Is translation permissible in the tasbih, takbir, and du'a in prayer?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Among these are the takbir, tasbih, and du'a in prayer. Translation is not permissible if one is able to recite them in Arabic. If one is unable, does it fall under the first category and be dropped, or the second category and be recited in one's own language? There are two views on this. And among them...
The Shaykh : The correct view is that one should recite it in one's own language, because this is not a form of worship tied to specific wording, unlike the Qur'an. The Qur'an is the speech of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, so if we were to translate it, it would cease to be the speech of Allah, because Allah did not speak it except in the Arabic language. This is different from tasbih, du'a, and the like.
The questioner : No, no, no.
The Shaykh : Not by meaning, and therefore it is not a miracle.
The questioner : We said in a narration in a hadith that this is an exception regarding the adhkar.
The Shaykh : Yes, because this person is able. This person is able. It is not permissible for him, for example, to narrate a hadith by meaning if he is able to use the Arabic language, but if he is unable, there is no harm in it.
The Shaykh : The correct view is that one should recite it in one's own language, because this is not a form of worship tied to specific wording, unlike the Qur'an. The Qur'an is the speech of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, so if we were to translate it, it would cease to be the speech of Allah, because Allah did not speak it except in the Arabic language. This is different from tasbih, du'a, and the like.
The questioner : No, no, no.
The Shaykh : Not by meaning, and therefore it is not a miracle.
The questioner : We said in a narration in a hadith that this is an exception regarding the adhkar.
The Shaykh : Yes, because this person is able. This person is able. It is not permissible for him, for example, to narrate a hadith by meaning if he is able to use the Arabic language, but if he is unable, there is no harm in it.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 128 - هل تجوز الترجمة في التسبيح والتكبير والدعاء في الصلاة؟ قواعد ابن رجب - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
