The teaching of Arabic as a religious language in Indonesia should be differentiated from it being taught as a foreign language. From the advent of Islam until the beginning of 1990s, Arabic was always perceived in this country as a religious language. This mode of thinking implied that Arabic should be taught simply as a tool to understand religious text; a method that resulted in a great number of students being incapable of using Arabic as a language of communication. Toward the end of 1990s however, a new orientation in looking at the nature of Arabic began to take shape. According to this new orientation, Arabic is perceived not only as a religious language but also – and this is more important – as a foreign language. This view brings a new vision, and with it a new model, of the way that Arabic should be taught in this country. This paper discusses this new model and some of its aspects that we consider a breakthrough in reforming the method and approach of language-teaching. It argues that the new model constitutes a valuable contribution to the way that Arabic as a foreign language is taught in Indonesia.