Prince Charles Learning Arabic to Read Qur’an

By Laura Fawaz, Contributing Reporter

File:  Prince Charles visiting a Muslim country.

While in Qatar last month, Prince Charles of Wales said that he is learning Arabic so that he will be able to read the Qur’an.

Tom Sykes, from The Royalist (a division of The Daily Beast), who reports on all aspects of the British Royal Family, first reported the story, and the Prince’s difficulty mastering a foreign language.  When Qatar’s energy minister inquired if Charles spoke any Arabic at an event yesterday, Charles replied, “I tried to learn it once but I gave up.  It goes in one ear and out the other.”

Nevertheless, a report in the UK’s The Telegraph Newspaper cites a close aide to the Prince who has disclosed that Charles had indeed been taking Arabic lessons over the past six months, and he was motivated in part by a wish to be able to read the Qur’an in its original form.  Understanding Arabic would enable the Prince, who is passionate about encouraging dialogue between different religions, to read the Qur’an in its original form.  It would also mean he could decipher Arabic script during visits to mosques and museums of Islamic art.

The Prince of Wales is on a tour of the Middle East with Camilla. On Wednesday, they visited a camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan.

This emerging news resonates with some older allegations that Prince Charles’ ex-wife the late Princess Diana was engaged to a Muslim man, Dodi Al Fayed.  In fact, many speculations came about after Al Fayed and the princess’ tragic death, that someone powerful had had them killed, perhaps in response to concerns the princess might embrace Islam.  Princess Diana is rumored to have said “When it’s not convenient anymore, I will– they will blow me in a car or in a helicopter,” according to her old friend, Argentinean businessman Roberto Deverik.

In life, it was Princess Diana’s glamour and fame and her modesty and caring, that caught the world’s attention.  Today, it is the mystery surrounding her death.  The questions remain over a decade after the princess’ tragic death in a Paris tunnel.  Billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed, Dodi’s father, has relentlessly accused the British government of orchestrating the death of Princess Diana and his son.  Al Fayed believes that his son and Diana were killed in order to prevent the princess from marrying his son, a Muslim, and having his child.

15-20