Arabic is the mother tongue of about 270 million people. It is spoken throughout the Arab world and is widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world.  Arabic   is thr  official language of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.  Arabic is the language of the Moslem religion and of the Koran. it is also the sixth official language of the United Nations.

During the Middle Ages Arabic was a vehicle of culture, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy, with the result that many European languages have also borrowed numerous words from it.

Spoken Arabic naturally varies from country to country, but classical Arabic, the language of the Koran, has remained largely unchanged since the 7th century.  So, when educated Arabs from different countries meet, they generally converse in classical Arabic.