Syrian Jews
The Syrian pronunciation of Hebrew is similar to that of other Mizrahi communities and is influenced both by Sephardi Hebrew and by the Syrian dialect of Levantine Arabic. The Syrian pronunciation of Hebrew is less archaic than the Iraqi Hebrew of Iraqi Jews and closer to standard Sephardic Hebrew. That affects especially the interdentals. Nevertheless, Syrian and Iraqi Hebrew are very closely related because of their location and geographic proximity, as is the case with most eastern Jewish communities in the Arabic world other than Yemenite Jews. Particular features are as follows:The retention of distinct emphatic sounds such as and differentiates Syrian pronunciation from many other Sephardic/Mizrahi pronunciations, which have failed to maintain these phonemic or phonological distinctions, such as between and .
Sacred language
However, Classical Arabic is not itself sacred, and holds no inherent spiritual significance. This is unlike, for example, the significance of Biblical Hebrew in Judaism, Sanskrit in Hinduism, or Avestan in Zoroastrianism. Though the Qur'an was revealed to Muhammad in Arabic, other prophets received revelation in their own languages - e.g., Moses was revealed the Torah in Hebrew, and Jesus was revealed the Injil in Aramaic. These revelations were no less divine than the Qur'an; their texts have only become less divine, as their original message was corrupted over generations. The Arabic used in Muslim worship was also the same language used in day-to-day life by Arabs at the time, and the fact that the Qur'an was revealed to humans in Arabic does not make the Arabic language itself more sacred than any other. Sermons are delivered in local vernacular.