The Ruling on Addressing the Common People in Formal Arabic

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, if a person is in a gathering of common people and begins to speak in formal Arabic, is this considered affectation, or should he speak in the colloquial dialect?

Answer:
Yes, this is a valid reason. Address the common people in the Arabic they understand; address them in their language, unless you are teaching them and studying Arabic with them, studying their grammar. That is fine. But addressing them in formal Arabic when they do not understand it is part of the reason [for the prohibition]. Yes.

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success.

Answer:
In some of the Shaykh’s letters (may Allah have mercy on him), you will find colloquial expressions in some of them, because he is conveying them to the common people, to be read to the common people, so he addresses them in their own language. It is not hidden from the one who is addressed. Yes.