How can humankind resist the beauty of this language, with its logic and unique brilliance? Even the Arab's neighbours, people they've conquered, have fallen under the charm of this language.
Sigrid Hunke (1913-1999)
As the Arabic language and culture have expanded internationally over the centuries, they have become a source of fascination and interest for many people, with some saying it is the world's most beautiful language.
Arabic, a Semitic language that is thousands of years old, is known as the one and only language of the Quran and the official language of Islamic countries.
But, the sphere of influence enjoyed by this language is actually much larger. Islamic civilization has crossed every border and has become part of every culture on the planet.
The History of the Arabic Language
Arabic saw a rapid expansion during the Middle Ages and its heritage has extended well beyond Islam into the arts, Arabic literature (the writings of Avicenna, Arabic poetry, etc.), science, cuisine, traditions, communication, and more.
Learning Arabic in a global society is important for the following groups:
- Native speakers of Arabic
- Ex-patriot members of the Arabic diaspora across the globe (40 million people).
- People from other cultures
As you are undoubtedly aware, in Arabic there is a difference between the spoken and the written language.
Spoken Arabic is made up of different Arabic dialects. This means that Moroccan Arabic is different to Egyptian Arabic, and that of Syria differs from that of Qatar or Iraq.
In other words, each of the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa speaks a slightly different version of Arabic, with different words, phrases and colloquial expressions.
When it comes to written Arabic, the picture is much more straightforward. The dominant form of written Arabic is Modern Standard Arabic (Msa), which is generally what any Arabic course will focus on as it is the form of Arabic which is used internationally.
There is another version; classical Arabic. Classical Arabic is what is used in the Holy book of Islam, the Quran.
The good news is that Msa and classical Arabic aren't too dissimilar, and many native speakers use them almost interchangeably.
So given that classical Arabic is the language used in the Quran, it is not difficult to see that learning Arabic and the Muslim world go hand in hand.
In an attempt to highlight the vital role Arabic plays in Islamic culture, Superprof has taken a comprehensive look at reasons you may want to learn Arabic today.
The Arabic Language Is the Language of the Quran and Islam
"The language Allah chose is the Arabic language. He sent his precious book (the Quran) written in Arabic, the language of the last prophet. For this reason, it is the duty of everyone to learn Arabic."
Al-Shafi'i (767-820) was an Egyptian lawyer, intellectual, and founder of the Shafi'i school (madhhab in Arabic), a school of Sunni Islamic law.
The hijra (هجرة), which refers to the prophet Mohammad's 622 pilgrimage from Mecca to Yathrib, today's Medina, is an important step in the Islamic religion.
The sacred book of Islam, the Quran (القُرْآن, al-Qur’ān in Arabic), confirms the Arabic language as the only official language of Islam.
As an aside, how might you learn Arabic through the literal translation of the word "book"?
The word "book" is written "kitaab" (کتاب). The root of the word, "k-t-b", can also be used to form the words "write" (kataba), "writer" (katib), and "library" (maktaba).
Arabic was chosen by Allah, and the Muslim holy scripture is written entirely in Arabic.
Therefore, every Muslim must learn to read and speak Arabic, the language of the prophet, in order to be able to understand and interpret the word of Allah through prayer and reading the Quran.
Learning Arabic in order to understand the Quran is a vital part of Islamic instruction
Because Arabic is considered the authentic language and THE language of the prophet, it is vital that every Muslim learn to speak Arabic in order to understand the Quran.
Courses in Modern standard Arabic (Msa) and Quranic Arabic (classical literary Arabic) train students in the study of the Quran as well as Arabic grammar, vocabulary, and even Arabic culture.
Speaking Arabic is slightly more complicated because each country has a different dialect meaning that Moroccan Arabic is different from the Iraqi and Algerian versions.
So when learning Arabic online, make sure your teacher speaks the right dialect.
But the written language is a lot more straightforward as it is common across the Arab world, and in short, it's everything you need to practice Islam!
There is so much that we don't know about Arabic, and learners will explore the language, including the alphabet's four vowels (A, E, I, and U) and 24 consonants. Did you know that you can spell a verb and several adjectives using only three consonants?
Studying the Quran Is a Pillar of Islamic Culture.
The holy book contains 6000 difficult-to-pronounce verses. Interpreting the Quran has become a veritable science. Muslim intellectuals and scholars seek a critical explanation and interpretation of the Quran.
The art of correctly reciting the Quran, and chanting prayers, is known as the tajwid. The term is derived from the root j-w-d meaning "to make well, make better, improve."
The greatest challenge for a practising Muslim is reading the Quran. The holy scripture is so complex that many Muslims find it difficult to recite and comprehend.
Courses in Quranic Arabic and reading the Quran are required if believers wish to learn the rules of tajwid.
Arabic Is an Influential Language Throughout the World
With an estimated 420 million Arabic speakers on the planet, 290 million of whom speak it as a native language, Arabic has become the 5th most spoken linguistic group in the world.
