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“ The Christian young men, exalted by Arabic eloquence, most eagerly handle the books of the Chaldeans [i.e. the Arabs]… Alas, for shame! The Christians do not know their own language.”
Arabico eloquio sublimati, volumina Chaldæorum avidissime tractant […] Heu, proh dolor! linguam suam nesciunt Christiani.
أ
Paulus Alvarus of Córdoba
c. 800 – c. 861
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Answering the scholars of Europe, who read Avicenna and Rhazes in crude medieval Latin translations and scorned the Arabs as barbarous:
“ Someone will say: who does not know that to the common people the name of the Arabs means nothing but barbarous, rude and uncultivated? There is some truth in this, but I openly deny that it is true without qualification. For this is not the fault of the Arabs but of the translators. The Arabs, in their time the most learned, the sharpest and the most cultivated writers of all, have through the carelessness and ignorance of translators acquired the name of barbarism, which can hardly be washed away.”
At quis nescit, dicat quis, Arabum nomen apud vulgus aliud nihil, quàm barbarum, rude, & incultum sonare, audire, significare? Verum hoc quidem parte quadam, at in vniuersum hoc verum esse apertè nego. Arabum enim hæc culpa non est, sed interpretum. Arabes enim, scriptores omnium suo tempore doctissimi, acutissimi, cultissimi, interpretum oscitantia & inscitia, cognomen barbariei, vix eluendum, contraxerunt.
ب
William Bedwell
1563 – 1632
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Telling scholars what Arabic holds for them:
“ There is no language, my reader (I except Greek and Latin), that contains more monuments of solid learning and of the whole circle of the sciences [than Arabic].”
Nulla, mi Lector, lingua est, (Græcam & Latinam excipio) quæ plura solidæ eruditionis & encyclopædiæ monumenta continet.
ب
William Bedwell
1563 – 1632
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Describing how widely Arabic was written in his day:
“ From the Fortunate Isles [the Canaries] in the far West to the Moluccas [in today's Indonesia] in the far East… the privileges and diplomas of kings and princes, the instruments and contracts of merchants and nobles, and the letters of everyone, are written in this language [Arabic] almost alone.”
ab insulis Fortunatis (خالدات Chalidet Arabes vocant) ad Muluccarum vsque insulas […] Regum & Principum priuilegia & diplomata, Mercatorum & Nobilium instrumenta, & contractus […] Omnium denique literæ familiares hac ferè solâ concipiuntur, scribuntur.
ب
William Bedwell
1563 – 1632
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“ Latin and Greek together, even if they joined forces, would come out far the smaller […]; from these first roots there grows an infinite forest of words.”
Nam primitiva, seu themata, longe numerosiora habet, & à primis hisce radicibus infinita vocum sylva succrescit.
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“ I mean the Arabic language, which I may not undeservedly call an Ocean, since it takes the other Oriental languages into itself, just as the Ocean swallows the rivers.”
Linguam intelligo Arabicam, quam non immerito Oceanum dixerim, quippe quæ alias Linguas Orientales in se recipit, non secus ac fluvios absorbet Oceanus.
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“ The Arabians are full of the commendations of their language, and not altogether without reason; for it claims the preference of most others in many respects, as being very harmonious and expressive, and withal so copious, that they say no man, without inspiration, can be perfect master of it in its utmost extent.”
والعربُ يُكثرون من الثناءِ على لغتهم، وليسوا في ذلك بغير حُجّةٍ تَماماً؛ فإنّها تستحقُّ التقديمَ على أكثر اللغات من وجوهٍ كثيرة، لأنَّها شديدةُ الانْسِجَامِ، بَلِيغةُ الإبانةِ، وهي مع ذلك من السَّعَةِ بحيث يقولون: إنَّه لا يُحيط بها في أقصى مَدَاها إنسانٌ إلّا بِوَحْيٍ.
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“ The Arabick language, therefore, is almost wholly in our power; and, as it is unquestionably one of the most ancient in the world, so it yields to none ever spoken by mortals in the number of its words and the precision of its phrases.”
