Peace,
Some more info on the nature of Arabic and it's evolution away from the Classical version over time. I agree with the above website however, and do not consider dialects Arabic, despite the fact that the dialects have alot in common with real Arabic (Classical Arabic) and continue to pull from it, since its reduced version (MSA) is used in the educational sphere.
Check out http//books.google.com/books?id=2tghviSsrF8C&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=evolution+of+Arabic+dialects&source=web&ots=T8Nqgveucb&sig=PQKTDm0SqNKsLiDGKRMKz4LC6ZU&hl=es#PRA1-PA103,M1
pg. 103
"
"lisaniyya wa-fasadat bima 'ulqiya 'ilayhaa . . . wa-hasiya 'ahl al-'ulum minhum 'an tafsuda tilka l-malaka ra'san wa yatula l'ahd bihaa fa-yangaliqa l-Qur'an wa-l-Hadith 'ala l-mafhum fa-stanbatu min magari kalamihim qawanin li-tilka l-malaka muttaridatan . . . yaqisuna 'alayhaa sa'ir 'anwaa' al-kalaam, Muqaddima, ed. Beirut, n.d., p. 546
This quotation shows clearly that in the mind of teh Arabs the changes in the langauge and the emergence fo the colloquial varieties were linked with the polyglot composition of the Islamic empire and the introduction of Arabic as the new lingua fraca. "
I haven't read this book from cover to cover, but I will be ordering it soon. I like its approach from what I have read in the previews that they give of it.
I hope I am offering beneficial evidences for those of you who are confused about Arabic and what it really is. Believe me, the Islamic
literature is only telling you half-truths about Arabic.
Godbless,
Anwar