THEORIES ON THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGES IN ISLAMIC THOUGHT AND AMIN AL-KHULI’S APPROACH TO THE SUBJECT

Language, the ability to speak, is one of the most important features that distinguish humans from other living things. The problem of the origin of languages is as old as the history of thought and has been the subject of debate in all existing cultures. Because language is one of the most important cultural values of every society. In order to understand the Qur'an and Sunnah correctly, special importance has been given to linguistic sciences in Islamic culture since the earliest periods. The issue of the birth and origin of languages is also one of the most debated topics by Islamic scholars. The issue has been discussed in classical Islamic culture, mainly centered on the Qur'an. Islamic scholars have dealt with the issue scientifically and have put forward a number of views on this issue discussing it in the context of the traditional and rational evidence. Since the early 20th century, as a result of the rapprochement with the West, the Islamic world began to see movements requiring innovation in many fields, including language and literary studies. The Egyptian Amīn alKhūlī who was one of the researchers had the opportunity to closely examine literary studies in the Western world. In this article, firstly will be discussed, the theories on the origin of languages in classical Islamic thought and then will be presented Amin al-Khuli's approach to the that subject.