The Arabic major at Beijing Foreign Studies University was established in 1958 by Professor Na Zhong, a founding figure in Arabic language education and Arab historical studies in China. The program then grew to become its own independent Arabic Department in 1981 and was renamed the School of Arabic Studies in 2015. BFSU's Arabic major became China's first authorized unit to confer master's degrees (1981) and doctoral degrees (1986) in Arabic Language and Literature. It was approved as a Postdoctoral Research Station in 1992. The major was named "Beijing Municipal Key Major" in 2002, "Beijing Municipal Outstanding Key Major" and "MOE Featured Undergraduate Major Development Site" in 2007, as well as "Beijing Municipal Featured Undergraduate Major Development Site" and "Beijing Municipal Outstanding Teaching Team" in 2008. In 2019, it was selected for the "First Batch of National First-Class Undergraduate Major Development Sites" and the "Beijing Higher Education Institutions' Key First-Class Major Development Site", becoming one of the only two BFSU majors named for both initiatives. The Gulf Arab States Studies Center under the school was selected as a "CTTI Source Think Tank" in 2018. 

Throughout its distinguished history, Beijing Foreign Studies University's School of Arabic Studies has produced numerous luminaries in Arabic language education and Arabic studies, including seminal scholars such as Na Zhong, Lin Xinghua, Yu Zhangrong, and Gui Yunchang. Generation after generation of Arabic language educators at BFSU have worked tirelessly, pursued excellence, and passed down their scholarly legacy, maintaining consistently high standards within the faculty. The school currently employs 18 full-time faculty members, with 16 holding doctoral degrees—representing 88.9 percent of the total faculty. Eight faculty members hold senior academic titles, comprising 44.4 percent of the teaching staff. All faculty members have experience studying or working in Arab countries. Among the current faculty, several have been selected for provincial/ministerial-level talent programs and hold important leadership positions in prestigious institutions such as the MOE Foreign Language Teaching Advisory Board, the Chinese Association of Middle East Studies, the China-Arab Friendship Association, the Chinese Association for Religious Studies, and the Arab Literature Research Association. 

The School of Arabic Studies has achieved remarkable research accomplishments, with a traditional record of excellence in Arabic language and translation, literature, history, and culture. The writings of Professor Na Zhong represent the highest level of Arab historical research in Chinese academia and earned him the UNESCO Sharjah Prize for Arab Culture. Many linguistic research works authored by the school faculty have filled critical gaps in Arabic language research in China. The extensive collection of textbooks compiled by the school's faculty is widely adopted by Arabic language programs at most universities across the country, with the "New Arabic" series serving as the standard textbook for Arabic majors nationwide. The monographs and translations on Arab culture and literature completed by the school faculty provide rich and invaluable resources for domestic academia and the public to research and understand Arab culture and literature, winning the 8th Lu Xun Literary Award (for Literary Translation). In recent years, the school's faculty members have broadened their academic horizons, better aligning academic research with strategic national demands, and have also achieved significant research results in fields such as contemporary Arab thought, China's communication towards the Arab world, China's soft power building in the Arab world, and Gulf studies. "The Belt and Road China-Arab Friendship Library", co-developed with the China-Arab Friendship Association, has generated significant influence domestically and internationally, hailed by Arab mainstream media as a "representative achievement of China-Arab cultural exchange". 

Since its establishment, the school has trained over 2,000 undergraduates and postgraduates in Arabic studies. Leveraging their solid language skills, extensive professional knowledge, and overall competencies, these graduates have excelled across various sectors including diplomacy, foreign trade, culture, news, education, academia, and the military, winning a strong social reputation for the university and the school and making important contributions to national development. Notably, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs alone, over half of the Arabic-speaking cadres are graduates of this school, including dozens of ambassadors and over 100 counselors. The vast majority of senior Arabic interpreters for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other ministries are graduates of this school. In recent years, the employment rate for graduates has reached or approached 100 percent, with employment units primarily being national ministries and commissions, institutions of higher education, central-level news organizations, and large/medium-sized foreign-related enterprises that demand high levels of foreign language proficiency and comprehensive quality. 

To date, the school has established exchange and cooperation partnerships with dozens of universities and think tanks in Arab countries, Europe, the United States, and Israel. It maintains long-term close contacts with embassies of Middle Eastern countries in China, frequently hosts visiting leaders from various countries, and has invited top-tier Arab writers, poets, and scholars for lectures and exchanges through programs such as "Arab Cultural Celebrities at BFSU", the "Zayed Academic Forum", and the "Na Zhong Forum". The school also regularly organizes various foreign-related cultural activities, showcasing the high level of China's Arabic language teaching and research, and contributing to the understanding of Arab culture for its own faculty and students, in addition to the wider public. 

The development of the School of Arabic Studies has consistently received strong support from Arab countries. In 1994, the Arabic Language Building, funded by a donation from the late UAE President H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, was completed. In 2012, H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, donated funds for a comprehensive renovation of the teaching building and personally attended the inauguration ceremony of the newly renovated building. Today, the BFSU Arabic Language Building is not only one of the landmark structures on the BFSU campus but also a hall showcasing the friendship between the Chinese people and the peoples of Arab nations.

Through the dedicated efforts of generations of BFSU Arabic faculty and students, the School of Arabic Studies has now become a widely recognized cradle for training China's high-level Arabic professionals, a major center for Arab studies, a platform communicating China to the Arab world, and a bridge promoting cultural exchange and friendship between the Chinese and Arab peoples.