“Arabic” is not really a single language. it’s regarded as such because of the pan-arabic movement but you can find many instances in which speakers of two Arabic “dialects” can barely understand each other. realistically treating Arabic as one language and all Arab languages as dialects is like treating latin languages as one and portuguese, spanish, italian and french as dialects.
however Arab countries found a way to agree on a common language, mostly to be used in media. this would be the closest to language used in the Quran, and the language used by the gulf countries. this isn’t really a language any of them use as is but it is a good way to ensure they have a common way to understand each other. this is similar to western countries teaching Latin, only on a wider scale, and technically the language isn’t dead because it is used in media like newspapers or some TV programming (although most tv programming would still use the local language)
so while each of these languages are evolving (in different directions even) they can still largely read and understand old books because they’re taught as part of literacy. this is essentially the “formal language” which is different from the language people would use while speaking or texting for example.
Small correction: Most speakers or Arabic dialects understand each other, but there’s a pretty strong divide between Maghrebi (everything East of Egypt) and Middle Eastern (everything West of Libya) dialects. So a Libyan and a Moroccan will be generally able to understand each other, and same for an Egyptian and an Iraqi, but put an Egyptian and a Libyan in a room together and Standard Arabic will start showing up.
I think it’s pretty hard to generalize but it’s kinda of like degrees of separation. you can have something like dialect A and B understand each other, and so do B and C, and C and D, but A and D would have difficulty.
imo Egyptian is very different from Iraqi, but they’re likely to understand each other because Iraqi is similar to the Standard Arabic, and Egypt has exported their culture to the Arab world through theater, tv and music.
that’s what happens when you go all-in on scripture. the Quran, and I’m paraphrasing here, states that one should never paraphrase the Quran, because when it comes to the holy word you either say it exactly or not at all.
so resisting linguistic change is pretty damn important for Muslims. Arabic is deliberately weighed down by its own importance in the culture
sucks for them tbh! laughs in the belief that scriptures are blasphemy
Languages evolve along with cultures. Rather sad if your language is stuck in time.
“Arabic” is not really a single language. it’s regarded as such because of the pan-arabic movement but you can find many instances in which speakers of two Arabic “dialects” can barely understand each other. realistically treating Arabic as one language and all Arab languages as dialects is like treating latin languages as one and portuguese, spanish, italian and french as dialects.
however Arab countries found a way to agree on a common language, mostly to be used in media. this would be the closest to language used in the Quran, and the language used by the gulf countries. this isn’t really a language any of them use as is but it is a good way to ensure they have a common way to understand each other. this is similar to western countries teaching Latin, only on a wider scale, and technically the language isn’t dead because it is used in media like newspapers or some TV programming (although most tv programming would still use the local language)
so while each of these languages are evolving (in different directions even) they can still largely read and understand old books because they’re taught as part of literacy. this is essentially the “formal language” which is different from the language people would use while speaking or texting for example.
Small correction: Most speakers or Arabic dialects understand each other, but there’s a pretty strong divide between Maghrebi (everything East of Egypt) and Middle Eastern (everything West of Libya) dialects. So a Libyan and a Moroccan will be generally able to understand each other, and same for an Egyptian and an Iraqi, but put an Egyptian and a Libyan in a room together and Standard Arabic will start showing up.
I think it’s pretty hard to generalize but it’s kinda of like degrees of separation. you can have something like dialect A and B understand each other, and so do B and C, and C and D, but A and D would have difficulty.
imo Egyptian is very different from Iraqi, but they’re likely to understand each other because Iraqi is similar to the Standard Arabic, and Egypt has exported their culture to the Arab world through theater, tv and music.
Probably like romance languages 600 years ago.
that’s what happens when you go all-in on scripture. the Quran, and I’m paraphrasing here, states that one should never paraphrase the Quran, because when it comes to the holy word you either say it exactly or not at all.
so resisting linguistic change is pretty damn important for Muslims. Arabic is deliberately weighed down by its own importance in the culture
sucks for them tbh!
laughs in the belief that scriptures are blasphemy