What they said about Arabic From the author's own Arabic
Opening the first thing a chancery writer needs, the knowledge of Arabic:
“There is no denying that it is the sturdiest of languages, the clearest in expression, the most fluent of tongue, the widest in its reach and the sweetest to the taste; and that is why God Most High chose it for the noblest of His messengers, the seal of His prophets, the chosen of His creation and the elect of His creatures.”
al-Qalqashandi
d. 821 AH / 1418 CE
Ahmad ibn ʿAli, secretary in the Mamluk chancery of Egypt, author of Subh al-aʿsha, the great manual of the chancery writer.
The Arabic original
وَلا خَفاءَ أَنَّها أَمْتَنُ اللُّغاتِ وَأَوْضَحُها بَياناً، وَأَذْلَقُها لِساناً، وَأَمَدُّها رِواقاً، وَأَعْذَبُها مَذاقاً؛ وَمِنْ ثَمَّ اخْتارَها اللَّهُ تَعالَى لِأَشْرَفِ رُسُلِهِ، وَخاتَمِ أَنْبِيائِهِ، وَخِيَرَتِهِ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ، وَصَفْوَتِهِ مِنْ بَرِيَّتِهِ.
Source
al-Qalqashandi, Subh al-aʿsha fi sinaʿat al-insha, ed. Muhammad Husayn Shams al-Din, Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 1st ed., 1987, vol. 1, p. 183
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
From the chapter “On its merit and what distinguishes it from all other languages”.
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