وكَمَا أَنَّها بلا رَيبٍ من أقدمِ لُغاتِ العَالَم، فإنّها لا تَتَأخَّر عن لُغَةٍ نطَق بها البشرُ قطُّ في كثرةِ ألفاظِها ودِقَّةِ عِبَاراتِهَا.
Sir William Jones
1746–1794
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“ Whatever may be the pedigree of the Arabs, their language is derived from the same original stock with the Hebrew, the Syriac, and the Chaldæan tongues; the independence of the tribes was marked by their peculiar dialects; but each, after their own, allowed a just preference to the pure and perspicuous idiom of Mecca. In Arabia as well as in Greece, the perfection of language outstripped the refinement of manners; and her speech could diversify the fourscore names of honey, the two hundred of a serpent, the five hundred of a lion, the thousand of a sword, at a time when this copious dictionary was entrusted to the memory of an illiterate people.”
وفِي جَزِيرَةِ العَرَبِ، كَمَا فِي بِلادِ اليُونَانِ، سَبَقَ كَمَالُ اللُّغَةِ رُقِيَّ الأَخْلاقِ.
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On studying a language by reasoning rather than memory alone:
“ The Arabic language above all seems to lend itself more readily than many others to this operation, whose instruments are analysis and synthesis; and I have sometimes been surprised to see how exactly the forms of this language answer to what clarity and precision of discourse require.”
La langue Arabe sur-tout semble se prêter plus aisément que beaucoup d'autres à cette opération, dont les instrumens sont l'analyse et la synthèse ; et j'ai quelquefois été surpris en voyant combien les formes de cette langue sont dans un juste rapport avec ce qu'exigent la clarté et la précision du discours.
Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy
1758–1838
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“ Which language of the West has […] kept the oldest monuments of its literature intelligible today, not only to the scholar but to the whole people, as they were then — as Chinese and Arabic have?”
Welche Sprache des Abendlandes hat […] die ältesten Denkmale ihrer Literatur noch heute, nicht nur dem Sprachgelehrten, sondern dem ganzen Volke wie damals verständlich erhalten, wie das Chinesische und Arabische?
Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall
1774–1856
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On the Arab lexicons:
“ In the aggregate of these works, with all the strictness that is observed in legal proceedings, as will presently be shown, the utmost care and research have been employed to embody everything that could be preserved or recovered of the classical language; the result being a collection of such authority, such exactness, and such copiousness, as we do not find to have been approached in the case of any other language after its corruption or decay. The classical language they called, by reason of its incomparable excellence, “el-loghah,” or “the language.””
فَكَانتِ الثَّمَرَةُ مَجْمُوعَةً بَلَغَتْ مِنَ الحِجِّيَّةِ والدِّقَّةِ والسَّعَةِ مَا لَا نَجِدُ أَنَّ لُغَةً أُخْرى قَارَبَتْهُ… وَكَانُوا يُسَمُّونَ اللُّغَةَ الفُصْحَى، لِفَضْلِها الَّذِي لَا يُضَاهَى، «اللُّغَة».
Edward William Lane
1801–1876
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“ The language of the Qur'ân is universally acknowledged to be the most perfect form of Arab speech. The Qurâis, as the guardians of the national temple and the owners of the territory in which the great fairs and literary festivals of all Arabia were held, would naturally absorb into their own dialect many of the words and locutions of other tribes, and we should consequently expect their language to be more copious and elegant than that of their neighbours.”
لُغَةُ القُرْآنِ مُسَلَّمٌ عِنْدَ الجَمِيعِ بِأَنَّهَا أَكْمَلُ صُورَةٍ للكَلامِ العَرَبِيّ.
Edward Henry Palmer
1840–1882
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“ The Arabic language, having come to prevail throughout the whole empire, served as a binding agent and furthered the transmission of ideas.”
Die arabische Sprache, im ganzen Reiche zur Herrschaft gelangt, diente als Bindemittel und beförderte die Ideenübertragung.
Alfred von Kremer
1828–1889
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“ This language, unknown before, shows itself to us suddenly in all its perfection, with its flexibility, its infinite richness… It has neither childhood nor old age.”
Cette langue, auparavant inconnue, se montre à nous soudainement dans toute sa perfection, avec sa flexibilité, sa richesse infinie […] Il n'y a pour elle ni enfance, ni vieillesse.
