> Quotes showing the excellence of Arabic over other languages

[Qatada]

Tammam Hassan points out that when scholars of balagha [in arabic] recognized the concept of maqam, they were one thousand years ahead of their time. (to other languages of the world.)

http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Qur...ntexinter.html



Maqam; It is different ways and tones that one recite Quran with.

http://ahlalhdeeth.com/vbe/showthread.php?t=7312


Personal note; Maybe it's referring to Do Re Mi Fo Sa La Ti Do, or something?

[Qatada]

Arabic Language

Where Spoken: Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Palestinian West Bank & Gaza, Israel, Iran, France, Oman, Turkey, Argentina, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Chad, Bahrain, Niger, Tanzania, United States, The Netherlands, Belgium, Eritrea, Mali, Qatar, Nigeria

Number of Speakers: 422,039,637



Arabic became the most widespread of the living Semitic languages, and today the various Arabic varieties are spoken by some 206 million as a mother tongue, and 246 million as a second language. [total = 452 million people speak arabic.]

http://au.encarta.msn.com/encycloped..._Language.html



the slightly differing numbers may be because of research done at different times.

[Qatada]

[إِنَّآ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ ]

(Verily, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an in order that you may understand.)

The Arabic language is the most eloquent, plain, deep and expressive of the meanings that might arise in one's mind. Therefore, the most honorable Book, was revealed in the most honorable language, to the most honorable Prophet and Messenger , delivered by the most honorable angel, in the most honorable land on earth, and its revelation started during the most honorable month of the year, Ramadan. Therefore, the Qur'an is perfect in every respect.


Tafsir of Surah Yusuf - Ibn Kathir

[Qatada]

asalaam alaikum



" No people in the world manifest such enthusiastic admiration for literary expression and are so moved by the word, spoken or written, as the Arabs. 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. The rhythm, the rhyme, the music, produce on them the effect of what they call "lawful magic (sihr halal). "

Philip K Hitti, History of the Arabs


http://www.adab.com/en/

[Qatada]

asalaam alaikum


Ibn Hazm says;

..the most comprehensive of all languages, the clearest in expression, the least ambiguous, the most concise, and the most extensive in vocabulary to comprehend the names of all things, whether substances or accidents...

The fifth chapter of Ibn Hazm's Ihkâm fî Usûl al-Ahkâm. It's original title is: "The Origins of Language: Divine Providence or Human Codification".

Islamtoday.com: Is Arabic the Language of Adam? or of Paradise?

We know that arabic is the language which fits these criteria the best. :)

[Aayah]

Wa Alykom Asalam Wa Rahmat Allah Wa Barakatoh

jazak Allah khair brother for those materials, Arabic is a very rich language


this is just reminding me of a verse of poem for a very famous Arabic poet called Hafiz Ibrahim or as some people called him "the poet of the Nile"

he was picturing the Arabic language talking to its people who abandoned it and blame them to go and look for other languages


أنا البحر في أحشائه الدرُّ كامــنٌ فهل سألوا الغواص عن صدفاتي

I am the sea where pearls are latent in my inside ..... Did they even ask the divers about my shells?

Originally Posted by Qatada

[إِنَّآ أَنْزَلْنَاهُ قُرْآنًا عَرَبِيًّا لَّعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ ]
(Verily, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur'an in order that you may understand.)

I think that verse from the Quran on its own is enough for us to be proud that we speak such amazing language....Alhumdulilah


If I have time, I will try to translate the whole poem for hafiz Ibrahim because it really worth it

[Ifrah]

Originally Posted by Qatada

Arabic Language

Where Spoken: Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Palestinian West Bank & Gaza, Israel, Iran, France, Oman, Turkey, Argentina, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Chad, Bahrain, Niger, Tanzania, United States, The Netherlands, Belgium, Eritrea, Mali, Qatar, Nigeria

Number of Speakers: 422,039,637



Arabic became the most widespread of the living Semitic languages, and today the various Arabic varieties are spoken by some 206 million as a mother tongue, and 246 million as a second language. [total = 452 million people speak arabic.]

Arabic Language - ninemsn Encarta



the slightly differing numbers may be because of research done at different times.

