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Arabic in Cards

What They Said About the Arabs and Arabic

161 sayings, each from its source

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.

161 sayings — 75 by Arab and Muslim scholars, 86 by others; 66 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.

Showing 5 of 161 Clear filters

Narrated with its chain
Abu Jaʿfar al-Tabari relates that he heard Abu ʿUmar al-Jarmi say:
“For thirty years now I have been giving people legal opinions out of the Book of Sibawayh.”
أَنَا مُذْ ثَلاثُونَ أُفْتِي النَّاسَ فِي الفِقْهِ مِنْ كِتَابِ سِيبَوَيْهِ.
Abu ʿUmar al-Jarmi
d. 225 AH / 839 CE
 Narrated with its chain
Abu Jaʿfar al-Nahhas relates that the scholars of Arabic never ceased to prefer the Book of Sibawayh, until al-Mubarrad said:
“No book in any science has ever been composed like the Book of Sibawayh: books written in the sciences need other books, but whoever understands the Book of Sibawayh needs nothing else.”
لَمْ يُعْمَلْ كِتَابٌ فِي عِلْمٍ مِنَ العُلُومِ مِثْلُ كِتَابِ سِيبَوَيْهِ، وَذَلِكَ أَنَّ الكُتُبَ المُصَنَّفَةَ فِي العُلُومِ مُضْطَرَّةٌ إِلَى غَيْرِهَا، وَكِتَابُ سِيبَوَيْهِ لا يَحْتَاجُ مَنْ فَهِمَهُ إِلَى غَيْرِهِ.
al-Mubarrad
d. 286 AH / 899 CE
 Via a reliable witness
On the Arab grammarians:
“The rules laid down by the Arab grammarians, with tireless effort and admirable devotion, set out and portrayed classical Arabic in all its aspects – its sounds, its forms, the structure of its sentences and the meanings of its words – in a complete and comprehensive picture, so that their basic rules reached a level of perfection that leaves no room for anyone to add.”
ولقد تكفّلت القواعدُ التي وضعها النحاةُ العرب، في جهدٍ لا يعرف الكلل وتضحيةٍ جديرةٍ بالإعجاب، بعرض اللغة الفصحى وتصويرها في جميع مظاهرها، من ناحية الأصوات والصيغ وتركيب الجمل ومعاني المفردات، على صورةٍ محيطةٍ شاملة، بحيث بلغت القواعدُ الأساسيّة عندهم مستوًى من الكمال لا يسمح بزيادةٍ لمستزيد.
Johann Fück
1894–1974
 Via a reliable witness
At the start of his book on Sibawayh:
“Defining and describing this language in its ideal form was the chief achievement of the book that has kept Sibawayh’s name alive for twelve centuries, and it remains the founding document of everything that came after it in Arabic.”
تحديدُ هذه اللغة ووصفُها في صورتها المثاليّة كان الإنجازَ الأهمّ للكتاب الذي خلَّد سيبويه اثنيْ عشر قرناً، وما يزال الوثيقةَ التأسيسيّة لكلّ التطوّرات اللاحقة في اللغة العربيّة.
Michael G. Carter
 Via a reliable witness
Concluding his paper for the King Saud University conference, 2020:
“The grammarians’ tradition was built on general, universal principles… Even if we differ decisively among ourselves, all who study the tradition agree that it is an intellectual achievement unique of its kind, and that the study of the Arab grammarians’ ideas is of great value in itself.”
لقد بُنِيَ تراثُ النحويّين على مبادئ عامّةٍ وعالميّة… فحتّى لو كان بيننا اختلافاتٌ حاسمة، فيتّفق كلُّ الذين يبحثون في التراث بأنّه إنجازٌ ذهنيٌّ فريدٌ من نوعه، ودراسةُ أفكار النحويّين العرب هي فائدةٌ بالغةُ القيمة في حدّ ذاتها.
Jonathan Owens

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.