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“ In Arabic the words seem, quite literally, to swim in a river of vowels that overflows them on every side, follows them, precedes them, joins them.”
Dans l'arabe, les mots semblent, à la lettre, nager dans un fleuve de voyelles, qui les déborde de toutes parts, les suit, les précède, les unit.
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“ A great uniformity of speech overspread the land, whether due, as is usually assumed, to the general observance of the Pilgrimage to Mekkah and the meeting of the tribes at ‘Ukâdh, or to some other cause. The same masculine and expressive language was heard from al-Ḥîrah on the Euphrates, under the shadow of Persia, and Ghassân in Syria, beneath the great cathedral of Damascus, to Ṣan‘â and Aden in the far South, where a Persian governor ruled in the name of the Shâhanshâh, and the profession of the poet was everywhere honoured and rewarded.”
فَكَانَتِ اللُّغَةُ نَفْسُهَا، الجَزْلَةُ القَوِيَّةُ التَّعْبِيرِ، تُسْمَعُ مِنَ الحِيرَةِ عَلى الفُرَاتِ… إلى صَنْعَاءَ وَعَدَنَ فِي أَقْصَى الجَنُوبِ.
ل
Charles James Lyall
1845–1920
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“ The Arab mind, on the other hand, is clear and positive, and the Arabic language nervous, virile and rich both actually and potentially. The old Arabs were an acute and observant people, and for all natural objects which fell under their notice they had appropriate and finely differentiated words.”
وَاللُّغَةُ العَرَبِيَّةُ قَوِيَّةٌ جَزْلَةٌ غَنِيَّةٌ بِمَا فِيهَا فِعْلاً وَبِمَا تَقْدِرُ عَلَيْهِ.
Edward Granville Browne
1862–1926
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On Arabic medical terminology:
“ On the other hand, apart from the fairly copious anatomical, pathological and medical vocabulary properly belonging to the Arabic language, it has a great power of forming significant derivatives from existing roots, which, when formed, are at once intelligible. Thus there exists in Arabic a special form for the "noun of pain," wherein the first root-letter is followed by a short u and the second by a long ā (the form known to Arab grammarians as فُعال, fu‘āl), and this is the form assumed by the names of most diseases and ailments; as the already mentioned ṣudā‘ (صُداع), "a splitting headache," the "soda" of the Latino-Barbari; zukām (زُكام), "a catarrh"; judhām (جُذام), "elephantiasis," etc.”
فإنّ لها قدرةً عظيمةً على توليد مشتقّاتٍ دالّةٍ من الجذور الموجودة، تُفهَمُ حالَ صَوغِها.
Edward Granville Browne
1862–1926
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“ My work was more or less influenced by the style of medieval Hebrew and Arabic grammar. It was historical analysis. But you can translate the basic ideas into a kind of a synchronic interpretation, a description of the system as it actually exists, and out of that came the early stages of generative grammar. […] When I got to college I started studying Arabic. I wanted to learn Arabic, and I got pretty far.”
كان عملي متأثّراً إلى حدٍّ ما بطريقة النحو العبريّ والعربيّ في العصور الوسطى؛ كان تحليلاً تاريخيّاً، ولكن يمكنك أن تنقل أفكارَه الأساسيّة إلى تفسيرٍ وصفيٍّ للنظام كما هو قائمٌ فعلاً، ومن ذلك خرجت المراحلُ الأُولى للنحو التوليديّ… ولمّا دخلتُ الجامعة بدأتُ أدرس العربيّة؛ أردتُ أن أتعلّمها، وقطعتُ فيها شوطاً بعيداً.
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On the vocabulary of the Arabs within their narrow desert world:
“ Within this range, the slightest modification is expressed by a particular word. Classical Arabic is rich not only in words but in grammatical forms.”
Innerhalb dieses Kreises bezeichnen sie aber die kleinste Modification durch ein eignes Wort. […] Das classische Arabisch ist nicht bloss an Wörtern, sondern auch an grammatischen Formen reich.
Theodor Nöldeke
1836–1930
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“ The Arabic language is of very great richness, and this richness has only kept growing through the addition of new expressions borrowed from the languages with which it came into contact. The dictionary of Ibn Sīda already ran to twenty volumes.”
