Narrated with its chain
Writing to Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari:
“ To proceed: gain understanding in the Sunna, gain understanding in Arabic, and recite the Qur'an with correct inflection, for it is Arabic; and live by the hardy ways of Ma'add, for you are of Ma'add.”
أَمّا بَعْدُ فَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي السُّنَّةِ وَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي العَرَبِيَّةِ، وَأَعْرِبُوا القُرْآنَ فَإِنَّهُ عَرَبِيٌّ، وَتَمَعْدَدُوا فَإِنَّكُمْ مَعَدِّيُّونَ
ع
Umar ibn al-Khattab
d. 23 AH / 644 CE
Via a reliable witness
Writing to Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari:
“ Order those under you to learn Arabic, for it guides to correct speech; and order them to transmit poetry, for it points to noble character.”
مُرْ مَنْ قِبَلَكَ بِتَعَلُّمِ العَرَبِيَّةِ فَإِنَّهُ يَدُلُّ عَلَى صَوابِ الكَلامِ، وَمُرْهُمْ بِرِوايَةِ الشِّعْرِ فَإِنَّهُ يَدُلُّ عَلَى مَعالِي الأَخْلاقِ
ع
Umar ibn al-Khattab
d. 23 AH / 644 CE
Via a reliable witness
“ Hisham ibn 'Urwa said: My father came out to us one day while our teacher was teaching us grammar; when he appeared, the teacher silenced us. My father sat down and said to the teacher: "Tell them to go on learning; no one has acquired a refinement more pleasing to me than grammar."”
قالَ هِشامُ بْنُ عُرْوَةَ: خَرَجَ عَلَيْنا أَبِي يَوْماً وَمُعَلِّمُنا يُعَلِّمُنا النَّحْوَ، فَلَمّا خَرَجَ أَبِي أَسْكَتَنا المُعَلِّمُ، فَجَلَسَ أَبِي، فَقالَ لِلمُعَلِّمِ: مُرْهُمْ فَلْيَتَعَلَّمُوا؛ فَما أَحْدَثَ أَحَدٌ مُرُوءَةً هِيَ أَعْجَبُ إِلَيَّ مِنَ النَّحْوِ.
ع
'Urwa ibn al-Zubayr
d. 94 AH / 713 CE
Narrated with its chain
“ Yahya ibn 'Atiq said: I asked al-Hasan, "Abu Sa'id, a man learns Arabic, seeking good speech by it and to recite correctly?" He said: "Good — let him learn it; for a man recites a verse, is at a loss over its meaning, and perishes by it."”
سُئِلَ الحَسَنُ عَنِ الرَّجُلِ يَتَعَلَّمُ العَرَبِيَّةَ يَلْتَمِسُ بِذَلِكَ حُسْنَ المَنْطِقِ وَيُقِيمُ بِها قِراءَتَهُ، فَقالَ: حَسَنٌ، يَتَعَلَّمُها؛ فَإِنَّ الرَّجُلَ يَقْرَأُ الآيَةَ فَيَعْيا بِوَجْهِها فَيَهْلِكُ بِها.
ح
al-Hasan al-Basri
d. 110 AH / 728 CE
Narrated with its chain
Answering ‘Amr ibn ‘Ubayd, who argued from the verses of threat that God cannot forgo a threatened punishment:
“ It is foreignness of tongue that has undone you, Abu ‘Uthman! A promise is not a threat.”
مِنَ العُجْمَةِ أُتِيتَ يا أَبا عُثْمانَ، إِنَّ الوَعْدَ غَيْرُ الوَعِيدِ.
ع
Abu ‘Amr ibn al-‘Ala’
d. 154 AH / 771 CE
Narrated with its chain
Recounting what happened with his teacher al-A‘mash:
“ [Waki' said:] I came to al-A'mash to hear hadith from him, and I would sometimes make grammatical mistakes. He said: 'Abu Sufyan, you have left what is more fitting for you than hadith.' I said: 'Abu Muhammad, what is more fitting than hadith?' He said: 'Grammar.' So al-A'mash dictated grammar to me, and then dictated hadith.”
أَتَيْتُ الْأَعْمَشَ أَسْمَعُ مِنْهُ الْحَدِيثَ، وَكُنْتُ رُبَّمَا لَحَنْتُ، فَقَالَ لِي: يَا أَبَا سُفْيَانَ، تَرَكْتَ مَا هُوَ أَوْلَى بِكَ مِنَ الْحَدِيثِ! فَقُلْتُ: يَا أَبَا مُحَمَّدٍ، وَأَيُّ شَيْءٍ أَوْلَى مِنَ الْحَدِيثِ؟ فَقَالَ: النَّحْوُ. فَأَمْلَى عَلَيَّ الْأَعْمَشُ النَّحْوَ، ثُمَّ أَمْلَى عَلَيَّ الْحَدِيثَ.
و
Waki‘ ibn al-Jarrah
d. 197 AH / 812 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ The tongue of the Arabs is the widest of tongues in its ways and the richest in words; we know of no one but a prophet who encompasses all of it, yet none of it is lost to the Arabs as a whole, so that there is always someone among them who knows it.”
وَلِسانُ العَرَبِ أَوْسَعُ الأَلْسِنَةِ مَذْهَباً وَأَكْثَرُها أَلْفاظاً، وَلا نَعْلَمُهُ يُحِيطُ بِجَمِيعِ عِلْمِهِ إِنْسانٌ غَيْرُ نَبِيٍّ، وَلَكِنَّهُ لا يَذْهَبُ مِنْهُ شَئٌ عَلَى عامَّتِها حَتَّى لا يَكُونَ مَوْجُوداً فِيها مَنْ يَعْرِفُهُ
ش
al-Shafi'i
d. 204 AH / 820 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ Every Muslim must learn as much of the tongue of the Arabs as his effort can reach, so that by it he may bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, and recite by it the Book of God.”
فَعَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ أَنْ يَتَعَلَّمَ مِنْ لِسانِ العَرَبِ ما بَلَغَهُ جُهْدُهُ حَتَّى يَشْهَدَ بِهِ أَنْ لا إِلَهَ إِلّا اللَّهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ، وَيَتْلُوَ بِهِ كِتابَ اللَّهِ
ش
al-Shafi'i
d. 204 AH / 820 CE
Narrated with its chain
Reported by his student Harb al-Kirmani, in his chapter on naming the months in Persian:
“ I said to Ahmad: The Persians have days and months that they call by names that are not known. He disliked that with the strongest dislike.”
قُلْتُ لِأَحْمَدَ: فَإِنَّ لِلْفُرْسِ أَيَّاماً وَشُهُوراً يُسَمُّونَهَا بِأَسْمَاءٍ لَا تُعْرَفُ؛ فَكَرِهَ ذَلِكَ أَشَدَّ الكَرَاهَة.
أ
Ahmad ibn Hanbal
d. 241 AH / 855 CE
Read in the original
“ The Christian young men, exalted by Arabic eloquence, most eagerly handle the books of the Chaldeans [i.e. the Arabs]… Alas, for shame! The Christians do not know their own language.”
