For the Memory of the World (MoW) Programme, the day holds particular significance. Arabic is not only a language of poetry, science, and philosophy; it is a medium through which humanity has recorded knowledge and transmitted documentary memory across centuries.
This year’s theme, “Innovative Pathways for Arabic: Policies and Practices for a More Inclusive Linguistic Future,” highlights how education, media, technology, and public policy are shaping more accessible and dynamic uses of Arabic. It aligns with the joint UNESCO–Khalili Foundation project expanding universal digital access to MoW International Register documents through multilingual Wikimedia platforms.
Arabic is not a single language but a collection of languages spoken by more than 400 million people across continents and civilizations. Its written tradition stretches over 1,500 years and includes manuscripts, scientific treatises, historical chronicles, maps, legal texts, and literary works. Many foundational contributions to mathematics, astronomy, medicine, philosophy, and linguistics have been preserved in Arabic, while centuries of translation and exchange helped bridge ancient knowledge with modern thought. By inscribing Arabic-language documents and collections on the MoW Register, the Programme raises global awareness of their universal significance.
One such inscription is Arabian Chronicles in Stone: Jabal Ikmah in Saudi Arabia’s AlUla County, an open-air library of nearly 300 Dadanitic and Lihyanite inscriptions carved more than two millennia ago. Etched into the cliffs, they reveal everyday life, from rituals over agriculture to beliefs, and trace the early evolution of the Arabic script.
Centuries later, in Al-Andalus, physician al-Zahrāwī produced his medical encyclopedia, the Manuscript of al-Zahrāwīsur. Its final volume, recognized as the first illustrated surgical manual, introduced instruments he invented and shaped surgical practice across continents through subsequent translations into multiple languages.
One of the most recent additions to the MoW International Register is the Itḫāf al-Maḥbūb from Egypt. It offers an insight into Arabic scientific thought, explaining planetary motion, Earth’s dimensions, and practical measurements of time and space. It stands as one of the earliest works that significantly influenced later European astronomical studies.
Reflecting the importance of such heritage, delegates from 17 countries endorsed the creation of the UNESCO Memory of the World Committee for the Arab Region (MOWCAR). This major milestone will reinforce cooperation on preservation, advocacy, and future nominations, helping ensure that works like Itḫāf al-Maḥbūb become more accessible to all.
The importance of Arabic documentary heritage was further highlighted at the UNESCO conference “Innovating Documentary Heritage for Sustainable Development in AlUla and Saudi Arabia” this April. It showcased the breadth and global significance of Arabic documentary heritage, a central theme of the event. Participants noted the region’s underrepresentation on the MoW Register, with only 22 of 570 inscriptions (4%), and called for more efforts to address this gap.
With strengthened regional cooperation and renewed attention to underrepresented heritage, these initiatives advance this year’s vision for Arabic, ‘Innovative Pathways for Arabic: Policies and Practices for a More Inclusive Linguistic Future’, by making Arabic-language documentary heritage more accessible and visible worldwide.
