ABSTRACT
Ibn Bilal’s treatise represents what can be called the dissenting opinion on translated prayer among Muslim jurists. He belongs to the small minority who maintained that prayer is permissible in languages other than Arabic, although he stresses more than once that this applies to cases of necessity, making it undesirable but not forbidden. Ibn Bilal is possibly the only scholar who dedicated an entire work to argue for this opinion using logical and legal arguments. Al-Razi has found meaning translation inadequate, reasoning that, when rendered in the other languages, Qur‘anic verses would not go beyond the basic senses which may be found in any text of religious nature. As a result, the language of prayer would lose its distinctive character. In response, Ibn Bilal distinguishes two types of translation, conducted by a “primary” or an “auxiliary” method.
