Advice from Shaykh Abī Khadījah regarding Translations.

“If a person comes along who is not a student of knowledge—maybe he knows Arabic because he’s an Arab, but he’s not a student of knowledge, has not studied, does not know the various fiqh positions of the scholars, and does not know the ḥadīth and how it’s applicable in a particular ruling—then he should refrain from translating opinions because he’s not a researcher, and he may actually translate and put forth that which he does not understand and which may not actually be the position of the Shaykh that he’s claiming to follow or the various opinions of the scholars. Why? Because he’s not a student of knowledge.

This person who may be able to translate from English to another language or Arabic into English or Arabic into Urdu or whatever, he may not be the most suitable person in terms of conveying the knowledge of the scholars. It is not to be said that he’s absolutely wrong in everything that he does—no—because he may hit the mark sometimes, but he may get it wrong and get it badly wrong.

Let’s say, for example, he enters into the issue of al-asmāʾ wa aṣ-ṣifāt, let’s say he enters into the issues of the ʿaqīdah or the manhaj or even in fiqh issues because the principle is the same: kitāb, sunnah, understanding of the ṣaḥābah, even in fiqh issues. So he may actually start to make mistakes. Therefore, it is better for the people to study their deen before talking about it and conveying it to the people on social media. They need to understand what they’re putting out. 

Therefore, it is safer for them—for an ʿāmmī who knows Arabic and his Dutch is very good or his French is very good or his English is very good—that he just translates what Shaykh Bin Bāz [for example] said and leaves it at that. Don’t comment, don’t try to interpret, don’t make comments like ‘this is the firmest and strongest opinion.’ How do you know? You’re not a student of knowledge, you don’t know. So you may actually cause more harm than good. 

So if it’s a straight translation and the translation is trusted because you have passed it by someone who is actually a student of knowledge [only then would it be okay]—because even if you know Iṣṭilāḥāt and the Arabic language, it does not mean that you know the Iṣṭilāḥāt ash-Sharʿiyyah, the Sharīʿah terminologies and what they mean and what they entail. You may cause harm. 

BārakAllāhu fīkum.” [End of his speech]