Arabico eloquio sublimati, volumina Chaldæorum avidissime tractant […] Heu, proh dolor! linguam suam nesciunt Christiani.
أ
Paulus Alvarus of Córdoba
c. 800 – c. 861
From the author's own Arabic
“ The excellence of the Qur'an is known only to one who has studied much, whose learning is broad, and who understands the ways of the Arabs, their versatility in modes of expression, and what God singled out their language for above all other languages.”
وَإِنَّما يَعْرِفُ فَضْلَ القُرْآنِ مَنْ كَثُرَ نَظَرُهُ، وَاتَّسَعَ عِلْمُهُ، وَفَهِمَ مَذاهِبَ العَرَبِ وَافْتِنانَها فِي الأَسالِيبِ، وَما خَصَّ اللَّهُ بِهِ لُغَتَها دُونَ جَمِيعِ اللُّغاتِ
ق
Ibn Qutayba
d. 276 AH / 889 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ Whoever is ignorant of the breadth of the Arabic tongue, the abundance of its words and its many ways of expression is ignorant of the substance of the knowledge of the Book; and whoever knows it, grasps its ways and understands how the commentators interpreted it, is freed of the doubts that befall those of the people of whims and innovations who are ignorant of its tongue.”
فَإِنَّ مَنْ جَهِلَ سَعَةَ لِسانِ العَرَبِ وَكَثْرَةَ أَلْفاظِها، وَافْتِنانَها فِي مَذاهِبِها، جَهِلَ جُمَلَ عِلْمِ الكِتابِ، وَمَنْ عَلِمَها وَوَقَفَ عَلَى مَذاهِبِها، وَفَهِمَ ما تَأَوَّلَهُ أَهْلُ التَّفْسِيرِ فِيها، زالَتْ عَنْهُ الشُّبَهُ الدّاخِلَةُ عَلَى مَنْ جَهِلَ لِسانَها مِنْ ذَوِي الأَهْواءِ وَالبِدَعِ
م
Abu Mansur al-Azhari
d. 370 AH / 980 CE
From the author's own Arabic
Discussing whether language is revealed or conventional:
“ When I consider the state of this noble, generous and subtle language, I find in it such wisdom, precision, refinement and delicacy that it takes hold of my thought, until it almost carries it beyond the farthest reach of magic.”
وَذَلِكَ أَنَّنِي إِذا تَأَمَّلْتُ حالَ هَذِهِ اللُّغَةِ الشَّرِيفَةِ الكَرِيمَةِ اللَّطِيفَةِ، وَجَدْتُ فِيها مِنَ الحِكْمَةِ وَالدِّقَّةِ وَالإِرْهافِ وَالرِّقَّةِ ما يَمْلِكُ عَلَيَّ جانِبَ الفِكْرِ حَتَّى يَكادُ يَطْمَحُ بِهِ أَمامَ غَلْوَةِ السِّحْرِ
ج
Ibn Jinni
d. 392 AH / 1002 CE
From the author's own Arabic
Comparing Arabic with other languages:
“ We ask scholars of Arabic whose origin is non-Arab, and who were trained in their own language before they took up Arabic, about the two languages: they will not put them side by side — they will hardly even accept the question, so remote does it seem to them, so far does the subtlety of Arabic stand ahead in their judgement and their feeling. I asked Abu 'Ali about this more than once, and his answer was much as I have related.”
وَذَلِكَ أَنّا نَسْأَلُ عُلَماءَ العَرَبِيَّةِ مِمَّنْ أَصْلُهُ عَجَمِيٌّ عَنْ حالِ اللُّغَتَيْنِ، فَلا يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَهُما، بَلْ لا يَكادُ يَقْبَلُ السُّؤالَ عَنْ ذَلِكَ؛ لِبُعْدِهِ فِي نَفْسِهِ، وَتَقَدُّمِ لُطْفِ العَرَبِيَّةِ فِي رَأْيِهِ وَحِسِّهِ.
ج
Ibn Jinni
d. 392 AH / 1002 CE
From the author's own Arabic
In his chapter on the religious errors that knowledge of Arabic guards against:
“ Most of those among the people of the religious law who strayed from its right course and turned from the best path to it were led astray, and their judgement made light of, by their weakness in this noble and generous language in which all people were addressed.”
وَذَلِكَ أَنَّ أَكْثَرَ مَنْ ضَلَّ مِنْ أَهْلِ الشَّرِيعَةِ عَنِ القَصْدِ فِيها وَحادَ عَنِ الطَّرِيقَةِ المُثْلَى إِلَيْها، فَإِنَّما اسْتَهْواهُ "وَاسْتَخَفَّ حِلْمَهُ" ضَعْفُهُ فِي هَذِهِ اللُّغَةِ الكَرِيمَةِ الشَّرِيفَةِ، الَّتِي خُوطِبَ الكافَّةُ بِها
ج
Ibn Jinni
d. 392 AH / 1002 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ The science most deserving to be learned and most worthy of being memorised, after knowledge of God, is the science of rhetoric and the knowledge of eloquence, by which the inimitability of God's Book is known.”
اعْلَمْ- عَلَّمَكَ اللَّهُ الخَيْرَ، وَدَلَّكَ عَلَيْهِ، وَقَيَّضَهُ لَكَ، وَجَعَلَكَ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ- أَنَّ أَحَقَّ العُلُومِ بِالتَّعَلُّمِ، وَأَوْلاها بِالتَّحَفُّظِ- بَعْدَ المَعْرِفَةِ بِاللَّهِ جَلَّ ثَناؤُهُ- عِلْمُ البَلاغَةِ، وَمَعْرِفَةُ الفَصاحَةِ، الَّذى بِهِ يُعْرَفُ إِعْجازُ كِتابِ اللَّهِ تَعالَى
ه
Abu Hilal al-'Askari
d. 395 AH / 1005 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ Whoever loves God loves His Messenger Muhammad; whoever loves the Arab Messenger loves the Arabs; whoever loves the Arabs loves Arabic, in which the best of books was sent down to the best of non-Arabs and Arabs; and whoever loves Arabic cares for it, persists in it and devotes his effort to it، Arabic is the best of languages and tongues, and turning to understand it is part of religion, for it is the instrument of knowledge, the key to understanding religion, and a means of setting right this life and the next.”
وَمَنْ أَحَبَّ الرَّسُولَ العَرَبِيَّ أَحَبَّ العَرَبَ، وَمَنْ أَحَبَّ العَرَبَ أَحَبَّ العَرَبِيَّةَ الَّتِي بِها نَزَلَ أَفْضَلُ الكُتُبِ… وَالعَرَبِيَّةُ خَيْرُ اللُّغاتِ وَالأَلْسِنَةِ.
ث
al-Tha'alibi
d. 429 AH / 1038 CE
Via a reliable witness
“ Into the tongue of the Arabs the sciences were carried from every region of the world, and they were adorned by it, grew sweet in hearts, and the beauties of the language flowed through their arteries and veins، To be satirised in Arabic is dearer to me than to be praised in Persian.”
