Forum for "Promoting the Arabic Language"

Doha, 31 May 2012

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen … Honorable professors and esteemed guests,
May peace, mercy and God’s blessings be upon you

Welcome to your country Qatar; for wherever the Arabic language is present, that place becomes a home… and that is what language does: it localizes the soul, awareness and culture, and it forges identity. I made sure to talk to you during the first forum, to participate in this dialogue on how to give rise to the Arabic language, which is tightly associated with the Arab nation.

There is a direct link between language, culture and identity and therefore, the civilized existence of a nation. As you know, the core “language, culture and identity” constitute a trinity, and if one of these components breaks, the entire structure will fall apart. Language is an absolutely integral part of the human race. The achievement of self–realization, the aspirations and ability to face challenges will vary depending on how successfully people protect the components of this trinity. This has an impact on who we are and in many ways defines who we may become.
All past and future challenges facing our language require vision and practical ideas in order to transform Arabic from a static language used only in archiving and speechmaking into a living, popular language — a language used in factories and laboratories, a language of science and research.

The challenge of reviving this language is inseparable from the project of reviving the nation — a nation that is intellectually free, economically strong and politically independent. Bottom line, the Arabic language will not rise if the Arab nation fails to do so.

It is not fair to accuse the Arabic language of being old-fashioned and static as if it were independent from what we mean and do, or unaffected by the outcome of our deeds. It is our language, and we are ultimately responsible for its static condition. It is our duty to restore it to its glory so that it can return to what it used to be hundreds of years ago – the language of science and literature, a language of building bridges to other civilizations, a language that affected others through its scientific and cultural achievements, pushing them to learn it.

We feel saddened by the absence today of the Arabic language from the scientific research domains, the weak contributions to publishing, translating and composing in the Arab world, and the small budget allocated to financing scientific research programs which amount to less than an average of 0.2 percent of state budgets compared to a minimum of 2 percent in developed countries.

Expressing political commitment to support the Arabic language alone is not enough. We salute all Arab initiatives and recommendations whether official or academic, and we look forward to initiating programs whose goal is to develop the Arabic language and place it at the forefront of sustainable development, render it capable of keeping pace with higher education and scientific research in the sphere of knowledge.

One must note the role played by educated and confident youth who believe in their identity, and see it as one of the factors contributing to the rise of the nation, which must now necessarily lead to a reciprocal rise in linguistic development. We were overwhelmed with joy and enthusiasm at seeing our youth proudly wield classical Arabic as a tool to inspire revolutions in the very capitals of revolution.

The Arabic language shines throughout our history, lives in our collective memory and floats on our tongues. We are culturally, emotionally and existentially bound to it; it is a key aspect of our ascent.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
The purpose of my meeting with you today is to contribute to raising questions. I leave the discussions on how to ensure the revival of the Arab language to you, to your knowledge and to your experience, and in light of the recommendations and the conclusions you will make, specialists will discuss with you how to develop ways to ensure the exemplary applications of your ideas, including: the combined efforts of translation into Arabic, the issuance of a unified Arabic thesaurus and the continuous coordination between the Arabic language communities.

We are full of hope that your forum will produce proposals for strategic and long-term plans. As for us, we will not hesitate to adopt any measures that will help the advancement of a language that has inspired our existence… any negligence of this entity would constitute negligence of us as an entity. Let us preserve our language in order to protect our identity. Let us give rise to our nation in order to give rise to our language.

Wishing you success and good luck
Peace, mercy and may God’s blessings be upon you