Arabization

Arabization is the process of replacing a nation’s native culture and language with Arabic culture and language. Arabization can also extend into a nation’s school system, government, and media. Many countries where Arab was once spoken were forced to abandon their native language during colonization by the French or British. Once these countries became independent of their colonizers, they reinstituted the Arabic language.

Arabization mainly occurred in majority-Arab countries belonging to the Arab League. These countries are predominantly Muslim, and many are on the Arabian Peninsula. However, Arabization has also been attempted in non-Arab countries such as Lebanon and Kuwait.

Transitioning to the Arabic language from another language is controversial because it is difficult for citizens, especially students, to begin speaking and writing in a new language. Some countries, such as Morocco, have declare its attempt at Arabization a failure and have returned to using the language instituted by the French colonizers.

The term Arabization has also been used to describe the forced displacement or genocide of minority populations within a country. This has been the case in Iraq, where successive governments forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of Kurds and other minorities in the North, relocating Arabs into their homes and villages. Such moves are often political. Iraqi officials sought to consolidate governmental control over valuable oil and land resources. While these governments describe their actions as Arabization, they are using the term to describe crimes, which is not its intended meaning.

Arabization and Islamization have been unfairly associated with terrorism and religious extremism. Experts point out that while Arabs are overwhelmingly Muslim, not all Muslims are Arab. They also contend that terrorists can be any race, religion, or ethnicity.

Background

Arab refers to people who speak Arabic as their primary language. The term Arab itself means “inhabitant of the desert.” The majority of Arabs are Muslim, a faith founded by the Prophet Muhammad in the early seventh century. However, non-Muslim Arab communities can be found in Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, and some Sub-Saharan African countries. According to the Arab League, “an Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic speaking country, who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic speaking people.” In 2019, the world’s Arab population was estimated to be about 428 million.

Arab countries, also called the Arab World, are located in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The twenty-two nations that are part of the Arab World are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordon, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Other countries included in the Arab League that do not necessarily have a majority Arab population are Somalia, Djibouti, Mauritania, Comoros, and Palestine. For some countries in the Arab League, such as Egypt and Bahrain, Arabic is the official language. The Arab League should not be confused with the term “Middle East,” because this area includes majority non-Arab countries such as Israel, Iran, and Turkey.

Some individuals are Arab by lineage and are often called “pure Arabs.” They are the descendants of Arab tribes that once inhabited the Arab Peninsula. Others are Arabized Arabs, a term that refers to anyone who speaks Arabic and embraces Arabic culture and political beliefs.

Although many efforts at Arabization have consisted of replacing French with Arabic, there have been many calls for Arabic to replace English as the language used for higher education in the Arab world. These Arabization efforts are opposite to what seems a trend in other parts of the world. This is to make English-language training, and hence higher education, more accessible to a greater number of people. Proponents believe this form of Arabization will strengthen Arab culture and identity, as well as to increase access for those whose adoption of English is not practical. Detractors to this effort cite the efforts of Saudi Arabia in the mid-2020s. The Saudis are moving to increase the Englishization of higher education but to nativize it by combining it, when possible, with Arabic language and lexicon.

Arabization in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania

The African nations of Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Mauritania have attempted Arabization, although as of 2021, only Algeria had succeeded.

Algeria

Algeria, a North African country bordered by the Mediterranean coastline and the Sahara Desert, overthrew its French colonizers and gained independence in 1962. Prior to this, nearly all written and spoken communication in the country was in French. The nation’s first constitution after its independence declared Arabic as its official language. The country had hoped to recover its precolonial past and create a new national identity although at the time most people in Algeria spoke only French.

In 1964, Algeria began Arabizing its school system. It recruited teachers from Egypt because Algerian teachers did not speak Arabic. The introduction of the language in school progressed slowly and was first introduced in primary schools and courses related to the social sciences and humanities. It was not until the 1980s that Arabic became the language of instruction in secondary schools. Algerian high schools initially allowed students to choose either an Arabic track or a French track. However, the students who had chosen the Arabic track were ultimately disappointed. Their opportunities were limited because of the widespread use of French in the media, the government, and scientific and technical businesses. Arabic-speaking students’ had little opportunity for college acceptance or employment.

However, Algeria continued to take strides to implement Arabic as the official language. By 2000, government, civil organizations, and universities were required to speak and write in Arabic. As of 2021, Arabic remained the nation’s primary language, although Berber, the native language of the indigenous Berber people, was also made official in 2016.

Morocco

The Kingdom of Morocco is a North African country bordered by the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Prior to gaining independence in 1956, Morocco had been a French protectorate, meaning it was under the protection of France. Because Morocco was not fully colonized by the French to the same extent as Algeria, some educational institutions still used Arabic. After its independence, Morocco made Arabic the official language, but French was still spoken by government officials and business people. Outside the larger cities, people spoke Berber.

