The fact that the language of the Qur’an and, as such, the primary language of Islam is Arabic is evident. But, the reason as to why the Qur’an was revealed in the Arabic language might not be as evident to many.
For Muslims, it cannot be for no reason that Allah chose the Arabic language to be the linguistic medium for His Final Revelation.
In many of his writings, Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas points out that the Arabic language not only acts as the best linguistic medium to convey the meanings of the Qur’an but is also the best such medium to preserve its original meanings.
This is mainly because of its peculiar root-system which renders it scientific. (See particularly his keynote address to The Second World Conference on Muslim Education, held in Islamabad from 15 to 20 March 1980, which was later published as a monograph bearing the title The Concept of Education in Islam: A Framework for an Islamic Philosophy of Education).
Such characteristics inherent in the Arabic language has direct bearings on the formulation of the various key concepts in the Worldview of Islam, including what we understand in English as “the world of nature.”
There are at least two terms in Arabic, both used in the Qur’an and the Prophetic Traditions, to denote such a world; the term ‘alam (from which the Malay word alam is derived), and the word dunya (from which the Malay word dunia stems).
We have had occasion to give a brief explanation with regard to the term ‘alam (see IKIM Views of 3 April 2007 and 28 August 2007).
We have previously mentioned that as all the individual things and events in the universe are considered to be God’s ayats-viz. God’s signs-and since the term ‘alam was originally used for anything instrumental and indicative in the obtainment of the knowledge of something, these signs taken as a totality are referred to in the Islamic intellectual and scientific tradition as al-‘alam (the Cosmos; the Universe; the World of Nature), theologically defined as “everything other than God which points to Him.”
It is therefore timely that we now see why the same world is also referred to occasionally as al-dunya, especially its material and physical dimension and particularly when our present life in the world is concerned.
The word dunya itself is a derivative of the root word dana and conveys the meaning of something being brought near.
Its being applied to the world of nature, as al-Attas has elucidated in his seminal work Islam and Secularism, signifies thus that the world is that which is brought near to the sensible and intelligible experience and consciousness of man.
Since the world as “that which is brought near” both surrounds us and overwhelms us, it distracts us from being ever-conscious of our final destination-al-akhirah, or the Hereafter-which is beyond the world and comes after it.
Yet, the world is also the Signs of God in their totality; as such, it is the Signs of God that are brought near.
That they have been brought near to us will surely put us in a better position to understand their meanings and is itself proof of Divine Mercy and Loving Kindness.
Should the world be so understood, and should those signs be known according to their true purpose, then not only would it be blasphemous for one to derogate the world but there can also be no excuse for one to involve oneself in any of the following three conditions.
One who, being awed by those signs, worships them, instead of God to whom they point.
One who, seeing nothing in those signs except distractions in one’s way of seeking God, rejects them.
One who, having denied God, appropriates the Divine Signs for one’s own ends and changes them in pursuit of illusory development.
It is therefore important that Muslims, including the scientists from among them, be cognizant of the reason why such a world is being called al-‘alam as well as al-dunya. For as far as their attitude to the world of nature is concerned, such an understanding will surely prevent them from being extremists in all its various forms.