Shirvani Arabic: Difference between revisions

Arabic had been spoken in the region since the [[Muslim conquests|Muslim conquest]] of the [[South Caucasus]] at the beginning of the eighth century. It was brought there by Arab settlers consisting mostly of military staff, merchants and craftsmen from [[Iraq]] and [[Syria]], and was used as an official language. It experienced decline after the weakening of the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Caliphate]] in the thirteenth century and was gradually replaced by [[Persian language|Persian]]/[[Tat language (Azerbaijan)|Tat]] and [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]]. Groups of Arabs (mostly from [[Yemen]]) continued to immigrate to southern Dagestan influencing the culture and literary traditions of the local population who had already become [[Islamization|Islamized]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ih6b9iupT6oC&pg=PA89&ots=4zJYgx7ilz&dq=Anna+Zelkina&sig=bJc3Du4qtncsoaY9T2MWkkYK6ag Anna Zelkina. ''The Arabic Linguistic and Cultural Tradition in Dagestan: an Historical Overview'']. ''Arabic as a Minority Language'' by Jonathan Owens (ed.). Walter de Gruyter Publ. Berlin: 2000. {{ISBN|3-11-016578-3}}</ref>

 

 

{{Quotation|[[North Caucasus|North Caucasian]] resentment of the [[Russians]] for robbing them of their national history is doubled for the Daghestanis by the forced loss of their [[Arabic language|Arabic]] patrimony. In the nineteenth century, it was considered that the best [[Modern Standard Arabic|literary Arabic]] was spoken in the mountains of [[Daghestan]]. Daghestani [[Arabist]] scholars were famous, attracting students from the whole Muslim world. The ''lingua franca'' in Daghestan before the [[Russian Revolution|Revolution]] was [[Modern Standard Arabic|Arabic]]. Then, in the 1920s and 1930s, the main thrust of the [[USSR anti-religious campaign (1928–1941)|anti-religious campaign]], was to eradicate Arabic, a religious language, and replace it with Russian. The finest flower of Arabist scholarship disappeared in [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge|purges]].|Bryan, p. 210<ref name=CHC2>{{cite book|last=Bryan|first=Fanny. E.B.|editor-last=Bennigsen-Broxup|editor-first=Marie|editor-link=Marie Bennigsen-Broxup|title=The North Caucasus Barrier: The Russian Advance Towards the Muslim World|year=1992|publisher=[[C. Hurst & Co.]]|isbn=9781850653059}}</ref>}}