ARABIC ranks sixth in the world's league table of languages, with an estimated 186 million native speakers. As the language of the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, it is also widely used throughout the Muslim world. It belongs to the Semitic group of languages which also includes Hebrew and Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia.
There are many Arabic dialects. Classical Arabic – the language of the Qur'an – was originally the dialect of Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. An adapted form of this, known as Modern Standard Arabic, is used in books, newspapers, on television and radio, in the mosques, and in conversation between educated Arabs from different countries (for example at international conferences).
Local dialects vary, and a Moroccan might have difficulty understanding an Iraqi, even though

they speak the same language.

Major languages of the world
(Number of native speakers)

1.
Mandarin Chinese
836,000,000
2.
Hindi
333,000,000
3.
Spanish
332,000,000
4.
English
322,000,000
5.
Bengali
189,000,000
6.
Arabic
186,000,000
7.
Russian
170,000,000
8.
Portuguese
170,000,000
9.
Japanese
125,000,000
10.
German
98,000,000
11.
French
72,000,000
12.
Malay
50,000,000

Source/al-bab.com/arab/language