Praise be to Allah.
There is no mention in the Quran or in the authentic Sunnah – as far as we know – of which language is spoken by the people of Paradise. What is narrated concerning that is a Hadith which is not soundly narrated from our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and some other reports.
Analysis of the inauthentic Hadith on Arabic being the Language in Paradise
It was narrated by At-Tabarani in Al-Awsat, Al-Hakim, Al-Bayhaqi in Shu`ab Al-Iman and others that Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Love the Arabs for three reasons, because I am an Arab, the Qur’an is Arabic and the speech of the people of Paradise is Arabic.”
Ibn Al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) ruled that this Hadith is fabricated. Adh-Dhahabi said: I think that the Hadith is fabricated. Al-Albani said in As-Silsilah Ad-Da`ifah (no. 160): (it is) fabricated.
Scholarly Views on the Language of Paradise
Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
Similarly, Abu Ja`far Muhammad ibn `Abdullah Al-Hafidh Al-Kufi (may Allah have mercy on him), who is known as Matin, told us: Al-`Ala’ ibn `Amr Al-Hanafi told us: Yahya ibn Zayd Al-Ash`ari told us: Ibn Jurayj told us, from Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Love the Arabs for three reasons: because I am an Arab, the Qur’an is Arabic, and the language of the people of Paradise is Arabic.”
Al-Hafidh Al-Salafi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: this is a sound Hadith. I do not know whether he meant that its chain of narration is sound according to the way of the scholars of Hadith, or that its text is sound in general terms. Abu Al-Faraj ibn Al-Jawzi mentioned this Hadith among the fabricated texts and said: Al-Tha`labi said: it has no basis. Ibn Hibban said: Yahya ibn Zayd narrated unsound Hadiths from sound narrators, so it is invalid to quote his reports as evidence. And Allah knows best. (End quote from Iqtida’ As-Sirat Al-Mustaqim, 1/158).
Al-Tabarani (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated in Al-Awsat that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “I am an Arab, and the Quran is Arabic, and the language of the people of Paradise is Arabic.”
Al-Albani said in As-Silsilah Ad-Da`ifah (no. 161): It is fabricated.
The point is that there is no authentic evidence to show which language is spoken by the people of Paradise. Hence we should refrain from speaking about this issue and not indulge in it, and we should refer knowledge of the matter to Allah (may He be Exalted), and focus instead on issues that will lead to good deeds in this world.
Ibn Taymiyah’s Perspective on the Language of Jannah
Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked: in what (language) will Allah address the people on the Day of Resurrection? Will Allah address them in the tongue of the Arabs? Is it true that the language of the people of Hell will be Farsi and that the language of the people of Paradise will be Arabic?
He replied:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. It is not known what language the people will speak on that Day, or in what language they will hear the words of the Lord, may He be Exalted, because Allah has not told us anything about that, nor has His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
It is not true that Farsi will be the language of the people of Hell, or that Arabic will be the language of the people of Paradise. We do not know of any discussion of that among the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), rather all of them refrained from speaking of that because speaking about such a thing is discussion of something unnecessary… but there was a dispute concerning that among later scholars.
Some people said that they will be addressed in Arabic and others said that the people of Hell will respond in Farsi, which will be their language in Hell.
Others said that they will be addressed in Syriac because that was the language of Adam and from it stemmed all other languages.
Others said that the people of Paradise will speak Arabic.
There is no basis for any of these ideas, whether on the grounds of common sense or in any report or text, rather they are mere claims that are devoid of any evidence. And Allah knows best and is most Wise. (End quote from Majmu` Al-Fatawa, 4/299)
Review these answers for more clarity: (126349, 153285, 309602, 20469, 4203, 1141, 4003, 215011)
And Allah knows best.
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