WHY STUDY ARABIC? Arabic is the mother tongue of speakers in twenty Middle-Eastern and North African countries with a population of about 250 million people extending from the Persian Gulf to the Atlantic Ocean. Arabic is the national language of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Arabic is also the sacred language of twenty-four non-Arab Muslim countries with a population of about one billion. Arabic is the language of Islam, a rich literary tradition, and a civilization that contributed greatly to all areas of human endeavor. The Arabic alphabet is the second in use after only the Roman alphabet. The United Nations adopted Arabic as one of its six official languages in 1974. Arabic has become indispensable for anyone interested in Islamic studies, comparative theology, Middle-Eastern studies, international law, political sciences, or international business. Although there are many regional varieties of Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is understood by all dialect speakers. All native speakers learn MSA once they enter school. Colloquial Arabic is the language spoken at home and in daily life but it is rarely written. Classical Arabic, the language of the Muslim holy book, the Qur'an, is used only in writing and rarely in speech. Written Classical Arabic has changed little over the centuries. Today, all literary, official, and media output is in MSA. Arabic, like Hebrew, is a Semitic language. They share the root system for deriving words and many lexical terms. Examining any dictionary will reveal that English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Greek, Russian, Persian, Aryan, Sanskrit, Hindi, Chinese, and Latin have borrowed many words from Arabic. Words such as admiral, alcohol, algebra, average, checkmate, elixir, lute, magazine, saffron, tell, and as many as 1000 other words passed from Arabic to European languages alone. Visit http://www.ajeeb.com for more information. The Arab world has become the focus of international attention because of the production of oil and large-scale economic investments and development. Arabic is the language of world-class modern literature such as the works of the Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz, an Egyptian novelist; Gibran Khalil Gibran, a Lebanese poet and philosopher; and Mahmoud Darwish, a Palestinian poet. Events in the Middle East affect our daily lives, and the study of Arabic provides necessary insights to better understand the cultural, ideological, and political forces of that vital region of the world. Visit the Department of Africana Studies