Al-Fath ar-Rabbani 263 — Its virtue regarding learning a language

Benefits: … The wording of one narration of this hadith is: ((Yā Zayd! Ta‘allam lī kitāba Yahūd)) … O Zayd! Learn the writing of the Jews. From this narration, it is understood that Syriac was the language of the Jews. Adopting enmity with a people does not mean that one should also hate their language, because the languages present in the world are among the great signs of Allah’s power. There is Arabic, Turkish, English, Urdu, Hindi, Pashto, Persian, Sindhi, Balochi, etc., and then within each language there are various dialects and styles. The statement of Allah, the Exalted, is: {وَمِنْ آیٰتِہٖ خَلْقُ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَالْاَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافُ اَلْسِنَتِکُمْ وَاَلْوَانِکُمْ اِنَّ فِیْ ذٰلِکَ لَاٰیٰتٍ لِّلْعٰلِمِیْنَ} … And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors; surely in that are signs for those of knowledge. (Surah al-Rum: 22) If there is a need, any language can be learned. First and foremost, the Arabic language should be learned so that the Shari‘ah can be understood with ease.