Lecture 01

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:01][music] [music] I welcome you all to this uh lecture related to the course that which is history of Arabic literature and today we'll be talking about uh the Arabic language and literature in general as to constitute introduction to this uh topic Arabic as a a classical as well as modern language encompassing a vast Last geographical arena and uh successive historical periods occupies a significant position in the language map of the modern times.

[00:01:18]The here some statistics regarding Arabic language would be significant. It is the international language and the third most widespread official language after English and French.

[00:01:34]If you just look at the native speakers, we'll be having 411 million that is 5.1% of the world population.

[00:01:46]They are the native speakers epicenter chiefly around Arabia and Arabic countries.

[00:01:55]Then uh we have the non-native speakers uh to uh that amounts to 700 77 70 million as L2 language to users since it is a classical language which has uh uh which is still flourishing in the modern times with its long history and uh legacy. See it has the standard uh version standard language besides the dialect. The standard language is known as alosa as we know while the dialect is known as alia or adaraja. It actually varies from uh geographic uh region to region.

[00:02:47]rather sometimes we have the variance within uh vast uh or big country like Saudi Arabia.

[00:02:55]So we're having the dialects the official language of 22 countries in continents of Asia and Africa. This is another uh significant part of the statistics.

[00:03:10]The uh countries in Asia that have uh Arabic as official language are Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. While the countries in in Africa are Algeria, Chad, Comors, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritia, Libya, Moritania, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, and Tunisia.

[00:03:42]It is one of the official languages of the of the United Nations since December 18, 1973 after the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 3190 to include it as an official and working knowledge. So these are the primary statistics related to Arabic language.

[00:04:08]uh since it is uh Arabic is uh the it's it's among the classical languages related to the cementic group.

[00:04:21]The pre-Islamic uh uh history is divided into related to the Arabs is divided into three segments.

[00:04:31]The Arabs are classified usually classified into three segments. The first segment is known as the instinct Arabs uh who are no more they don't figure in the present map in the historical map or geographical map as of now in Arabia or anywhere in the world they are samudis Abdul etc. They have been mentioned in in uh some historical sources as uh we find mention of them in some religious sources including the holy Quran. In the holy Quran and samud have been mentioned.

[00:05:15]So they are the instinct Arabs. uh they have been we we don't have traces of them except uh maybe some uh some minor traces which have come to us uh in modern times after archaeological excavations in different parts of Arabia uh like uh uh or some monuments which have been discovered lately of course uh like those in Saudia in the Tabuku uh region uh and uh those in uh Oman, modern day Oman related to uh AD uh in that specific geographical uh segment uh that is shared by the great desert uh in Saudi Arabia.

[00:06:14]Then you have alabra.

[00:06:18]They are the original Arabs recorded by historians whose traces are uh not only the traces rather their legacy uh is uh available is found uh not only in history rather it has extended to the modern times. They are known as the Katani Arabs.

[00:06:41]the original Arabs who inhabited Yemen.

[00:06:44]Then we have alabar that is the adani who have become Arabs means they were not the original Arabs.

[00:06:53]actually the Arabs the the the the peoples of Arabia living in the uh modern day Yemen or which has been mentioned in ancient sources including the Greek sources Arab as Arabia Felix uh they were the Katanis uh whose ancestor was no Kan the Ananis who lived in the area that we find now in Belad Sham primarily Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, present Jordan and uh Iraq, part of Iraq.

[00:07:35]Uh they are the uh they were the Adanis.

[00:07:39]They had migrated to Arabia to that region that is Najdan Hijaz.

[00:07:47]And uh here we find their population is spreading. They had actually learned Arabic. Since they had learned Arabic means Arabic was not their mother tongue, original tongue. That's why they're known as They are primarily the descendants of Hat Ibraimisam.

[00:08:27]So just some historical glimpses about that.

[00:08:33]Now Arabs had usually there are some stereotypes regarding the Arabs in uh Arabia or the Arabian Peninsula in general that uh they were simply the bedwin peoples and they had no permanent settlements or the social or political organization or what what actually constitutes civilization. So uh this is uh sometimes projected uh regarding the uh the early Arabs.

[00:09:11]Well uh uh I think this is one of the stereotypes which is uh which must be demolished from the historical point of view of course because we're concerned with the um Arabs and Arabic.

