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1Young Voices from the Arab World

The Arabic Language: The Glue ThatBinds the Arab World

by Zeina Azzam Seikaly*

*Zeina Azzam Seikaly is outreach coordinator at GeorgetownUniversity’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies inWashington, DC.

f an Algerian, an Egyptian, a Syrian, and aSaudi Arabian are asked the question, “Whatmakes you an Arab?” they will undoubtedlyall include speaking Arabic in their answers.This language is indeed the glue that binds theArab world, from Morocco to Kuwait. Arabichas played a significant role in the sharedhistory of all Arabs, and it continues to provideArab society with a cohesiveness and strongsense of identity.Until the advent of Islam in the seventh century

, Arabic was primarily an oral language. TheQur’an, Islam’s holy book, was revealed to theProphet Muhammad in Arabic, thereby givingthe language great religious significance.Muslims believe that to fully understand themessage of the Qur’an, it must be read in itsoriginal language: Arabic. Thus, the importanceof the Arabic language extends well beyond theborders of the Arab world. There are over onebillion Muslims worldwide, and they all striveto learn Arabic in order to read and pray in thelanguage of revelation.

The First Word: Recite

Muslims believe that the first word revealed tothe Prophet Muhammad was

iqra

, or “recite.”This is the command that God gave toMuhammad when the Prophet began to receivethe revelations, which were later compiled intothe Qur’an. Literally, Qur’an means “recita-tion.” In fact, the verb iqra contains the three-letter root on which the word “Qur’an” isbased—Q, R, and A (see “Root and PatternSystem,” below). Muslims also interpret God’scommand as enjoining humankind not only tolearn to read and write, but also to gain adeeper understanding of life and spiritualitythrough learning.

Three Forms of Arabic: Classical, Modern Standard, and Colloquial

The Qur’an became the fixed standard forArabic, particularly for the written form of thelanguage. Arabs consider the “Classical Arabic”of the Qur’an as the ultimate in linguisticbeauty and perfection. The contemporary“Modern Standard Arabic,” based on theclassical form of the language, is used inliterature, print media, and formal communica-tions such as news broadcasts. “ColloquialArabic,” or locally spoken dialect, varies fromcountry to country and region to regionthroughout the Arab world.The written and spoken forms of Arabic arehighly interrelated. In religious ceremonies orformal speeches or meetings, the written formof Arabic is employed orally. Modern StandardArabic is used in television and radio newsbroadcasts across the Arab world, thus allowingArabic speakers from countries as far apart asLebanon and Morocco to understand oneanother. In conversation, however, Arabicspeakers from different countries might encoun-ter problems understanding one another whenthey speak in their respective local dialects.They could communicate in Modern StandardArabic, a form usually reserved for formaloccasions, but it might feel a bit awkward or stiff.Although written Arabic has changed compara-tively little since the seventh century, spokenArabic has assumed many local and regionalvariations. It has also incorporated foreignwords; for example, in the twentieth century,many new non-Arabic words have found their

2Young Voices from the Arab World

way into the language, particularly termsrelating to modern technology. Although thereare Modern Standard Arabic equivalents for“computer,” “telephone,” “television,” and“radio,” most Arabs, in speaking, will use theEnglish or French versions of these words.At the same time, Western languages haveborrowed a plethora of words from Arabic.During its zenith, Islamic civilization wasconsidered a center for scholarship, and Arabicwas the medium for medicine and mathematics,philosophy, and astronomy. Words such asalcohol, algebra, admiral, alchemy, elixir, gauze,and magazine all derive from Arabic roots.Many of the names we call stars come fromArabic; examples include Betelgeuse and Rigel(both in the constellation Orion), Deneb (inCygnus), Altair (in Aquila), and Aldebaran (inTaurus). In addition, the Spanish and Portu-guese languages also contain a wealth of wordsof Arabic origin, owing to the flowering of Arabcivilization in the Iberian peninsula from theeighth to the fifteenth centuries.

Characteristics of the Language

Arabic is a Semitic language, like Hebrew,Aramaic, and Amharic. It has 28 letters, manyof which parallel letters in the Roman alphabet,and it is written from right to left (Arabic booksare held so that the spine is on the right-handside). Letters or sounds equivalent to P and Vdo not exist in Arabic. Conversely, many lettersounds in Arabic are unfamiliar to Englishspeakers. For example, the guttural

