Author(s):
Dr. Atotileto Aminu Abdus-Salam, atos2@hotmail.my, +2348130516913
Mrs. Jelilat Adetunji, jradetunji@gmail.com, +2347053615351

Abstract: It is well known that the Arabic language is not only the language of the Arabs, but it is the language of the Holy book of Islam (al-Qur’an). The spread of the Arabic language outside the Arabian Peninsula was mainly due to Islam. The earlier efforts in Arabic language studies were influenced and motivated by the Islamic religion. Therefore, the earliest Arabic studies were for the purposes of serving Islamic education and unifying Muslims in every corner of the world, Nigeria inclusive. However, Arabic language in any community is traceable to the advent of Islam, as the factor that is responsible for the spread of Arabic among the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria. In addition, Muslims used Arabic in all aspects of their ritual worship. Therefore, this paper intends to examine the role of Arabic language as a tool to the Islamic education and Muslim unity in Nigeria. Methodologies employed in this paper are historical and sociological approaches. The paper discovered that with the spread of Islamic education in Nigeria, Arabic language played very important role and contributed immensely to the development of Muslim unity in Nigeria.