Is It Permissible to Study Hebrew If I Haven’t Mastered Arabic?


Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

Is it permissible to study Hebrew in 2025 if I haven’t yet mastered Arabic, though I can read and write it but struggle with speaking and understanding?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

It is not an obligation to learn Arabic beyond being able to recite the Quran properly and memorizing enough Quran so one can pray a valid prayer.

It is highly meritorious and of great religious benefit to learn Arabic, especially to a level where one can understand the Quran and Prophetic narrations (Hadith). [Maydani, al-Lubab fi Sharh al-Kitab]

Aside from the minimum Arabic, learning other languages is permissible (mubah). It could even become an act of worship, if coupled with righteous intentions, such as calling to Allah; supporting one’s family financially; etc.

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat 

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom Seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.

He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.

In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.