What they said about Arabic From the author's own Arabic
“Since God singled out the Arabic tongue for clear expression, it is known that all other languages fall short of it and rank below it ... And where do other languages have the breadth that the language of the Arabs has?”
Ibn Faris
d. 395 AH / 1004 CE
Abu al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Faris, philologist, author of Maqayis al-Lugha
The Arabic original
فَلَمّا خَصَّ جَلَّ ثَناؤُهُ اللِّسانَ العَرَبِيَّ بِالبَيانِ عُلِمَ أَنَّ سائِرَ اللُّغاتِ قاصِرَةٌ عَنْهُ وَواقِعَةٌ دُونَهُ ... وَأَيْنَ لِسائِرِ اللُّغاتِ مِنَ السَّعَةِ ما لِلُغَةِ العَرَبِ
Source
Ibn Faris, al-Sahibi fi Fiqh al-Lugha, Muhammad 'Ali Baydun, Beirut, 1997, p. 19, chapter 'That the language of the Arabs is the best and widest of languages'
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
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