إِلَى لِسانِ العَرَبِ نُقِلَتِ العُلُومُ مِنْ أَقْطارِ العالَمِ فَازْدانَتْ وَحَلَتْ فِي الأَفْئِدَةِ وَسَرَتْ مَحاسِنُ اللُّغَةِ مِنْها فِي الشَّرايِينِ وَالأَوْرِدَةِ، وَالهَجْوُ بِالعَرَبِيَّةِ أَحَبُّ إِلَيَّ مِنَ المَدْحِ بِالفارِسِيَّةِ
ب
al-Biruni
d. 440 AH / 1048 CE
From the author's own Arabic
In the introduction to his Hebrew grammar, justifying the use of Arabic to explain obscure Hebrew:
“ We did not scruple to cite, for what has no attestation in Hebrew, what we found agreeing and cognate with it in the Arabic tongue, for it is, after Syriac, the language most like ours.”
لَمْ نَتَحَرَّجْ عَنِ الاسْتِشْهادِ عَلَى ما لا شاهِدَ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ العِبْرانِيِّ بِما وَجَدْناهُ مُوافِقاً وَمُجانِساً لَهُ مِنَ اللِّسانِ العَرَبِيِّ، إِذْ هُوَ أَكْثَرُ اللُّغاتِ بَعْدَ السُّرْيانِيِّ شَبَهاً بِلِسانِنا.
ج
Abu al-Walid Marwan ibn Janah
c. 990 – c. 1050
From the author's own Arabic
“ Once God had sent the best of His messengers from among the Arabs and sent down to him the last of His books in the tongue of the Arabs, it became an obligation on people to learn the tongue of the Arabs, even if a communal one, so that they might understand from God His command and prohibition, His promise and warning, and grasp from His Messenger his explanation and his conveying of the message.”
بَعْدَ أَنْ بَعَثَ اللَّهُ أَفْضَلَ رُسُلِهِ مِنَ العَرَبِ وَأَنْزَلَ عَلَيْهِ آخِرَ كُتُبِهِ بِلِسانِ العَرَبِ فَصارَ عَلَى النّاسِ فَرْضاً أَنْ يَتَعَلَّمُوا لِسانَ العَرَبِ وَإِنْ كانَ ذَلِكَ مِنْ فُرُوضِ الكِفايَةِ لِيَعْقِلُوا عَنِ اللَّهِ أَمْرَهُ وَنَهْيَهُ وَوَعْدَهُ وَوَعِيدَهُ، وَيَفْهَمُوا عَنْ رَسُولِهِ - ﷺ - بَيانَهُ وَتَبْلِيغَهُ
ب
al-Bayhaqi
d. 458 AH / 1066 CE
From the author's own Arabic
Answering those who belittle Arabic while depending on it:
“ They see that discussion in most chapters and questions of legal theory rests on the science of grammar, and that the commentaries are packed with reports from Sibawayh, al-Akhfash, al-Kisa'i and al-Farra'.”
وَيَرَوْنَ الكَلامَ فِي مُعْظَمِ أَبْوابِ أُصُولِ الفِقْهِ وَمَسائِلِها مَبْنِيّاً عَلَى عِلْمِ الإِعْرابِ، وَالتَّفاسِيرَ مَشْحُونَةً بِالرِّواياتِ عَنْ سِيبَوَيْهِ وَالأَخْفَشِ وَالكِسائِيِّ وَالفَرّاءِ
ز
al-Zamakhshari
d. 538 AH / 1144 CE
From the author's own Arabic
On the hermaphrodite, commenting on Q 42:49–50:
“ We say: this is ignorance of the language, dullness to where eloquence draws its lines, and a failure to grasp the breadth of God's power.”
قُلْنَا: هَذَا جَهْلٌ بِاللُّغَةِ، وَغَبَاوَةٌ عَنْ مَقْطَعِ الْفَصَاحَةِ، وَقُصُورٌ عَنْ مَعْرِفَةِ سَعَةِ الْقُدْرَةِ.
ب
Abu Bakr ibn al-‘Arabi
d. 543 AH / 1148 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ Know that habitual use of a language has a strong and evident effect on the mind, on character and on religion; it also brings one closer to the first generation of this community, the Companions and their Successors, and resembling them increases mind, religion and character. Moreover, the Arabic language itself is part of the religion, and knowing it is an obligation: understanding the Book and the Sunna is obligatory, they cannot be understood without understanding Arabic, and whatever an obligation cannot be fulfilled without is itself obligatory.”
وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ اعْتِيادَ اللُّغَةِ يُؤَثِّرُ فِي العَقْلِ وَالخُلُقِ وَالدِّينِ تَأْثِيراً قَوِيّاً بَيِّناً… فَإِنَّ نَفْسَ اللُّغَةِ العَرَبِيَّةِ مِنَ الدِّينِ، وَمَعْرِفَتَها فَرْضٌ واجِبٌ.
ت
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ It is well known that learning and teaching Arabic is a communal obligation. The forebears used to discipline their children for grammatical mistakes. We are commanded, by way of obligation or recommendation, to preserve the Arabic rule and to correct tongues that stray from it, so that our way of understanding the Book and the Sunna, and of following the Arabs in their speech, is preserved. Were people left to their mistakes, it would be a deficiency and a fault.”
وَمَعْلُومٌ أَنَّ تَعَلُّمَ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ وَتَعْلِيمَ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ فَرْضٌ عَلَى الْكِفَايَةِ، وَكَانَ السَّلَفُ يُؤَدِّبُونَ أَوْلَادَهُمْ عَلَى اللَّحْنِ… فَلَوْ تُرِكَ النَّاسُ عَلَى لَحْنِهِمْ كَانَ نَقْصاً وَعَيْباً.
ت
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ The forebears never ceased to dislike changing the distinctive marks of the Arabs, even in dealings, namely speaking other than Arabic except out of need, as Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad stated; Malik even said: whoever speaks other than Arabic in our mosque is to be put out of it. Other tongues may be spoken by their own people, but they allowed them for need and disliked them otherwise, to preserve the distinctive marks of Islam; for God sent down His Book in the Arabic tongue, sent with it His Arab Prophet, and made the Arab community the best of communities, so that preserving their emblem became part of fully preserving Islam.”
فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ أَنْزَلَ كِتَابَهُ بِاللِّسَانِ الْعَرَبِيِّ، وَبَعَثَ بِهِ نَبِيَّهُ الْعَرَبِيَّ… فَصَارَ حِفْظُ شِعَارِهِمْ مِنْ تَمَامِ حِفْظِ الْإِسْلَامِ.
ت
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ In interpreting the Qur'an and the Hadith one must know which words indicate what God and His Messenger meant, and how His speech is understood. Knowing the Arabic in which we were addressed helps us grasp what God and His Messenger meant by their words, and so does knowing how words signify meanings; for most of the error of the people of innovation came from this cause: they took the words of God and His Messenger to mean what they claimed them to indicate, when it was not so.”
فَمَعْرِفَةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ الَّتِي خُوطِبْنَا بِهَا مِمَّا يُعِينُ عَلَى أَنْ نَفْقَهَ مُرَادَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ بِكَلَامِهِ.
