Page 57 - 3rd-year-tourism-2021_Neatترم اول

diverse community of believers and is the unifying element that ensures believers
share the same ideas.

The original Arabic text of the Quran has been preserved from the time of its
revelation. Of course, translations have been done into various languages, but all are
based on the original Arabic text that has not changed in many centuries. In order to
fully understand the magnificent words of their Lord, Muslims make every attempt to
learn and understand the rich and poetic Arabic language in its classic form.

Since understanding Arabic is so important, most Muslims try to learn at least the
basics. And a great many Muslims pursue further study in order to understand the full
text of the Quran in its original form. So how does one go about learning Arabic,
especially the classic, liturgical form in which the Quran was written?
Background of the Arabic Language
Arabic, both the classical literary form and the modern form, are classified as Central
Semitic languages. Classic Arabic first emerged in northern Arabia and Mesopotamia
during the Iron Age. It is closely related to other Semitic languages, such as Hebrew.

Though Arabic may seem quite alien to those whose native language derives from the
Indo-European language branch, a great many Arabic words are part of the lexicon of
Western languages due to Arabic influence on Europe during the medieval period.
Thus, the vocabulary is not so alien as one might think. And because modern Arabic
is closely based on the classic form, any native speaker of modern Arabic or many
closely related languages do not find it difficult to learn classic Arabic. Virtually all
citizens of the Middle East and much of northern Africa speak modern Arabic
already, and a great many other central European and Asian languages have been
heavily influenced by Arabic. Thus, a good portion of the world's population is
readily able to learn classic Arabic.
The situation is a bit harder for native speakers of the Indo-European languages,
which accounts for 46 percent of the world's population. While the language rules

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