Modern Rhetoric and the Arabic Language

Modern Rhetoric and the Arabic Language by Salama Moussa

Author and Book
Salama Moussa (1887–1958) was a pioneering Egyptian intellectual who, during his stay in Europe (1906–1909), was influenced by Darwin, Marx, and Fabian socialism. He became one of the earliest advocates of socialism in the Arab world and authored more than forty books addressing modernization, language, and cultural reform.

Publication History
The book was first published in 1945 as a reaction to an article by Ahmad Amin in Al-Thaqafa magazine, which argued that the meanings of words shift with time and place. It was reissued in 2011 by the Hindawi Foundation.

Historical Context
The book was written during a critical period in Egypt’s history, when calls for modernization and Westernization followed the British occupation. Egyptian society found itself torn between clinging to tradition and adopting the European model.

The Language Crisis and Social Backwardness

Moussa argued that:

Linguistic schism was a key cause of stagnation. The existence of two languages—Classical Arabic for writing and colloquial Arabic for speech—separated the elite from the masses and obstructed societal development.
Language is a cultural vessel. It is not merely a set of symbols but the primary tool of thought and communication. Its function varies:
- In religion and literature, it reflects human psychology.
- In philosophy, it becomes abstract and conceptual.
- In mathematics, it reaches its highest level of abstraction.
Compared with European languages, Arabic had failed to undergo the unification between written and spoken forms that made Western languages efficient tools for modern science and culture.

Moussa’s Three Radical Proposals

1. Unifying Classical Arabic and the Vernacular

The problem: Classical Arabic had become a “priestly language” detached from daily life, while colloquial Arabic was alive but limited.
The solution: Borrow “as much as possible” from colloquial Arabic for writing and from Classical Arabic for speech, thereby creating an evolving middle-ground language—similar to how European languages emerged from Latin.

Criticism:

Risk of fracturing Arab unity since dialects differ widely across Egypt, the Levant, and other regions.
Loss of the richness and rhetorical depth of Classical Arabic.

2. Replacing the Arabic Script with the Latin Alphabet

Justifications:
- Integration into “the family of civilized nations.”
- Adoption of the “modern mindset,” as seen in Turkey.
- Simplification of learning and global publishing.

Criticism:

Japan modernized without abandoning its script, while Turkey’s script reform did not itself guarantee progress.
Alphabets do not create mentalities: “If civilization depended on letters, every backward nation could simply borrow the alphabet of an advanced one.”

3. Abolishing Case Endings and Complex Grammar

The problem: Arabic grammar was overly complex, hindering education and wasting time without practical benefit.
Proposals:
- Drop case endings by fixing the final vowels of words.
- Teach only a minimal set of grammar rules in schools.
- Focus on comprehension rather than grammatical parsing—citing Herbert Spencer, who learned without formal grammar.

Criticism:

Grammar had long preserved the resilience of the language.
Case endings safeguard precision and prevent ambiguity.

Intellectual Foundations of Moussa’s Linguistic Critique

Darwinian evolution: He applied “survival of the fittest” to language, arguing that elements unsuited to the modern age should be discarded.
Social functionalism: Language is a tool for societal advancement; if it fails to serve communication (especially in science), it must be reformed.
Secular nationalism: He sought to detach language from religious identity and instead anchor it in a modern civic culture.

The Critical Backlash

The most prominent critique came from Ahmad Muhammad al-Hufi in Al-Risala magazine (1945), who accused Moussa of:

Advocating the destruction of the “rock that has withstood storms for a thousand years.”
Ignoring that Arabs already understood Classical Arabic through radio and newspapers.
Cutting ties with heritage, turning the Qur’an and pre-Islamic poetry into little more than riddles and puzzles.

Historical irony: While traditionalists resisted, some of Moussa’s ideas partially materialized:

Simplification of language in journalism.
Acceptance of colloquial Arabic in theater and drama.
Reduced emphasis on grammar in education.

Assessing Moussa’s Ideas Today

Where he was right:

His diagnosis of the gap between elite and popular speech.
His link between language and development, later echoed in cases like Malaysia and South Korea.
His questioning of grammar’s relevance in an age of technology.

Where he faltered:

He underestimated Classical Arabic’s role in preserving identity.
He reduced societal stagnation to a purely linguistic issue.
He ignored the lack of standardization in dialects—there was no “academy” to regulate colloquial speech.

Contemporary echoes of the debate:

Calls to simplify grammar instruction.
Use of colloquial Arabic in social media.
Ongoing projects to Arabize scientific terminology.

Conclusion: The Book’s Legacy and Today’s Challenges

Historical impact: The book opened a door to critical thinking about language, even though most of Moussa’s proposals were rejected. It remains a key document of Egypt’s struggle between tradition and modernity.

Current challenges:

Balancing pan-Arab linguistic unity with regional diversity.
Reforming Arabic education without diluting its depth.
Keeping pace with digital advances—AI, machine translation, and beyond.

The book today: Available for free via Hindawi Foundation and Abjjad, offering new generations a chance to revisit the debate.

“Language is the vessel of human culture. If it is meant to serve a religious or literary purpose, it becomes intricate; if philosophical, abstract; and if mathematical, supremely abstract.” —Salama Moussa

Moussa’s Ideas and Their Criticism

Reform Proposal	Moussa’s Justification	Main Criticism
Unify Classical Arabic and colloquial	Bring language closer to daily life	Fragment Arab unity, impoverish meaning
Adopt Latin alphabet	Integration with modern nations	Cut ties with heritage, no guarantee of progress
Abolish grammar and case endings	Simplify education	Loss of precision, threat to rhetoric

Intellectual Influences on Moussa’s Linguistic Thought

Source	Impact on Moussa	Example from the Book
Darwin (evolution)	Applied “survival of the fittest” to language	Labeled Classical Arabic “extinct” for failing to adapt
European experience	National languages evolved from Latin	Pointed to Italian and French precedents
Fabian socialism	Linked language to social reform	Treated linguistic backwardness as a cause of social stagnation

Moussa’s questions remain unresolved, but the answers of our time differ. The challenge today is not to demolish the old or blindly adopt the new, but to engineer a language that speaks the tongue of modern civilization while beating with the heart of tradition.

For the original summary in Arabic