La langue arabe est d'une richesse très grande, et cette richesse n'a fait que s'accroître constamment par l'adjonction d'expressions nouvelles empruntées aux idiomes avec lesquels elle s'est trouvée en contact. Le dictionnaire d'Ibhn Seid, mort en 1065, comprenait déjà vingt volumes.
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“ Arabic remains, for all Muslims who speak Persian, Turkish, Indian or African languages, the learned language par excellence.”
L'arabe reste pour tous les Musulmans de langue perse, ou turque, ou indienne, ou africaine, la langue savante par excellence.
Antoine Meillet
1866–1936
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“ This enthusiasm seems to have been well merited. There is no doubt that the Arabic language is undergoing a renaissance, and there is every likelihood of its again becoming a great literary vehicle. This renaissance will be greatly aided by the reproduction in it of the great European classics, which still retain their place as the basis of the higher education and as models of taste and style.”
فَلَا شَكَّ أَنَّ اللُّغَةَ العَرَبِيَّةَ تَمُرُّ بِنَهْضَةٍ، وَكُلُّ الدَّلَائِلِ تُشِيرُ إِلَى أَنَّها سَتَعُودُ أَدَاةً أَدَبِيَّةً عَظِيمَة.
D. S. Margoliouth
1858–1940
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“ Although the language of the pagan Bedouins did not survive intact—or survived, at any rate, only in the mouths of pedants and poets—it became, in a modified form, the universal medium of expression among the upper classes of Muhammadan society. During the early Middle Ages it was spoken and written by all cultivated Moslems, of whatever nationality they might be, from the Indus to the Atlantic; it was the language of the Court and the Church, of Law and Commerce, of Diplomacy and Literature and Science.”
كَانَ يَتَكَلَّمُهَا وَيَكْتُبُ بِهَا كُلُّ المُسْلِمِينَ المُثَقَّفِينَ، أَيّاً كَانَتْ أَجْنَاسُهُمْ، مِنَ السِّنْدِ إِلَى الأَطْلَسِيّ؛ وَكَانَتْ لُغَةَ البَلَاطِ والدِّينِ، وَالقَانُونِ والتِّجَارَةِ، والدُّبْلُومَاسِيَّةِ وَالأَدَبِ وَالعِلْم.
ن
Reynold A. Nicholson
1868–1945
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On Arabic, before the seventh century the language of the desert alone:
“ It is as if that language which before the seventh century had been used only by rude barbarians had been predestined to become one of the main vehicles of religion and of science in the world. […] The Qur'ān helped to standardize the Arabic language; it could not prevent the growth of many dialects for common use, especially when Arabic began to be spoken by men of other nations, but it provided an international standard for the highest needs of life.”
كَأَنَّمَا قُدِّرَ لِتِلْكَ اللُّغَةِ… أَنْ تَصِيرَ إِحْدَى الأَدَاتَيْنِ الكُبْرَيَيْنِ لِلدِّينِ وَلِلْعِلْمِ فِي العَالَم.
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“ It will be realized that with such manifold nuances at the disposal of every verb and noun the Arabic language could readily be adapted to express the scientific terminology of the classical world. […] The triliteral root with its ramifications through a thousand forms, each of which has an assonance with the same form of another root, produces a rhythm in Arabic as natural as it is inevitable. When we utter an abstract idea we have no thought of the primitive meaning of the word we employ. 'Association' sits very loosely to socius in the mind of the speaker. […] But in Arabic the material is never more than faintly obscured beneath the abstract; its presence can always be felt.”
إِنَّ الجَذْرَ الثُّلَاثِيَّ بِتَشَعُّبِهِ فِي أَلْفِ صِيغَةٍ… يُحْدِثُ فِي العَرَبِيَّةِ إِيقَاعاً طَبِيعِيَّاً لَا مَفَرَّ مِنْهُ… أَمَّا فِي العَرَبِيَّةِ فَالأَصْلُ الحِسِّيُّ لَا يَغِيبُ تَحْتَ المُجَرَّدِ إِلَّا غِيَابَاً خَفِيفَاً، وَيَظَلُّ حُضُورُهُ مَحْسُوسَاً أَبَداً.