ت
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
From the author's own Arabic
“ The good way is to make addressing one another in Arabic a habit, so that children absorb it in the schools and at home; then the emblem of Islam and its people becomes manifest, and it is easier for Muslims to understand the meanings of the Book, the Sunna and the words of the forebears.”
وَإِنَّما الطَّرِيقُ الحَسَنُ اعْتِيادُ الخِطابِ بِالعَرَبِيَّةِ، حَتَّى يَتَلَقَّنَها الصِّغارُ فِي المَكاتِبِ وَفِي الدُّورِ فَيَظْهَرَ شِعارُ الإِسْلامِ وَأَهْلِهِ، وَيَكُونَ ذَلِكَ أَسْهَلَ عَلَى أَهْلِ الإِسْلامِ فِي فِقْهِ مَعانِي الكِتابِ وَالسُّنَّةِ وَكَلامِ السَّلَفِ
ت
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
From the author's own Arabic
On «the sciences of the Arabic language»:
“ Its pillars are four: lexicography, grammar, rhetoric and literature. Knowing them is necessary for the scholars of the religious law, since all legal rulings are taken from the Book and the Sunna, and these are in the language of the Arabs.”
أَرْكانُهُ أَرْبَعَةٌ، وَهِيَ اللُّغَةُ وَالنَّحْوُ وَالبَيانُ وَالأَدَبُ، وَمَعْرِفَتُها ضَرُورِيَّةٌ عَلَى أَهْلِ الشَّرِيعَةِ، إِذْ مَأْخَذُ الأَحْكامِ الشَّرْعِيَّةِ كُلِّها مِنَ الكِتابِ وَالسُّنَّةِ، وَهِيَ بِلُغَةِ العَرَبِ
خ
Ibn Khaldun
d. 808 AH / 1406 CE
From the author's own Arabic
On the hadith «Do not lie about me», answering the Karramiyya who allowed forged hadith for exhortation:
“ Arguing that it is a lie «for him», not «against him» — which is ignorance of the Arabic language.”
وَاحْتَجّ بِأَنَّهُ كَذِبَ لَهُ لَا عَلَيْهِ، وَهُوَ جَهْلٌ بِاللُّغَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ.
ح
Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani
d. 852 AH / 1449 CE
Read in the original
Answering the scholars of Europe, who read Avicenna and Rhazes in crude medieval Latin translations and scorned the Arabs as barbarous:
“ Someone will say: who does not know that to the common people the name of the Arabs means nothing but barbarous, rude and uncultivated? There is some truth in this, but I openly deny that it is true without qualification. For this is not the fault of the Arabs but of the translators. The Arabs, in their time the most learned, the sharpest and the most cultivated writers of all, have through the carelessness and ignorance of translators acquired the name of barbarism, which can hardly be washed away.”
At quis nescit, dicat quis, Arabum nomen apud vulgus aliud nihil, quàm barbarum, rude, & incultum sonare, audire, significare? Verum hoc quidem parte quadam, at in vniuersum hoc verum esse apertè nego. Arabum enim hæc culpa non est, sed interpretum. Arabes enim, scriptores omnium suo tempore doctissimi, acutissimi, cultissimi, interpretum oscitantia & inscitia, cognomen barbariei, vix eluendum, contraxerunt.
ب
William Bedwell
1563 – 1632
Read in the original
Telling scholars what Arabic holds for them:
“ There is no language, my reader (I except Greek and Latin), that contains more monuments of solid learning and of the whole circle of the sciences [than Arabic].”
Nulla, mi Lector, lingua est, (Græcam & Latinam excipio) quæ plura solidæ eruditionis & encyclopædiæ monumenta continet.
ب
William Bedwell
1563 – 1632
Read in the original
Describing how widely Arabic was written in his day:
“ From the Fortunate Isles [the Canaries] in the far West to the Moluccas [in today's Indonesia] in the far East… the privileges and diplomas of kings and princes, the instruments and contracts of merchants and nobles, and the letters of everyone, are written in this language [Arabic] almost alone.”
ab insulis Fortunatis (خالدات Chalidet Arabes vocant) ad Muluccarum vsque insulas […] Regum & Principum priuilegia & diplomata, Mercatorum & Nobilium instrumenta, & contractus […] Omnium denique literæ familiares hac ferè solâ concipiuntur, scribuntur.
ب
William Bedwell
1563 – 1632
Read in the original
“ Latin and Greek together, even if they joined forces, would come out far the smaller […]; from these first roots there grows an infinite forest of words.”
Nam primitiva, seu themata, longe numerosiora habet, & à primis hisce radicibus infinita vocum sylva succrescit.
Read in the original
“ I mean the Arabic language, which I may not undeservedly call an Ocean, since it takes the other Oriental languages into itself, just as the Ocean swallows the rivers.”
Linguam intelligo Arabicam, quam non immerito Oceanum dixerim, quippe quæ alias Linguas Orientales in se recipit, non secus ac fluvios absorbet Oceanus.
Read in the original
“ The Arabians are full of the commendations of their language, and not altogether without reason; for it claims the preference of most others in many respects, as being very harmonious and expressive, and withal so copious, that they say no man, without inspiration, can be perfect master of it in its utmost extent.”
والعربُ يُكثرون من الثناءِ على لغتهم، وليسوا في ذلك بغير حُجّةٍ تَماماً؛ فإنّها تستحقُّ التقديمَ على أكثر اللغات من وجوهٍ كثيرة، لأنَّها شديدةُ الانْسِجَامِ، بَلِيغةُ الإبانةِ، وهي مع ذلك من السَّعَةِ بحيث يقولون: إنَّه لا يُحيط بها في أقصى مَدَاها إنسانٌ إلّا بِوَحْيٍ.
Read in the original
“ The Arabick language, therefore, is almost wholly in our power; and, as it is unquestionably one of the most ancient in the world, so it yields to none ever spoken by mortals in the number of its words and the precision of its phrases.”
وكَمَا أَنَّها بلا رَيبٍ من أقدمِ لُغاتِ العَالَم، فإنّها لا تَتَأخَّر عن لُغَةٍ نطَق بها البشرُ قطُّ في كثرةِ ألفاظِها ودِقَّةِ عِبَاراتِهَا.
Sir William Jones
1746–1794
Read in the original
“ Whatever may be the pedigree of the Arabs, their language is derived from the same original stock with the Hebrew, the Syriac, and the Chaldæan tongues; the independence of the tribes was marked by their peculiar dialects; but each, after their own, allowed a just preference to the pure and perspicuous idiom of Mecca. In Arabia as well as in Greece, the perfection of language outstripped the refinement of manners; and her speech could diversify the fourscore names of honey, the two hundred of a serpent, the five hundred of a lion, the thousand of a sword, at a time when this copious dictionary was entrusted to the memory of an illiterate people.”
وفِي جَزِيرَةِ العَرَبِ، كَمَا فِي بِلادِ اليُونَانِ، سَبَقَ كَمَالُ اللُّغَةِ رُقِيَّ الأَخْلاقِ.
Read in the original
On studying a language by reasoning rather than memory alone:
“ The Arabic language above all seems to lend itself more readily than many others to this operation, whose instruments are analysis and synthesis; and I have sometimes been surprised to see how exactly the forms of this language answer to what clarity and precision of discourse require.”
