What they said about Arabic From the author's own Arabic
“Whoever loves God loves His Messenger Muhammad; whoever loves the Arab Messenger loves the Arabs; whoever loves the Arabs loves Arabic, in which the best of books was sent down to the best of non-Arabs and Arabs; and whoever loves Arabic cares for it, persists in it and devotes his effort to it ... Arabic is the best of languages and tongues, and turning to understand it is part of religion, for it is the instrument of knowledge, the key to understanding religion, and a means of setting right this life and the next.”
al-Tha'alibi
d. 429 AH / 1038 CE
Abu Mansur 'Abd al-Malik al-Tha'alibi, man of letters and philologist of Nishapur
The Arabic original
فَإِنَّ مَنْ أَحَبَّ اللَّهَ تَعالَى أَحَبَّ رَسُولَهُ مُحَمَّداً ﷺ، وَمَنْ أَحَبَّ الرَّسُولَ العَرَبِيَّ أَحَبَّ العَرَبَ، وَمَنْ أَحَبَّ العَرَبَ أَحَبَّ العَرَبِيَّةَ الَّتِي بِها نَزَلَ أَفْضَلُ الكُتُبِ عَلَى أَفْضَلِ العَجَمِ وَالعَرَبِ، وَمَنْ أَحَبَّ العَرَبِيَّةَ عُنِيَ بِها وَثابَرَ عَلَيْها وَصَرَفَ هِمَّتَهُ إِلَيْها ... وَالعَرَبِيَّةُ خَيْرُ اللُّغاتِ وَالأَلْسِنَةِ، وَالإِقْبالُ عَلَى تَفَهُّمِها مِنَ الدِّيانَةِ، إِذْ هِيَ أَداةُ العِلْمِ وَمِفْتاحُ التَّفَقُّهِ فِي الدِّينِ وَسَبَبُ إِصْلاحِ المَعاشِ وَالمَعادِ
Source
al-Tha'alibi, Fiqh al-Lugha wa-Sirr al-'Arabiyya, ed. 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Mahdi, Dar Ihya' al-Turath al-'Arabi, Beirut, 2002, p. 15
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
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