Three Languages Every Muslim Must Master:
Arabic, Mathematics, Mother Tongue
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time.
Trying to Take the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And Which One Does Not?)
Muslims are cosmic citizens with timeless horizons and travels. Their past is eternal and their future ever lasting. For, they come from God and they are on their return journey to God.
Muslims are from Infinity to Infinity.
Muslims, therefore, are not defined by either Time or Space, by race or ethnicity, by culture or language, by geography or history, by politics or economics. Instead, Muslims are defined by a set of Core Beliefs and by a pattern of Behavioral Displays and Performances.
And yet Muslims, as human beings, are bound to occupy specific Time-Space Coordinates in this world. That means, they are all born in a certain place, at a certain period of historic time. Thus, they will be here, there and in some other place, at this or that or some other time.
Thus, every Muslim is a most miraculous combination of Local and Global, Earthbound and Transcendental.
That is why every Muslim Child, right at the outset, must master the following three languages:
1. Arabic,
2. Math.
3. Mother Tongue.
Mind you, the expression I am using is: "Master." I am not saying: Learn or Teach.
And if you were not able to do it as a child, do it now as an adult. Do it wherever you are, at whatever stage of life you are, and do it by mobilizing all the resources you can possibly muster and manage.
Two of these languages are Transcendental: Arabic and Mathematics. That means they are not limited to a certain place on earth or to a specific period of time in human history or to a certain racial, cultural, national or ethnic grouping.
Mathematics:
Universal Language of the Human Mind
First, Mathematics. Math is the universal language of the human mind, designed to plumb, map, measure and unravel the mysteries of the universe in all places, at all times. Thus, two plus two will always make four, no matter where and no matter when.
And a triangle will always have three angles, regardless of space or time, geography or history. Just like a circle will always be a closed system, with all points of entry and exit being exactly equal, whether it is in China, Australia or Libya, and whether it is today, tomorrow, forever.
And whether it is on earth, or in the farthest reaches of the universe.
That is why Muslims, being the kind of cosmic and timeless citizens that they are, must master Mathematics as a language, spanning all its branches, and as a science right in their cradles.
This is just for starters. For, the issue does not end here.
The Universe, with all the boundless empirical expanses that our senses can reveal, or tap into, is still only a brief and transient stopover for Muslims. The Universe is neither the beginning; nor the end; nor a stable or permanent home for Muslims.
And this Universe is Aalam Ash-Shahaadah: the world that is open to empirical investigation and observation by our senses. Mathematics helps us to map, measure, grasp, understand, classify, categorize, tabulate and analyze the Universe, at least in abstract and hypothetical forms.
And yet, the Universe is nothing but the road that Muslims traverse as they move faster than Light Speed to meet their Master, Almighty God, who is their true home. They just can't wait to get back home.
Wa Innaa Ilaihi Raaji'oon.
"And to him shall we all return."
And:
Irji'ee Ila Rabbiki...
"Return back to your master."
But beyond the horizons of this immense Universe lies another world, a totally different one that no human senses can perceive and that no human instruments can tap or map or measure or sense.
As a Hadith Sharif describes Jannat:
Laa Ayinun Ra-at,
Wa Laa Udhunun Sami'at,
Wa Laa Khatara Alaa Qalbi Bashar.
Paraphrase:
"No eye ever saw anything like it.
No ear ever heard anything like.
Nor did anything like it ever occur to a human mind."
That is the Other World -- an entirely Different Universe -- that lies beyond the borders of our own Physical Universe.
It is also the Next World (Aakhirah), if you wish, that this Present World (Duniya) will lead to.
So, that Other World is Aalamul Ghayib -- the Unseen World. And Heaven is part of that Unseen World. Angels are a part of it. Jannat and Jahannam are a part of it.
And that Other World is everything our senses, our instruments and our minds cannot reach or encompass. But it is as real as the Physical Universe in which we live. If anything, more real, much, much more Real.
And in fact the only Real and Lasting World.
Wa Lal-Aakhiratu Khayirun wa Abqaa.
And Mathematics, with all its million branches and variations, and with all its amazing powers and resilience, is of absolutely no use for human beings when it comes to understanding or navigating the Aalamul Ghayib.
For, Ghayib begins exactly where Shahaadah ends. And the boundary between them is precisely the Checkpoint beyond which Mathematics does not have the ability or the Clearance Level to travel.
Arabic Language:
The Language that Connects Earth to Heaven,
The Physical Universe to What Lies Beyond,
And Connects the Creation to the Creator!
So, we need a New Language that will take us beyond our own Physical Universe and connect us to that Other World of Ghayib -- the Unseen World: Aalamul Ghayib.
And that new language is Arabic Language, without which a human being is totally incapable of interfacing with that Other World of Ghayib: Aalamul Ghayib.
While all human languages, from Sanskrit to French to Mandarin, are Allah's languages, it is Arabic Language that Allah chose to be the language of his book the Qur'an -- which is Dhikr for All the Worlds: Seen and Unseen; Known and Unknown; Now and Forever.
In Huwa Illaa Dhikrul Lil-Aalameen.
And it is Arabic Language that Allah chose to be the language of his Rasul, Muhammad Mustafa, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, that he sent as Rahmat and Mercy and Blessings and Love and Grace for All the Worlds: Seen and Unseen; Known and Unknown; Now and Forever.