La langue Arabe sur-tout semble se prêter plus aisément que beaucoup d'autres à cette opération, dont les instrumens sont l'analyse et la synthèse ; et j'ai quelquefois été surpris en voyant combien les formes de cette langue sont dans un juste rapport avec ce qu'exigent la clarté et la précision du discours.
Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy
1758–1838
Read in the original
“ Which language of the West has […] kept the oldest monuments of its literature intelligible today, not only to the scholar but to the whole people, as they were then — as Chinese and Arabic have?”
Welche Sprache des Abendlandes hat […] die ältesten Denkmale ihrer Literatur noch heute, nicht nur dem Sprachgelehrten, sondern dem ganzen Volke wie damals verständlich erhalten, wie das Chinesische und Arabische?
Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall
1774–1856
Read in the original
On the Arab lexicons:
“ In the aggregate of these works, with all the strictness that is observed in legal proceedings, as will presently be shown, the utmost care and research have been employed to embody everything that could be preserved or recovered of the classical language; the result being a collection of such authority, such exactness, and such copiousness, as we do not find to have been approached in the case of any other language after its corruption or decay. The classical language they called, by reason of its incomparable excellence, “el-loghah,” or “the language.””
فَكَانتِ الثَّمَرَةُ مَجْمُوعَةً بَلَغَتْ مِنَ الحِجِّيَّةِ والدِّقَّةِ والسَّعَةِ مَا لَا نَجِدُ أَنَّ لُغَةً أُخْرى قَارَبَتْهُ… وَكَانُوا يُسَمُّونَ اللُّغَةَ الفُصْحَى، لِفَضْلِها الَّذِي لَا يُضَاهَى، «اللُّغَة».
Edward William Lane
1801–1876
Read in the original
“ The language of the Qur'ân is universally acknowledged to be the most perfect form of Arab speech. The Qurâis, as the guardians of the national temple and the owners of the territory in which the great fairs and literary festivals of all Arabia were held, would naturally absorb into their own dialect many of the words and locutions of other tribes, and we should consequently expect their language to be more copious and elegant than that of their neighbours.”
لُغَةُ القُرْآنِ مُسَلَّمٌ عِنْدَ الجَمِيعِ بِأَنَّهَا أَكْمَلُ صُورَةٍ للكَلامِ العَرَبِيّ.
Edward Henry Palmer
1840–1882
Read in the original
“ The Arabic language, having come to prevail throughout the whole empire, served as a binding agent and furthered the transmission of ideas.”
Die arabische Sprache, im ganzen Reiche zur Herrschaft gelangt, diente als Bindemittel und beförderte die Ideenübertragung.
Alfred von Kremer
1828–1889
Read in the original
“ This language, unknown before, shows itself to us suddenly in all its perfection, with its flexibility, its infinite richness… It has neither childhood nor old age.”
Cette langue, auparavant inconnue, se montre à nous soudainement dans toute sa perfection, avec sa flexibilité, sa richesse infinie […] Il n'y a pour elle ni enfance, ni vieillesse.
Read in the original
“ In Arabic the words seem, quite literally, to swim in a river of vowels that overflows them on every side, follows them, precedes them, joins them.”
Dans l'arabe, les mots semblent, à la lettre, nager dans un fleuve de voyelles, qui les déborde de toutes parts, les suit, les précède, les unit.
Read in the original
“ A great uniformity of speech overspread the land, whether due, as is usually assumed, to the general observance of the Pilgrimage to Mekkah and the meeting of the tribes at ‘Ukâdh, or to some other cause. The same masculine and expressive language was heard from al-Ḥîrah on the Euphrates, under the shadow of Persia, and Ghassân in Syria, beneath the great cathedral of Damascus, to Ṣan‘â and Aden in the far South, where a Persian governor ruled in the name of the Shâhanshâh, and the profession of the poet was everywhere honoured and rewarded.”
فَكَانَتِ اللُّغَةُ نَفْسُهَا، الجَزْلَةُ القَوِيَّةُ التَّعْبِيرِ، تُسْمَعُ مِنَ الحِيرَةِ عَلى الفُرَاتِ… إلى صَنْعَاءَ وَعَدَنَ فِي أَقْصَى الجَنُوبِ.
ل
Charles James Lyall
1845–1920
Read in the original
“ The Arab mind, on the other hand, is clear and positive, and the Arabic language nervous, virile and rich both actually and potentially. The old Arabs were an acute and observant people, and for all natural objects which fell under their notice they had appropriate and finely differentiated words.”
وَاللُّغَةُ العَرَبِيَّةُ قَوِيَّةٌ جَزْلَةٌ غَنِيَّةٌ بِمَا فِيهَا فِعْلاً وَبِمَا تَقْدِرُ عَلَيْهِ.
Edward Granville Browne
1862–1926
Read in the original
On Arabic medical terminology:
“ On the other hand, apart from the fairly copious anatomical, pathological and medical vocabulary properly belonging to the Arabic language, it has a great power of forming significant derivatives from existing roots, which, when formed, are at once intelligible. Thus there exists in Arabic a special form for the "noun of pain," wherein the first root-letter is followed by a short u and the second by a long ā (the form known to Arab grammarians as فُعال, fu‘āl), and this is the form assumed by the names of most diseases and ailments; as the already mentioned ṣudā‘ (صُداع), "a splitting headache," the "soda" of the Latino-Barbari; zukām (زُكام), "a catarrh"; judhām (جُذام), "elephantiasis," etc.”
فإنّ لها قدرةً عظيمةً على توليد مشتقّاتٍ دالّةٍ من الجذور الموجودة، تُفهَمُ حالَ صَوغِها.
Edward Granville Browne
1862–1926
Read in the original
“ My work was more or less influenced by the style of medieval Hebrew and Arabic grammar. It was historical analysis. But you can translate the basic ideas into a kind of a synchronic interpretation, a description of the system as it actually exists, and out of that came the early stages of generative grammar. […] When I got to college I started studying Arabic. I wanted to learn Arabic, and I got pretty far.”
كان عملي متأثّراً إلى حدٍّ ما بطريقة النحو العبريّ والعربيّ في العصور الوسطى؛ كان تحليلاً تاريخيّاً، ولكن يمكنك أن تنقل أفكارَه الأساسيّة إلى تفسيرٍ وصفيٍّ للنظام كما هو قائمٌ فعلاً، ومن ذلك خرجت المراحلُ الأُولى للنحو التوليديّ… ولمّا دخلتُ الجامعة بدأتُ أدرس العربيّة؛ أردتُ أن أتعلّمها، وقطعتُ فيها شوطاً بعيداً.
Read in the original
On the vocabulary of the Arabs within their narrow desert world:
“ Within this range, the slightest modification is expressed by a particular word. Classical Arabic is rich not only in words but in grammatical forms.”
Innerhalb dieses Kreises bezeichnen sie aber die kleinste Modification durch ein eignes Wort. […] Das classische Arabisch ist nicht bloss an Wörtern, sondern auch an grammatischen Formen reich.
