Revert: Is My Prayer Accepted If My Arabic Is Not Perfect?

Question: As-salamu `alaykum. I am not able to pronounce some Arabic alphabets properly. Will Allah accept my prayer?

Mufti: Sheikh Ahmad Kutty

Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

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

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

You should try your best to learn how to offer your prayers as correct as possible. You may need a professional trainer to help you.

Responding to the question in point, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

You should try your best to pronounce the words as correctly as possible. The proper way to go about it is to learn from a scholar.

Seeking essential knowledge is an obligatory duty on every Muslim, male and female.

Since prayer is the most important pillar in Islam, you ought to learn how to pray not from books; rather, from a trained scholar. I am sure you can find one if you look around.

You should know, the first thing that the Prophet (peace be upon him), did with those who converted to Islam was to teach them the basic beliefs and practices of Islam.

Do your best and your prayer will be accepted in sha’ Allah.

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.