Fariq Naik – Willing to Accept Islam but Hesitant because He cannot Pray in Arabic
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AI: Transcript ©
Greetings. I'm a 70 year old English man
wishing to embrace Islam,
but I do not speak Arabic, and I'm
told that I'll start that I have to
start learning it. I saw a video stating
that prayers not said in Arabic are invalid
and meaningless. I know what shahada means, and
I can probably memorize the shahada in Arabic.
But is my salah invalid?
Where do I stand? Thank you for looking
at my question. Kind regards, Tony.
The moment a person is convinced that Islam
is a true religion, he should accept Islam
as soon as possible without delaying. And a
person does not know when he or she
will die. So the moment you realize Islam
is a true religion, you should accept Islam
as soon as possible.
And Islam
comes slowly and gradually.
The most important thing is that the oneness
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So if you
are convinced that there's one God alone who's
worthy of worship and the prophet Muhammad, peace
be upon him, is the last and final
messenger, then you should embrace Islam. So what
I would request brother Toni is that to
embrace Islam, he already believes it in his
heart. So what I would request him is
to say the shahada in Arabic along with
the English translation.
And the shahada
is as
follows.
So you can
watch this video, and you
can recite the shahada in Arabic, and the
translation is as follows.
I bear witness
that there is no God worthy of worship
except Allah,
and I bear witness that prophet Muhammad,
may peace and blessings be upon him,
is his servant and his messenger.
Once you recite the shahada,
then you enter into the fold of Islam.
You already believe it in your heart.
So I would request you to recite the
shahada and enter into the fold of Islam.
As far as offering salah is concerned,
salah needs to be offered in Arabic.
But for those people who are new Muslims,
whatever they know, they should recite in the
salah, in the Arabic language, whatever they have
memorized. And initially, the moment you embrace Islam,
even if you do not recite anything, as
long as you follow what the imam is
doing, inshallah, this will be fine.
And you should try your level best to
learn the compulsory
things that you need to recite in your
salah.
Salah needs to be recited in Arabic.
So as far as recitation
in the salah is concerned, there are basically
6 compulsory things. 4 of which are very
easy.
The first is saying Allah hothbar
and you say this
6 times
per rakah.
That
is when you start the salah and when
you go in ruku,
when you get up from sujood.
So the first is allahu akbar, and it
is very easy. You can learn this within
a few minutes.
The second is when you go in ruku
saying subhanahrabi al adhim, which is also very
easy. Minimum 3 times you have to say
it. When you go in sujood, saying
minimum 3 times.
And then
the taslim.
When you complete
or when you conclude your salah.
These are 4 things which are very easy
and you can learn it within a few
minutes.
And then
you can
proceed towards learning how
which is very important as well. For some
people, it may take a few hours. For
some people, it may take a day. For
some people, it may take a few days.
For some people, it may take a week.
For some people, it may take a few
weeks.
As long as you try to memorize it,
inshallah, you'll be rewarded by Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. And the moment you memorize it, you
can recite it in the salah.
So this is the 5th thing. And the
6th recitation is
reciting
certain dua during
the
as well as the.
So these are as far as recitation
during the salah is compulsory, 6 things that
are compulsory.
So practice comes slowly and gradually.
But you should see to it after you
embrace Islam that you go to an Islamic
center, a center
that
deals with rewards.
Unfortunately,
certain people, when they teach regarding Islam and
regarding salat or the rewards, they don't know
what to teach them and what are
the priorities.
So for example, certain people when they teach
salah to the non Muslims, so they teach
them and they focus on things which are
sunnah
first rather than focusing on things which are
compulsory in the salah. So for example, if
someone is teaching a non Muslim how to
offer salah, so you'll say first you say
Allahu Akbar, then you recite
This is not compulsory.
This is a sunnah.
It is more important to teach the non
Muslim recite the recitation of Surat Al Fatihah.
And you should memorize Surat Al Fatihah, which
is much more important than this. So you
should go to an expert who knows how
to teach
Islam to non Muslims.
And
practice comes slowly and gradually, but the most
important thing is embracing Islam. And I would
request you, brother Tony, is to recite the
shahada
in Arabic and in English. You can watch
this video, recite the shahada at home,
and enter into the fold of Islam.
And the Muslims, they are
1 more than 1,900,000,000
in the world, close to 2,000,000,000.
Some statistics say they are a little bit
over 2,000,000,000.
So we welcome
brother Tony to the fold of Islam.
Enter into this huge family
of
Muslims.
And once you embrace Islam, you will find
peace, tranquility, and satisfaction. You are already 70
years old. A person does not know how
long will he live.
But if you embrace Islam
and if you die in the state of
Islam, you are guaranteed
paradise.
So we need to work for the afterlife.
And from this question, we realize how enthusiastic
the non Muslims are about Islam. Brother Tony,
he has not even embraced Islam, and he's
thinking about offering salah. Should it be offered
in Arabic? Is it valid if it's offered
in Arabic or no? Look at the enthusiasm.
Unfortunately,
many of us Muslims,
even though we are Muslims,
we are not enthusiastic
to learn
the deen of Islam.
Islam. Many of the non Muslims,
they choose Islam. That's the reason they are
more enthusiastic,
and
they are strong and firm as far as
practicing the religion of Islam is concerned.
Many of us Muslims,
we have taken it for granted
that we are Muslims and we are guaranteed
paradise.
We should never think in such a way.
So we pray to Allah
that may keep us always
in when you pray to Allah
that may he guide to the to embrace
Islam
and join this huge family of Muslims.
And may Allah
also
make him a good
practicing
Muslim. Practice comes slowly and gradually, but the
most important thing is entering into the fold
of Islam. So I hope that answers your
question.