Ruling on translating the Friday sermon while the preacher is delivering it
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The first message in this episode is from our brother, listener Sa'd Ibrahim Abd al-Hamid Abu Duqqah, an Egyptian working in al-Qassim, Buraydah. Our brother began his message by saying:
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Addressed to His Eminence Shaykh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz. I testify to Allah that I love you for the sake of Allah, and I hope you will be kind enough to answer the following:
First: There are workers in the company where we work who speak more than ten languages and do not know the Arabic language. Is it permissible for there to be someone who translates the sermon during the Friday khutbah, meaning the preacher preaches for ten minutes, then the translator follows him, and so on?
I hope you will guide us. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
There is no doubt that making people understand the objectives of the sermon in the language they understand is a matter of importance, and the need for it is pressing. We have written, as Allah wills, what we hope will benefit the Muslim community. What we see in this matter is that the preacher should, if he is proficient in the language of the attendees, explain to them the meanings and objectives of the sermon in their language so that the benefit is realized.
And if he is not proficient in that, there is no harm in having a translator who translates the objectives of the sermon for the attendees who do not understand the Arabic language, whether that is during the sermon, after every sentence, explaining its meanings in their language, or at the end of the sermon, translating its objectives and meanings for them so that they benefit from it, and so that the benefit is realized for them as it was for their other brothers who understand the preacher's language.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
The first message in this episode is from our brother, listener Sa'd Ibrahim Abd al-Hamid Abu Duqqah, an Egyptian working in al-Qassim, Buraydah. Our brother began his message by saying:
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Addressed to His Eminence Shaykh Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz. I testify to Allah that I love you for the sake of Allah, and I hope you will be kind enough to answer the following:
First: There are workers in the company where we work who speak more than ten languages and do not know the Arabic language. Is it permissible for there to be someone who translates the sermon during the Friday khutbah, meaning the preacher preaches for ten minutes, then the translator follows him, and so on?
I hope you will guide us. May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, and may Allah send blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
There is no doubt that making people understand the objectives of the sermon in the language they understand is a matter of importance, and the need for it is pressing. We have written, as Allah wills, what we hope will benefit the Muslim community. What we see in this matter is that the preacher should, if he is proficient in the language of the attendees, explain to them the meanings and objectives of the sermon in their language so that the benefit is realized.
And if he is not proficient in that, there is no harm in having a translator who translates the objectives of the sermon for the attendees who do not understand the Arabic language, whether that is during the sermon, after every sentence, explaining its meanings in their language, or at the end of the sermon, translating its objectives and meanings for them so that they benefit from it, and so that the benefit is realized for them as it was for their other brothers who understand the preacher's language.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.