<p>Research on the linguistic features of Arabic texts is scarce due to the limited resources available for the Arabic language. To address this issue, the present study introduces the Arabic syntactic analyzer (ARSA), a freely available command-line interface tool that is easy to use and involves nine syntactic complexity indices and four syntactic fluency indices. The validity of ARSA was tested by investigating the extent to which each of its indices could predict expert judgments of essay quality. Linear regression models revealed that five ARSA indices positively predicted expert ratings of Arabic essays. The stepwise multiple regression model indicated that three of the ARSA indices explained 23.0% of the total variance in writing quality. These results indicate that ARSA has some predictive validity in accounting for Arabic writing quality. Comparing our results to prior English research, we also observed some cross-linguistic variation in the relationship between syntactic complexity and writing quality. The introduction of ARSA has the potential to increase research on Arabic writing and broaden the scope of writing research.</p>