7.Common misconceptions. It is necessary to try to clarify immediately what the word “Arabic” does and does not mean. In our experience, most prospective students of the language expect no problem here at all. Leaving the totally ignorant generality on one side, we may divide the merely misinformed into two groups: those who think of Arabic as the language of all Muslims, a language otherwise apparently known as “Persian” or “Turkish” or “Urdu”, and soon; and those who define it, with less inaccuracy, as “the language of the Arabs” or “the language of Arabia”. Unfortunately, the true situation is considerably more complicated: yet certain general principles must be grasped from the outset.

8.Arabic is essentially a formal, written language. As used by Arabic-speakers themselves, the term “Arabic” properly refers only to the formal language – a language that can be, and is, uttered vocally by those educated to do so, but one most often employed in written form. As such, it is the standard language of the whole so-called “Arab world” from Arabia to Morocco; it is also, however imperfectly understood, the official religious language of the Islamic faith, from Indonesia to West Africa, from Central Asia to Zanzibar.