The Arabic language is distinguished from other languages by being the language of Qur’an, the constitution of the Islamic religion, and the language of worship, science, Sunnah , and Islamic literature, all since the mission of Muhammad. May Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him. It was revealed by divine revelation, without the noble hadith, the sciences of Sharia, the Arabic language and literature, the Prophet’s biography, history, and other Islamic sciences. Undoubtedly, Arabic was not the language of the Qur’an and the religion of Islam by chance or in vain. If it was not the best language at its time, it became so after Allah honored it with the revelation of the Holy Qur’an.
The association of the Arabic language with this religion more than fourteen centuries ago has provided it with reasons for growth, breadth, and comprehensiveness, distinguishing it from other languages in linguistic, religious, intellectual, and cultural aspects. And her association with the Holy Qur’an, in particular, has provided her with reasons of strength and survival, and scholars who have served her an excellent service and have revealed her secrets and accuracy in expression; A benefit for the Qur’anic text to which all Muslim sciences are linked.
There are many narrations and narrations on the merit of Arabic and its preference over all other languages, including that Arabic is the language of the people of Paradise, that it is the language of Adam and the language of other prophets, and that Allah revealed the Arabic language to his oracles as a revelation, beginning with the father of the prophets Adam, peace be upon him, and ending with our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. This language and other novels circulated in language, literature, and history books. However, most of the narrations on this subject have not been proven from the Prophet; may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, with authentic or Hasan isnads. That is why we preferred not to cite it, except that its chain of transmission is accurate, its narration is proven, and we saw sufficient and curative verses in the Noble Qur’an. Instead, the revelation of the Noble Qur’an to the Prophet, peace be upon him, in the Arabic language, and his complete awareness of everything that was revealed to him, even if it was not in the language of his people, Quraysh. Evidence that Allah inspired him with this language. In the following lines, we will present the opinions of the imams, then conclude with what was reported from other foreigners, and we believe that this is sufficient to cover this aspect.
Imam Muhammad bin Idris al-Shafi’i (d. 204 AH), may Allah have mercy on him, was reported to describe the Arabic language and its preference over all other languages, saying: “The tongue of the Arabs is the widest of tongues in doctrine, and the most verbal, and we do not do it. All his actions are surrounded by a person other than a prophet.” Imam al-Shafi’i justifies this by saying: “..because no one knows from the clarification of the sentences of the knowledge of the book that one is ignorant of the vastness of the tongue of the Arabs and the multiplicity of its faces.” And it was narrated from him - may Allah have mercy on him - in the preference of Arabic over all other languages that he said: “If the tongues are different in what some of them do not understand from each other, then some of them must be following each other, and the preferred language should be on the follower. People are given credit for the tongue from the Prophet’s tongue, and it is not permissible – and Allah knows best – for the people of his tongue to be followers of the people of a language other than his tongue in one letter... And what increased from the knowledge of the vocabulary that Allah made the tongue of whom He sealed His prophethood with, and revealed the last of his books was good for him. .
The linguist and interpreter Abu al-Qasim Jarallah Mahmoud bin Omar al-Zamakhshari (467-538 AH) opened his Book (Al-Fateeq) with an introduction praising Arabic as the most eloquent language. He mentioned that Allah inspired it to his Prophet Ismail, so he said: “Praise be to Allah who split the tongue of the sacrifice in the clear Arabic and the speech The eloquent, and he assumed the effect of progress in pronunciation in the most eloquent language and made him the father of the excuse of rhetoric, which is the most complete of eloquence. Al-Zamakhshari mentioned something similar in his dictionary (the basis of rhetoric).
Abu Muhammad Abdullah bin Muslim bin Qutayba (213-276 AH), a well-known linguist, described the Arabic language as containing specific details of what distinguished the Arabic language thanks to this Qur’an, where he says: “The virtue of the Qur’an is known only from the many who look at it, and whose work has expanded, And understanding the doctrines of the Arabs and their fascination with styles, and what Allah made specific to their language rather than all languages; For not in all nations was a nation that was given the occasion and the explanation and the expansion of the field what the Arabs were given to me specifically from Allah, for what he instilled in the Messenger, and wanted him to establish the evidence for his prophethood in the Book, so he made it his knowledge, just as he made the knowledge of every Prophet of the messengers one of the most similar matters to what was in his time in which he was sent.""
