ABSTRACT
There is, however, no doubt that the cultural evolution of the Arab countries, which began over a century ago and has been accelerated in the last four decades, has been in many ways a genuine progress and has had salutary effects. Knowledge has spread, the horizons of thought have widened, specialization has been fostered, scientific studies have matured; while literature and the arts, freer from convention and imitation, have become more imaginative and creative. Progress is evident first and foremost in the language: the Arabic spoken by the masses has improved and developed, while the written language has become easier, lighter, and more flexible, better adapted to the capacity of the masses. The complaint of certain conservatives that our contemporary writers deviate from ‘the ways of the Arabs’ is quite unjustified. The ways of the Arabs, despite their age-old tendency to imitation, have changed with the times, and we cannot deny living authors their right to adopt a style of their own. For all its recent progress, Arabic is a language in need of reform and innovation, in order to keep up with the general cultural advance and adapt itself to the requirements of an age of technology, invention, and new ways of thinking.
