Fatwaa ID: 157

Question:

AssalamuAlaikum hope you are keeping well. I need some advise Insha Allah my wife will be giving birth soon my problem is my mother tongue is gujerati and hers is urdu, now we have a problem and that is I wan’t my child to speak gujerati and she want’s the child to speak urdu or english,I don’t know how to speak urdu, she can’t really speak gujerati (she knows very little) and I don’t wan’t the child to speak english.What do I do in this case can you please give some advise. Jazakallah

Answer:

In the Name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salaamu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullaahi wa-barakaatuh.

Brother in Islam,

Allaah Ta’aala says,

وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّمَواتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِلْعَالِمِينَ
Translation: “And among the signs of His power is the creation of the heavens and the earth and diverse language and skin color. Indeed, in that there are signs for people who know.” (Ar-Room v.22)

Your child is fortunate to have parents who can teach him three different languages. Being able to speak in multiple languages has many benefits[1]. Aside from connecting with one’s roots, one has the opportunity to communicate with people from different backgrounds and thus can be a tool for da’wah. Physiological research has found that speaking multiple languages makes one smarter and is a great asset to the cognitive process. It boosts a person’s confidence and enhances one’s creativity.

We advise you and your wife to take advantage of this great opportunity and teach your child all three languages. There is no harm in learning multiple languages.

And Allaah Ta’aala Knows Best.

Muajul I. Chowdhury
Student, Darul Iftaa
Astoria, New York, USA

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

وصل اللهم وسلم وبارك على سيدنا محمد وعلى ءاله وصحبه أجمعين

[1] You may refer to the following link for benefits of knowing multiple languages: https://www.universeofmemory.com/benefits-of-language-learning/

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