Theodor Nöldeke
1836–1930
Read in the original
“ The Arabic language is of very great richness, and this richness has only kept growing through the addition of new expressions borrowed from the languages with which it came into contact. The dictionary of Ibn Sīda already ran to twenty volumes.”
La langue arabe est d'une richesse très grande, et cette richesse n'a fait que s'accroître constamment par l'adjonction d'expressions nouvelles empruntées aux idiomes avec lesquels elle s'est trouvée en contact. Le dictionnaire d'Ibhn Seid, mort en 1065, comprenait déjà vingt volumes.
Via a reliable witness
“ I encompassed the Book of God in word and purpose, and was not too narrow for its verses and admonitions; how then should I be too narrow today to describe a machine or to arrange names for inventions? I am the sea, in whose depths pearls lie hidden; did they ask the diver about my shells?”
وَسِعْتُ كِتابَ اللَّهِ لَفْظاً وَغايَةً، وَما ضِقْتُ عَنْ آيٍ بِهِ وَعِظاتِ / فَكَيْفَ أَضِيقُ اليَوْمَ عَنْ وَصْفِ آلَةٍ، وَتَنْسِيقِ أَسْمَاءٍ لِمُخْتَرَعَاتِ / أَنَا البَحْرُ فِي أَحْشَائِهِ الدُّرُّ كامِنٌ، فَهَلْ سَأَلُوا الغَوَّاصَ عَنْ صَدَفَاتِي
ح
Hafiz Ibrahim
d. 1351 AH / 1932 CE
Read in the original
“ Arabic remains, for all Muslims who speak Persian, Turkish, Indian or African languages, the learned language par excellence.”
L'arabe reste pour tous les Musulmans de langue perse, ou turque, ou indienne, ou africaine, la langue savante par excellence.
Antoine Meillet
1866–1936
From the author's own Arabic
“ As for language, it is the image of the nation's existence, with its ideas, its meanings and the realities of its soul, a distinct existence standing on its own characteristics; it is the nationhood of thought.”
أَمَّا اللُّغَةُ فَهْي صُورَةُ وُجُودِ الأمَّةِ بِأَفْكَارِهَا وَمَعَانِيهَا وَحَقَائِقِ نُفُوسِهَا، وُجُوداً مُتَمَيِّزاً قَائِماً بِخَصَائِصِه؛ فَهْيَ قَوْمِيَّةُ الفِكْر
م
Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafi'i
d. 1356 AH / 1937 CE
Read in the original
“ This enthusiasm seems to have been well merited. There is no doubt that the Arabic language is undergoing a renaissance, and there is every likelihood of its again becoming a great literary vehicle. This renaissance will be greatly aided by the reproduction in it of the great European classics, which still retain their place as the basis of the higher education and as models of taste and style.”
فَلَا شَكَّ أَنَّ اللُّغَةَ العَرَبِيَّةَ تَمُرُّ بِنَهْضَةٍ، وَكُلُّ الدَّلَائِلِ تُشِيرُ إِلَى أَنَّها سَتَعُودُ أَدَاةً أَدَبِيَّةً عَظِيمَة.
D. S. Margoliouth
1858–1940
Read in the original
“ Although the language of the pagan Bedouins did not survive intact—or survived, at any rate, only in the mouths of pedants and poets—it became, in a modified form, the universal medium of expression among the upper classes of Muhammadan society. During the early Middle Ages it was spoken and written by all cultivated Moslems, of whatever nationality they might be, from the Indus to the Atlantic; it was the language of the Court and the Church, of Law and Commerce, of Diplomacy and Literature and Science.”
كَانَ يَتَكَلَّمُهَا وَيَكْتُبُ بِهَا كُلُّ المُسْلِمِينَ المُثَقَّفِينَ، أَيّاً كَانَتْ أَجْنَاسُهُمْ، مِنَ السِّنْدِ إِلَى الأَطْلَسِيّ؛ وَكَانَتْ لُغَةَ البَلَاطِ والدِّينِ، وَالقَانُونِ والتِّجَارَةِ، والدُّبْلُومَاسِيَّةِ وَالأَدَبِ وَالعِلْم.
ن
Reynold A. Nicholson
1868–1945
Via a reliable witness
“ If we except China, there is no other people that may justly take pride, as the Arabs may, in the abundance of its books on the sciences of its language and in its early sense of the need to arrange its vocabulary according to principles and rules.”
وَإِذَا اسْتَثْنَيْنَا الصِّينَ فَلَا يُوجَدُ شَعْبٌ آخَرُ يَحِقُّ لَهُ الفَخَارُ بِوَفْرَةِ كُتُبِ عُلُومِ لُغَتِهِ، وَبِشُعُورِهِ المُبَكِّرِ بِحَاجَتِهِ إِلَى تَنْسِيقِ مُفْرَدَاتِهَا، بِحَسَبِ أُصُولٍ وَقَواعِدَ، غَيْرُ العَرَب.
Via a reliable witness
On his years at university:
“ I often thought of going on with Ethiopic and going deeper, but Arabic overcame its rival and drew me wholly to itself.”
وَلَطَالَمَا فَكَّرْتُ أَنْ أَمْضِيَ فِيهَا [في الحبشيّة] وَأَتَعَمَّقَ، لَكِنَّ اللُّغَةَ العَرَبِيَّةَ غَلَبَتْ ضَرَّتَهَا وَجَذَبَتْنِي جُمْلَةً إِلَيْهَا.
ك
Ignaty Krachkovsky
1883–1951
Read in the original
On Arabic, before the seventh century the language of the desert alone:
“ It is as if that language which before the seventh century had been used only by rude barbarians had been predestined to become one of the main vehicles of religion and of science in the world. […] The Qur'ān helped to standardize the Arabic language; it could not prevent the growth of many dialects for common use, especially when Arabic began to be spoken by men of other nations, but it provided an international standard for the highest needs of life.”
كَأَنَّمَا قُدِّرَ لِتِلْكَ اللُّغَةِ… أَنْ تَصِيرَ إِحْدَى الأَدَاتَيْنِ الكُبْرَيَيْنِ لِلدِّينِ وَلِلْعِلْمِ فِي العَالَم.
Via a reliable witness
“ The human organ of speech is a complete musical instrument, and no nation, ancient or modern, has used it to the full as well as the Arab nation has.”
إِنَّ جِهَازَ النُّطْقِ الإِنْسَانِيِّ أَدَاةٌ مُوسِيقِيَّةٌ وَافِيَةٌ لَمْ تُحْسِنِ اسْتِخْدَامَهَا عَلَى أَوْفَاهَا أُمَّةٌ مِنَ الأُمَمِ القَدِيمَةِ أَوِ الحَدِيثَةِ كَمَا اسْتَخْدَمَتْهَا الأمَّةُ العَرَبِيَّة
ع
'Abbas Mahmud al-'Aqqad
d. 1383 AH / 1964 CE
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“ It will be realized that with such manifold nuances at the disposal of every verb and noun the Arabic language could readily be adapted to express the scientific terminology of the classical world. […] The triliteral root with its ramifications through a thousand forms, each of which has an assonance with the same form of another root, produces a rhythm in Arabic as natural as it is inevitable. When we utter an abstract idea we have no thought of the primitive meaning of the word we employ. 'Association' sits very loosely to socius in the mind of the speaker. […] But in Arabic the material is never more than faintly obscured beneath the abstract; its presence can always be felt.”
