The Algerian Embassy in Manama celebrates the International Day of Arabic Language

The Arabic which is the language of eloquence and perfection is the most capable of containing meanings and fitting words among human tongues. Arabic means clear and neat. Previous civilizations have recognized the superiority of the Arabic language over other human tongues. Arabic is the origin of the nowadays dominant alphabet in the world, which the unfair Western narrative attributes to Greek civilization, while the Greeks themselves took their alphabet from Phoenician deemed as one form of the ancient Arabic language.

In addition to that, the language of Al-Thad was elevated to sanctity conferred on it by God when He made it the language of his last and most comprehensive revealed Booki.e.,the Holy Qur’an by which God the Almighty defied all of His creatures. Regarding the unique and distinct characteristics of the Arabic language in terms linguistic performance, phonetics, morphology, grammar, lexicon and semantics, etc., one can speak his mind about this, as Arabic sits atop of all human languages in terms of congruencebetween pronunciation and meaning, completeness of expression, and eloquence. These are features that thousands of books cannot enumerate and describe.

Algeria and its people were illustrious by their love for the language of the Holy Qur’an and by serving it. Throughout the long history of Algeria, Algerian scholars have contributed to deepening and disseminating the sciences of the language of Al-Thad. Among the most prominent but not limited to them, we mention:

• Omar bin Muhammad Al-Kamad Al-Ansari Al-Qasantini (Al-Wazzan) who was interested in teaching and rejected judiciary missions;
• Yahya bin Suleiman Al-Aurasi who conducted research in grammar, rhetoric, and jurisprudence;
• Abd al-Karim Al-Faqoun (1073 AH) who left a commentary on Arjuza Al-Makudi on the morphology “simplification and definition”, “an explanation of the Sharif’s evidence of al-Ajrumiyyah,” and “an explanation of the sentences of Al-Mujaridi and the phoneticsfromAl-Shatibiyyah”;
• Issa Al-Thaalabi (1080 AH) who was interested in several sciences, including grammar, morphology, and rhetoric;
• Yahya Al-Shawi (1096 AH) who authored books in various sciences including “The Fundamentals of Grammar,” “Al-Durr al-Nadhid fi Iirabi Kalimat al-Tawhid,” “Footnote to Al-Muradi’s Explanation of Al-Khulasa fi Al-Nahow “Grammar,” “Footnote to Al-Sharif’s Explanation of Al-Ajurumiyya,” and “Footnote to Issam’s Explanation Al-Kafiyya by Ibn Al-Hajib” and “The Trial between Abu Hayyan the Commentator and Al-Zamakhshari and Ibn Atiyya in the Interpretation”;
• Ahmed bin Qasim Al-Buni (1139 AH) who wrote more than a hundred books, ranging from short to long, in poetry and prose, most of which were in the collection of linguistics texts, such as “Insu Al-Nufus bi-fawaid Al-Qamous “The familiarity of Souls in the Benefits of the Dictionary,” “Nazm Al-Ajrumiya,” and “Ianat Al-Aani bi-ma Lillafdhi min Maany “Helping the meaning by what a word holds of meanings”.
• Muhammad Abu Ras Al-Maaskari (1238 AH), the author of books on many sciences, including “Raising Prices in the Language of Eight Banquets,” “Al-Qahtab Al-Mukhtasar from Al-Azhari on the Rules of the Dictionary and Al-Jawhari,” “Diya Al-Qaboos Ala-kitab al-Qamous” etc..

As for the modern era, we find the Association of Muslim Scholars (Ulama) and an elite of writers such as the poet of the Revolution, Moufdi Zakaria, and Muhammad Al-Eid Al Khalifa. As for contemporary linguists, we commend the sheikh of Arab linguists, Professor Abderrahmane Hadj Salah, for his tremendous efforts, his unparalleled faith, and his unyielding determination to serve the Arabic language in Algeria and worldwide. The head of the Supreme Council of the Arabic Language, Saleh Belaid, praised him, saying “Perhaps one of the most prominent figures of the Arabic language in recent times is Abderrahmane Hadj Salah, who is the linguist who contributes to reviving the linguistic heritage, to linking originality with modernity, and to defining concepts and true knowledge of the principles of research especially the grammatical teaching”.

As a reminder, after Algeria entered the long and dark night of colonialism, its classical Arabic language was subjected to a fierce attack by missionary hordes, since Arabic was the language of Qur’an which unifies all Arab peoples. Their war was evidenced in their call for the use of colloquial dialects instead of the classical Arabic and for the replacement of Arabic letters with Latin ones in written Arabicaiming, thereby, ateliminating the Islamic religion, considered asasource of strength and resistance for Muslim Arabs. Thus, the goal of eliminating Arab culture will only be achieved through separating the rising Arab generations from their cultural heritage written in Arabic letters and through severing the bonds of national unity existing between Arab countries for the purpose of weakening and enslaving all the Arabs once their unity is ended.  Were it not for the fact that Arabic is the language of the Holy Qur’anand the religion of and Islamic civilization, its enemies would have achieved what they aspire to.

As for Algeria and its Arabic language, there is an inextricable bond between them, an unbreakable fusion and never-ending ties. If another country had been subjected to what Algeria has gone through, in terms of war against its language, its culture, and its faith, it would have disintegrated and melted in the crucible of Westernization. The Arabic language, the houses of teaching Qur’an (katatib), zawiyas, mosques, and Algerian scholars all of them had the greatest credit for resisting the French cultural invasion practiced over a century and thirty years. Despite all the efforts made by colonialism to bury Algeria’s Muslim and Arab personality and replace it with a distorted westernized entity that owes allegiance to colonialism and serves its interests, Algeria succeeded in preserving its religion, language, and Arabity.

In addition, Algeria which contributed to promoting and defending this language, has always been aware of the stakes associated with the Arabic language and believed in the necessity of its entry into the international arena and the fields of science and industry after it had been absent from it due to the absence of its civilization and the rush of hateful nations against it.

At the international level, Algeria was the first to introduce Arabic into the United Nations fora when the late President Houari Boumediene, may God have mercy on him, delivered a historic speech in Arabic at the United Nations General Assembly in September 1975. He was the first to do so, defending the issues and interests of developing countries andstressing that conflict is not “between East and West, rather, it is between North and South, and that the latter must realize that the South has legitimate rights that have been taken away.” Algeria was also the first to demand, through its former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ahmed Taleb Al-Ibrahimi, that Arabic language be included in the UNESCO.

From the perspective of the localization of sciences and the revival of civilization, history will remember that the late Boumediene was the first to realize the necessity for “Arabic become the language of iron, steel, and petrochemistry in the future.”

In conclusion, the language of Al-Thadin Algeriais as immunizedasAlgeria. Immunized by its institutions that ensure its advancement, including linguistic academies, higher councils, and others. It is shielded as the Algeriansare shielded by their faith for which Arabic language is the eternal nurturing container, and by their just principles they derived from their spiritual and jihadi ideological heritage. May Arabic language live forever and May Algeria remain invincible and sovereign until the Day of Judgment.

Ambassador Dr. Mahmoud Braham