غ
Alfred Guillaume
1888–1965
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On the pre-Islamic odes:
“ It is probable, however, that the poets greatly enriched the language by absorption of dialect forms, and that they helped to fix its usages. The syntactical construction of the poems especially attains a degree of refinement unknown to any other Semitic language […].”
وَقَدْ بَلَغَ التَّرْكِيبُ النَّحْوِيُّ فِي هَذِهِ القَصَائِدِ خَاصَّةً دَرَجَةً مِنَ التَّهْذِيبِ لَمْ تَعْرِفْهَا لُغَةٌ سَامِيَّةٌ أُخْرَى.
ج
Sir Hamilton A. R. Gibb
1895–1971
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“ Arabic literature is the enduring monument of a civilization, not of a people. […] Yet even when Arabic was in the Eastern provinces displaced from its supremacy by the rise of a Persian literature, it maintained, and still maintains, its position as the universal language of Islamic theology, philosophy, and science.”
الأَدَبُ العَرَبِيُّ أَثَرٌ بَاقٍ لِحَضَارَةٍ، لَا لِشَعْبٍ بِعَيْنِهِ… وَحَتَّى حِينَ أُزِيحَتِ العَرَبِيَّةُ فِي الأَقَالِيمِ الشَّرْقِيَّةِ عَنْ سِيَادَتِهَا بِنُهُوضِ أَدَبٍ فَارِسِيٍّ، فَقَدْ حَافَظَتْ- وَلَا تَزَالُ تُحَافِظُ- عَلَى مَكَانَتِهَا لُغَةً جَامِعَةً لِعِلْمِ الكَلَامِ الإِسْلَامِيِّ وَالفَلْسَفَةِ وَالعِلْم.
ج
Sir Hamilton A. R. Gibb
1895–1971
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“ No language can match the dignity of Arabic, the chosen vehicle of God's ultimate message. But it is not only its spiritual rank which transcends the potentialities of the other tongues; its pre-eminence is rooted equally firmly in its objective features — above all, in the unparalleled vastness of its vocabulary. Where Greek frequently has but one word to denote many objects, Arabic offers many words to denote one. Phonetic beauty is added to its staggering richness in synonyms. Precision and concision of expression adorn Arabic speech. […] Arabic is distinguished by its unrivaled possibilities in the use of figurative speech. Its innuendoes, tropes, and figures of speech lift it far above any other human language.”
وَمَا مِنْ لُغَةٍ تَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ تُطَاوِلَ العَرَبِيَّةَ فِي شَرَفِهَا، فَهْيَ الوَسِيلَةُ الَّتِي اخْتِيرَتْ لِتَحْمِلَ رِسَالَةَ اللهِ الأَخِيرَةَ… وَيُضَافُ جَمَالُ الصَّوْتِ إِلَى ثَرْوَتِهَا المُدْهِشَةِ فِي المُتَرَادِفَات.
غ
Gustave E. von Grunebaum
1909–1972
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“ Mohammedanism carried not only the Koran, but also the once-isolated language of southern Arabia to vast regions of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania, where it influenced, more or less deeply, the native tongues; such languages as Persian, Hindustani, Turkish, Malay, Hausa are replete with Arabic words. […] Arabic, the tongue of medieval culture, gives us astronomical terms like "zenith" and "nadir," mathematical words like "algebra" and "cipher," chemical expressions like "alcohol," "alkali," "alchemy" and "chemistry" itself.”
والعَرَبِيَّةُ- لُغَةُ الثَّقَافَةِ فِي العُصُورِ الوُسْطَى- أَعْطَتْنَا- مَعْشَرَ النَّاطِقِينَ بِالإِنْجلِيزِيَّةِ — مُصْطَلَحَاتٍ فَلَكِيَّةً مِثْلَ «السَّمْتِ» و«النَّظِيرِ»، وَأْلْفَاظاً رِيَاضِيَّةً مِثْلَ «الجَبْرِ» و«الصِّفْرِ»، بَلْ كَلِمَةَ «الكِيمْيَاءِ» نَفْسَهَا.
