[Cersdog]

Assalamualaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh

The Qur'an is the eternal word of Allah and when he revealed it to mankind via Jibreel, it was revealed in Arabic.

Allah has instructed us to recite the Qur'an as it was revealed, this refers to many things: it must be in arabic, tajweed (or we should strive to learn tajweed) etc. Tajweed refers to the proper pronunciation, punctuation, and style of reading the Quran.

Furthermore Allah has pledged that he will protect/maintain the Qur'an, and he has done so in Arabic (throughout the history of Islam the quran has been available in Arabic).

What we must realize is that the Qur'an is no mere book, it is the word of Allah, and everything about is sacred including the language it is in. Furthermore the Qur'an cannot be changed at all in the slightest, not even the language of the Qur'an. When the Qur'an is translated some of its meaning and richness is lost.

Thus the Qur'an exists solely in Arabic and no other language and thus it can only be read in Arabic. what you may have before you are "translations of the qur'an" which are honest attempts to capture the message of the qur'an in another language, however all translators will agree that the no translation can capture the true essence of the quran.

therefore a translation in english cannot be said to be an "english version of the quran"....there is only one version the "classical arabic version" as revealed to our prophet (peace be upon him) - though there are differences in recitation styles but that is another issue and does not change the fact that the quran exists in only one form: Arabic.

Certain rewards are specifically associated with reciting the quran, these rewards are only received when a person is reciting the actual quran that is to say in Arabic. Reading a translation of the quran in a language one can understand will not result in the same rewards, because as said earlier, a translation is not the quran.

The major message that i'm trying to present is that, with regards to the quran everything is sacred and no change can come to it (it has existed since time immemorial and will continue to do so), this includes the language of the quran. often people who do not fully comprehend this matter state that they read the quran in english or urdu etc. to understand it, but this should be avoided as it is near-blasphemous, the quran can only be recited in arabic. if one reads a translation to gain understanding, that is good as well and they will be rewarded for it, but they will not receive the specific rewards that a person reciting the quran itself would receive.

I might add that the best way forward for someone to understand the quran is to learn arabic and study some tafseer

OR

read the trasnlations of a famous tafseer of the quran as translations alon are not sufficient for someone who is not truly a scholar.

in addition avoid just reading the translation. if you want to read translation first read the ayah in arabic (to get the rewards of quran recitiation) then read the translation (whatever language you feel like). and if you are not yet able to read arabic, then keep learning and may allah will make you an expert in it so you are able not just to read it but comprehend it as well.