WI arabic is not the liturgical language of islam?

what if Muhammad, in some kind of PR-move, declares that all languages are equal under allah and that a translated Quran is every bit as good as the classical Arabic variety? Would it make islam more palatable to people living in europe and asia? Would it change the linguistic development of places conquered by the early caliphates? How would this affect philosophical and artistic development in the muslim world?
 
I'm not sure if this changes the appeal of Islam as IOTL there are huge Muslim populations (West Africa, South Asia, Turkey, etc.) who do not speak Arabic, only learning to recite some verses.

But without the focus on classical Arabic, the superficial unity of Arabic could be broken. The Darijas of the Maghreb would probably be considered a separate languages, for example. There would probably be less focus on a universal standard for Arabic and more on the modern dialectal forms, which could be helpful in terms of education and literacy. Students might have access to more texts in their own language instead of an artificial standard that they do not normally speak.
 
what if Muhammad, in some kind of PR-move, declares that all languages are equal under allah and that a translated Quran is every bit as good as the classical Arabic variety? Would it make islam more palatable to people living in europe and asia? Would it change the linguistic development of places conquered by the early caliphates? How would this affect philosophical and artistic development in the muslim world?

Very very... difficult... Persia was at some point the centre were sunni scholars were brought up until Ismail Safevi's conquest of Persia. If the clergy is dominated by Persians, there might be a chance that it changes to Persian overtime. And that is a big maybe. I can't think of any other language. Greek? Even less likely. And it would require the fall of Greece in Arabic hands and even faster conversion of Greece than Irans conversion to Islam.

As I said, it is hard with theology. It is easier to change the official language of Kosovo to Serbian from Albanian than it is to swap Arabic for something else with regards to Islamic Theology.
 
Arabic still probably becomes the main lingua franca and later native language from about Tunisia to Iraq. Punic and Aramaic were Semitic languages, so it was relatively easier for their speakers to learn Arabic as compared to something like Latin or Persian.

Berber and Coptic may survive stronger and Greek may maintain a presence longer, however.
 
Berber and Coptic may survive stronger and Greek may maintain a presence longer, however.
Could coptic be a majority language among egypt's muslims by OTL? there's no reason for it not to if the caliphate fractures, as any muslim rulers in the area would likely be coptic speakers themselves unless its an ayyubid type situation.

Speaking of Ayyubid, would kurdish be more widespread?
 
Could coptic be a majority language among egypt's muslims by OTL? there's no reason for it not to if the caliphate fractures, as any muslim rulers in the area would likely be coptic speakers themselves unless its an ayyubid type situation.

Speaking of Ayyubid, would kurdish be more widespread?
Well Egypt is right next to Arabia and perhaps the easiest area for an Arab tribe to relocate to and settle, besides southern Iraq. For this reason it may be Arabized almost as thoroughly as OTL.

On the topic of Ayyubids I could see Turkish and Kurdish areas becoming very widespread, especially Turkish considering the ghilman, mamluks and Seljuks. Turks were very prominent in the military forces of the Near East in the Middle Ages, and a substantial number probably assimilated as Arabs and Persians before the arrival of the Ottomans. Without the religious incentive to adopt Arabic, we may see several more "Azerbaijans" forming, perhaps one in Syria and another in northern Iraq.
 
On the topic of Ayyubids I could see Turkish and Kurdish areas becoming very widespread, especially Turkish considering the ghilman, mamluks and Seljuks. Turks were very prominent in the military forces of the Near East in the Middle Ages, and a substantial number probably assimilated as Arabs and Persians before the arrival of the Ottomans. Without the religious incentive to adopt Arabic, we may see several more "Azerbaijans" forming, perhaps one in Syria and another in northern Iraq.
Maybe a seljuk successor state manages to turkify an area in syria and is known as seljukstan/rumistan as a result.

What about the byzantine empire? if they adopt islam ITTL we could see the Islamic golden age spread to the predecessor of Islamic philosophy. How would muslim 'rhomans' be treated in the larger islamic world? would they be a rather peripheral region like the andalusians or a major player in islamic affairs?
 
Maybe a seljuk successor state manages to turkify an area in syria and is known as seljukstan/rumistan as a result.

What about the byzantine empire? if they adopt islam ITTL we could see the Islamic golden age spread to the predecessor of Islamic philosophy. How would muslim 'rhomans' be treated in the larger islamic world? would they be a rather peripheral region like the andalusians or a major player in islamic affairs?

This is not likely. There are few examples of Christian states voluntarily adopting Islam or vice-versa. Christianity was a core element of Roman culture by this time. They regarded the Muslims as heretic barbarians coming out of the desert.

The Arabs could possibly conquer the Romans though.
 
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