Arabic is the official language of Bahrain, but English is widely spoken. It is used in business and is a compulsory second language in schools. Among the non-Bahraini population, many people speak Farsi, the official language of Iran, or Urdu, the official language of Pakistan. Arabic is spoken by almost 200 million people in more than 22 countries. It is the language of the Qur'an, the Holy Book of Islam, and of Arab poetry and literature. While spoken Arabic varies from country to country, classical Arabic has remained unchanged for centuries. The Arabic language originated in Saudi Arabia in pre-Islamic times and spread across the Middle East during the 7th and 8th centuries. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
The official language of Bahrain is Modern Standard Arabic, a modernized form of classical Arabic. It is used in schools, for official purposes and for written communication within the Arabic-speaking international community. In Bahrain, there are differences between the dialects spoken in urban areas and those spoken in rural areas. Although state radio and television are broadcast primarily in Arabic, newspapers and magazines in other languages are available. Al-Ayam is a leading Arabic newspaper. The Bahrain Tribune and the Gulf Daily News are English newspapers. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
The art of handwriting, or calligraphy,
is central to Muslim culture, because it is used to record the word of
God in the Qur'an. Calligraphy is often used as a form of decoration.
Almost all Islamic buildings have a surface engraving such as names, lines
of poetry or a verse from the Qur'an.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||