'Noli Me Tangere' translated to Arabic for the first time

José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere has been translated into Arabic for the first time, marking a milestone in Philippine history.

The Philippine Embassy in Iraq spearheaded the landmark translation project as part of the commemoration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

This marks the first time that Rizal’s first and most influential novel, originally written in 19th-century Spanish, has been rendered into Arabic, a language spoken by more than 400 million people internationally.

The project was a 2024 brainchild of Ambassador Charlie Pacaña Manangan, a Knight of Rizal based in Germany, and the embassy’s cultural diplomacy team led by Third Secretary and Vice Consul Anthon Cayaco.

The Arabic translation was completed by Dr. Reyadh Mahdi Jasim Al-Najjar of the University of Baghdad, supported by the Philippine Embassy in Iraq, the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Office of Cultural Diplomacy, and with funding from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

A translation manuscript was formally handed over to the Iraqi government, represented by Hisham Al-Alawi, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Planning Affairs.

Translation copies are expected to be made available by 2026.

Apart from this, the embassy also established Dr. Jose Rizal corners in Iraqi university libraries, including the Catholic University in Erbil, the University of Nineveh in Mosul, and the American University of Kurdistan in Duhok.