Arabic is an official language in 26 Arabic countries, including the twenty-two countries in the Arab League.
Every Arab country is a member of the Arab League, totalling 378.2 million people as of 2014. Populous observer states Brazil, India, Venezuela, and Turkey are also members.
When we consider the number of Arab speakers born or living outside of the Arab world, it's easy to see how important the Arabic language is, if only from a quantitative viewpoint.
Learning to speak Arabic - memorizing the Arabic alphabet, Arabic letters, Arabic grammar, etc. - will help learners achieve the following:
- better pronunciation and oral communication
- greater linguistic skills
- improved cognitive abilities due to increased versatility
- knowledge and understanding of Islam across the globe
Arabic is very different from English. It is written from right to left for a start, but it also uses a different alphabet and grammatical structure so learning Arabic might take some time.
Learning Arabic Is Important Due to Its Global Significance
The Arabic language has been the vehicle for many artistic and scientific advancements such as:
- Medicine
- Mathematics: Arabs furthered the study of algebra and geometry. They also translated the works of Aristotle, Archimedes, Pythagoras, and Thales.
- Physics
- Astronomy
- Architecture
- History and Geography
- Law and Jurisprudence
- Philosophy
- Drawing and Painting
- Poetry and Literature, etc.
Arabic is also the official language of such international institutions as the UN, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab Maghreb Union, and the African Union.
So, learning to speak Arabic can play an important part in opening up professional opportunities and working in international business!
With the diffusion of Islam, Arabic became the recognized language of the Quran, saw a rapid expansion throughout its history, and is now present on all continents.
The Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula by the Umayyad Caliphate, the Muslim domination of Europe from the 8th to the 16th century, as well as the rule of the Ottoman empire for several hundred years up to the start of the First World War helped Islam to expand its presence, leaving an indelible mark on the languages and cultures of Europe.
Science, literature, architecture, music, and Islam were achieving a high level of development in the Arab world just as Christianity was entering the Dark Ages, only to emerge during the Renaissance of the 16th century.
The Arabic language was the vehicle for avant-garde thinking in literature, philosophy, and science. Greek and Latin philosophical ideas continued to flourish in the great Middle Eastern civilizations through the Arabic language.
In fact, European languages - French, Spanish, Italian, and English - have been greatly influenced over the past several centuries by the Arabic language and culture. Arabic is not quite so foreign after all.
Learn Arabic London with Superprof.
Arabic Calligraphy and The Alphabet
Arabic calligraphy also plays an important role in Arabic writing. The art of writing Arabic correctly is a noble art which is appreciated throughout the world.
As well as being the way of writing Arabic script, words and phrases, Arabic calligraphy shines a light on Islamic society. This art is deemed worthy of putting into writing the verses of the Holy Quran as well as eulogies to praise the glory of Allah, Muhammad, salvation, and the Islamic liturgy.
Learning Arabic calligraphy increases a student's graphic skills. The attention he or she brings to the beautiful curves and rounded shapes of the letters encourage stylistic awareness of Arabic writing.
Of course, while learning Arabic calligraphy, one can't help learning the Arabic alphabet and recognizing the linguistic richness of the language as well. The Arabic alphabet contains 27 letters in addition to the hamza, 117 letter forms dictated by their positions in Arabic words (isolated, initial, middle, or final).
- Over 60,000 Arabic vocabulary words
- 6,000 verb roots from which adjectives are derived
- An infinite amount of various circumlocutions (wordy synonyms).
Why is Arabic Written from Right to Left?
Arabic and European languages are read in opposite directions, but why is this?
Nothing happens by chance.
The reason for the direction in which Arabic is written can be found in the history of ancient civilizations.
Originating in ancient Mesopotamia in the fourth century BCE, the first writing system was composed of cuneiform characters (in the Middle East) and hieroglyphs (in ancient Egypt) around 3500 BC.
Through the ages, vast empires merged and standardized their oral communication system by creating a Proto-Sinaitic alphabet around 1400 BC. The first examples of this alphabet were found on a dagger in Lachish, in today's Israel.
Read from right to left, this alphabet contained 23 signs in the form of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
By the 10th century, the Phoenician empire - a vast kingdom of Lebanese origin that dominated the Mediterranean basin for nearly 1000 years BC - had spread Canaanite languages throughout the Mediterranean.
They had transformed their spoken phonemes and consonants into a written alphabet of 22 letters that proceeded from right to left.
This writing system based on three-letter consonant combinations would evolve into all of the known Semitic language alphabets including Akkadian, Syriac, Aramaic, Arabic, and Hebrew, and would eventually lead to the formation of Greek and Latin.
There is no need to review the complete history of writing. But, it is good to remember that the Phoenician language is the ancestor of the Aramaic alphabet, the language spoken by Jesus Christ, to which the Arabic alphabet can trace its origin sometime during the second century.
In short, Arabic is written from right to left because of its Aramaic linguistic origins.
