Arabic
A Tradition in Chains
While those who advocate censorship tend to invoke the past, classical Arabic literature often mirrors today’s informality and humor. Stories and anecdotes laced with profanity were told in the same candid manner in which they were composed, without any hesitation or disgust.
In Search of African Arabic
For Africans, the use of Arabic presents a dilemma: Without the historical role of Arabic, African writers would have been compelled to write in former colonial languages, but many also view the language as the medium of the slave trade that preceded trans-Atlantic slavery. Still, not everything magnificent on the continent must have originated elsewhere.
How Arabs Have Failed Their Language
Arabs damned their own language through diglossia and denial. They have tried to elevate fus-ha, the only so-called true or pure Arabic, while working to discredit, disable, and even destroy dialects.