Despite  the fact that the Arabic dialects exhibit significant  linguistic differences at the phonological, lexical, syntactic and semantic levels, mutual intelligibility among these dialects is still possible. This study investigates the factors that contribute to the stability of the linguistic setting in the Arabic speaking countries, so that mutual intelligibility is still possible among these dialects. Communication problems  due to the linguistic  gap between the  Standard Arabic variety and the local dialects  are also characterized. Samples from different dialects  are  analyzed and compared to provide evidence  supporting the claim that despite  the possibility of  mutual intelligibility among the Arabic dialects,  communicative problems still exist. The consequences of these communicative problems are characterized