Why Do I Spell Ramadaawn Different Than Everyone Else?

No one has asked me here this question yet, I guess because many are my students & they know me I guess others are just shy. Therefore I thought I would get ahead of the curve & answer first.

The Short answer is I don't copy other people until I know it's the right thing to do. That's how I came to Islam basicly. As a teacher of New Muslims for nearly 50 years & the fact that I do not like transliterations when I have to write an Arabic word with English letters I try to do so as close as possible to the right way it's spelled in Arabic with the English & not just copy what others are doing. This is because many mistakes that most new Muslims make in their early days of Islam the longer they hold on to them, the more difficult it is to change later on.

In Arabic there's a big difference between some letters from their English counterpart. In this case there are two D sounding letters in Arabic. One is light, the other heavy. One pronounced Daa, the other Daw.

The word Ramadaawn is spelled with the letter Dawd & not Daa رمضان & therefore could never be pronouned dan, or don. Unfortunately most "teachers" just copy & don't always evaluate if what they're doing is the best method or not. You will find everywhere the spelling for our daily prayer as (As Salaat or Salah), sometimes they will put a dot under the S however the new Muslim or non-Muslim reading that on his/her own have no idea what that is & therefore will pay no attention to it. Arabic also has two S sounding letters, again one light & the other heavy. Saa & Saw. The word for the daily prayer that we all make is spelled with the Saw sounding letter. الصلاة Therefore the way you make your mouth when you say S-alaat can never be that word, which is why with English letters I spell it As-Saw-lah, which is more closer to the correct Arabic word.

If you've accepted Islam years ago & no one has ever told you this, you need a new teacher. If you're a new Revert, you're blessed to have found someone who will do his best to teach you the right way the first time around. If you're someone who teaches New Muslims & you don't teach like this, you're teaching bad habits that can truly hurt them down the road & hold them back in many ways. Contact me & I can help you help your students.

May Allah accept our efforts & forgive us all for our mistakes.

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