Arabic dialects

The Arabic dialects before Islam were diverse and different in vocabulary, styles and structures. However, there was a unified dialect used in writing poems, covenants and agreements. For example, anyone who reads ancient poetry such as the poetry of Antarah ibn Shaddad (a pre-Islamic poet) would not find it difficult to understand or recognize it and it was written about 1500 years ago.

The unified dialect continued after the advent of Islam and it is the dialect in which the Holy Quran was revealed. The unified language is known as the common language, as it was known to some ancient Arab scholars and modern researchers as the Quraish dialect.

There were several dialects at that time that were represented by the common Arabic language, including the dialects of Tamim, Asad, Qais, Bakr and the tribes of Yemen.

However, they could communicate with each other easily, but it was difficult to read and write, but they resorted to the common language if they had to, and it is a language that still exists today in books and newspapers and is learned by Arab and non-Arab students as well.

Likewise, Arabic now has many different colloquial dialects that emerged from the ancient classical language. Colloquial dialects do not have grammatical or morphological rules, dictionaries for their vocabulary and words, or a specific way of writing them. Some colloquial dialects are closer to classical Arabic than other dialects.

Among the colloquial dialects: the Egyptian, Saudi, Libyan, Levantine, Syrian, and others. We mention that it is difficult to divide dialects according to the country, but rather it is possible to divide dialects according to the city or village, as each country, region, or city has a dialect that differs from its neighbor.

There is no doubt that they all have origins in the Arabic language. It is worth noting that most of the colloquial Arabic dialects are still easy to understand due to the similarity of vocabulary in most cases and origins, and this is aided by the interconnectedness and proximity of the Arab countries, the unification of their religion and customs, the presence of television and radio, and other things.

We should not forget to clarify that one of the most important contemporary Arabic dialects is the Egyptian dialect, as it is a dialect known to all the people of the Arab countries, and it has even reached the point that many non-Arabs master it, perhaps before mastering the classical Arabic language, due to the spread of Egyptians in most countries and Egypt’s location in the heart of the Arab and Islamic world. And for other reasons.

Just as the Arabs had ancient classical dialects and there is a common language that is still alive, there are also colloquial Arabic dialects now, and there is a famous dialect, which is the Egyptian dialect, but it was The ancient classical language is still the common element among all Arab and Islamic countries and regions to clarify meanings, speak, communicate, and so on. It is the official language, the language of books now, and the language of culture, politics, education, and so on.