Learning English by studying the Bible

 

I am a student studying in a foreign country. In this country they offer some services to the families of students, such as English classes. My wife attends these classes in order to learn English and the book that is being used for these classes is the Bible. My question is: what is the ruling on studying the Bible with the aim of learning English?.

Praise be to Allaah.

There is nothing wrong with the Muslim learning foreign
languages. Indeed, that may be required and rewarded, if one learns their
language in order to call them to Islam and strives to guide them to the
truth from which they have gone astray, or if one intends to benefit from
the knowledge that they have that the Muslims do not have, so that he will
be able to benefit the Muslim by means of this knowledge. 

But we think that the way that you have mentioned is not
permissible, and we think that these people are deceiving the Muslims in
order to divert them from their religion. This class is not a language
learning class; rather it is a class in Christianity. 

We Muslims believe that the Bible has been distorted and
tampered with by Christian scholars, and it now contains falsehoods and
myths that no one with a sound mind can believe. 

Reading these distorted books is not permissible, except for
one who has enough Islamic knowledge to be able to distinguish between truth
and falsehood in them, and who reads them with the aim of refuting their
followers and convincing them that what is in these books is falsehood. 

Hence the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
got angry when he saw a book in the hand of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allah
be pleased with him) that he had taken from some of the People of the Book.
The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Are you in
doubt of it, O son of al-Khattaab? By the One in Whose hand is my soul, I
have brought to you that which is white and pure, and by the One in Whose
hand is my soul, if Moosa (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) were
alive, he could do nothing but follow me.” Narrated by Imam Ahmad (14736);
classed as hasan by al-Albaani in al-Irwa’ (6/34). 

Allah has told us that these people are plotting and that
they will do all that they can to take the Muslims away from their religion.
Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): “And they will never cease
fighting you until they turn you back from your religion (Islamic
Monotheism) if they can” [al-Baqarah 2:217]. 

Shaykh al-Sa’di (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

Allah tells us that they will never stop fighting the
believers, and that their aim is not to steal their wealth or kill them;
rather their aim is to turn them back from their religion so that they will
become disbelievers after having believed, and so that they will be doomed
to Hell. So they are doing all that they can to achieve that and striving as
hard as they can, but Allaah will not
allow except that His Light should be perfected even though the Kaafiroon
(disbelievers) hate (it) (cf. al-Tawbah 9:32). 

This description is general and applies to all the
disbelievers. They will not cease to fight others until they turn them back
from their religion, especially the People of the Book, the Jews and
Christians, who set up organisations and send missionaries and doctors, and
build schools in order to attract people to their religion and to introduce
to them whatever they can of specious arguments which will make them doubt
their religion. 

But hope comes from Allah Who has blessed the believers with
Islam and has chosen for them His true religion, and has perfected His
religion for them, and has completed His blessings upon them, and has
thwarted everyone who wants to extinguish His light, caused their plans to
fail, supported His religion and made His word supreme. 

This verse speaks the truth about these disbelievers as it
speaks the truth about those who came before them (interpretation of the
meaning): “Verily, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder
(men) from the path of Allaah, and so will they continue to spend it; but in
the end it will become an anguish for them. Then they will be overcome. And
those who disbelieve will be gathered unto Hell” [al-Anfaal 8:36]. End
quote. 

Tafseer al-Sa’di, p. 97 

What you have to do is prevent your wife from going to these
people and not go along with them and their evil plots. It is essential to
warn every Muslim man and woman who may be deceived by such people, and
expose their plots and schemes. 

It is possible to learn English by many easy ways that do not involve any problems, missing of issues or misguidance. We ask Allah to thwart the plot of these people and to give the Muslims insight into their plots.