Arabic is both an Asian and African Language. Arabic is the fifth most widely spoken language in the world. There are 98 million Arabic speakers in the Middle East and Asia, 110 million in North Africa and it is the liturgical language for 1 billion Muslims worldwide. Arabic is also the 6th official language at the United Nations.

Interest in the Islamic/Arab world, its history, cultures and languages has heightened in the United States given current world afairs, coupled with the evens of September 11th and the war in Iraq.