CLASSICAL ARABIC AND THE HIBERNATION OF THE ARAB MIND

A Beirut-based author surveys the connection between language and cultural progress in this nonfiction work.

“Language plays a fundamental role in social cohesion,” Khalil writes. Emphasizing the centrality of language to societal progress, the author, a strategic planner, posits that classical Arabic (the language used by educational elites, governments, and intellectuals) is largely to blame for “the Arab world’s stagnation.” This is analogous, per the author, to the social stagnation that occurred in Europe during the Middle Ages, as a singular, ancient language—in this case, Latin—created an accessibility barrier that prevented the general population from contributing to the major intellectual debates of the day. Like Latin, classical Arabic is an elegant and beautiful language, and was the cornerstone of the Islamic Golden Age from the 8th to the 13th century when it represented a shared language spoken by people throughout the Arabic World. Such “script-native societies,” where the daily language spoken by average people “align[ed] with the language of education, literature, and academia,” are far better equipped to adapt to social progress, according to Khalil. These societies, per the book’s fascinatingly unique argument, in which linguistic barriers are minimized do a far better job at fostering an interconnected community that unites individuals across socioeconomic categories. Alternately, in places where there’s a dichotomy between the natively spoken language and the language of elites—such as in the contemporary Arabic world—the very grammar and expressive structures of everyday life fail to connect innovative ideas within a rigid linguistic system that struggles to articulate creative solutions within their vocabulary. Originally published in 2018, this second edition book expands the author’s argument beyond the Middle East to East Asia, Africa, and Europe. Much of sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, features myriad disconnected dialects that stem from different linguistic families, which complicates governance, public education, and societal cohesion, per Khalil.

The strength of the work’s analysis is its rejection of cultural determinism, particularly its emphasis that “underperformance is not the result of unchangeable cultural factors.” And while the book doesn’t hold back political critiques of Arabic elites or societies, the blame is never placed on the Arab people themselves. Indeed, implicit in the central argument is a democratic notion that the inclusion of working-class Arabic voices would uplift society by bringing in diverse perspectives. Indeed, the book is quite optimistic that the development of “standard grammars for writing in our spoken dialects” and other linguistic shifts could potentially transform societies. While offering a compelling argument, the book could have included more historical context, particularly on the role of colonialism, Western geopolitical entanglement, and orientalism in holding back social progress in the Arabic World. These omissions notwithstanding, Khalil offers a unique lens through which to analyze civilizations throughout history and backs his work with a solid research bibliography. His engaging writing style is accessible to wide audiences, and the book includes a wealth of illustrations, diagrams, and other visual elements. Ultimately, the book makes a fundamentally humanitarian argument on the power of linguistic unity and the role of a centralized language across social division in the “ability of a community to work together effectively” by “leveraging shared knowledge and skills” to adapt to a changing world.

A well-argued case for the centrality of language to societal advancement.