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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
“The tongue of the Arabs is the widest of tongues in its ways and the richest in words; we know of no one but a prophet who encompasses all of it, yet none of it is lost to the Arabs as a whole, so that there is always someone among them who knows it.”
وَلِسانُ العَرَبِ أَوْسَعُ الأَلْسِنَةِ مَذْهَباً وَأَكْثَرُها أَلْفاظاً، وَلا نَعْلَمُهُ يُحِيطُ بِجَمِيعِ عِلْمِهِ إِنْسانٌ غَيْرُ نَبِيٍّ، وَلَكِنَّهُ لا يَذْهَبُ مِنْهُ شَئٌ عَلَى عامَّتِها حَتَّى لا يَكُونَ مَوْجُوداً فِيها مَنْ يَعْرِفُهُ
al-Shafi'i
d. 204 AH / 820 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“Every Muslim must learn as much of the tongue of the Arabs as his effort can reach, so that by it he may bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, and recite by it the Book of God.”
فَعَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ أَنْ يَتَعَلَّمَ مِنْ لِسانِ العَرَبِ ما بَلَغَهُ جُهْدُهُ حَتَّى يَشْهَدَ بِهِ أَنْ لا إِلَهَ إِلّا اللَّهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ، وَيَتْلُوَ بِهِ كِتابَ اللَّهِ
al-Shafi'i
d. 204 AH / 820 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“The excellence of the Qur'an is known only to one who has studied much, whose learning is broad, and who understands the ways of the Arabs, their versatility in modes of expression, and what God singled out their language for above all other languages.”
وَإِنَّما يَعْرِفُ فَضْلَ القُرْآنِ مَنْ كَثُرَ نَظَرُهُ، وَاتَّسَعَ عِلْمُهُ، وَفَهِمَ مَذاهِبَ العَرَبِ وَافْتِنانَها فِي الأَسالِيبِ، وَما خَصَّ اللَّهُ بِهِ لُغَتَها دُونَ جَمِيعِ اللُّغاتِ
Ibn Qutayba
d. 276 AH / 889 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
On Q 4:24, «those of them whom you have enjoyed»:
“This is a verse over which some people have made a very grave mistake through their ignorance of the language.”
هَذِهِ آيَةٌ قَدْ غَلِطَ فِيها قَوْمٌ غَلَطاً عَظِيماً جِدّاً لِجَهْلِهِمْ بِاللُّغَةِ.
Abu Ishaq al-Zajjaj
d. 311 AH / 923 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“Whoever is ignorant of the breadth of the Arabic tongue, the abundance of its words and its many ways of expression is ignorant of the substance of the knowledge of the Book; and whoever knows it, grasps its ways and understands how the commentators interpreted it, is freed of the doubts that befall those of the people of whims and innovations who are ignorant of its tongue.”
فَإِنَّ مَنْ جَهِلَ سَعَةَ لِسانِ العَرَبِ وَكَثْرَةَ أَلْفاظِها، وَافْتِنانَها فِي مَذاهِبِها، جَهِلَ جُمَلَ عِلْمِ الكِتابِ، وَمَنْ عَلِمَها وَوَقَفَ عَلَى مَذاهِبِها، وَفَهِمَ ما تَأَوَّلَهُ أَهْلُ التَّفْسِيرِ فِيها، زالَتْ عَنْهُ الشُّبَهُ الدّاخِلَةُ عَلَى مَنْ جَهِلَ لِسانَها مِنْ ذَوِي الأَهْواءِ وَالبِدَعِ
Abu Mansur al-Azhari
d. 370 AH / 980 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
Discussing whether language is revealed or conventional:
“When I consider the state of this noble, generous and subtle language, I find in it such wisdom, precision, refinement and delicacy that it takes hold of my thought, until it almost carries it beyond the farthest reach of magic.”
وَذَلِكَ أَنَّنِي إِذا تَأَمَّلْتُ حالَ هَذِهِ اللُّغَةِ الشَّرِيفَةِ الكَرِيمَةِ اللَّطِيفَةِ، وَجَدْتُ فِيها مِنَ الحِكْمَةِ وَالدِّقَّةِ وَالإِرْهافِ وَالرِّقَّةِ ما يَمْلِكُ عَلَيَّ جانِبَ الفِكْرِ حَتَّى يَكادُ يَطْمَحُ بِهِ أَمامَ غَلْوَةِ السِّحْرِ
Ibn Jinni
d. 392 AH / 1002 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
Comparing Arabic with other languages:
“We ask scholars of Arabic whose origin is non-Arab, and who were trained in their own language before they took up Arabic, about the two languages: they will not put them side by side — they will hardly even accept the question, so remote does it seem to them, so far does the subtlety of Arabic stand ahead in their judgement and their feeling. I asked Abu 'Ali about this more than once, and his answer was much as I have related.”
