How has the Arabic language spread?
Arabic, a beautiful, poetic, liturgical language with many dialects is spoken by almost 400 million people across the world. Also, the language of Quran, many prefer to learn it for religious purposes. Arabic is known as the language of nomads. During the Pre-Islamic times, it was transferred orally from one generation to another.
The written form of Arabic came into existence through Quran the holy book of Islam. It is believed by Muslims that through archangel Gabriel, God revealed the Quran to Muhammed, the final prophet during the seventh century. The Quran was compiled in its written form by Muhammed’s companions and the standard version of it was established by Caliph Uthman.
Let's now see how has the Arabic language spread!
During this period the Muslim conquests and invasions also lead to the spread of Arabic to various other regions of the world which include the Middle East, North Africa, most parts of Asia and even some of the mainlands of today’s China. Though Arabic and Islam were not accepted immediately in certain areas, over a period of time the language and the religion were accepted by the locals to a large extent and thus gave rise to the spread of Arabic. Also, inter-community marriages of the Arabs with the local people resulted in the spread of the language. However, Persia and Spain managed to continue with their language which is present dominantly even today.
Due to various factors like invasions, political unrest, internal divisions etc., there was a period of decline and relative stagnation of the Arabic language. Again, from the nineteenth century, there was an intellectual revival which can be considered as the renaissance period for the Arabic language.
Today when the world has turned into a global village, Arabic-speaking countries are playing a major role in the global economy resulting in an increase in interest to learn Arabic among many. The oil industry, construction and many other businesses have made some of the Arab countries play a major role in economic growth globally and thus the importance of language has also increased.
Today there are as many dialects as the countries that speak Arabic. However, some major dialects are Egyptian, Moroccan, Modern Standard, Sudanese, Mesopotamian, Peninsular and Maghrebi. Classical Arabic is the language of Islam. Modern Standard Arabic is the language that is most commonly used in government and media.
Finally,
Religious, academic or professional development, learning Arabic could be a priority for many. Learning Arabic is a completely different game. The script which is written differently and has almost no similarity with other languages can probably make it a daunting task for new learners. However, with the right resources and the inclination towards the language one can definitely learn the language. It needs strong commitment, reason and motivation to learn the language.
Today Arabic is the official language of more than 20 countries and is one of the official languages of the United Nations Organization. Though considered to be a difficult language to learn, reasons for governance and bureaucracy also have created interest in learning the language.