How does a believer who does not speak Arabic ask?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : All right, regarding the Muslim who does not speak Arabic...
The Shaykh : As for this question?
The questioner : The question says: If a person died—for example, a Chinese person in China, or an English person, or someone else—and he knows nothing but... and he believes in Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
The Shaykh : It should be preceded by another question: Do the two angels, Munkar and Nakir, speak in Arabic?
The questioner : Allah knows best... Arabic.
The Shaykh : Hmm, a second question.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Before the first question: Is it impossible for Munkar and Nakir to speak well in all languages? It is not impossible.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So what is the problem that this questioner has in his mind, my brother? These are matters of the unseen, and it is not permissible to expand upon them or interfere with them, because the question is fundamentally wrong, as is clear to you. The questioner assumed that the angel of death directs the question in Arabic to every deceased person.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So the problem arose with the Chinese person and the Albanian person, like my story... How does he understand and how does he answer? The question is fundamentally wrong.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Because we do not have a text, first of all, that Munkar and Nakir speak only and ask only in Arabic. We do not have this statement at all. If we had something that clarifies for us, as came in the fabricated hadith, which says, yes, that the tongue of the language is:Mishkat al-Masabih 30:28, if a fabricated hadith like this came to us, a valid hadith about the language of Munkar and Nakir, that he asks in Arabic, as came in this hadith that the language of the people of Paradise—and I, until this hour, do not know whether the language of the people of Paradise is Arabic, or the languages of the world in which they used to speak, or a special language for the people of Paradise, because it gathers all the people of Paradise in one language. All of this, and this, and this, is possible. But do I guess? Do I speculate? And I say the language of the people of Paradise is Arabic based on a fabricated hadith or a hadith that does not exist at all? The language of the people of Paradise is a universal language? No, we do not say this, because this is speculation and encroachment on the unseen, which no one knows but Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). If we had a valid hadith that Munkar and Nakir ask in Arabic, then at that time we would say, my brother, our Lord is not incapable of inspiring the non-Arabic speaker, in whatever language he spoke, to answer the questioner in Arabic and the eloquent tongue. Allah is capable of that. Why? Because this person being questioned is a believer, so Allah inspires him to speak the answer correctly in Arabic. As for the issue, it is not an examination in a matter that might carry a page of explanation from your Lord? The non-Arabic speaker cannot say, "Allah is my Lord." Now they can say, "Allah is my Lord." Who is your Prophet? Muhammad. What is your religion? Islam. The problem is over. There is no lecture delivered there, so how would he understand it? No, in short, the question is wrong and delving into it is wrong. Yes.
The questioner : Our Shaykh, all right, is there not now, at the human level, a device that translates all languages into the language they want? It exists in industry. This is at the human level.
The Shaykh : Yes, other than that, but it is not like the first.
The Shaykh : As for this question?
The questioner : The question says: If a person died—for example, a Chinese person in China, or an English person, or someone else—and he knows nothing but... and he believes in Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
The Shaykh : It should be preceded by another question: Do the two angels, Munkar and Nakir, speak in Arabic?
The questioner : Allah knows best... Arabic.
The Shaykh : Hmm, a second question.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Before the first question: Is it impossible for Munkar and Nakir to speak well in all languages? It is not impossible.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So what is the problem that this questioner has in his mind, my brother? These are matters of the unseen, and it is not permissible to expand upon them or interfere with them, because the question is fundamentally wrong, as is clear to you. The questioner assumed that the angel of death directs the question in Arabic to every deceased person.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : So the problem arose with the Chinese person and the Albanian person, like my story... How does he understand and how does he answer? The question is fundamentally wrong.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Because we do not have a text, first of all, that Munkar and Nakir speak only and ask only in Arabic. We do not have this statement at all. If we had something that clarifies for us, as came in the fabricated hadith, which says, yes, that the tongue of the language is:
Love the Arabs for three reasons, because I am an Arab, the Qur'an is Arabic, and the inhabitants of paradise will speak Arabic.
أحبُّوا العرب لثلاث : لأنِّي عربي ، والقرآن عربي ، ولغة أهل الجنة العربيةThe questioner : Our Shaykh, all right, is there not now, at the human level, a device that translates all languages into the language they want? It exists in industry. This is at the human level.
The Shaykh : Yes, other than that, but it is not like the first.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.