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The rapid expansion of Islam in the seventh century was accompanied by another intriguing, little-studied phenomenon: the spread of the Arabic language. Within a century after the death of Muhammad in 632, Arabic had become the language of an extensive empire. As Arabic spread to a convert population, scholars became horrified by what they saw as a wide-scale corruption of the language, and wholesale educational efforts began. The article discusses the process by which these efforts unfolded. First, Bedouins were identified as the keepers of the original “pure” Arabic, and they were encouraged to flock to the cities and teach there. As the limitations of this method became apparent, the more scientific study of the language was born. In time, philologists came to be seen as on par with and even superseding the Bedouin in terms of language. Subsequently, more formal schooling efforts began to take place at mosques and schools. Throughout the centuries, as educational efforts expanded, the connections between piety and Arabic mastery strengthened. However, there was an incongruity in the fact that studies of the Arabic language came to be developed mainly by the foreign converts themselves, and the final portion of the article analyzes this tension.
