The author provides a broad survey of the various bilingual dictionaries which have Arabic as one language, beginning with the very first lexicons that period in the early Islamic period. The surveyed works can be traced across a variety of locations and times, including Arabo-Islamic Spain to contemporary European bilingual Arabic dictionaries based on old Arab dictionaries; bilingual Arabic dictionaries published in the 19th and 20th centuries; and specialized lexicons and dictionaries, including dictionaries of variants of colloquial Arabic. Through the survey, the author seeks to understand the historical contexts in which each of these lexicons was produced, as well as the intended users of bilingual dictionaries in Arabic.