Abu dhabi: An introductory session at the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre highlighted the significant contributions of Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi to the Arabic language, focusing on his creation of “Kitab al-‘Ayn,” the first Arabic dictionary. The session, under the theme “Let’s Turn the Page and Read the World,” examined Al-Farahidi’s establishment of the science of prosody, placing him among the most notable Arab linguists.

According to National Iraqi News Agency, the session titled “Al-Farahidi and the Story of the First Arabic Dictionary” featured esteemed scholars, including Dr. Muhammad Othman Al-Khalil and Dr. Bilal Al-Arfa’i from New York University Abu Dhabi, and Dr. Khalil Al-Sheikh from the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre. Dr. Al-Sheikh elaborated on the inception of “Kitab al-‘Ayn,” noting Al-Farahidi’s aim to transform Arabic from a collection of words into a structured lexical framework.

Dr. Bilal Al-Arfa’i emphasized that Al-Farahidi’s work was a pure product of Arab and Islamic cultures, asserting that his methodology in compiling the dictionary was uninfluenced by contemporary cultures. Meanwhile, Dr. Muhammad Uthman Al-Khalil discussed the dictionary’s significance in Arabic computational linguistics, highlighting Al-Farahidi’s pioneering scientific approach in both the dictionary’s compilation and the foundation of the science of prosody.

Dr. Al-Khalil compared Al-Farahidi’s groundbreaking work to Newton’s development of calculus, noting Al-Farahidi’s innovative approach to structuring the dictionary based on pronunciation. “Kitab al-‘Ayn” was named for the letter “Ayn,” the deepest-voiced in Arabic, establishing it as a primary reference for future Arabic dictionaries.