[00:09:28]So the simple thing is that rather sort of question if we have uh if we can have uh certain examples of kingdoms, empires, states, city organizations with their citadels with their uh sometimes the magnificent uh uh constructions buildings uh the archeological remainings of which is still found available in the geographical map of Arabia then we can hardly subscribe to the idea that they had no civilization no culture no political organization so in the pre-Islamic uh period regarding In Arabia we find uh a kingdom of Sabah that is 1,00 to 800 BCE. Then we have the hemirites uh from uh 110 to 575 or 578 uh 110 BCE to 575 obl 578 CE as it is known in Arabic and then Al Ambath the Nebatians 3rd century BC to 106 AD al- Ambath the Neatians in the Petra city as the exhibitions are over there very magnificent it is now one of the u it's part of the uh UNISO world legacy world heritage in modern day Jordan uh Petra city that was the capital of the al- Aba Then you have the tanides, the manazer almanaz uh they stand for the same all these three terms stand for the same uh entity.

[00:11:55]uh they are positioned uh between uh 266 to 618 that is uh AD or they were found uh they they had their capital uh uh in uh modern day Iraq between Saudi Arabia and Persia. Then you have the gas alas.

[00:12:27]They were the Christian rulers.

[00:12:32]Uh they had their kingdom uh between uh 220 to 638 AD.

[00:12:42]Then we have the allean theianites uh at Alura in modern day Saudi Arabia uh in Tabuk region 15th century BC to 1st century BC.

[00:13:00]So these are the historical facts and in view of which uh we can hardly subscribe to this idea that Arabs had uh no political establishment or uh no idea of uh state or empire because simply they were debating between peoples. No, this is uh this cannot be substantiated in view of the historical facts coupled with some other historical evidences as we can uh as we know uh they they are related to some uh far more we don't say it antiquity rather some early epochs of human history like the Babylonian culture the Babylonian civilizations rather the series of civilizations we in Babylonia and the Aram Aramic civilization and culture. Alad al the Phoenicians who were epicented in what you can simply or approximately locate in a modern delinant.

[00:14:18]uh then of course we can give some examples although it will be a little bit farest the example of the of the fra alana uh why because all these civilizations are related to they belong to the same entity uh that is uh the symmetric uh group of languages culture and civilization There is another uh significant uh thing in this uh respect and this again augments the view rather the argument that uh Arabs had their own uh political entity rather many political entities organizations.

[00:15:07]So in uh you know uh as we know there have been the Bzantium influence in Arabia.

[00:15:18]So there were many city states uh in Arabia usually designated as the Bzantium states.

[00:15:30]uh the uh archaeological sites of which are still uh they they they uh just beautify the cultural map of Arabia in modern times.

[00:15:47]We can have another very pertinent example uh that is that is found that is rather part of the Arabic poetry prelamic Arabic poetry. We all know about Emerald Emerald Kis. Emerald Kais was a a poet who belonged to a uh that is um very uh um respected uh household of rulers from Alkinda. So we have the uh the MLA of Kinda which is now designated as identified as the uh that uh entity known as Kyatul FA that is located in Saudi Arabia. We can have some examples of that some images of that in uh later moments. So this Islamic history just uh uh showcases the uh significant position of Arabian peoples in the political map of the uh well won't be using the word Middle East because it happens to be the modern terminology rather in the map of Arabic language and literature.

[00:17:01]The post-Islamic history is usually classified into the classical Arabic that is pre-Islamic to early Islamic periods from uh pre-Islamic period 2 610 CE that is the Noua of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam the period is known in Arabic sources basic Arabic primary Arabic sources as Jah it has nothing to do with jahal or ignorance Rather this is a specific term which stands actually for that period and uh it depicts it uh just represents the Arabs of pre-Islamic era not in purely in ethological perspectives rather in some uh sociological and sociometrics of uh the culture and the cognitives before Islam related to the rate of education. For example, u since uh uh the re the the peoples residing in the nudged area uh were uh usually cut off from the political entities or the cultures we have seen in areas like Kingdom of Saba that happened to be in Yemen. Heirites were to they also happened in Yemen. The Lakmides they were accusented around Medina modern day Medina around modern day Medina. Then you have the Kasanites who were in Syria or Badusham.

