Arabic language and identity
Between wisdom and the beauty of words and melody
The goal of teaching the Arabic language is not only to eradicate illiteracy in form, but the content is the belief that learning the language has a great impact on all aspects of life in any nation. It is an essential part of our identity. It is the means that transmits our history to us, documents our present, and transmits it to future generations. our civilization,
The goal, as I said, is not just reading and writing. It is a narrow, short-term goal. But we must understand that this language is the means by which we understand each other. We cannot understand ourselves or each other without thinking, and we do not think in a vacuum. Rather, the mind thinks in language. What, and he portrays his thoughts to himself and to others using words, sentences, and images drawn by language and transmitted from one individual to another or kept in memory, and from all of this identity is formed.
Learning the mother tongue, and any other language, at an early age trains the individual to think multiple languages, and it is known that children are more capable of learning multiple languages than adults. In order for the child’s mother tongue to become rooted in his mind, it must be taught at the highest level, and to a standard. Children’s abilities to write, read, and understand from the age of eight to nine years using scientific measurement tests.
Language for an individual’s life is not only a tool for dealing with society, but rather it is his means of thinking and feeling, and it is his means of conveying his ideas and benefiting from the ideas of others. It is his means of understanding, appreciating, evaluating, and then choosing from alternatives.
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Now it comes to mind, does learning a second language or using foreign references threaten identity? Is it correct for a child not to learn another language in the initial stages of education? The definitive answer is no. Teaching another language does not threaten identity and does not threaten knowledge of the mother tongue unless teaching the mother language is incomplete and weak. A child can absorb multiple languages more than adults, and we should not assume that teaching a second language will overpower his Arabic language and make his thinking and identity linked to another mother. We are like someone who does not want to enter the field of science with others for fear of defeat, and we prefer our victory without competition.
Identity, as I said, is linked to language, but it is also linked to living in the classroom and what the student studies in terms of history and geography, and an conscience that is formed inside school, at home with the family, in front of television screens, from the outputs of art, and now from social media as well..
The truth is that I understand the fragmentation of identity, because the collective mind of our nation is fragmented in identity between Salafist thought, which emphasizes religious identity only, nationalist thought, which emphasizes Arab identity, and national thought, which confirms Egyptian identity with its multiple sources.
We must be more realistic when we discuss identity, belonging, and citizenship, because instilling them in the child’s conscience is complex and has multiple approaches. We should not close the door to openness to other cultures because we are unable to lead the multiple approaches to the identity of the Egyptian person. The challenge is ours and must be faced with science and developing the teaching of the Arabic language. Using modern tools, not escaping and withdrawing.
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I am interested in knowing the origins and definition of the sentences we say, and analyzing the words that are often debated in society and each one intends different meanings, my friends in that. In one of these conversations, genius sentences and sayings came out that summarized life’s affairs and explained in lines what others might write about on pages, but people did not know where they came from. Phrases we say that we think are colloquial, and they are an authentic Arabic language
I share with you some of Al-Mutanabbi’s poetry verses, many of which people memorize but do not know that they are the words of one of the poets, Al-Mutanabbi.
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The immortal phrase, “O nation whose ignorance the nations have laughed at,” is nothing more than part of a poem by Al-Mutanabbi that was addressed to the ruler of Egypt during his reign, satirizing the situation of the Arab nation a thousand years ago, but as if it were being said today…
“The aim of religion is for you to keep your mustaches trimmed
O nation, nations laughed at your ignorance
Below are some verses that contain golden lines that we all know, but most of us do not know that they are Al-Mutanabbi’s sayings, such as:
Whatever a person wishes he achieves. The winds blow in a way that ships do not desire.
Among other poems we find:
“High honor is not safe from harm
Until blood is shed on his sides.”
And verses of life wisdom such as:
“If my blame comes to you from an imperfect person, it is my testimony that I am perfect.”
“Whoever did not die by the sword died by something else, the causes are multiple, but death is one.”
“The person with reason is miserable in bliss with his mind
And the brother of ignorance enjoys happiness in misery.”
“With that, the days were spent among its people
“The misfortunes of a people bring benefits to a people.”
From a poem addressing the ruler of the country, he says:
“O most just of people, except in my dealings, you are the opponent and the judge.”
It is as if he is talking about the separation of powers that we demand today.
He expresses his wisdom by saying:
“If you move away from a people and they are destined…
. Do not leave them, for the departed are a concern
“O you who are dear to us, when we leave them, we feel everything is nothingness after you.”
Perhaps Al-Mutanabbi knew that he would be remembered more than one thousand and fifty years after his death, and perhaps forever, when he said and we repeat:
“If you honor the generous one, you will possess him
And if you honor the mean person, he will rebel.”
He expresses his pride, self-esteem and confidence when he says:
“And eternity is only one of the narrators of my poems. If I recite poetry, eternity becomes a singer
I sleep with my eyelids full of strays
And creation watches over its neighbors and disputes.”
He says with the intelligence of an expert in life:
“If you see the lion’s teeth sticking out
Do not think that the lion is smiling.”
and say:
“If you venture into honorable honor
Do not be content with anything less than the stars
The taste of death is in a small matter
Like the taste of death in a great matter.”
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Commenting on the dialogue, my friend Dr. sent me a message. Mahmoud Hamza, who knows the language, is passionate about literature and poetry, and my partner in working with students and youth in education first, participated, saying:

Al-Mutanabbi was nothing but a living expression of the situation of Arab society in the fourth century AH, with all its dispersion, division, and religious falsity that we may suffer from until now. Despite Al-Mutanabbi’s poetic vision, which was often issued out of a position or personal interest, he honestly expressed the condition of our nation.
Arabic in a precise, expressive language, so his poetry deserved to fill the world and occupy people.
I conclude my speech with you by saying that the man in the street and the illiterate sang poems by Ahmed Rami, Ahmed Shawqi, Abu Firas Al-Hamdani, Ahmed Shafiq Kamel, Muhammad Iqbal, Ali Al-Jarim, Ibrahim Naji, Bayram Al-Tunisi, Hafez Ibrahim and others, when they were sung by Umm Kulthum, Abdel-Wahab, and Abdel-Halim Hafez, for art is a means. It is great for teaching the language, just as school is. Let us not forget that we have multiple approaches and we must work on all of them.