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What They Said About the Arabs and Arabic

What Arab and Muslim scholars have said about their language, and what scholars from outside the Arab world have said about it, and about the Arabs and their civilisation. Nothing is published until it was read in its author's own book or in a named, reliable witness; the Western sayings appear in their original languages beside a translation, each with a link to the page of the book.

105 sayings — 52 by Arab and Muslim scholars, 53 by others; 48 read in the original language of their author.

How these sayings were documented

Most sayings of Western scholars about Arabic circulate in Arabic translations taken from secondary sources, and many turned out to add to or cut from the original. We went back to the authors' own books, in scans of their pages, and publish the original text with a faithful translation, noting under each saying where the circulated version departs from it. Sayings whose original we have not yet found are not published.

Read in the original Read in its author's own language (French, German, Latin…) in a scan of the book; the original is printed beside any translation. From the author's own Arabic The author's own Arabic words, read in his book by edition, volume and page; the English is our translation. Narrated with its chain The speaker wrote no book of his own; this is read in a work that narrates it from him with its chain of transmission, by edition, volume and page. Via a reliable witness Reported by a named scholar without a chain, or not found in the author's own work.

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From the author's own Arabic
Answering those who belittle Arabic while depending on it:
“They see that discussion in most chapters and questions of legal theory rests on the science of grammar, and that the commentaries are packed with reports from Sibawayh, al-Akhfash, al-Kisa'i and al-Farra'.”
وَيَرَوْنَ الكَلامَ فِي مُعْظَمِ أَبْوابِ أُصُولِ الفِقْهِ وَمَسائِلِها مَبْنِيّاً عَلَى عِلْمِ الإِعْرابِ، وَالتَّفاسِيرَ مَشْحُونَةً بِالرِّواياتِ عَنْ سِيبَوَيْهِ وَالأَخْفَشِ وَالكِسائِيِّ وَالفَرّاءِ
al-Zamakhshari
d. 538 AH / 1144 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“The good way is to make addressing one another in Arabic a habit, so that children absorb it in the schools and at home; then the emblem of Islam and its people becomes manifest, and it is easier for Muslims to understand the meanings of the Book, the Sunna and the words of the forebears.”
وَإِنَّما الطَّرِيقُ الحَسَنُ اعْتِيادُ الخِطابِ بِالعَرَبِيَّةِ، حَتَّى يَتَلَقَّنَها الصِّغارُ فِي المَكاتِبِ وَفِي الدُّورِ فَيَظْهَرَ شِعارُ الإِسْلامِ وَأَهْلِهِ، وَيَكُونَ ذَلِكَ أَسْهَلَ عَلَى أَهْلِ الإِسْلامِ فِي فِقْهِ مَعانِي الكِتابِ وَالسُّنَّةِ وَكَلامِ السَّلَفِ
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
On «the sciences of the Arabic language»:
“Its pillars are four: lexicography, grammar, rhetoric and literature. Knowing them is necessary for the scholars of the religious law, since all legal rulings are taken from the Book and the Sunna, and these are in the language of the Arabs.”
أَرْكانُهُ أَرْبَعَةٌ، وَهِيَ اللُّغَةُ وَالنَّحْوُ وَالبَيانُ وَالأَدَبُ، وَمَعْرِفَتُها ضَرُورِيَّةٌ عَلَى أَهْلِ الشَّرِيعَةِ، إِذْ مَأْخَذُ الأَحْكامِ الشَّرْعِيَّةِ كُلِّها مِنَ الكِتابِ وَالسُّنَّةِ، وَهِيَ بِلُغَةِ العَرَبِ
Ibn Khaldun
d. 808 AH / 1406 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
On the hadith «Do not lie about me», answering the Karramiyya who allowed forged hadith for exhortation:
“Arguing that it is a lie «for him», not «against him» — which is ignorance of the Arabic language.”
وَاحْتَجّ بِأَنَّهُ كَذِبَ لَهُ لَا عَلَيْهِ، وَهُوَ جَهْلٌ بِاللُّغَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ.
Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani
d. 852 AH / 1449 CE

Some well-known sayings attributed to Western scholars have not been traced to an original and are not published: one credited to Krachkovsky (we searched the whole of his history of Arabic geographical literature), one credited to Germanus (not in any of his articles in al-Risāla), others credited to Marçais and Berque, and one credited to Brockelmann ("through the Qur’an Arabic reached an extent…"). The saying credited to al-Asma‘i is one he transmits from al-Khalil from Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani, whose saying is in this section. The saying credited to "William Work" has no such author: the name is a corruption of William H. Worrell, director of the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, and its source has not been found. The claim that Chomsky was influenced by Sībawayh was denied by Chomsky himself in two published e-mails.