وَذَلِكَ أَنّا نَسْأَلُ عُلَماءَ العَرَبِيَّةِ مِمَّنْ أَصْلُهُ عَجَمِيٌّ عَنْ حالِ اللُّغَتَيْنِ، فَلا يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَهُما، بَلْ لا يَكادُ يَقْبَلُ السُّؤالَ عَنْ ذَلِكَ؛ لِبُعْدِهِ فِي نَفْسِهِ، وَتَقَدُّمِ لُطْفِ العَرَبِيَّةِ فِي رَأْيِهِ وَحِسِّهِ.
Ibn Jinni
d. 392 AH / 1002 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
In his chapter on the religious errors that knowledge of Arabic guards against:
“Most of those among the people of the religious law who strayed from its right course and turned from the best path to it were led astray, and their judgement made light of, by their weakness in this noble and generous language in which all people were addressed.”
وَذَلِكَ أَنَّ أَكْثَرَ مَنْ ضَلَّ مِنْ أَهْلِ الشَّرِيعَةِ عَنِ القَصْدِ فِيها وَحادَ عَنِ الطَّرِيقَةِ المُثْلَى إِلَيْها، فَإِنَّما اسْتَهْواهُ "وَاسْتَخَفَّ حِلْمَهُ" ضَعْفُهُ فِي هَذِهِ اللُّغَةِ الكَرِيمَةِ الشَّرِيفَةِ، الَّتِي خُوطِبَ الكافَّةُ بِها
Ibn Jinni
d. 392 AH / 1002 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“Since God singled out the Arabic tongue for clear expression, it is known that all other languages fall short of it and rank below it، And where do other languages have the breadth that the language of the Arabs has?”
فَلَمّا خَصَّ جَلَّ ثَناؤُهُ اللِّسانَ العَرَبِيَّ بِالبَيانِ عُلِمَ أَنَّ سائِرَ اللُّغاتِ قاصِرَةٌ عَنْهُ وَواقِعَةٌ دُونَهُ، وَأَيْنَ لِسائِرِ اللُّغاتِ مِنَ السَّعَةِ ما لِلُغَةِ العَرَبِ
Ibn Faris
d. 395 AH / 1004 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“The science most deserving to be learned and most worthy of being memorised, after knowledge of God, is the science of rhetoric and the knowledge of eloquence, by which the inimitability of God's Book is known.”
اعْلَمْ- عَلَّمَكَ اللَّهُ الخَيْرَ، وَدَلَّكَ عَلَيْهِ، وَقَيَّضَهُ لَكَ، وَجَعَلَكَ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ- أَنَّ أَحَقَّ العُلُومِ بِالتَّعَلُّمِ، وَأَوْلاها بِالتَّحَفُّظِ- بَعْدَ المَعْرِفَةِ بِاللَّهِ جَلَّ ثَناؤُهُ- عِلْمُ البَلاغَةِ، وَمَعْرِفَةُ الفَصاحَةِ، الَّذى بِهِ يُعْرَفُ إِعْجازُ كِتابِ اللَّهِ تَعالَى
Abu Hilal al-'Askari
d. 395 AH / 1005 CE
 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.”
وَمَنْ أَحَبَّ الرَّسُولَ العَرَبِيَّ أَحَبَّ العَرَبَ، وَمَنْ أَحَبَّ العَرَبَ أَحَبَّ العَرَبِيَّةَ الَّتِي بِها نَزَلَ أَفْضَلُ الكُتُبِ… وَالعَرَبِيَّةُ خَيْرُ اللُّغاتِ وَالأَلْسِنَةِ.
al-Tha'alibi
d. 429 AH / 1038 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
In the introduction to his Hebrew grammar, justifying the use of Arabic to explain obscure Hebrew:
“We did not scruple to cite, for what has no attestation in Hebrew, what we found agreeing and cognate with it in the Arabic tongue, for it is, after Syriac, the language most like ours.”
لَمْ نَتَحَرَّجْ عَنِ الاسْتِشْهادِ عَلَى ما لا شاهِدَ عَلَيْهِ مِنَ العِبْرانِيِّ بِما وَجَدْناهُ مُوافِقاً وَمُجانِساً لَهُ مِنَ اللِّسانِ العَرَبِيِّ، إِذْ هُوَ أَكْثَرُ اللُّغاتِ بَعْدَ السُّرْيانِيِّ شَبَهاً بِلِسانِنا.
