In a definition of criticism, Taha Hussin mentioned in his book "The Ancient Literature" ; the dirham criticizing is to show what is good and what is bad and false. During ages, the literary criticism has its important role in developing the literary and cultural production. The ancients left behind a huge number of books which its writers worked only on criticism. These books such as : " Al-Omda" which was written by Ebn Rashik, "Poets Classes" by Ebn Al-Mo'taz, "The Classes Of The Great Poets" by Ebn Salam Al-Gamhy.
The ancients critics did not content with only "poetry criticism", but it was more than this. They based the main literary criteria that are still our standard. Some of our ancient critics classified poets; there are the master poet and the hog poet who is the greatest. The Arabic literature was distinguished by its criticism which contributed in its developing and specifying during ages.
During the last 50 years, the number of the critics was very small, may be less than 5 critics, for example; in Egypt we will find Dr\ Abd El-Kader Al-Kot, Mohamed Mandor, Ragaa' Al-Nakash in the field of literature. And we will find: Abd El-Fatah Al- Barody in the field of art. Also there are Dr Rafeek Al-Saban, Yousif Sherif Rizk-Allah, and Tarek Al-Shenawy in the cinema field. In addition to a number of the academic critics who work on the academic criticism that mainly concerns with the universities researches. And also there are some authors who work on the non-periodical criticism by separated writings. Most of the current critics do not turn completely to criticism and their writings, the distinguished ones, were just voluntaries or a product of the leisure time.
The Modern Age has witnessed almost a complete absence of criticism, which badly affected the general literary production. If there was a real criticism of poetry, the masterpiece of Omro; Al-Kais would not have been irony for the commercial advertisements. If there was a criticism on songs, we would not hear a song like "I Love You Donkey". If there was a criticism in the cinema art, there would not be movies such "Karkar" and "Al-Daramally is always poor".
We need to revive criticism, not only the literary criticism, but also the criticism of all the fields of life; literature, media, art, education, commerce, policy, and the social life. Criticism can also do a lot for the society developing. We need to make criticism a general system that everyone practices even in the smallest units of school, home, factory, and the country council.
We should make criticism not limited to voluntary, complement, or earn-living, at some times, we should turn it into a continuous system of an honest effect. Journalism should get back the job of a "critic" who works only on criticism. Also the satellite tv broadcast channels should imply in its plans programs which are specialized for criticism. Also society should know how to practice criticism and freely express its opinion.
Some countries consider journalism as the fourth authority, so criticism should be the fifth one which plays its role in showing what is good and what is bad, what is right and what is wrong. Anything the man does needs to be criticized, corrected, and guided. The good society is which able to correct its experiments to achieve its goals. Criticism is one of the most important supports for developing life. Its absence simply means the absence of the "standards" what means a huge mess, and the mix of what is good and what is bad.