved, much of the essense of the book will be lost. This can be understood when one goes into learning the tafsir ... the methodology scholars have employed in udnerstanding the various verses, sometimes is just awe-inspiring - the beauty of Quran which is in arabic, can never be enjoyed fully unless we taste the taste of Arabic

Kim, long long ago, once upon a time when u visited Egypt ...   

I hope u will not tell us about the taxi driver helping u with the seat belt

Maa salaama,

Nausheen

Dear MOCKBA
 Indeed there can be a 100 reasons that Why Quran was revealed in Arabic but if one continues with the argument he can bring forth 101 reasons that why Quran was not revealed in any other language. But the point remains that lets suppose that if Quran had been revealed in any other language would have this debate been over?

Then there would have been millions who would have argued that why Quran has not been revealed in yet another language. So for me the logic suffice, there may be some who would be satisfied after few more logical explainations. But still there would be lot of those for whom no amount of logic will be sufficient.

Shams Zaman  Pakistan.

I would agree with rami that Quran was not the only miracle given to Muhammad (PBUH). There were some other miracles as well but either they were not presented in a mericlous manner or the viewers were only Muslims (Sahabbahs). Like spliting of moon, a spring of sweet water in between His fingers, etc. But Quran was the only miracle which was presented to the un-believers in a challanging manner. So in a classical sense Quran is the Greatest and only miracle of Muhammad which will live till the last hour.

Shams Zaman