Abu al-Walid Marwan ibn Janah
c. 990 – c. 1050
 From the author's own Arabic
“Once God had sent the best of His messengers from among the Arabs and sent down to him the last of His books in the tongue of the Arabs, it became an obligation on people to learn the tongue of the Arabs, even if a communal one, so that they might understand from God His command and prohibition, His promise and warning, and grasp from His Messenger his explanation and his conveying of the message.”
بَعْدَ أَنْ بَعَثَ اللَّهُ أَفْضَلَ رُسُلِهِ مِنَ العَرَبِ وَأَنْزَلَ عَلَيْهِ آخِرَ كُتُبِهِ بِلِسانِ العَرَبِ فَصارَ عَلَى النّاسِ فَرْضاً أَنْ يَتَعَلَّمُوا لِسانَ العَرَبِ وَإِنْ كانَ ذَلِكَ مِنْ فُرُوضِ الكِفايَةِ لِيَعْقِلُوا عَنِ اللَّهِ أَمْرَهُ وَنَهْيَهُ وَوَعْدَهُ وَوَعِيدَهُ، وَيَفْهَمُوا عَنْ رَسُولِهِ - ﷺ - بَيانَهُ وَتَبْلِيغَهُ
al-Bayhaqi
d. 458 AH / 1066 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“I praise God for making me one of the scholars of Arabic and for disposing me by nature to zeal and partisanship for the Arabs.”
اللَّهَ أَحْمَدُ عَلَى أَنْ جَعَلَنِي مِنْ عُلَماءِ العَرَبِيَّةِ وَجَبَلَنِي عَلَى الغَضَبِ لِلعَرَبِ وَالعَصَبِيَّةِ
al-Zamakhshari
d. 538 AH / 1144 CE
 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
On the hermaphrodite, commenting on Q 42:49–50:
“We say: this is ignorance of the language, dullness to where eloquence draws its lines, and a failure to grasp the breadth of God's power.”
قُلْنَا: هَذَا جَهْلٌ بِاللُّغَةِ، وَغَبَاوَةٌ عَنْ مَقْطَعِ الْفَصَاحَةِ، وَقُصُورٌ عَنْ مَعْرِفَةِ سَعَةِ الْقُدْرَةِ.
Abu Bakr ibn al-‘Arabi
d. 543 AH / 1148 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“The Arabic tongue is the emblem of Islam and its people, and languages are among the greatest distinctive marks of nations, by which they are told apart.”
فَإِنَّ اللِّسانَ العَرَبِيَّ شِعارُ الإِسْلامِ وَأَهْلِهِ، وَاللُّغاتُ مِنْ أَعْظَمِ شَعائِرِ الأُمَمِ الَّتِي بِها يَتَمَيَّزُونَ
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“Know that habitual use of a language has a strong and evident effect on the mind, on character and on religion; it also brings one closer to the first generation of this community, the Companions and their Successors, and resembling them increases mind, religion and character. Moreover, the Arabic language itself is part of the religion, and knowing it is an obligation: understanding the Book and the Sunna is obligatory, they cannot be understood without understanding Arabic, and whatever an obligation cannot be fulfilled without is itself obligatory.”
وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ اعْتِيادَ اللُّغَةِ يُؤَثِّرُ فِي العَقْلِ وَالخُلُقِ وَالدِّينِ تَأْثِيراً قَوِيّاً بَيِّناً… فَإِنَّ نَفْسَ اللُّغَةِ العَرَبِيَّةِ مِنَ الدِّينِ، وَمَعْرِفَتَها فَرْضٌ واجِبٌ.
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“It is well known that learning and teaching Arabic is a communal obligation. The forebears used to discipline their children for grammatical mistakes. We are commanded, by way of obligation or recommendation, to preserve the Arabic rule and to correct tongues that stray from it, so that our way of understanding the Book and the Sunna, and of following the Arabs in their speech, is preserved. Were people left to their mistakes, it would be a deficiency and a fault.”
وَمَعْلُومٌ أَنَّ تَعَلُّمَ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ وَتَعْلِيمَ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ فَرْضٌ عَلَى الْكِفَايَةِ، وَكَانَ السَّلَفُ يُؤَدِّبُونَ أَوْلَادَهُمْ عَلَى اللَّحْنِ… فَلَوْ تُرِكَ النَّاسُ عَلَى لَحْنِهِمْ كَانَ نَقْصاً وَعَيْباً.
