Salamun Alaikum
Dear Joseph Islam Sir
Thank you for welcoming me to the forum and giving me the opportunity to interact with you and others on the forum. Firstly, I cannot help but notice in every article and post by you that you are so polite and humble in your words and way of writing. Each reply I got from you, apart from having brilliant clarification to my doubts, it also inspires me to be graceful in words and keep learning. Pretty much I recall the verse from the Quran.
16:125
Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance.
I have mostly lived in a city near Dar-ul-Uloom, Deoband, India. While I was there some years back, I tried to go and learn Arabic there so that I could ease my understanding of Quran. I met some 'Alim' who had been there since youth and asked how much time does it usually take to be good in Quranic Arabic.
And the reply was : "Waqt! Ye to sab Allah-hu-ghani ke haat mein hai. Agar vo chahega to aajayegi Arbi. Aur phir 18 uloom bhi to hain. Meri umr 56 saal hai aur main abhi tak Arbi seekh raha hoon."
Translation-
"Time! It is All upto Allah. If HE will want that you learn Quranic Arabic, you will understand it. And then, there are 18 Ulooms. I am 56yr old and I am still learning Quranic Arabic."
I could not bring any gesture on my face. As usual, I only got confusions from such so called "Maulana". I dont think that all of the people there are the same. But you know, they say that even Jins take classes from them. Ah! I can only wonder why these people give fatawas against people who watch movies like Harry Potter.
Sir I started my understanding of the Quran from translation by A. A. Yusuf Ali Sir. I still hold that translation as very helpul. I also have recently got Exposition Of Holy Quran by G. A. Parwez Sir and another by Dr. Shabbir Ahmed Sir. I sincerely agree to and will follow your advice to use different translations. The website you provided (islamawakened.com) pretty much has all the translations.
Dear Sir, if there are some books which according to you I should read, Please take some time to enlist them. Also your valuable advice on how should I proceed towards understanding Quranic Arabic and Islam as a Complete System of Life. Pleas do not assume that I will not read a lot of books. I have learnt that in the current prevailing system, it is very important that we should keep learning so as to have a wider scope of participation in Quranic System of life by practically implementing and sharing what we learn from Quran.
Thank You
Talib
(student)