Classical Arabic: The Language of the Quran

Classical Arabic is the specific seventh-century Central Arabian literary register in which the Quran was revealed and recorded, belonging to the Central Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family alongside Hebrew and Aramaic, and its grammar was formally codified shortly after Islam's spread by early Arab grammarians, most influentially Sibawayh in the eighth century, partly to preserve correct Quranic recitation as Islam expanded rapidly among non-Arabic-speaking converts across a vast new empire.

Classical Arabic differs meaningfully from Modern Standard Arabic, its direct descendant used today for formal writing and broadcast media, chiefly in certain grammatical constructions and a smaller, more archaic vocabulary set, though the two remain close enough that educated modern Arabic speakers can read the Quran directly rather than requiring a separate translation, a continuity most world religions' scriptures in their original languages do not offer contemporary readers. Pre-Islamic Classical Arabic poetry, transmitted orally before Islam and later collected in writing, provided some of the linguistic and literary foundation against which the Quran's own distinctive prose style was received and judged by its earliest audience.