إِنَّ الجَذْرَ الثُّلَاثِيَّ بِتَشَعُّبِهِ فِي أَلْفِ صِيغَةٍ… يُحْدِثُ فِي العَرَبِيَّةِ إِيقَاعاً طَبِيعِيَّاً لَا مَفَرَّ مِنْهُ… أَمَّا فِي العَرَبِيَّةِ فَالأَصْلُ الحِسِّيُّ لَا يَغِيبُ تَحْتَ المُجَرَّدِ إِلَّا غِيَابَاً خَفِيفَاً، وَيَظَلُّ حُضُورُهُ مَحْسُوسَاً أَبَداً.
غ
Alfred Guillaume
1888–1965
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On the pre-Islamic odes:
“ It is probable, however, that the poets greatly enriched the language by absorption of dialect forms, and that they helped to fix its usages. The syntactical construction of the poems especially attains a degree of refinement unknown to any other Semitic language […].”
وَقَدْ بَلَغَ التَّرْكِيبُ النَّحْوِيُّ فِي هَذِهِ القَصَائِدِ خَاصَّةً دَرَجَةً مِنَ التَّهْذِيبِ لَمْ تَعْرِفْهَا لُغَةٌ سَامِيَّةٌ أُخْرَى.
ج
Sir Hamilton A. R. Gibb
1895–1971
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“ Arabic literature is the enduring monument of a civilization, not of a people. […] Yet even when Arabic was in the Eastern provinces displaced from its supremacy by the rise of a Persian literature, it maintained, and still maintains, its position as the universal language of Islamic theology, philosophy, and science.”
الأَدَبُ العَرَبِيُّ أَثَرٌ بَاقٍ لِحَضَارَةٍ، لَا لِشَعْبٍ بِعَيْنِهِ… وَحَتَّى حِينَ أُزِيحَتِ العَرَبِيَّةُ فِي الأَقَالِيمِ الشَّرْقِيَّةِ عَنْ سِيَادَتِهَا بِنُهُوضِ أَدَبٍ فَارِسِيٍّ، فَقَدْ حَافَظَتْ- وَلَا تَزَالُ تُحَافِظُ- عَلَى مَكَانَتِهَا لُغَةً جَامِعَةً لِعِلْمِ الكَلَامِ الإِسْلَامِيِّ وَالفَلْسَفَةِ وَالعِلْم.
ج
Sir Hamilton A. R. Gibb
1895–1971
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“ No language can match the dignity of Arabic, the chosen vehicle of God's ultimate message. But it is not only its spiritual rank which transcends the potentialities of the other tongues; its pre-eminence is rooted equally firmly in its objective features — above all, in the unparalleled vastness of its vocabulary. Where Greek frequently has but one word to denote many objects, Arabic offers many words to denote one. Phonetic beauty is added to its staggering richness in synonyms. Precision and concision of expression adorn Arabic speech. […] Arabic is distinguished by its unrivaled possibilities in the use of figurative speech. Its innuendoes, tropes, and figures of speech lift it far above any other human language.”
وَمَا مِنْ لُغَةٍ تَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ تُطَاوِلَ العَرَبِيَّةَ فِي شَرَفِهَا، فَهْيَ الوَسِيلَةُ الَّتِي اخْتِيرَتْ لِتَحْمِلَ رِسَالَةَ اللهِ الأَخِيرَةَ… وَيُضَافُ جَمَالُ الصَّوْتِ إِلَى ثَرْوَتِهَا المُدْهِشَةِ فِي المُتَرَادِفَات.
غ
Gustave E. von Grunebaum
1909–1972
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“ Mohammedanism carried not only the Koran, but also the once-isolated language of southern Arabia to vast regions of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, where it influenced, more or less deeply, the native tongues; such languages as Persian, Hindustani, Turkish, Malay, Hausa are replete with Arabic words. […] Arabic, the tongue of medieval culture, gives us astronomical terms like "zenith" and "nadir," mathematical words like "algebra" and "cipher," chemical expressions like "alcohol," "alkali," "alchemy" and "chemistry" itself.”
والعَرَبِيَّةُ- لُغَةُ الثَّقَافَةِ فِي العُصُورِ الوُسْطَى- أَعْطَتْنَا- مَعْشَرَ النَّاطِقِينَ بِالإِنْجلِيزِيَّةِ — مُصْطَلَحَاتٍ فَلَكِيَّةً مِثْلَ «السَّمْتِ» و«النَّظِيرِ»، وَأْلْفَاظاً رِيَاضِيَّةً مِثْلَ «الجَبْرِ» و«الصِّفْرِ»، بَلْ كَلِمَةَ «الكِيمْيَاءِ» نَفْسَهَا.
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“ No people in the world, perhaps, manifest such enthusiastic admiration for literary expression and are so moved by the word, spoken or written, as the Arabs. Hardly any language seems capable of exercising over the minds of its users such irresistible influence as Arabic. Modern audiences in Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo can be stirred to the highest degree by the recital of poems, only vaguely comprehended, and by the delivery of orations in the classical tongue, though it be only partially understood.”
وَلَا تَكَادُ تَبْدُو لُغَةٌ قَادِرَةً عَلَى أَنْ تُمَارِسَ عَلَى عُقُولِ المُتَكَلِّمِينَ بِهَا مِثْلَ مَا تُمَارِسُهُ العَرَبِيَّةُ مِنْ تَأْثِيرٍ لَا يُقَاوَم.
ح
Philip K. Hitti
1886–1978
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“ For many centuries in the Middle Ages it was the language of learning and culture and progressive thought throughout the civilized world. Between the ninth and the twelfth centuries more works, philosophical, medical, historical, religious, astronomical and geographical, were produced through the medium of Arabic than through any other tongue.”
وقد ظلّت العربيّةُ قروناً كثيرةً في العصور الوسطى لغةَ العلمِ والثقافة والفكر التقدّميّ في أرجاء العالم المتحضّر كلِّه. وبين القرنين التاسع والثاني عشر أُلِّف بالعربيّة من الكتب — في الفلسفة والطبّ والتاريخ والدين والفلك والجغرافيا — أكثرُ ممّا أُلِّف بأيّ لسانٍ آخر.
ح
Philip K. Hitti
1886–1978
From the author's own Arabic
On Hebrew literature under Islamic rule:
“ Israelite literature in the Middle Ages revived greatly … under Islamic rule in al-Andalus, Egypt and Iraq; the Jews began imitating the Arabs in poetry.”
عَلَى أَنَّ الأَدَبَ الإِسْرَائِيلِيَّ فِي القُرُونِ الوُسْطَى قَدِ انْتَعَشَ انْتِعَاشاً عَظِيماً… فِي ظِلِّ الحُكْمِ الإِسْلَامِيِّ بِالأَنْدَلُسِ وَمِصْرَ وَالعِراقِ، فَقَدْ أَخَذَ اليَهُودُ فِي تِلْكَ العُهُودِ يُقَلِّدُونَ العَرَبَ فِي الشِّعْرِ.
