Arabization: A Historical and Foundational Perspective.. By: Prof. Dr. Marzouq Yousef Al-Ghanim
Arabization is not merely translation, but a civilizational project to enable the Arabic language to assimilate modern sciences
Translated by Qiyas from الأنباء — Original source
Language is one of the most important tools humans possess for understanding the world, interpreting its phenomena, and transmitting knowledge and experience from one generation to another. Alongside its communicative function, language serves as a vessel for thought, a tool for constructing concepts, and a means of organizing and disseminating knowledge within society.
The greater a language’s capacity to absorb new concepts and express scientific and technological developments, the more it contributes to intellectual and civilizational renaissance, and the more the status of the society that uses it is enhanced in producing and applying knowledge. From this perspective, Arabization cannot be viewed merely as a linguistic process limited to translating foreign words and terms into Arabic. Rather, it should be understood as an integrated scientific, cultural, and educational project aimed at empowering the Arabic language to perform its functions across various domains of contemporary life, foremost among them education, scientific research, medicine, health, and technology.
In its broad sense, Arabization is linked to a society’s ability to absorb global knowledge, reframe it in its own language, facilitate its circulation among its members, and contribute to its development and the production of new knowledge based on its needs and civilizational context. The importance of this issue grows in an era marked by rapid scientific and technological transformations, exponentially increasing volumes of information and discoveries, overlapping disciplines, and knowledge that transcends geographical and cultural boundaries.
In this context, it is insufficient for a language merely to convey heritage or express familiar human experiences. It must possess the flexibility, derivational capacity, and terminological precision required to engage with emerging scientific concepts. Moreover, scientific and linguistic institutions must be available to keep pace with development, standardize terminology, and update dictionaries and reference works. History has demonstrated that the flourishing of scientific languages was never separate from translation movements and intercultural interaction. A language that opens itself to the achievements of others, absorbs their sciences, and reorganizes them according to its own intellectual and linguistic structure can become an effective tool in knowledge construction.
Thus, Arabization should not be understood as linguistic insularity or rejection of other languages, but rather as one form of participation in human civilization and a means of broadening the base of knowledge beneficiaries, while preserving the capacity for direct communication with original sources.
Given the historical and epistemological significance of Arabization, there is a need to address the subject from its integrated dimensions: beginning with defining its concept and scope, proceeding to reviewing its historical development and its scientific and civilizational justifications, and concluding with an overview of its centers and institutions and their role in developing and standardizing terminology. The aim is to form a comprehensive vision of the nature of Arabization, its objectives, and the requirements for advancing it in the modern era.
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