The Moroccan government considered Arabizing its schools—a controversial move because not all children in the country attended school. Schools were mostly attended by wealthy boys, while thousands of Moroccan children remained illiterate. Some schools began teaching Arabic in addition to French, and the number of bilingual schools was at its highest right before the 1980s. During this decade, Morocco was not on good terms with the French, and King Hassan II fired all French instructors and replaced them with teachers from Bulgaria, Romania, and the Ukraine. These teachers did not speak French or Arabic, so students did not have the chance to master either language. In 2020, Moroccan teachers were told to switch back to French and abandon Arabization. While Arabic remained the country’s official language in 2021, most people spoke French.

Tunisia

The Republic of Tunisia is a Northern African nation on the Mediterranean Coast. Like Morocco, Tunisia had been a French protectorate rather than a French colony before it gained independence in 1956. In theory, implementing Arabization should have been easy in the nation. Tunisia had fewer Berber speakers than nearby countries and a bilingual school system. Typically, secondary students in schools teaching citizen education were taught in French while secondary students in religious schools were taught in Arabic.

From the 1970s to 1982, the Tunisian government attempted to Arabize the nation and was surprised by the negative results. The first wave of high school graduates taught in Arabic were unable to attend a university or find employment because educational institutions and businesses use the French language. After this, the government began reversing the Arabization in schools and students were once again taught in French. While the nation’s constitution indicated that Arabic was the official language, it did not state that Arabic must be used in everyday interactions.

As of 2021, Arabic remained the official language but French was still used in science and technology courses and on major media channels. Some government administrations were in Arabic but others were in French.

Mauritania

Mauritania is an ethnically mixed country in Northwest Africa. The country because independent from France in 1960. While Arabic is the official language, many people in the country still speak French. Clashes between ethnic groups regarding Arabization frequently occur. About 70 percent of the country consists of Black Africans and Arabized Blacks. The remaining population is mostly white. The Arabized Blacks, who are pro-Arabization, often clash with the Black Africans who are against it.

Arabization of Iraq, Syria, and Sudan

In some countries, the term Arabization has been used to describe mass displacement and genocide. The governments of these nations try to eliminate minority populations so the country can be mainly comprised of Arab Muslims.

Iraq

Beginning in the 1970s, successive Iraqi administrations enforced what they called “Arabization” by displacing hundreds of thousands of Kurds, Assyrians, and Turkomans from central and southern Iraq and installing Arabs in these areas. This displacement had political motivations. Iraqi officials sought to consolidate governmental control over its oil and land.

By the late 1970s, at least 250,000 Kurds from areas bordering Iran and Turkey had been displaced. The Iraqi government bulldozed most of their villages, replacing them with Arab settlements.

Near the end of the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein launched a chemical weapon attack against the Kurds in northern Iraq, killing about 180,000 thousand men, women, and children. The genocide is referred to as the Anfal campaign (Anfal translates as the “Spoils of War” and is the title of the ninth chapter of the Koran). The attack was carried out by Saddam Hussein’s cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed, who became known as “Chemical Ali.” Ninety percent of Kurdish villages and twenty small towns were destroyed.

Most of the displaced Kurds who had been displaced in the late 1970s fled to Iran but returned to Iraq after the end of the Gulf War in February 1991. However, they were unable to return to their original homes, some of which were then occupied by Arab Muslims. The Iraqi government resettled many of them in complexes, where they lived in extreme poverty.

Syria

Since its independence in 1946, the government of Syria, a country in the Middle East, has carried out human rights violations that it refers to as Arabization, which have continued into the 21st century under the leadership of Bashar Al-Assad. Non-Arab ethnic groups, such as the Assyrians and Armenians, have faced intense pressure to identify as Arab. However, the Kurds have face constant discrimination and oppression. For example, they are not allowed to use their language because it is not officially recognized. It cannot be spoken in schools, in businesses, or at celebrations such as marriages. The Kurds are not allowed to practice their culture—they cannot sing traditional songs or perform folk dances. They are essentially trapped in Syria and cannot leave the country because they are not allowed to have passports or other travel documents.

Sudan

The Republic of Sudan is an ethnically mixed country in Northern Africa. Arab Muslims predominately live in the central north of the nation, while Christians who speak Nilotic languages mostly live in the south. The Sudanese government has in the past tried to wipe out the country’s non-Arab population. The most notable attempt was the War in Darfur (2003–2009) in the country’s western region. During the war, rebel groups fought the government over its oppression of the nation’s non-Arab population. The Sudanese government’s response to the conflict was to murder all non-Arabs in Darfur. This “ethnic cleansing” resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. The International Criminal Court indicted Sudan’s president Omar al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

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