Language is one of the greatest signs of our God. Allah (swt.) says in the Qur’an, “And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Indeed, these are signs for those of knowledge.” (Surah ar-Rum, 30:22) It really raises a lot of questions to the people who know about the diversity of languages in the present world. There are about 6,000 languages that are spoken by people of the present world.
Allah who created us purposefully in many colors and different physical appearances in different nations and tribes and gave us various qualities, skills and diversity of languages. The reason behind all these has been mentioned in the Holy Qur’an. HE (swt.) says: “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Aware.” (Surah al-Hujurat, 49: 13) The Holy Qur’an also informs that after the creation of Adam, Allah taught Him the language for expressing His desires, emotions, feelings and so on. It states, “Created man, [And] taught him eloquence.” (Surah ar-Rahman, 3-4) So, the language is the earliest blessing of Allah to His servants. He (swt) did not only teach men the eloquence but also taught many things that we did not know. In the first revelation, the first five ayat of Surah al-‘Alaq, Allah says, “Who taught by the pen. Taught a man that he knew not.” (Surah al-‘Alaq, 96: 4-5)
The mother tongue is a blessing to those specific people. Allah (swt.) sent all of His messengers and prophets to their nations in their own languages. Hence, revelations were sent down onto them in their mother tongues. The Holy Qur’an states, “And We did not send any messenger except [speaking] in the language of his people to state clearly for them, and Allah sends astray [thereby] whom He wills and guides whom He wills. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.” (Surah Ibrahim, 14: 4)
Based on all the above information, it can be said that, as a blessing of Allah, we have such responsibilities to the language and the mother language as well. Among them:
i. Try to find out our God through the diversity of the languages as there is a sign of Him.
ii. Language is one of the significant blessings of Allah to His servants.
iii. All languages are from Allah (swt.).
iv. Although Arabic language was the language of our Prophet, language of the Qur’an, all other languages are also respected and honored.
vi. For many, Mother tongue is essential to understand the Al-Quran and its teachings.
vii. There is no harm in learning many other languages but it is mandatory to learn the mother tongue first then the language of Al-Quran and then any other for any lawful purposes.
viii. If anyone ignores or hates his/her mother tongue, it means he/she ignores and hates the sign of Allah.
ix. Having weakness in mother tongue and expertise in any other foreign language other than Arabic is not a credit but a discredit. This is not only a worldly view but also from The Quran centric point of view. Moreover, one should be proud of his/her mother tongue.
