Arabic Studies
To inquire about this program:
Admission Office | 312-362-8300
Arabic opens the way to centuries of Islamic history, science, literature and culture.
Arabic opens the way to the Qur'an, the collections of the sayings of the Prophet and the writings of the early Muslims.
Arabic opens the way to the Middle East, the heart of the oil industry that fuels the world's economy and to the varied market of over one billion Muslims across the globe.
Studying Arabic has many benefits. Arabic is a beautiful language with a rich heritage of literature, scholarly work and ancient culture. It was adopted by the United Nations as one of its six official languages in 1974. It is considered by the United States government as one of the critical languages for Americans to learn.
Within the United States, Arabic is the heritage language of 3.5 million Americans of Arab descent. Arab-Americans live in all 50 states. Illinois is home to 220,000 Arab-Americans, with 72% of them residing in Cook County. About 94% of Arab-Americans live in metropolitan areas. Chicago is one of the top five metropolitan areas with Arab-American populations in the United States.
The governments of nineteen countries and of Palestine list Arabic as their dominant language. Arabic is spoken by over 160 million people in an area extending from the Arabian Gulf to western Africa. Worldwide, more than 600 million Muslims use Arabic for religious purposes because it is the language of the Quran and Islamic traditions and literature.
