What they said about Arabic 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.”
Abu Mansur al-Azhari
d. 370 AH / 980 CE
Lexicographer, author of Tahdhib al-Lugha
The Arabic original
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
Source
al-Azhari, Tahdhib al-Lugha, ed. Muhammad 'Awad Mar'ab, Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-'Arabi, Beirut, 2001, vol. 1, pp. 6-7 (vol. 1, p. 5 in the Cairo 1964 ed.)
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
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