The Quran—The Miracle Given to the Prophet

attached to Arabic. It inspired some Arab scholars—Ibn Manzur (A.H. 630-711) and Ibn Khaldun (A.H. 732-808) being two that spring to mind—to produce, in defiance of the government of the day, works of outstanding literary and academic excellence. Napoleon’s entry into Cairo (1798) ushered in the age of the printing press in the Middle East. Education became the order of the day. The Arabic language was invested with new life. Yet the centuries of battering that Arabic had received were bound to leave its mark: instead of pure Arabic, a mixture of Arabic and Turkish had been taken as the official language in Egypt and Syria. The situation changed again with the British occupation of Egypt in 1882. They opposed Arabic with all their strength, prescribing compulsory English in schools and eliminating other languages from syllabi. The French did the same in areas over which they had gained control. With the colonial powers forcing their subjects to learn their languages, Arabic lived in the shadow of English and French for over one hundred years. Yet it remained in its original form. Indeed, it assimilated new words—the word “dabbabah” meaning tank, for instance, which had previously been used for a simple battering ram. New styles of writing emerged. If anyone were to write a book about why people adopt Islam today, he might call it. “Li madha aslamna” (Why we accepted Islam?), whereas rhythmical and decorative titles, were preferred in the old days. Many words were adopted by the Arabic language—the English word “doctor”, for