But, we don't quite understand yet WHY the people of Arabia began writing from the right.
We currently only have a collection of hypotheses about the direction in which Arabic is written.
- The type of material used at the time (reed, stone, etc.)
- The hand used to carve the stone (there have always been more right-handed people than left-handed people)
- The direction in which documents were unrolled in ancient Egypt. Egyptian scribes unrolled papyrus scrolls with the left hand in order to read and write toward the left.
- The desire to imitate the writing of ancestors. Each civilization inherited the skills of those that came before.
Many Languages Have Borrowed From the Richness of Literary Arabic
Arabic has left deep historic, scientific, and cultural imprints on European languages, such as French, English, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
You could learn Arabic online and start scoping those imprints for yourself!
For example, English has many words of Arabic origin due largely to the propagation of the Islamic civilization.
Taking courses in Arabic means learning about Arabic culture and studying classical Arabic through Arabic literature.
Literary Arabic has been standardized to be universally understood as opposed to dialectical Arabic which includes variants of Arabic. Each Arabic-speaking country has its own dialect. Moroccans, for example, speak Darija!
Reading, writing, and understanding Arabic is said to be quite complex.
Here is why that may be so:
- The Arabic alphabet contains twenty-eight letters, each having four different forms.
- Arabic words are based on roots composed of guttural consonants.
- Arabic verbs are conjugated into 17 tenses.
- Arabic has a very rich vocabulary. There are 80 words for honey, 200 for snake, 500 for lion, 1000 for camel and sword, and up to 4000 for expressing sadness.
Check this out! According to an Arabic grammarian, it takes six camels to transport the entire compendium of Arabic language roots!
To give you an idea of just how dense the Arabic language is, consider the fact that there are 60,000 Arabic vocabulary words and 6,000 Arabic language roots. On the other hand, the average adult native English speaker knows about 35,000 vocabulary words.
About 900 English words have Arabic origins, and many Arabic words are part of the average English vocabulary.
For example:
- admiral
- alcohol
- orange
- popinjay
- scarlet
- sofa
- wisdom tooth
So, learning about the Arabic language means learning more about the English language!
And, Arabic influence does not stop at the English language.
Under Muslim rule for several centuries, Andalusian Spanish includes 4000 Arabic-sounding terms.
Click here to see a list of Spanish words of Arabic origin.
Don't Confuse Arabs with Muslims
To wrap up this article, let's debunk an unfortunately common stereotype.
Arabs are too often automatically associated with Islam.
- The word "Arab" refers to the ethnicity of the people who originate from the Arabian peninsula.
- The majority of Arab immigrants in the U.S. come from Lebanon.
- Muslims are people who practice the religion called Islam.
As you can see, Islamic culture exists well beyond the borders of Arabic countries!
Consider taking Arabic lessons so you can learn more about this ancient culture!
Likewise, there are non-Muslim Arabs (Lebanese Christians), non-practising Arabs, non-Arab Muslims (Persians (Iranians), Pakistanis, Afghans, Turks, Indonesians, some Chinese, Albanians, and Bosnians, among others)!
In fact, Arabs make up only 20% of the total Muslim population.
Interesting, right?
As of 2011, while there were 378.2 inhabitants of the Arab world, there were 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide.
10% of the Egyptian and Syrian populations are Arabic. 15% of these groups are Christian. Many Arab-speaking Jews live in Morocco and Tunisia.
The countries with the largest Muslim populations are listed below.
- Indonesia, with 205 million Muslims (12.7% of Muslims worldwide)
- India and Pakistan, with 177 and 178 million Muslims respectively (11% of Muslims worldwide)
- Bangladesh, with 148.6 million Muslims
- Turkey, Nigeria, and Iran, with 75 million non-Arabic Muslims
93% of the population in Turkmenistan claim Islam as their religion. However, they do not speak Arabic and are not part of the Arabic world!
In the end, while Arabic is the official language of the Quran and one of the pillars of Islamic civilization, Islam has been moving beyond Arabic populations ever since the fall of the Baghdad Caliphate on February 10, 1258.
That's 750+ years ago!
So with so much that we don't know about Arabic, learning the language of Islam with not only make you bilingual, it will open your eyes to everything you have ever wanted to know about Arabic.
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very educative information
Very informative
An unique and collective article where many informative points have been focused. thanks a lot
Bravo
I was born in Trinidad Muslim parents speak almost no arabic 80 years old i prey to Allah in English and little arabic .what’s my direction in a Muslim religion .
As i christian im interested about there religion islam and there arabic words, even its so hard for me to speak. But i learned a little bit, like common word’s.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! It’s wonderful to hear that you’re exploring and taking an interest in Islam and the Arabic language, even coming from a different faith background. Learning a few common Arabic words is a great start—especially since Quranic Arabic can be quite challenging, even for native Arabic speakers! Your curiosity and open-mindedness are truly admirable. Keep going at your own pace, and feel free to ask questions—language and understanding can be a beautiful bridge between cultures and beliefs.