The present study is an attempt to answer the question about whether Arab linguists of the past were acquainted with the problem of pragmatic intrusion into the semantic or truth-conditional content of what is said. Using many quotations from the traditional Arabic books of "usül" (Islamic jurisprudence) and "balagha" (rhetoric), sufficient evidence was found to support the hypothesis that Arab linguists of the Middle Ages were well acquainted with the central ideas of the problem. They engaged in debates and controversies very similar to those we find in modern pragmatic literature.