The Greek raid and the Arab statement

In order to monitor the truth of the echoes of my book Aristotle "Poetry" and "Rhetoric" in Arab poetry came the book of researcher Abbas Arhila "Hellenic Raid and Arab rhetoric" issued by Dar Kinouz in Amman, completing and harmonizing with the thesis "The Aristotelian influence in Arabic rhetoric and criticism up to the eighth Hijri century" from publications of the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences at Mohammed V University in Rabat. And what is worth noting is that the second and third chapters of this book were summarized within the thesis, and they were omitted due to their length. The importance of these two chapters is that they presented an idea about the stage of Arab criticism, starting from the pre-Islamic period until the end of the second Hijri century, to test the claim of Hellenic influence in Arabic literature and criticism, before translating Aristotle's "Poetry" and "Rhetoric" books, i.e., before Arab culture knew of Aristotle's effects through translation. The author concluded the introduction of his book by saying: "I pray to Allah the Almighty to carry this book as confirmation and addition to what was mentioned in my book The Aristotelian Impact in Arabic Rhetoric and Criticism up to the eighth Hijri century, and that it reveals the hidden conspiracy that aimed to deceive human thought into thinking that Islamic civilization was a 'tail' of ancient Greek culture, and that it was subordinate to Aristotelian thought in particular. This conspiracy resulted from the exaggerated European centrality in modern times, which claims that the people of Islamic civilization, in the face of Western cultural expansion, submission to it, imitation, and assimilation with it, even melting into its modernity among its lovers." And in this, there is exclusion of a human civilization that has its presence in times and places, past and present, a civilization that remained a pillar of human history in all the issues and problems it presents. A civilization led by divine revelation guiding to what is most upright, outside its scope there is only loss and wandering. And how can negligence be in the land and in it the answers to everything humanity considered problems and challenges, and still does? A divine revelation that announces to humanity the end of the human experience on earth. And there is no doubt that the signs of the end of that arrogant West, which continued to violate the rights of Islamic civilization, and neglect the importance of divine revelation in it, have begun to appear in distant horizons due to its economic, moral, and psychological crises... And what came on the back cover of the book: The question remained, "Did the Hellenic raid represented by Aristotle result in decisive outcomes in directing Arabic rhetoric, and controlling its course? Has the scholarly research settled on the dependence of Arabic rhetoric on Hellenic rhetoric? In other words, has originality in Arabic rhetoric disappeared within critical and rhetorical studies in the history of Arab heritage?" And was there really a raid with its horse and rider? Or is it an imaginary whirlwind that only concealed itself? Its goal was to drag the pride of Muslims into the whirlpool of Western modernity. Abbas Arhila starts from the idea that criticism is about discussing the impact of literature on the soul, with an explanation of its artistic and aesthetic value, by exploring its characteristics and features, in order to judge it. The book offers an idea about Arab criticism, from the pre-Islamic stage until the end of the second Hijri century, to test the claim of Hellenic influence in Arabic literature and criticism, before translating Aristotle's "Poetry" and "Rhetoric" books, i.e., before Arab culture knew of Aristotle's effects through translation. Abbas Arhila remained haunted by a set of troubling questions during his research; questions filled with his deep astonishment about opinions that challenged his religious and intellectual conviction, which were believed to be fixed truths. Therefore, he rolled up his sleeves to confront them, in order to refute them scientifically with evidence, which he knew where to find. Despite the hardship of their presence in the path of research, he did not deviate from what his feelings translated for him, from the efforts he anticipated, aimed at dispelling this anxiety, which can only be eliminated through results that make Aristotle a bank, and Arabic criticism and rhetoric another bank, due to the differences in particularities and structure, as he continued to believe.