The reason for the Egyptian writer’s weakness in the field of depiction lies in his lack of training in, or ignorance of, the basic principles of real art.
AR: sabab/ʔasbāb, ḍuʕf, kātib, miṣrī (Miṣr / Miṣriyyaẗ), taṣwīr, tadrīb, ǧahl, ʔuṣūl, fann, ḥaqīqaẗ / ḥaqīqī EN: real art
فإنّه إذا وجد مثلاً مكاناً جميلاً فلا يحاول أنْ يصوّره على القرطاس كما شاهده ،
so that he will produce a sterile, unclear, weak picture of it, a picture of which nothing will remain when we will try to recall it: it will leave no impression on our minds.1
In contrast, [real] art does not simply aim, as some people imagine, at a beautification of nature and a perfection of the souls in order to highlight a sublime beauty, bare of all defects;
an advancement that had been stopped by our blind, stiff and stupid imitation of ancient Arabic literature6
and the emulation of the ancient Arabs’ imagery,7
similes, metaphors, rhetoric embellishments and expressive language.