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“ No people in the world, perhaps, manifest such enthusiastic admiration for literary expression and are so moved by the word, spoken or written, as the Arabs. Hardly any language seems capable of exercising over the minds of its users such irresistible influence as Arabic. Modern audiences in Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo can be stirred to the highest degree by the recital of poems, only vaguely comprehended, and by the delivery of orations in the classical tongue, though it be only partially understood.”
وَلَا تَكَادُ تَبْدُو لُغَةٌ قَادِرَةً عَلَى أَنْ تُمَارِسَ عَلَى عُقُولِ المُتَكَلِّمِينَ بِهَا مِثْلَ مَا تُمَارِسُهُ العَرَبِيَّةُ مِنْ تَأْثِيرٍ لَا يُقَاوَم.
ح
Philip K. Hitti
1886–1978
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“ For many centuries in the Middle Ages it was the language of learning and culture and progressive thought throughout the civilized world. Between the ninth and the twelfth centuries more works, philosophical, medical, historical, religious, astronomical and geographical, were produced through the medium of Arabic than through any other tongue.”
وقد ظلّت العربيّةُ قروناً كثيرةً في العصور الوسطى لغةَ العلمِ والثقافة والفكر التقدّميّ في أرجاء العالم المتحضّر كلِّه. وبين القرنين التاسع والثاني عشر أُلِّف بالعربيّة من الكتب — في الفلسفة والطبّ والتاريخ والدين والفلك والجغرافيا — أكثرُ ممّا أُلِّف بأيّ لسانٍ آخر.
ح
Philip K. Hitti
1886–1978
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“ Being conversant with several languages, I can attest from my own personal experience that no language I know comes even near to Arabic in its power of rhetoricism, in its ability to penetrate beneath and beyond intellectual comprehension directly to the emotions and make its impact upon them. In this respect, Arabic can be compared only to music.”
وَأَنَا أَعْرِفُ عِدَّةَ لُغَاتٍ، فَأَشْهَدُ مِنْ تَجْرِبَتِي أَنَّهُ مَا مِنْ لُغَةٍ أَعْرِفُهَا تَقْتَرِبُ مِنَ العَرَبِيَّةِ فِي قُوَّتِهَا البَيَانِيَّةِ، وَفِي قُدْرَتِهَا عَلَى أَنْ تَنْفُذَ مِنْ تَحْتِ الفَهْمِ العَقْلِيِّ وَمِنْ وَرَائِهِ إِلَى المَشَاعِرِ مُبَاشَرَةً فَتَتْرُكَ فِيهَا أَثَرَهَا. وَلَا تُشَبَّهُ العَرَبِيَّةُ فِي هَذَا إِلَّا بِالمُوسِيقَى.
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“ Whom do its beauty, its euphony, its unique charm not overpower? Even the neighbours fall under its spell.”
Wen bezwingt nicht ihre Schönheit, ihr Wohllaut, ihr einzigartiger Charme? Selbst die Nachbarn verfallen ja ihrem Zauber.
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“ The Arabic element was, after the Latin, the most important in the Spanish vocabulary until the sixteenth century. Counting the vocabulary proper together with place-names, it does not seem exaggerated to reckon a total of more than four thousand forms.”
El elemento árabe fue, después del latino, el más importante del vocabulario español hasta el siglo XVI. Sumando el léxico propiamente dicho y los topónimos, no parece exagerado calcular un total superior a cuatro mil formas.
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After the conquests, when Arabic had become the language of an empire and of a culture:
“ The conquests made Arabic an imperial language, soon also the language of a great and diverse culture. Arabic expanded to meet these two needs, partly by borrowing new words and expressions, but mainly by development from within, forming new words from old roots, giving new meanings to old words. […] The language created in this way possessed a vivid, concrete and pictorial vocabulary, with each term having deep roots in a purely Arab past and tradition.”
وَاتَّسَعَتِ العَرَبِيَّةُ لِتَفِيَ بِهَاتَيْنِ الحَاجَتَيْنِ، بِالِاقْتِرَاضِ حِيناً، وَلِكِنْ بِالنُّمُوِّ مِنْ دَاخِلِهَا فِي الغَالِبِ: تَصُوغُ أََلْفَاظاً جَدِيدَةً مِنْ جُذُورٍ قَدِيمَةٍ، وَتَمْنَحُ الأَلْفَاظَ القَدِيمَةَ مَعَانِيَ جَدِيدَة.
