The Arabic language has its origins in the Semitic language which is closely related to Hebrew. Arabic is written from right to left and the Alphabet contains 28 letters mainly consonants, with vowel signs being indicated by marks above or below the letters. (The same script is used for Persian, Pashto Urdu and Sindhi.)
History of the Arabic Language:
Arabic has existed without major change since the Seventh Century A.D.
During the Seventh Century A.D. the language we now call Arabic was a dialect spoken mainly by the nomadic Bedouin in the North Arabian Desert and as they began to conquer the neighbouring lands, they took their language with them. Between A.D. 622 and 1500 Arabic was spoken as Far East as Indonesia and as Far West as Portugal having already replaced almost all of the previous languages of Iraq, Syria, Egypt and North Africa. By AD 750, the Islamic Empire included countries such as present day Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, The Yemen Republics, Oman, The United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. By AD 1500 Arabic had penetrated areas as diverse as Portugal, Spain, Northern India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Persia, Turkey, The Balkans, Zanzibar, the East African Coast and Madagascar.
Today over 150 million people speak Arabic and it is one of the world⤙s major languages. It is the official language of 18 countries and is the language of the sacred book of Islam, The Qur⤙an, and as such is known to millions of Muslims throughout the world. In 1974, Arabic was made the sixth official language of the United Nations. The Arabic alphabet is believed to have evolved from that of an ancient people known as the Nabateans