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Thus, in spite of the final message’s universality, echoed in the verse,<br />
(<br />
$·èŠÏHsd öNà6ö‹s9Î) «!$# ãAqßu‘<br />
’ÎoTÎ)<br />
ÚZ$¨Z9$# $yg•ƒr'¯»tƒ ö@è% )<br />
“Say: ‘O mankind verily, I am Allaah’s messenger (r) sent to all of<br />
you,’ ” 3<br />
and the verse,<br />
( #\ ƒÉ‹tRur #ZŽ ϱo0 Ĩ$Ÿ=Ïj9 Zp©ù!$Ÿ2 žwÎ) y7»oYù=yö‘r& !$tBur )<br />
“I have only sent you as a bringer of glad tidings and a warner for all<br />
mankind,” 4<br />
this message was revealed in the Arabic language.<br />
The Islaamic st<strong>at</strong>e arose in the Arabian peninsula, engulfed it, and quickly<br />
spread to the neighboring lands of Africa, Asia Minor, India, and Asia. Arabic<br />
soon became not only the language of the final revel<strong>at</strong>ion of Islaam, but also the<br />
official language of a vast Islaamic empire encompassing diverse cultures and<br />
languages. Some of the people already spoke Arabic, while most did not.<br />
However, within a very short period, Islaam and Arabic spread rapidly among the<br />
people. Some foreign languages absorbed Arabic-Islaamic terms and those who<br />
spoke them began to write them in the Arabic script. Eventually, many of these<br />
languages were overshadowed or replaced by Arabic. The Coptic language of the<br />
Egyptians and Berber of the North Africans are some examples of the<br />
replacement of n<strong>at</strong>ional languages by Arabic, while Hausa, Persian and Malay are<br />
examples of languages which absorbed large amounts of Arabic words and were<br />
written in Arabic script. In other areas, trading languages developed, made up of a<br />
mixture of local languages and large amounts of Arabic, but even these languages<br />
were written in Arabic script. However, when the ‘Abbaasid caliph<strong>at</strong>e weakened,<br />
Persian and Turkish warlords carved the st<strong>at</strong>e into a number of competing<br />
3 Soorah al-A‘raaf (7):158.<br />
4 Soorah Saba’ (34):28.