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“ It was the Arabisation of the conquered provinces rather than their military conquest that is the true wonder of the Arab expansion. By the eleventh century Arabic had become not only the chief idiom of everyday use from Persia to the Pyrenees, but also the chief instrument of culture, superseding old culture languages like Coptic, Aramaic, Greek and Latin.”
إِنَّ تَعْرِيبَ الأَقَالِيمِ المَفْتُوحَةِ، لَا فَتْحَهَا العَسْكَرِيَّ، هُوَ الأُعْجُوبَةُ الحَقَّةُ فِي التَّوَسُّعِ العَرَبِيِّ. فَبِحُلُولِ القَرْنِ الحَادِي عَشَرَ لَمْ تَعُدِ العَرَبِيَّةُ اللِّسَانَ الغَالِبَ فِي الاِسْتِعْمَالِ اليَوْمِيِّ مِنْ فَارِسَ إِلَى جِبَالِ البَرَانِسِ فَحَسْبُ، بَلْ صَارَتْ كَذَلِكَ الأَدَاةَ الأُولَى لِلثَّقَافِةِ، وَحَلَّتْ مَحَلَّ لُغَاتِ الثَّقَافَةِ القَدِيمَةِ كَالقُبْطِيَّةِ وَالآرَامِيَّةِ وَاليُونَانِيَّةِ وَاللَّاتِينِيَّة.
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Opening his chapter on Islamic civilisation:
“ During the period of greatness of the Arab and Islamic Empires in the Near and Middle East a flourishing civilisation grew up that is usually known as Arabic. It was not brought ready-made by the Arab invaders from the desert, but was created after the conquests by the collaboration of many peoples, Arabs, Persians, Egyptians and others. Nor was it even purely Muslim, for many Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians were among its creators. But its chief medium of expression was Arabic, and it was dominated by Islam and its outlook on life. It was these two things, their language and their faith, which were the great contributions of the Arab invaders to the new and original civilisation which developed under their aegis.”
إِلَّا أَنَّ أَدَاةَ التَّعْبِيرِ الرَّئِيسِيَّةَ فِيهَا كَانَتِ اللُّغَةَ العَرَبِيَّةَ… وَكَانَ هَذَانِ الشَّيْئَانِ، أَيِ اللُّغَةُ وَالدِّينُ، أَعْظَمَ مَا قَدَّمَ العَرَبُ الفَاتِحُونَ إِلَى الحَضَارَةِ الجَدِيدَةِ الأَصِيلَة.
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After listing the Persian, Hellenistic and other sources of Islamic civilisation:
“ Despite this diversity of its origins Islamic civilisation was no mere mechanical juxtaposition of previous cultures but rather a new creation in which all these elements were fused into a new and original civilisation by the transposition into Arabic and Islamic forms, recognisable and characteristic in every phase of its achievement.”
وَلَمْ تَكُنِ الحَضَارَةُ الإِسْلَامِيَّةُ… مُجَرَّدَ تَجْمِيعٍ آلِيٍّ لِلثَّقَافَاتِ القَدِيمَةِ، بَلْ هِيَ بِالأَحْرَى خَلْقٌ جَدِيدٌ… وَذَلِكَ بِأَنِ انْتَقَلَتْ إِلَى صُوَرٍ عَرَبِيَّةٍ إِسْلَامِيَّة.
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“ Before the end of the Medieval period they had produced the most exhaustive and copious dictionary in any language prior to the Nineteenth Century. The truth is that in lexicography — as in many other fields — the Arabs occupy a central position both in time and space; between the Ancient World and the Modern, between the East and the West.”
وَالحَقُّ أَنَّ العَرَبَ فِي المُعْجَمِ- كَمَا فِي مَيَادِينَ أُخْرَى كَثِيرَةٍ- يَحْتَلُّونَ مَكَانَ المَرْكَزِ زَمَاناً وَمَكَاناً: بَيْنَ العَالَمِ القَدِيمِ وَالحَدِيثِ، وَبَيْنَ الشَّرْقِ وَالغَرْب.
ه
John A. Haywood
20th century