The major dialect groups are:

• Egyptian Arabic, spoken by around 76 million in Egypt. It is one of the most understood varieties of Arabic. Closely related varieties are also spoken in Sudan.
• Gulf Arabic, spoken by around 34 million people in Arab states of the Persian Gulf and eastern Saudi Arabia.
• Iraqi Arabic, spoken by about 29 million people in Iraq. With significant differences between the Arabian-like dialects of the south and the more conservative dialects of the north. Closely related varieties are also spoken in Iran, Syria, and Turkey.
• Levantine Arabic, includes North Levantine Arabic, South Levantine Arabic, and Cypriot Arabic, and is spoken by almost 35 million people in Israel, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, and Turkey. It's also called Mediterranean Arabic.
• Maghrebi Arabic, heavily influenced by Berber in pronunciation, and includes Moroccan Arabic, Algerian Arabic, Algerian Saharan Arabic, Tunisian Arabic, and Libyan Arabic, and is spoken by around 45 million North Africans in Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Niger, and western Egypt; it is mostly difficult for speakers of Near Eastern Arabic varieties to understand. The Berber influence in these dialects varies in degree.[13]

Other varieties include:

• Andalusi Arabic, spoken in Spain until 17th century, now extinct.
• Bahrani Arabic, spoken by Bahrani Shia in Bahrain, where it exhibits some differences from Bahraini Arabic. It is also spoken to a lesser extent in Oman.
• Central Asian Arabic, spoken in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Afghanistan, is highly endangered
• Hassaniya Arabic, spoken in Mauritania, some parts of Mali and Western Sahara
• Hejazi Arabic, spoken in Hejaz, western Saudi Arabia
• Judeo-Arabic dialects
• Maltese, spoken on the Mediterranean island of Malta, is the only one to have established itself as a fully separate language, with independent literary norms. In the course of its history the language has adopted numerous loanwords, phonetic and phonological features, and even some grammatical patterns, from Italian, Sicilian, and English. It is also the only Semitic tongue written in the Latin alphabet.
• Najdi Arabic, spoken in Nejd, central Saudi Arabia
• Shuwa Arabic, spoken in Chad, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan
• Siculo Arabic, spoken on Sicily, South Italy until 14th century, developed into Maltese[14]
• Sudanese Arabic, spoken in Sudan
• Yemeni Arabic, spoken in Yemen, southern Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, and Somalia
• Hatay Arabic, spoken in Hatay region of Turkey

Also you left out Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria etc if i think of anymore i'll add insh-Alla, most muslim Countries speak Arabic thou.

masalam

[Qatada]

asalaam alaikum


More than a dot on the horizon

March 4, 2006 · 2 Comments

al-Salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāh,


Arabic philologists have long studied the Arabic language in relation to the other 'Semitic' languages in an attempt to show the areas where Arabic is unique to the exclusion of the other Semitic languages.


The reaction of many Muslims who embark on Arabic language study and who have no prior experience of the Semitic languages is often to make ambitious claims that Arabic is unique in it's root system, or that 'it is the only language in the world in which you can begin a sentence with a verb.' Such claims are simply not true: the Semitic languages (of which Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew and Syriac are still spoken today) share a common characteristic of being based on a root system; and languages such as Welsh, Niuean, Malagasy, Gaelic, Hawaiian, Fijan, Tagalog, Maori and others – while they may not rank among the most widely spoken of the world's languages, nevertheless entertain a verb-initial grammar.


Extensive comparative study must be done of all the world's languages before one can justifiably lay claim to the uniqueness of Arabic among them. However, Arabic does enjoy certain characteristics unique to it among the Semitic languages, the most important of which are [*]:

1. It has preserved the sounds of the Semitic alphabet better than any of the other Semitic languages; it includes all the phonemes of the other Semitic languages (to the exclusion of perhaps two or three, about which there is doubt whether they are actually Semitic in origin), and also has extra phonemes that do not exist in the others, such as the thaa' ث, the dhaal ذ, the ghayn غ, and the daad ض.
2. It has the most extensive and precise grammatical and morphological system; all the grammatical rules in the other Semitic languages have their equivalent in Arabic, while there are many rules and phenomena in Arabic that do not exist at the same level, if at all, in the other languages.
3. It has more roots and lexical items than any of the other languages.

[*] Adapted from Fiqh al-Lughah by Dr. 'Ali 'Abd al-Wahid Wafi




More than a dot on the horizon � Arabic Gems ~ جواهر العربية

[Ibn Saeed]

Originally Posted by Aayah

If I have time, I will try to translate the whole poem for hafiz Ibrahim because it really worth it

Do you have time to translate the complete poem ?