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“The forebears never ceased to dislike changing the distinctive marks of the Arabs, even in dealings, namely speaking other than Arabic except out of need, as Malik, al-Shafi'i and Ahmad stated; Malik even said: whoever speaks other than Arabic in our mosque is to be put out of it. Other tongues may be spoken by their own people, but they allowed them for need and disliked them otherwise, to preserve the distinctive marks of Islam; for God sent down His Book in the Arabic tongue, sent with it His Arab Prophet, and made the Arab community the best of communities, so that preserving their emblem became part of fully preserving Islam.”
فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ أَنْزَلَ كِتَابَهُ بِاللِّسَانِ الْعَرَبِيِّ، وَبَعَثَ بِهِ نَبِيَّهُ الْعَرَبِيَّ… فَصَارَ حِفْظُ شِعَارِهِمْ مِنْ تَمَامِ حِفْظِ الْإِسْلَامِ.
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“In interpreting the Qur'an and the Hadith one must know which words indicate what God and His Messenger meant, and how His speech is understood. Knowing the Arabic in which we were addressed helps us grasp what God and His Messenger meant by their words, and so does knowing how words signify meanings; for most of the error of the people of innovation came from this cause: they took the words of God and His Messenger to mean what they claimed them to indicate, when it was not so.”
فَمَعْرِفَةُ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ الَّتِي خُوطِبْنَا بِهَا مِمَّا يُعِينُ عَلَى أَنْ نَفْقَهَ مُرَادَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ بِكَلَامِهِ.
Ibn Taymiyya
d. 728 AH / 1328 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
“The religious law is Arabic; and since it is Arabic, no one understands it as it should be understood except one who understands the Arabic language as it should be understood.”
إِنَّ الشَّرِيعَةَ عَرَبِيَّةٌ وَإِذَا كَانَتْ عَرَبِيَّةً فَلَا يَفْهَمُهَا حَقَّ الْفَهْمِ إِلَّا مَنْ فَهِمَ اللُّغَةَ الْعَرَبِيَّةَ حَقَّ الْفَهْمِ
al-Shatibi
d. 790 AH / 1388 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 grammar:
“The faculty the Arabs acquired in this was the finest of faculties and the clearest in expressing what is meant.”
اعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللُّغَةَ فِي المُتَعارَفِ هِيَ عِبارَةُ المُتَكَلِّمِ عَنْ مَقْصُودِهِ… وَكانَتِ المَلَكَةُ الحاصِلَةُ لِلعَرَبِ مِنْ ذَلِكَ أَحْسَنَ المَلَكاتِ وَأَوْضَحَها إِبانَةً عَنِ المَقاصِدِ
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
 From the author's own Arabic
“No people's language was ever abased without that people being abased, nor did it decline without their affairs going into decline and retreat.”
وَمَا ذَلَّتْ لُغَةُ شَعْبٍ إِلَّا ذَلَّ، وَلَا انْحَطَّتْ إِلَّا كَانَ أَمْرُهُ فِي ذَهَابٍ وإِدْبَار
Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafi'i
d. 1356 AH / 1937 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
“As for language, it is the image of the nation's existence, with its ideas, its meanings and the realities of its soul, a distinct existence standing on its own characteristics; it is the nationhood of thought.”
أَمَّا اللُّغَةُ فَهْي صُورَةُ وُجُودِ الأمَّةِ بِأَفْكَارِهَا وَمَعَانِيهَا وَحَقَائِقِ نُفُوسِهَا، وُجُوداً مُتَمَيِّزاً قَائِماً بِخَصَائِصِه؛ فَهْيَ قَوْمِيَّةُ الفِكْر
Mustafa Sadiq al-Rafi'i
d. 1356 AH / 1937 CE
 From the author's own Arabic
On Hebrew literature under Islamic rule:
“Israelite literature in the Middle Ages revived greatly … under Islamic rule in al-Andalus, Egypt and Iraq; the Jews began imitating the Arabs in poetry.”
عَلَى أَنَّ الأَدَبَ الإِسْرَائِيلِيَّ فِي القُرُونِ الوُسْطَى قَدِ انْتَعَشَ انْتِعَاشاً عَظِيماً… فِي ظِلِّ الحُكْمِ الإِسْلَامِيِّ بِالأَنْدَلُسِ وَمِصْرَ وَالعِراقِ، فَقَدْ أَخَذَ اليَهُودُ فِي تِلْكَ العُهُودِ يُقَلِّدُونَ العَرَبَ فِي الشِّعْرِ.
Israel Wolfensohn
1899–1980

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.