MySQL Forums :: Full-Text Search :: Arabic text in mysql Varchar row

That's encouraging:
SELECT UNHEX('d981d98a20d8a7d984d8aed8b720d98120d981d98a20d8a7d984d8aed8b720d981 ');
gives
في الخط ف في الخط ف
And the D9xx and D8xx feel like Arabic encoded in utf8.

(Similarly, $description looks good.)

Now, let's walk through the exact steps to insert it. Based partially on what you said before, something like this should work:
self::$conn->query("SET NAMES utf8");
$et = self::$conn->real_escape_string($title);
$ed = self::$conn->real_escape_string($description);
self::$conn->query("INSERT INTO tbl (title, description) VALUES ($et, $ed)");

(I don't recognize the API you are using, so I may not have the details quite right.)