In Islam, the Arabic language is given more importance than any other language. It is usually given a special role in education and worship.
The language of Qur’an and Hadith, the main religious sources of Islam, is called Quranic Arabic.
Many Muslims see the Qur’an as divine revelation — the direct word of God as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad in Arabic. Hence, translations of the Qur’an into other languages are therefore not treated as the Qur’an itself. Instead, they are seen as interpretations of the Qur’an’s message.
Some Islamic traditions regard the form of Arabic used by Muhammad as the purest form of the language. Scholars of Islam have to learn and interpret the Qur’an in classical Arabic.
Text adapted from Simple English Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0.
Album of Alphabetical Exercises (Murakkabat) from the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art MSS 239.
