What they said about Arabic Via a reliable witness
Writing to Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari:
“Order those under you to learn Arabic, for it guides to correct speech; and order them to transmit poetry, for it points to noble character.”
Umar ibn al-Khattab
d. 23 AH / 644 CE
The second Caliph, writing to Abu Musa
The Arabic original
مُرْ مَنْ قِبَلَكَ بِتَعَلُّمِ العَرَبِيَّةِ فَإِنَّهُ يَدُلُّ عَلَى صَوابِ الكَلامِ، وَمُرْهُمْ بِرِوايَةِ الشِّعْرِ فَإِنَّهُ يَدُلُّ عَلَى مَعالِي الأَخْلاقِ
Source
Abu Ja'far al-Nahhas, 'Umdat al-Kuttab, ed. Bassam al-Jabi, Dar Ibn Hazm, Beirut, 2004, p. 36, no. 42
The English translation is Voice of Arabic's, made from the original.
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