Milestone·Umayyad
Arabic Becomes Language of Government
- Date
- 694 CE75 AH1,332 years ago
- Place
- Damascus and Iraq
- People
- Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan, Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf
Before this change, provincial governments kept their records in Greek, Persian and Coptic, depending on the region. Caliph Abd al-Malik ordered that Arabic become the language of central administration and its records. The change came in the 690s and later. The governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf pressed the reform in Iraq. Arabic became the standard language of Umayyad government.
Why it matters
Arabic became the common language of administration, which helped unify the empire and later shaped Islamic scholarship.