I'm not Muslim either, but I actually think I understand the situation
here.

The Qur'an is by definition untranslatable. That doesn't mean its words
and sentences cannot be translated. They certainly can be translated,
just like any other words and sentences, into any other language
imaginable, written, spoken, signed, or sent via Morse code. But such a
translation, no matter how accurate, cannot be called "the Qur'an." The
term "Qur'an" implies that the work is the original recital in Arabic.
A translated work must be *called* something else.

This does mean that to reach a certain level of scholarship in the
Muslim faith, one is expected to read the true (that is, classical
Arabic) Qur'an. Islam places a certain holy status on the classical
Arabic language. And no, the same requirement is not made of most
Christians to read Aramaic or Greek (though as fragmented as
Christianity is, there are probably some sects that do prefer this).

-Doug Ewell
Fullerton, California
http://users.adelphia.net/~dewell/