In this paper, we examine the situation of Arabic as a minority language in the USA. We focus on the role of contextual and affective factors in aspects of maintenance and loss among second generation Arab Americans, also known as heritage speakers of Arabic. From a socio-contextual point of view, heritage speakers of Arabic in the US live in an environment where Arabic is not consistently used in everyday life interactions, school, media, or other social domains. Thus, heritage Arabic speakers not only have limited opportunities to hear and use Arabic, especially outside their homes, but may also not have enough exposure to how the two varieties of Arabic (Colloquial Arabic and Standard Arabic) are deployed in real life situations and diglossic contexts. More importantly, heritage Arabic speakers are influenced by English, the dominant language, in terms of structure and patterns of use (Albirini & Benmamoun, 2014; Albirini & Chakrani, 2017; Albirini et al., 2021). Despite these challenges Arabic heritage speakers still display relatively robust knowledge of the core aspects of their spoken Arabic varieties (phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax) (Benmamoun & Albirini, 2018; Benmamoun et al., 2014). This has to do with many factors. In this paper, we focus on the role of affective, cultural, and geopolitical factors in heritage Arabic speakers’ maintenance and use of Arabic, with particular attention to language attitudes and identity sentiments and discuss differences in attitudes among diverse Arab American communities and their correlation with the degree of language maintenance. We also look at the role of family and community in these attitudes and identity sentiments (s). We argue that the dynamics of language maintenance in minority linguistic groups are complex and multi-dimensional, and therefore discussions on this topic should take into account broader factors, including affective, geographic, political, historical, and cultural factors.