This is funny. Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat, the mouthpiece of Prince Salman, interviews Bernard Lewis (in English by the way and not in Arabic, and I have never ever heard that Lewis gave an interview in Arabic) and treats him as a friend of the Arabs and Muslims. But this is my favorite part of the interview:
*Through your long confrontations with the Middle East, professionally and culturally, who is your favorite contemporary writer in the Arab world?
-Rifa`ah Al-Tahtawi*
* من خلال مواجهاتك الطويلة مع الشرق الأوسط مهنيا وثقافيا، من هو كاتبك المعاصر المفضل في العالم العربي؟
- رفاعة الطهطاوي
PS * Tahtawi died in 1873.
*Through your long confrontations with the Middle East, professionally and culturally, who is your favorite contemporary writer in the Arab world?
-Rifa`ah Al-Tahtawi*
* من خلال مواجهاتك الطويلة مع الشرق الأوسط مهنيا وثقافيا، من هو كاتبك المعاصر المفضل في العالم العربي؟
- رفاعة الطهطاوي
PS * Tahtawi died in 1873.
