By Manal Abdel Fattah
The Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in the Arab Republic of Egypt held a celebration on the occasion of International Arabic Language Day, under the patronage and in the presence of Ambassador Abdullah bin Nasser Al Rahbi, Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman in Cairo and its permanent representative to the League of Arab States, and in the presence of Dr. Abdel Wahab Abdel Hafez, President of the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo, and His Eminence Dr. Ali Omar Al Farouk, President The Sharia Sector of the Egyptian Fatwa House, representing His Eminence the Mufti of the Republic, Dr. Abdel Hamid Madkour, Secretary-General of the Academy, a group of Arab diplomats, and an elite group of intellectuals, academics, and researchers.
The celebration, which was held at the embassy headquarters, began with a caricature exhibition that included drawings by the most famous artists in support of the Palestinian cause.
The events in Gaza and the suffering of the Palestinian people dominated the exhibits, as the artists participating in the exhibition affirmed their complete condemnation of the brutal massacres committed by the Israeli occupation army against the Palestinian people, with the proud people of Gaza at its heart.
In his speech, Ambassador Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Rahbi, the Sultanate of Oman’s ambassador to Cairo and its permanent representative to the League of Arab States, confirmed that this year’s celebration comes in exceptional circumstances due to the brutal war that Gaza is witnessing.
Ambassador Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Rahbi, the Sultanate of Oman’s ambassador to Cairo and its permanent representative to the League of Arab States, said:
The anniversary of the celebration of the International Arabic Language Day is a precious and cherished memory for everyone, but it passes amidst difficult winds that blow upon our Arab countries due to what Gaza and the Palestinian territories are witnessing, stressing that communication in the Arabic language is a defense of an identity that deserves to belong to and be proud of.
Al-Rahbi added that at a time when our Arabic language represents the fourth most widely spoken language in the world in terms of the number of speakers, which makes it a good opportunity to spread in light of the presence of more than a billion Muslims around the world, pointing to the great challenge facing the Arabic language on the Internet. Therefore, the Arabic content on that network represents only 1%, while the English content on the Internet represents more than 50%, which requires us to work to intensify the presence of the Arabic language, in light of what UNESCO has confirmed that there are many languages around the world that will disappear. .
He stressed that the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman is taking advantage of this celebration of International Arabic Language Day to honor the contribution of one of the most important donors to the Arabic language, Dr. Ahmed Mukhtar Omar, former professor at the Faculty of Dar Al-Ulum at Cairo University, who presented to the Arab Library many works, including his book “Errors of the Arabic Language” and a dictionary. Contemporary Arabic, and many other timeless works.
For his part, Dr. Abdul Hamid Madkour, Secretary-General of the Arabic Language Academy, stressed the role of the Sultanate of Oman and its scholars in preserving the Arabic language throughout history and their outstanding contributions, to the point that among its people was one of the greatest linguists, namely Al-Khalil bin Ahmed, who compiled the origins of Arabic dictionaries, and he is the genius who He was guided by lexicography and prosody.
He continued: Some people hardly remember the Arabic language except on this day, and we call on all Arab intellectuals and creators to have the Arabic language present in their writings, and as long as our constitutions stipulate that the Arabic language is the official language of the country, people must improve their relationship with their language, and our celebration For us at the Arabic Language Academy, it is a daily and constant duty. If you have a father who lives far away from you and you only visit him once a year, this must be extremely painful for him.
For his part, Dr. Ali Omar Al-Farouq, Head of the Sharia Sector at the Egyptian Fatwa House, stressed the importance and status of the Arabic language and understanding its meanings and purposes, which enables Muslims to understand the Holy Qur’an and its purposes and meanings.
He said that the Arabic language is considered among the most widely spoken languages in the world, as the number of its speakers is estimated at more than 550 million people. The eighteenth of December is considered International Arabic Language Day, and it is celebrated every year, and this date is the same date on which The Arabic language was adopted as an international official language by the United Nations General Assembly, among the six languages approved therein, in 1973 AD.Al-Farouq explained that by understanding this language, we can read the Book of God Almighty correctly, as it is the key to the treasure, and it is the tool by which we reach understanding of what is meant. It is a clear Arabic Qur’an, and a slander in its tool – the Arabic language – is a slander that does not deviate from being a slander in its meaning. The Qur’an, in which it was revealed and in which it is read, citing the words of God Almighty: “These are the verses of the clear Book. Indeed, We have sent it down as an Arabic Qur’an that you may understand. * We narrate to you the best stories of what We have revealed to This is the Qur’an, even though before it you were among the heedless.”
He said that some people might wonder why God chose Arabic?! Stressing that these people do not know the extent of the greatness of the Arabic language, and that it is a language that contains features that are not found in any other language. No language can maintain this flexibility and breadth until the Day of Judgment, with the connotations of its words and the positions of the words in the useful sentence, other than Arabic, indicating that we discover this when We want to transfer the meanings of the Holy Qur’an to another human language. These meanings have been translated into more than one hundred and thirty languages. All of these translations throughout the ages by believers and unbelievers did not do justice to the Qur’an, and only conveyed the point of view of the writer and translator. The sting of Arabic, the precision of its meaning, the beauty of its timbre, and the impact the Arabic word has on the mind of the listener who knows the language, which is a different impact than all the languages of the world.