Abu Othman Saeed bin Muhammad al-Ma’afari al-Saraqusti (d. 410 AH) explains the honor and preference of Arabic over all other languages, justifying that it is the language of the Noble Qur’an and the language of the people of Paradise, in addition to its eloquence and eloquence. And the anecdotes of its ruling; Because Allah, Blessed and Exalted be He, chose it among languages for the best of his family and the most honorable nation, then He made it the language of the people of the abode of residence in his neighborhood and the place of his honor.
Imam Abu al-Husayn Ahmad ibn Faris (329-395 AH), the lexicographer, is the most apparent scholarly opinion on Arabic and the most explicit in his preference for other languages. He held a chapter in his book (Al-Sahbi in the Fiqh of the Arabic Language and Its Issues and the Sunan of the Arabs in Its Words), entitled: (Saying that Arabic is the best and broadest language), in which he included an Arabic phrase, stating that it is not permissible to transfer it to other than Arabic; Because it is difficult to translate. And he held another chapter entitled: (Chapter of saying in the language of the Arabs, and is it permissible to be surrounded by it?), he opened it with the saying of some jurists: The speech of the Arabs is covered only by a prophet, then he replied saying: “And this is a word that must be true. And it has not reached us that one of the past claimed to have memorized the entire language…”. He also held another chapter entitled: (On what is specialized in the language of the Arabs), in which he mentioned those characteristics: syntax, poetry, and presentations.
Ibn Faris followed in that Imam Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (849-911 AH), who held in his book (Al-Zuhr fi Ulum al-Lughah and its Kinds) a chapter called: (Knowing the Characteristics of Language) in which he summarized what Ibn Faris mentioned about the characteristics of the Arabic language, which amounted to forty-six. Among them: a large number of vocabulary, and compensation, which is the placement of the word in the place of the word; Such as establishing the infinitive in the position of the command and the subject in the part of the infinitive, decoding the combination and reducing the word by deletion, not combining consonants and differentiating between meanings with movements, and other things that we will present to in the last place in this book.
As for Abu Ibrahim Ishaq bin Ibrahim al-Farabi (d. 350 AH), the author of the Diwan of Literature, he preferred Arabic over all other languages, justifying that it is the speech of the people of Paradise, that it is free from every defect and that it is specialized in parsing and good composition. Al-Farabi says in his talk about the Mustafa Muhammad, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him: “… As for the tongue, it is the speech of Allah’s neighbors in the abode of eternity. Languages; From a syntax, Allah created for him, and a combination of movement and stillness, freed by it; He did not combine two consonants or opposing vowels, and he did not find between two letters that did not combine….”
Abu al-Abbas al-Qalqashindi (756-821 AH) sees in his book: (Subh al-A’sha fi Sanji al-Insha) that Arabic is the language of complete letters, complete with words. He justifies this by the fact that nothing was missing from it so that its deficiency was disgraced, and nothing was added to it so that it was defective by its increase.
These are the opinions of Arab scholars from the predecessors of this nation. However, praising Arabic, mentioning its virtues, and explaining its characteristics, was not confined to Arabs and Muslims only but also to non-Arab scholars and linguists and non-Muslims. Among them is the French orientalist Ernest Reagan (1823-1892 AD), the author of my book: Encyclopedia of Christian History and History of Semitic Languages, known for his extreme fanaticism. Renan noted the peculiarity of Arabic in its upbringing, ease, stability, and richness and mentioned that it is the language that suddenly began to be perfect and that this - in his view - is the strangest thing that happened in human history and it is difficult to explain.
Among them is the French scientist Marcy, who says: “It is effortless to learn the origins of the Arabic language; Its rules, which appear complex at first sight, are standard and controlled in an almost unbelievable way; The average mind can acquire it in a few months and with moderate effort.”
Join Islamic Studies Courses on Ijaazah NOW!
"