All sayings · What They Said About the Arabs and Arabic

What others said about Arabic 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; a literature such as Hellas and Rome had scarcely known in such abundance shot into bloom with tropical luxuriance; learned institutions, colleges, academies, libraries, observatories and hospitals rose in the great cities, and every intellectual endeavour found eager cultivation there.”

Alfred von Kremer
Alfred von Kremer
1828–1889
Austrian orientalist and diplomat, historian of the civilisation of the East under the caliphs.

Original text — German

Die arabische Sprache, im ganzen Reiche zur Herrschaft gelangt, diente als Bindemittel und beförderte die Ideenübertragung, eine Litteratur, wie sie kaum Hellas und Rom in solcher Fülle gekannt hatten, schoss mit tropischer Ueppigkeit in die Blüthe; gelehrte Anstalten, Collegien, Akademien, Bibliotheken, Sternwarten und Spitäler erhoben sich in den grossen Städten, und jede geistige Bestrebung fand daselbst eifrige Pflege.

In Arabic

وصارت اللغةُ العربيّة، بعد أن سادَت في أرجاءِ الدولة كلّها، رابطةً تجمع بين أهلها، وأعانَت على انتقالِ الأفكار؛ فازدهر أدبٌ في وفرةٍ تكاد لا تعرفها اليونان ولا روما، ونما نموّاً كثيفاً كنموّ نبات المناطق الحارّة، وقامت في المدن الكبرى معاهدُ العلم والمدارسُ والمجامعُ والمكتباتُ والمراصدُ والمستشفيات، ولَقِيَ فيها كلُّ سعيٍ فكريٍّ رعايةً حثيثة.

Source

Culturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen, Bd. 2, Kap. X, Wien: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1877, p. 486
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.

From a chapter on the decline of the caliphate; Arabic as the bond of a many-peopled civilisation.

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