He's not talking about Arabic speakers, he's talking about people who can read (to some extent) the Arabic script. This would include speakers of Urdu, Western Punjabi, Pashto, Dari, Farsi and many other (smaller) languages. He may also be talking about Muslims who can sound out the Arabic text of the Koran, even if they don't understand it--a skill which, from what I understand, is valued among Muslims.