On December 18, 1973 the United Nations adopted Arabic as the sixth official language of the organisation and the day has since been observed worldwide to mark the beauty and richness of the Arabic language.

Mr Alrogi (second from left) with other dignitaries

The Arabic language is a pillar of the cultural diversity of humanity. It is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, used daily by more than 400 million people.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Ghana, Meshal Alrogi, in a speech underscored the role of Arabic language in the spread of culture, science and knowledge.

He indicated that the Arabic language historically was an incu­bator of knowledge that gave the world, science, mathematics and various fields of knowledge.

“During such golden ages of Islamic and Arabic civilisation, Arabic became the language of sciences, mathematics, astronomy, engineering, logic, philosophy, mysticism, agriculture, industry and economics.

That scientific and literary civil­isation moved to Europe through Italy, Andalusia and the Ottoman Caliphate. Europeans learned Ara­bic language, literature and sciences in the centers of Toledo, Fez and cities of Maghreb,” he said.

“We congratulate and com­mend the role of Arabic lecturers here in the University of Ghana’s school of modern languages and other Universities in Ghana where Arabic is taught,” he added.

Mr Alrogien couraged centres for teaching Arabic languages to step up efforts in devising mod­ern technologies in spreading the acquisition of Arabic.

“It is my conviction that the acquisition of Arabic language by Ghanaians could be a catalyst for the strengthening of relations between the Republic of Ghana and all the 22 countries that have Arabic as its official language and could provide job opportunities to the teaming Ghanaian youth,” he said.

Present were some members of the Diplomatic corps, including Ambassador of Sudan, Muham­mad Abdurrahman Yasin; Am­bassador of the State of Palestine to Ghana, Abdal Fatah Ahmed Khalil Alsatarri, who doubles as the Dean of Arab Ambassadors in Ghana; Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mr Aldesouky Mahmoud Youssef and Charge D’Affaires of the State of Libya, Mr Bilal Elmaraghini.

Others were Charge D’Affaires of the State of Qatar, charge D’Affaires of the Republic of Burkina Faso, Mr Asanah Mokhtar Dassouri, the Director of the Bureau of Middle East Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Mrs Regina Appiah-Sam.

Also present were the Provost of the School of Humanities, Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori, Dean of the School of Languages Prof. Helen Yitah and Head of Depart­ment of Modern Languages Prof. ILDIKO Twerefo CSJABOK.

The event was made colorful with participants from varied walks of life including imminent Muslim Scholars such as Sheikh Ishak Nuamah, an author and Board Member of Baraka Policy Institute, Dr Abbas Shamsuddeen, lecturer at The Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development, Dr Hasan Abdurraheem, chairman of the event and lecturer at the Arabic Department of the School of languages in the University of Ghana (Legon).