Why Arabic is important

The Arabic language is the oldest living language on the earth. Although researchers disagree about the age of this language; there is no doubt that the Arabic we use today has passed for more than one thousand six hundred years. Since the first eras of Islam, Arabic has spread in most parts of the world and was linked to the lives of Muslims, becoming the language of science, literature, politics and civilisation, in addition to being the language of religion and worship.

Arabic ranks as the sixth most spoken language across the world with an estimate of over 280 million native speakers across the 22 countries of the Arab world.

The Arabic language has been able to accommodate different civilisations; Arabic, Persian, Greek, and Indian, contemporary with it at that time, and to make them all as one civilisation. Also, under the Holy Quran, the Arabic language became a global language, and the mother tongue of many countries. The importance of the Arabic language stems from several aspects; the most important of them: its close connection with the Islamic religion and the Quran.

That is why the non-Arabic speakers are keen to study this language, and learn about its vocabulary, meanings, rules and everything related to it. The emergence of the so-called “Teaching Arabic to Non-Arabic Speakers” has helped activate the role of the Arabic language. The spread of Arabic among non-Arab Muslims helps to understand the matters of religion, as it is the source of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet.

In the Sultanate of Oman, the Sultan Qaboos College for Teaching Arabic to Non-Native Speakers strives to contribute in building communication and cultural bridges with other non-Arabic speaking nations. The college is affiliated to Sultan Qaboos Higher Centre for Culture and Science and is located in Wilayat of Manah, Al Dakhiliyah Governorate.

Arabic is significant in the Sultanate of Oman’s cultural approach locally and globally. It is the official language of the country, the language of education, the language of communication between the Sultanate of Oman and all the Arab countries.

The establishment of the Sultan Qaboos College for Teaching Arabic to Non-Native Speakers in the Sultanate of Oman has been a response to a global desire to learn Arabic and foster greater cultural understanding and openness.

The late Sultan Qaboos bin Said has promoted the spread of Arabic globally by establishing chairs in Arabic Language Studies in a number of universities across the world.

Arabic is also important because it is one of the remaining Semitic languages. It is known that most Semitic languages have disappeared, with the exception of a few languages, including Arabic and Hebrew. This is what gave it an advantage that made the attention of non-Arabs turn to it, as it was the language of the most powerful civilisations in the world for long periods of time.

Add to this the fact that the Arabic language is of an increasing economic importance, as the Arab countries are among the countries that import the most foreign products and export oil, petroleum products and others. Recent political crisis conditions in the Arab world have pushed many from major international organisations to learn the Arabic language to have the ability to clearly understand the reality in the Arab region.