On the International Day of the Arab. Qatari projects to serve the language of poetry and arts

On December 18, the world celebrates World Arabic Language Day as a pillar of cultural diversity (Shutterstock)

Tomorrow, Monday, December 18, the world celebrates the International Day of the Arabic Language, as a pillar of cultural diversity, and one of the most widespread and used languages in the world, and celebrates its creativity, arts and role in producing knowledge and ideas and promoting dialogue between cultures.

This date was chosen, because it was the day on which the United Nations General Assembly in 1973 adopted its historic decision to make Arabic the sixth official language of the Organization.

Under the theme "Arabic: The Language of Poetry and Arts", the United Nations celebrates World Arabic Language Day this year, with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) expressing its appreciation and greetings to Arabic speakers around the world, who preserve a unique linguistic and cultural heritage and a symbol of diversity and inspiration.

Treasures of creativity

In this context, writers and academics highlighted in statements to Qatar News Agency (QNA) the role of the Arabic language in providing the world heritage with the treasures of creativity, and its immortal contribution in the fields of poetry and art, noting that it represents the memory of the Arab Islamic nation and the repository of its heritage, and the bridge between the past and the present.

The poet and writer Dr. Hassan Ali Al-Naama, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding, stressed that the celebration reflects the United Nations' reverence for our Arabic language and its great contribution to enriching human culture over the ages through the production of masterpieces of statement and clarification, providing the world heritage with the aesthetics of poetry and arts, and enriching the human conscience with types of creativity.

Al-Naama pointed out that the giving of Arab civilization and the Arabic language to humanity in various eras is reflected in its dialogue and interaction with the people of the countries and regions in which it descended, so it took from the heritage of these nations, gave it and added to it, and formulated a new heritage and a new language from the treasures of imagination, literature and art. Therefore, the Arabic language is today considered one of the richest languages in the world with its linguistic dictionary and its balance of statement, literature and arts.

The Arabic language is of great interest in the State of Qatar as the official language of the state (Anatolia)

Al-Naama stressed the need to be aware of the status of the Arabic language, and urged the generations of the nation and all its speakers, to contribute to honoring our language and preserving our civilization with more production and creativity and keeping pace with the development of human civilization in its sciences and creations, and continuing the march of giving in the fields of knowledge and harnessing technology and science, as the permanence, continuity and progress of the Arabic language depends on its ability to interact with the times and continue the process of giving and take.

In turn, writer and academic Dr. Ali Ahmed Al-Kubaisi, former head of the Arabic Language Department at Qatar University, and member of the Scientific Council of the Doha Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language, stressed that the Arabic language represents the memory of the Arab-Islamic nation, the repository of its heritage, and the bridge between the past and the present, pointing out that it enjoys great attention in the State of Qatar as the official language of the state, in recognition of its importance and religious and historical status.

He stressed that this interest is manifested through 4 models in legislation, the establishment of dictionaries, the dissemination of the culture of debate, and the employment of technology to promote linguistic research.

The first model, according to Al-Kubaisi, is the issuance of the Arabic Language Protection Law, Law No. 7 of 2019, which included 15 articles that oblige all governmental and non-governmental agencies to protect and support the Arabic language in all activities and events, as well as the use of the Arabic language in a number of sectors and the social environment.

Doha Dictionary

While the second model is represented in the Doha Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language, which is a civilized project, which aims mainly to monitor the development of the meanings of the words of the Arabic language and track their various uses through their historical contexts, by allocating a lexical entrance to each word in which the date of its appearance in its first meaning and the history of its structural and semantic transformations are recorded, and its users in each of its phases, while documenting all of this with texts that testify to the validity of the information contained therein, based on a huge linguistic code of Arabic works.

"This dictionary opens wide doors for researchers and scholars to deepen awareness and understanding of our knowledge and scientific heritage, and provides many opportunities to renew our present knowledge and foresee a promising future in the fields of research, education and automated processing of the Arabic language," al-Kubaisi added.

On the third model, Dr. Ali Al-Kubaisi referred to QatarDebate, which is a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, and has distinguished efforts and activities in spreading the culture of debate in the Arabic language in Qatar and abroad.

The fourth model is Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), which is part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and has distinguished efforts to enhance the position of the Arabic language in the information age by conducting multiple research in the field of Arabic language technologies.

The language of poetry and arts

In the same context, writer and academic Dr. Seetah Naqadan, Head of the Arabic Language Department at the College of Arts and Sciences at Qatar University, pointed out that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) chose the theme "Arabic: The Language of Poetry and Arts" as the main theme on the occasion of World Arabic Language Day 2023, which is an opportunity to highlight the great cultural and human value that the Arabic language carries, especially in the field of poetry and arts.

She pointed out that the link between the Arabic language and poetry reflects a long history of literary uniqueness from the beginnings of Arabic poetry recorded until now, "poetry is the Diwan of the Arabs", as it was said, poetry carried the history of the Arabs, their stories, feelings, customs, traditions, suffering and thought, and preserved a unique human heritage that is unlike any other heritage.

Naqadan explained that this occasion opens the way to reveal the inspiration of artists and poets about the aesthetics of the Arabic language in their artworks, by linking language with art, deepening understanding of the role of Arabic in stimulating creativity in all its forms, highlighting the need to preserve the Arab linguistic and cultural heritage, highlighting the vital importance of the Arabic language as a means of transmitting literary and artistic heritage to future generations, and enhancing the role of the Arabic language in enriching cultural communication worldwide and among its various peoples, as it is supposed to be a living and influential language such as language. Arabic.

She stressed that the Arabic language has made a fundamental contribution to the field of world poetry with thousands of immortal poetry collections, as it is a poetic language with all its details, structures, timbre and the richness of its linguistic dictionary. Architecture, plastic arts and Arabic calligraphy all embody a heritage full of diversity and innovation, which falls within an Arab context characterized by cultural depth and aesthetic influence in its embodiment of the identity and aesthetics of the Arabic language.

Dr. Seetah concluded by pointing out that the challenge and duty lies in transmitting this cultural and linguistic heritage by all means, and this requires us to encourage scientific research and authorship in the literary and artistic fields, and we must be pioneers in facilitating an intellectual dialogue that contributes to expanding the horizons of knowledge and opening a new horizon for our language, culture and poetry, and introducing other nations to the depth of the artistic heritage they carry in the field of poetry, art, calligraphy and architecture.

Source : Qatar News Agency (QNA)