“The forebears never ceased to dislike changing the distinctive marks of the Arabs, even in dealings, namely speaking other than Arabic except out of need, as Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad stated; Malik even said: whoever speaks other than Arabic in our mosque is to be put out of it. Other tongues may be spoken by their own people, but they allowed them for need and disliked them otherwise, to preserve the distinctive marks of Islam; for God sent down His Book in the Arabic tongue, sent with it His Arab Prophet, and made the Arab community the best of communities, so that preserving their emblem became part of fully preserving Islam.”

Ibn Taymiyya

d. 728 AH / 1328 CE

Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyya, Hanbali jurist and theologian

The Arabic original

وَمَا زَالَ السَّلَفُ يَكْرَهُونَ تَغْيِيرَ شَعَائِرِ الْعَرَبِ حَتَّى فِي الْمُعَامَلَاتِ — وَهُوَ التَّكَلُّم بِغَيْرِ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ — إلَّا لِحَاجَةٍ، كَمَا نَصَّ عَلَى ذَلِكَ مَالِك وَالشَّافِعِيُّ وَأَحْمَد؛ بَلْ قَالَ مَالِك: «مَنْ تَكَلَّمَ فِي مَسْجِدِنَا بِغَيْرِ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ أُخْرِجَ مِنْهُ»، مَعَ أَنَّ سَائِرَ الْأَلْسُنِ يَجُوزُ النُّطْقُ بِهَا لِأَصْحَابِهَا، وَلَكِنْ سَوَّغُوهَا لِلْحَاجَةِ، وَكَرِهُوهَا لِغَيْرِ الْحَاجَةِ، وَلِحِفْظِ شَعَائِرِ الْإِسْلَامِ؛ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ أَنْزَلَ كِتَابَهُ بِاللِّسَانِ الْعَرَبِيِّ، وَبَعَثَ بِهِ نَبِيَّهُ الْعَرَبِيَّ، وَجَعَلَ الْأُمَّةَ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ خَيْرَ الْأُمَمِ، فَصَارَ حِفْظُ شِعَارِهِمْ مِنْ تَمَامِ حِفْظِ الْإِسْلَامِ.