diff --git a/lisp/international/fontset.el b/lisp/international/fontset.el
index 4ec641dca8f..f0ead8a2744 100644
--- a/lisp/international/fontset.el
+++ b/lisp/international/fontset.el
@@ -157,7 +157,9 @@
 	(armenian #x531)
 	(hebrew #x5D0)
 	(vai #xA500)
-	(arabic #x628)
+        ;; U+06C1 prevents us from using bad fonts, like DejaVu Sans,
+        ;; for Arabic text.
+	(arabic #x628 #x6C1)
 	(syriac #x710)
 	(thaana #x78C)
 	(devanagari #x915)