ABSTRACT
The Arabic language today is the mother tongue of over 250 million people across the Middle East and North Africa. Its modern standard representation, whose form is ultimately derived from the Classical Arabic idiom, is officially adopted as the primary language of administration, education, and discourse in countries as diverse as Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Egypt, the Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, notwithstanding the significance of the language’s official status in neighboring states such as Mauritania, Chad, Djibouti, and Somalia. There are marked variations among the varieties of spoken Arabic: distinctions between the colloquial vernaculars and modern standard Arabic remain obvious. These clusters of vernaculars are said to have originally existed alongside the esteemed classical idiom and were disseminated as the result of the resettlement of Arab tribes following the Islamic conquests of the seventh century; a continuum of affinity therefore defines their Arabic status. Nonetheless, the Arabic language does not serve solely as an integral symbol of Arab national identity; it also functions as the revered language of the religion of Islam, occupying a sacrosanct place in the religious psyche of Muslims. The sacred book of Islam, the Qurʾān, was revealed in the Arabic language and everyday ritual observances are likewise articulated in its diction. Given that adherents of the faith number around one-fifth of the world’s population, the symbolic compass of the Arabic language remains altogether pervasive. It must also be borne in mind that for many Christians in the Middle East, Arabic too has liturgical importance, serving as the language of religious ceremonies and services. The widespread migration of Arab and Muslim peoples into all parts of the Western world has further brought the Arabic language into focus as a unifying symbol of cultural and religious identity. A corollary to this is that varying levels of interaction with the language take place in social, cultural, and religious contexts; Arabic is taught in religious seminaries, mosques, and schools. Moreover, the study of Arabic has long been on the curriculum of academic institutions in the West. Chairs for the study of Arabic were established in reputable centers of learning such as the Collège de France in 1539 and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands in 1613. Oxford and Cambridge both had Chairs of Arabic created in the 1630s; and academic interest in the language and religion continues to thrive. Yet, the place of Arabic in the world of Islam is defined by a lengthy and intricate historical odyssey which begins with its position among the Semitic languages.