`ayn

isproduced by compressing the throat and has noequivalent in Western languages (in transliter-ated text it is often denoted by a backwardapostrophe or a superscript “c”). The

ghayn

resembles a French “r,” and the

kha

sounds likea deep German “ch.” Some Arabic lettersrepresent sounds that are written as two lettersin English, such as the

sheen

that makes an “sh”sound, and the

tha

that makes a “th” sound. Infact, Arabic includes one letter for the sound“th” as it is pronounced in the word “thin,” anda different letter for the sound “th” as it ispronounced in the word “the.”There are six vowel sounds in Arabic: a long“ee” as in “beet;” a short “i” as in “bit;” a long“aa” as in “man;” a short “a” as in “many;” along “oo” as in “boot;” and a short “u” as in“put.” The three long vowels (ee, aa, and oo) aredesignated by specific letters, and the shortvowels are denoted by accent marks. Therefore,many Arabic words are written as a series of consonants, with accent marks accompanyingthe letters to indicate voweling. In everydaywriting, these accents are often omitted; thereader recognizes the words as a result of experience as well as the context.In addition to singular and plural constructs,Arabic has a form called “dual” that indicatesprecisely two of something. For example, a penis

qalam

, two pens are

qalamayn

, and pens are

aqlaam

. As in French, Spanish, and many otherlanguages, Arabic nouns are either feminine ormasculine, and the verbs and adjectives thatrefer to them must agree in gender. In writtenArabic, case endings are used to designate partsof speech (subject, object, prepositional phrase,etc.), in a similar fashion to Latin and German.Arabic letters are strung together to form wordsin one way only; there is no distinction betweenprinting and cursive, as there is in English.Neither are there capital and lowercase letters—all the letters are the same. The form of theletter, however, changes depending on itsposition (beginning, middle, end) in a word.Some connect only on one side, others on both.The letter shapes include loops and dots andother features that lend an artistic quality to thescript (see “Arabic Calligraphy,” page 30).

Root and Pattern System

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Arabic isits regularity of form. Arabic words generallyderive from three-letter roots that are modifiedaccording to specific rules in order to constructgroups of words whose meanings relate to eachother. Extensive word families are constructedin Arabic by adding prefixes, infixes (lettersadded inside the word), and suffixes to a three-letter root in a series of set patterns. In fact,when using an Arabic dictionary, one does notsimply look up words alphabetically. The three-letter root must first be determined, and then itcan be located alphabetically in the dictionary.Under the root, the different words that belongto that word family are listed.On the next page are some of the words formedfrom the three-letter root JLS.

3Young Voices from the Arab World

Arabic Names

Many Arab families continue to follow tradi-tional naming customs. The firstborn son, forexample, will name his own firstborn son afterhis father. As Arab society is patrilineal, girlsand boys assume their father’s name for amiddle name and take his last name as theirs.The names themselves all have meanings—frequently attributes of an admirable personal-ity (e.g., Kareema means generous or noble;Zaki means intelligent). As in many parts of theworld, Arabic names often denote a professionfor which the family was once known, such asHaddad (Smith) or Khabbaz (Baker). Familynames can also represent the family’s city ortown of origin, such as Akkawi (from Akka, orAcre, in historic Palestine) or Homsi (fromHoms, in Syria).When reading Arab history, one often encoun-ters the words Ibn (or Bin) and Bint, whichmean “son of” and “daughter of,” respectively.Thus, Ibn Khaldun or Ibn Battuta indicate theSon of Khaldun and the Son of Battuta, andZaynab Bint Jahsh means Zaynab, the Daughterof Jahsh. “Banu” or “Bani” is the plural of Ibn;therefore, Banu Hashim means the children (ordescendants) of Hashim, and Bani Adam meansthe descendants of Adam. “Abu” means “fatherof” and “Umm” means “mother of;” thus, AbuSalamah and Umm Salamah are the parents of the son named Salamah.In Islam, God (

Allah

in Arabic) has ninety-ninenames, all describing His goodness and majesty.JaLaSato sit downaJLaSato seat [someone]JiLSamanner of sittingJuLuuS[the act of] sitting downiJLiS!sit down!JaLSameeting or gatheringJaLeeScompanion; participant in asocial gathering (feminine isJaLeeSa)maJLiSsession or councilmuJaaLaSasocial exchange or commu-nicationThese are attributes that are mentioned in theQur’an and Hadith (sayings of the ProphetMuhammad). Many Arabic names are con-structed by merging the word ‘Abd (meaning“servant of”) with one of the ninety-nine names.Therefore, ‘Abd Allah (often written in Englishas Abdallah, or Abdullah) means Servant of God. Here are some other examples. Note thatthe prefix “al” means “the.”‘Abd al-Rahman—Servant of the Merciful‘Abd al-Jabbar—Servant of the Almighty‘Abd al-Hakeem—Servant of the Wise OneWhen these names are Anglicized, often theyare written as Abdul Rahman and Abdul Jabbar.There is no right or wrong way to transliteratethese names, as long as it is understood that“Abdul” does not usually stand alone as aname. Rather, it means “servant of the” andshould be followed by one of the ninety-ninenames of God.Some other common Arabic names and theirmeanings are listed below.

Female Names

Muna

—hope, wish

Layla

—night

Hanaan

—tenderness, compassion

Karma

—grapevine

Salwa

—comfort, consolation

Sameera