The Department was established in 1919 with three faculty members. Moulana Syed Ibrahim Razvi Adeeb, Moulana Syed Nabi and Moulana Mohammed Abdul Qadeer Siddiqui Hasrath. Prof. Abdus Sattar Siddiqui who was the Head, Department of Persian functioned as the Head, Department of Arabic. Later, when Dr. Abdul Haque joined the Department, he was sent to Oxford University for pursuing Ph. D. On his return, he was made Head of the Department in 1934. He started the Ph.D. programme in the Department in 1935.

Dr. Mohd. Abdul Moid Khan brought international recognition to the Department. Prof. Syed Ibrahim Nadavi and Prof. Mohammed Sultan Mohiuddin of the Dept. were awarded Certificates of Honour by the President of India.

The Department has been publishing its Annual Research Journal "Al-Tanveer" since 1963.

Moulana Mohammed Husamuddin Fazil Memorial Gold Medal has been instituted and is being awarded every year to a student "who passes M. A. in Arabic with highest marks. Another Gold Medal has been instituted in 2009 Entitled Dr. Abul Fazal Memorial Gold Medal for the topper in the Literary History of Arabic Literature. The Department has awarded 82 Ph.D and 145 M. Phil degrees so far. The Department was instrumental in introducing Arabic as a second language and also as a modern language in undergraduate courses. In order to make the course job oriented three new papers viz: Journalistic Arabic, Arabic Linguistics & Literary Criticism have been included in Semester-IV. Prof. Qamarunnisa Begum has been nominated as a member of Academic Senate of Osmania University for three years from March 2006. The Department has been organizing National and International Seminars & workshops almost every year.