What they said about Arabic From the author's own Arabic
Recalling his answer to a notable from Palestine who asked whether to keep his son at a school in Germany:
“I remember answering him that the boy could finish his schooling there on condition that he learn Arabic. Indeed, any Arab child who does not learn the language of his family from an early age, and does not know himself as an Arab from an early age – though he reach the highest rank in learning, we could not call him a well-tended branch of this tree; we would count him a branch cut from it and planted in another field.”
Shakib Arslan
1869–1946
Lebanese prince and writer, known as “the Prince of Eloquence” (Amir al-Bayan).
The Arabic original
فأتذكّر أنّني جاوبتُه بأنّ الولد يمكنه أن يُتمّ تعليمَه هناك بشرط أن يتعلّم اللغة العربيّة، وبالفعل كلُّ ولدٍ عربيٍّ لا يتعلّم لغةَ أهله منذ الصغر، ولا يعرف نفسَه عربيّاً منذ الصغر، لو بلغ من العلم أعلى درجةٍ لم يكن لنا أن ندعوه غصناً مهذّباً من أغصان هذه الشجرة، بل نعدّه غصناً اقتُطع منها وغُرس في حقلٍ آخر.
Source
Shakib Arslan, article reprinted in al-Manar, vol. 26, Dhu l-Hijja 1343 AH (July 1925), p. 206
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
The remark on language comes at the start of an article on another subject; the sentence continues after “another field”, and that part is left out here.
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