و
Israel Wolfensohn
1899–1980
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“ Being conversant with several languages, I can attest from my own personal experience that no language I know comes even near to Arabic in its power of rhetoricism, in its ability to penetrate beneath and beyond intellectual comprehension directly to the emotions and make its impact upon them. In this respect, Arabic can be compared only to music.”
وَأَنَا أَعْرِفُ عِدَّةَ لُغَاتٍ، فَأَشْهَدُ مِنْ تَجْرِبَتِي أَنَّهُ مَا مِنْ لُغَةٍ أَعْرِفُهَا تَقْتَرِبُ مِنَ العَرَبِيَّةِ فِي قُوَّتِهَا البَيَانِيَّةِ، وَفِي قُدْرَتِهَا عَلَى أَنْ تَنْفُذَ مِنْ تَحْتِ الفَهْمِ العَقْلِيِّ وَمِنْ وَرَائِهِ إِلَى المَشَاعِرِ مُبَاشَرَةً فَتَتْرُكَ فِيهَا أَثَرَهَا. وَلَا تُشَبَّهُ العَرَبِيَّةُ فِي هَذَا إِلَّا بِالمُوسِيقَى.
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“ Whom do its beauty, its euphony, its unique charm not overpower? Even the neighbours fall under its spell.”
Wen bezwingt nicht ihre Schönheit, ihr Wohllaut, ihr einzigartiger Charme? Selbst die Nachbarn verfallen ja ihrem Zauber.
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“ The Arabic element was, after the Latin, the most important in the Spanish vocabulary until the sixteenth century. Counting the vocabulary proper together with place-names, it does not seem exaggerated to reckon a total of more than four thousand forms.”
El elemento árabe fue, después del latino, el más importante del vocabulario español hasta el siglo XVI. Sumando el léxico propiamente dicho y los topónimos, no parece exagerado calcular un total superior a cuatro mil formas.
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After the conquests, when Arabic had become the language of an empire and of a culture:
“ The conquests made Arabic an imperial language, soon also the language of a great and diverse culture. Arabic expanded to meet these two needs, partly by borrowing new words and expressions, but mainly by development from within, forming new words from old roots, giving new meanings to old words. […] The language created in this way possessed a vivid, concrete and pictorial vocabulary, with each term having deep roots in a purely Arab past and tradition.”
وَاتَّسَعَتِ العَرَبِيَّةُ لِتَفِيَ بِهَاتَيْنِ الحَاجَتَيْنِ، بِالِاقْتِرَاضِ حِيناً، وَلِكِنْ بِالنُّمُوِّ مِنْ دَاخِلِهَا فِي الغَالِبِ: تَصُوغُ أََلْفَاظاً جَدِيدَةً مِنْ جُذُورٍ قَدِيمَةٍ، وَتَمْنَحُ الأَلْفَاظَ القَدِيمَةَ مَعَانِيَ جَدِيدَة.
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“ It was the Arabisation of the conquered provinces rather than their military conquest that is the true wonder of the Arab expansion. By the eleventh century Arabic had become not only the chief idiom of everyday use from Persia to the Pyrenees, but also the chief instrument of culture, superseding old culture languages like Coptic, Aramaic, Greek and Latin.”
إِنَّ تَعْرِيبَ الأَقَالِيمِ المَفْتُوحَةِ، لَا فَتْحَهَا العَسْكَرِيَّ، هُوَ الأُعْجُوبَةُ الحَقَّةُ فِي التَّوَسُّعِ العَرَبِيِّ. فَبِحُلُولِ القَرْنِ الحَادِي عَشَرَ لَمْ تَعُدِ العَرَبِيَّةُ اللِّسَانَ الغَالِبَ فِي الاِسْتِعْمَالِ اليَوْمِيِّ مِنْ فَارِسَ إِلَى جِبَالِ البَرَانِسِ فَحَسْبُ، بَلْ صَارَتْ كَذَلِكَ الأَدَاةَ الأُولَى لِلثَّقَافِةِ، وَحَلَّتْ مَحَلَّ لُغَاتِ الثَّقَافَةِ القَدِيمَةِ كَالقُبْطِيَّةِ وَالآرَامِيَّةِ وَاليُونَانِيَّةِ وَاللَّاتِينِيَّة.
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Opening his chapter on Islamic civilisation:
“ During the period of greatness of the Arab and Islamic Empires in the Near and Middle East a flourishing civilisation grew up that is usually known as Arabic. It was not brought ready-made by the Arab invaders from the desert, but was created after the conquests by the collaboration of many peoples, Arabs, Persians, Egyptians and others. Nor was it even purely Muslim, for many Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians were among its creators. But its chief medium of expression was Arabic, and it was dominated by Islam and its outlook on life. It was these two things, their language and their faith, which were the great contributions of the Arab invaders to the new and original civilisation which developed under their aegis.”
إِلَّا أَنَّ أَدَاةَ التَّعْبِيرِ الرَّئِيسِيَّةَ فِيهَا كَانَتِ اللُّغَةَ العَرَبِيَّةَ… وَكَانَ هَذَانِ الشَّيْئَانِ، أَيِ اللُّغَةُ وَالدِّينُ، أَعْظَمَ مَا قَدَّمَ العَرَبُ الفَاتِحُونَ إِلَى الحَضَارَةِ الجَدِيدَةِ الأَصِيلَة.
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After listing the Persian, Hellenistic and other sources of Islamic civilisation:
“ Despite this diversity of its origins Islamic civilisation was no mere mechanical juxtaposition of previous cultures but rather a new creation in which all these elements were fused into a new and original civilisation by the transposition into Arabic and Islamic forms, recognisable and characteristic in every phase of its achievement.”
وَلَمْ تَكُنِ الحَضَارَةُ الإِسْلَامِيَّةُ… مُجَرَّدَ تَجْمِيعٍ آلِيٍّ لِلثَّقَافَاتِ القَدِيمَةِ، بَلْ هِيَ بِالأَحْرَى خَلْقٌ جَدِيدٌ… وَذَلِكَ بِأَنِ انْتَقَلَتْ إِلَى صُوَرٍ عَرَبِيَّةٍ إِسْلَامِيَّة.
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“ Before the end of the Medieval period they had produced the most exhaustive and copious dictionary in any language prior to the Nineteenth Century. The truth is that in lexicography — as in many other fields — the Arabs occupy a central position both in time and space; between the Ancient World and the Modern, between the East and the West.”
وَالحَقُّ أَنَّ العَرَبَ فِي المُعْجَمِ- كَمَا فِي مَيَادِينَ أُخْرَى كَثِيرَةٍ- يَحْتَلُّونَ مَكَانَ المَرْكَزِ زَمَاناً وَمَكَاناً: بَيْنَ العَالَمِ القَدِيمِ وَالحَدِيثِ، وَبَيْنَ الشَّرْقِ وَالغَرْب.
ه
John A. Haywood
20th century