[00:18:53]Uh and uh no Almightes were alaz.

[00:19:14]foreign.

[00:20:23]Islam sh then we have the early Islamic history 6 10 to 6 uh 660 early Islamic period uh this period consist of uh the beginning of Islam prophet prophet of Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam extended to the fat rashada followed by the omay period 661 and 600 uh to 650. Then you have the Abbasid period 650 to 1517.

[00:21:01]Then the Ottoman period 1219 to 1922 uh that actually heralds the beginning of the modern period followed by modern period that starts from in the Arabic uh perspectives. Arabic historical perspectives. It starts from 1922 and the backdrop of the world war and the emergence of the modern world order as uh uh per the uh the political uh initiatives and decisions taken regarding the Middle East.

[00:21:44]the post Islamic period we can uh see how was the spread of of Islam and here Islam means uh that segment of Arabic language that is related to uh the ideology or the theology that is Islam. So we can simply say that uh uh in the in the post Islamic period up to the uh omayad times Islam and in this context it was the Arabic language. It has emerged as a big uh factor very significant uh factor that spread uh to a wider expansion of geograph geography uh reaching up to transoxiana uh that is the areas we have now in central Asia Kandan Bkhara all of Afghanistan and all of Iran and Armenia and uh uh besides the main Arabia that is Syria and Iraq and Hijaz and Yemen and Hadramot and Oman etc. to another segment that is uh uh related to Africa, the African continent that is Egypt uh just going to Tripoli that is Libya.

[00:23:18]Then the Maghreb region uh extending to uh the Andalucia that is uh Spain the which was uh uh which in uh the that period had no nomatures or geopolitical nomomenclatures such as Spain and Portugal. So it was andia consisting of the modern day Spain and uh Portugal.

[00:23:49]So we can have this uh just see this uh this this grand expansion in a relatively very small uh uh period in terms of history.

[00:24:07]Arab's official languages as we have seen uh we can just figure out uh uh the reality understand the reality in the world map like this.

[00:24:18]So it covers a significant chunk of Asia and Africa as official language countries as official language countries. Again it is we have we can we can see the names uh Somalia, Yemen, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahin, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Moritania. Uh and some other countries Chad, Djibouti etc. Uh so uh the uh lecture regarding the introduction uh to Arabic language and literature we'll be focusing on uh uh topics such as the Arab world geography geography of Arabian Peninsula that is Arabian Peninsula history. The tribal systemic languages historical development of Arabic language history of Arabic letters.

[00:25:35]Then historicity of of Arabic historicity of Arabic language literature and the literary genre Arabic language and the questions of interaction poetry as the one of Arabs that is pros primary sources of Arabic literature followed by issues of authentication. So these would be the perspectives where we will be having in our minds when interacting with this great uh with this significant uh with the with the basic uh theme that is history of Arab Arabic literature uh before and of course alongside side that we'll be uh dealing with some uh some uh uh notions or some uh questions related to the origin of Arabic language and literature and some uh misplaced notions we are having or some people among us have uh regarding Arabic language and literature.

[00:26:55]Here the first uh or the primary uh uh submission based on uh my own conviction, based on my study is that uh we must not uh confuse between historicity of language and literature.

[00:27:22]the scientific evidences of uh language and literature and some uh assumptions which have crept to us to our minds in some uh context. sometimes related to uh religious culture or some information fed uh in in the context of religious uh injection although after discreet we will be finding that these things have nothing to do with religion as such or religious injections as such.

[00:28:08]So among it is the first uh question that is uh is it historically true proved scientifically that uh Arabic is the oldest language in this world.

[00:28:24]This is again one question we'll be dealing with. Of course, we have the historic history history and historicity of Arabic language and literature starting from the pre-Islamic Arabia, then the modern uh postIslamic period uh and we have all these historical information all these legacy that uh posits itself as uh very powerful very significant uh segment of humanity of human legacy throughout history in the domains of philosophy and poetry and uh scientific literature, mystic literature, pedagogical literature, the glimpses of which we'll be just uh witnessing uh in uh the lectures to come. But again if the question is like is Arabic the oldest language in this world?

[00:29:33]So this is again a subject that we'll be dealing with in our second lecture. So here we'll conclude the first lecture.

[00:29:42]Thank you very much.

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