What do you know about muslim languages ?

Abu-Hasan   Friday, June 10, 2005, 16:14 GMT
What do you know about muslim languages ?
Sander   Friday, June 10, 2005, 16:23 GMT
What Arabic?

Besides "Muslim" languages isn't the right term,I mean are all the speakers of Arabic muslims?
Linguist   Friday, June 10, 2005, 17:05 GMT
of course not! Don't you know about the copts? this is a small brench of christianity, kind of orthodox but with some pecularities. Coptic christians are arabs and they live mostly in Egypt. Obviously they speak arabic.

and there s no muslim languages, as there s no christian, buddhist, and so on.
Sander   Friday, June 10, 2005, 17:07 GMT
(Yes I did know about the coptic people :)

The question was a bit rhetorical ...
Sanja   Friday, June 10, 2005, 18:12 GMT
I also think "Muslim languages" is not the right term, Muslim means religion, has nothing to do with languages.
bernard   Friday, June 10, 2005, 18:31 GMT
"Arabic" maens "related to arab culture and language".
Even if Islam is originary from some arabic cultures, all arabs are not muslims, and most muslisms are not arabs.

It would be the same if you were saying "catholic languages" to speak about Latin languages.

Linguistically arabic is part of the semitic languages (like hebrew and maltese)
Gabe   Friday, June 10, 2005, 18:42 GMT
SANDER said:
>>Besides "Muslim" languages isn't the right term,I mean are all the speakers of Arabic muslims?

This isn't the right question. The important one would be "Do all Muslims speak the same (few) languages?"

That's the one that's important with regard to the original question. If the answer is yes, then his question is a valid one. When I went to an Islamic religious gathering service thing (I forget what they're called) once last year (in Boston), it was all done in Arabic. Also, the Koran *has* to be written in Arabic. There are translations, but they aren't considered "true" translations. As such, I think his question is a round about, but perfectly valid, way of asking about Arabic. Perhaps he didn't know that's what it was that they use?
Sander   Friday, June 10, 2005, 18:43 GMT
It is the right question.Its a rhetorical question...
bernard   Friday, June 10, 2005, 18:54 GMT
the huhe majority of muslisms don't speak and don't understand arabic.
It is true that in the "muslim world" arabic is the lingua franca - most educated muslisms understand arabic and speak a little of it.

We should not forget that the most populated muslism countries are Indonesia, Pakistan, Bengladesh, India (even if the majority is hindu, there is a huge muslism population), malasia, Iran, sub sharian Africa. INone of those countries are Arabic.
Most arabic countries are dersert regions, not as much populated that south-east asia.

In the "Arabic world", "arabic" is generally spoken only by educated people. The rest of the population speaks dialects of Arabic.

I have a franco-marrocan friend, when she went to Dibai she needed to speak in English or french to be understood - Her morrocan arabic was not understood !
Georgius   Friday, June 10, 2005, 20:16 GMT
I agree with some of the previous readers! You cannot term a language as Muslim because that suggests that the Muslims are a "people" as for example are the Jews.
Why is it that Muslims see themselves as a race? They are a worldwide community "Umma" but that's as far as it goes! We're not a race like the Jews! Being Muslim has nothing to do with "blood" as it is for Jews, and even then a gentile can convert to Judaism and be considered fully Jewish (with the exception of Jewish Orthodoxy)by the wider Jewish community.
Sander   Friday, June 10, 2005, 20:20 GMT
Jews arrent another race...
Georgius   Friday, June 10, 2005, 20:21 GMT
Because on becoming a Jew you receive a Jewish soul!Jews have two souls by the way, a regular one (that everyone has) and a Jewish soul. That's why we Jews are so adamant about not intermarrying, because the marriage in Jewish tradition is about the meeting of two Jewish souls. I am Jewish by blood but have been ostracized by my community because I converted to Islam! LOL!
Georgius to Sander   Friday, June 10, 2005, 20:22 GMT
Well that depends on your point of view my friend!
Georgius to Sander   Friday, June 10, 2005, 20:24 GMT
By the way it's "aren't" not "arrent"!!
Sander   Friday, June 10, 2005, 20:24 GMT
Yes,I mean it in a biological way :)