Arabic language

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

Arabic (العربية) is a Semitic language, in the same family as Hebrew and Aramaic. Around 250 million people use it for their first language. Many more people can also understand it, but not as a first language. It is written with the Arabic alphabet. There are many different dialects of it found around the Arab world.

The language is very important in Islam, because Muslims believe that Allah (God) used it to talk to Muhammad through the Archangel Gabriel Jibreal, giving him the Quran in Arabic. Most Arabic speakers are Muslims, however not all are.

In the Western world, Arabic is also becoming a popular language to learn. Many other languages have borrowed words from Arabic, because of its importance in history. Some of the many English words that can be traced to Arabic are: sugar, cotton, magazine, algebra, and alcohol.