Introduction to the Study of Arabic Rhetoric

Arabic is our language because it is the language of writing and composition; and because it encompasses the language of communication between us. Arabic literature is our literature in that it is the origin of our information, the wellspring of our knowledge and our intellectual talents; indeed, it is everything we know of the intellectual movement created by man and produced by minds and talents. But we want to have an Egyptian literature that represents our social condition, our intellectual movements, and the era in which we live; that represents the farmer in his field, the merchant in his shop, the prince in his palace, the scholar among his students and books, the sheikh among his family, the worshipper in his mosque and monastery, and the young man in his debauchery and love. That is, we want to have a personality in our literature, and by doing so, we do not want to abandon the Arabic language and its literature, because if we did that, we would become without language and without literature. We cannot reach that without returning to the Arabic language and its literature, so that it becomes our dictionary, a model for our eloquence, and a guide to us in the literary craft. In short, our literature is Arabic. From this perspective, we must be loyal to the Arabic language and its literature, just as Europeans are now loyal to Latin and Greek, because they are the source of their knowledge and the repository of the secrets of their civilization. No one can deny this, because no one can deny the impact of Arab civilization on the Islamic world.