The Damascus Academy of Arabic was founded in 1919, as the Syrian state was taking shape after the Ottoman era. Even before its establishment, a translation and drafting department had been operating, dealing with official terminology and its Arabization. The academy was headed by Muhammad Kurd Ali and became the oldest modern Arabic language academy. Its original question was strictly practical: how could Arabic be made the language of the state and of knowledge?
Over more than a century, the academy played a major role in reviving the heritage, publishing, lexicography, and linguistic and literary research. Its members included not only philologists, but also specialists in medicine, law, history, and the natural sciences. For a long time, membership was associated with an almost lifelong affiliation with the institution, and the academy came to be known in the cultural imagination as the “academy of immortals.” Yet no history is sufficient to replace a reassessment of the present. The new Syria faces a broader question: what kind of academy does the new state need?
The first issue that deserves reconsideration is the transition from membership as a permanent status to membership as a scholarly responsibility linked to work and results. This does not diminish the achievements of distinguished scholars, nor does it mean breaking with the academy’s history. If membership is tied to genuine participation, a project, research, committee work, and a concrete contribution, it becomes more dynamic and opens the way for new generations of researchers and scholars. It would be natural to make membership fixed-term or renewable according to clear academic criteria. Then the departure of one member and the arrival of another would not be an expulsion, but a natural movement in the life of the institution.
The academy needs eminent scholars, but it also needs leadership capable of turning their ideas into programs, programs into projects, and projects into tangible impact. Not every great scholar is necessarily a successful administrator. Today, the management of research institutions is no longer a secondary matter: it involves personnel, funding, publications, partnerships, digital transformation, academic rights, and ties with universities and state institutions. The future academy can therefore be envisioned as standing on two complementary wings: scholarly leadership with the authority and ability to set directions, and an effective executive administration with clearly defined powers and accountability that can be evaluated. In this way, the academy will preserve the prestige of the scholar while gaining institutional effectiveness.
Scientifically, however, the academy Syria needs cannot remain confined to the parameters that were sufficient half a century ago, although grammar, morphology, lexicography, and work with the heritage remain integral to its mission. Alongside these, it should encompass modern linguistics, terminology, translation, Arabic-language teaching, language policy, computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, digital corpora, the language of the media, administration, and legislation, as well as Arabic digital content. The changes in Syria, the return of Syrians from different linguistic environments, expanding contact with foreign languages, the rise of digital culture, and the entry of AI into education, research, and work make the need for a Syrian language policy even more urgent.
Today, the question is no longer whether Arabic can create a term for something produced by the world. It is how Arabic is present in the very environment where knowledge is created. The difference between a language that waits for knowledge in order to translate it and a language that participates in producing knowledge is fundamental. That is why updating the academy is not a cosmetic reform, but a condition for Arabic to become not only an object of protection, but also an instrument of modern scientific and social development.
Renewal does not mean pushing aside older scholars for the sake of younger ones, just as preserving experience does not mean closing the doors to newcomers. The criteria should be competence, productivity, effectiveness, and scholarly presence—not personal connections, hostility, or belonging to a particular generation. A successful academy brings together the scholar who preserves the institution’s memory, the researcher who commands new linguistic tools, the lexicographer, the translator, the terminology specialist, the Arabic-language teaching researcher, and the expert in computer science and AI. It will then be more closely connected to the university, more visible within the state, and more influential in society. The paradox is that such renewal does not distance the academy from its beginnings; it brings it back to them. The most accurate image of the future is an “academy of scholarly leaders and effective administrations,” where a scholar is great because of their knowledge, while the institution remains greater than any of its members. A modern state does not need institutions living in their past, but institutions that know and preserve their history and then build upon it. The Damascus Academy of Arabic should remain ancient, but not outdated; a guardian of Arabic, but not merely a guardian; it should move from preserving the language to participating in creating its future.
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Who was Muhammad Kurd Ali, and what role did he play in Syrian cultural and political life apart from leading the Damascus Academy of Arabic? — Muhammad Kurd Ali (1876–1953) was a Syrian historian, journalist, writer, and politician, and one of the leading figures of the Arab Nahda, or Renaissance. In addition to heading the Arab Academy in Damascus for many years (from 1919), he founded the al-Muqtabas newspaper, served as minister of education in the government of King Faisal and during the French Mandate, and was a member of the Syrian parliament and Constituent Assembly. He authored the multivolume Khiṭaṭ al-Shām, an encyclopedia of Syria’s history, geography, and culture. He advocated Arab national consciousness, educational reform, and the standardization of Arabic, operating within the Mandate system and combining nationalism with political pragmatism.
What is generally meant in the Syrian context by “the new Syria,” and which political processes of recent years are shaping reforms of state institutions, including the language academy? — In Syrian discourse, “the new Syria” refers to a project to restructure the country after the conflict that began in 2011. In a narrower sense, it refers to the period after the change of power in December 2024, when a transitional government, a new constitution, elections, and institutional reform are being discussed. Key processes in recent years include UN Security Council Resolution 2254, the Geneva talks and the Constitutional Committee, the Astana process, normalization with Arab countries, Western sanctions, the economic crisis, the return of refugees, and reforms of security, judicial, cultural, and educational structures. Reform of the language academy fits into the broader effort to renew cultural policy, but concrete steps will depend on which government and cultural doctrine are established during the transitional period.
How are other Arabic language academies—for example, those in Cairo, Baghdad, or Amman—organized, and how does the Damascus Academy differ from them in terms of membership, funding, and governance? — The Cairo Academy of the Arabic Language (founded in 1932) is the largest and most influential. It is state-funded, has dozens of full members elected by the academy and approved by the authorities, and maintains an extensive system of committees on terminology and dictionaries. The Iraqi Academy of Sciences in Baghdad (founded in 1921; its language department was established later) is also state-funded and follows the Cairo model. The Jordan Academy of Arabic in Amman (founded in 1976) is a state body whose members are appointed by royal decree and whose budget comes from the treasury. The Damascus Academy (founded in 1919) is the oldest in the Arab world. Historically, it was more pan-Arab, with elected full and corresponding members from other countries, but under Ba’athist rule it effectively became a state institution under the Ministry of Culture. The common features are state funding, the appointment or approval of members, and governance through a president, council, and committees. The differences include Damascus’s age and historical authority, as well as its more limited resources and influence after 2011, while Cairo dominates standardization and Baghdad and Amman serve as regional centers.
Which waves of the Syrian diaspora and return from different linguistic environments are being referred to, and how does this affect the language situation and demand for Arabic in Syria? — The waves usually identified include the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (economic migration to the Americas); 1948 and 1967 (following the Arab-Israeli wars); the 1970s and 1980s (political emigration after the suppression of the Islamist uprising); and the mass wave that began in 2011 (refugees in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Europe, the Gulf states, and North America). Returns may be voluntary, forced, or sporadic—from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Europe, and the Gulf. A new phase of repatriation may be possible after 2024. The diaspora comes from various linguistic environments and brings German, Swedish, French, English, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, and different Arabic dialects. This strengthens multilingualism and dialect mixing, weakens Arabic among young people, and increases demand for Arabic as a second or heritage language, for Modern Standard Arabic courses, and for adapting academic standards to the education of returnees.
Full version: Damascus Academy of Arabic: From Protecting Arabic to Shaping Its Future