'''Shirvani Arabic''' was a dialect of [[Arabic language|Arabic]] that was once spoken in what is now central and northwestern [[Azerbaijan]] (historically known as [[Shirvan]]) and [[Dagestan]] (southern [[Russia]]). Arabic was spoken in this region since the [[Muslim conquests|Muslim conquest]] of the [[South Caucasus]] at the beginning of the 8th century. It was brought here by Arab settlers comprised mostly of military staff, merchants and craftsmen from [[Syria]] and [[Baghdad]], and was used as an official language. It experienced decline after the weakening of the [[Caliphate]] in the 10th13th century and was gradually replaced by [[Persian]]/[[Tat language (Azerbaijan)|Tat]] and [[Azerbaijani language|Azeri]]. 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>[http://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 3110165783</ref> The latest documentation of the existence of Shirvani Arabic is attributed to the Azeri historian [[Abbasgulu Bakikhanov]] who mentioned in his [[1840]] historical work ''Golestan-i Iram'' that "to this day a group of Shirvan Arabs speaks an altered version of Arabic."<ref>[http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus2/Bakihanov/framevved.htm Golestan-i Iram] by [[Abbasgulu Bakikhanov]]. Translated by [[Ziya Bunyadov]]. Baku: [[1991]], p. 21</ref> Arabic continued to be spoken in Dagestan until the 1920s mostly by upper-class feudals as a second or third language, as well as a language of literature, politics and written communication.<ref>[http://feb-web.ru/feb/ivl/vl6/vl6-4322.htm Literatures of the North Caucasus and Dagestan] by L.G.Golubeva et al.</ref>
