Arab people (Arabic Arabic (العربية al-ʿarabīyah, ( Arabic pronunciation ) or عربي ʿarabi) is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. Arabic has more speakers than any other language in the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million: عربي‎, ʿarabi) or Arabs (العرب al-ʿarab) are a panethnicity Panethnicity is the grouping together, and collective labeling, of various independently dinstinguishable, self-identified and self-sustained ethnicities into one all-encompassing group of people of peoples of various ancestral An ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent, and so forth) origins, religious Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods," "obligation, the bond between man and the gods" is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or more in general a set of beliefs explaining the existence of and giving meaning to the universe, backgrounds and historic identities, whose members, on an individual basis, identify Identity is an umbrella term used throughout the social sciences to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, including the two forms of social psychology. The term is also used with respect to place identity as such on one or more of linguistic In the philosophy of language, a natural language is any language which arises in an unpremeditated fashion as the result of the innate facility for language possessed by the human intellect. A natural language is typically used for communication, and may be spoken, signed, or written. Natural language is distinguished from constructed languages, cultural Culture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. However, the word "culture" is most commonly used in three basic senses:, political The Arab League , officially called the League of Arab States (Arabic: جامعة الدول العربية‎ Jāmiʻat ad-Duwal al-ʻArabiyya), is a regional organisation of Arab states in North and Northeast Africa, and Southwest Asia. It was formed in Cairo on March 22, 1945 with six members: Egypt, Iraq, Transjordan (renamed Jordan after 1946), or genealogical Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives grounds.[11] Those self-identifying as Arab, however, rarely do so with it as their sole identity. Most hold multiple identities, with a more localized prioritized ethnic An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, consisting of a common language, a common culture (often including a shared religion) and a tradition of common ancestry (corresponding to a history of endogamy) identity — such as Egyptian Egyptians is the name of the nationality and Mediterranean North African ethnic group native to Egypt, Lebanese The Lebanese people are a nation of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Lebanese people is a rich blend of both indigenous elements and the foreign cultures that have come, or Palestinian The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs (Arabic: الفلسطينيون‎, al-filasTīnīyyūn; Arabic: العرب الفلسطينيون‎, al-`Arab al-filasTīnīyyūn), are an Arabic-speaking people with family origins in Palestine. The total Palestinian population is estimated at approximately 12 million, — in addition to further tribal A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states, village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousands , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in Beirut, Lebanon, and clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if actual lineage patterns are unknown, clan members may nonetheless recognize a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be merely symbolical in nature, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a symbol of the identities.

Arabic Arabic (العربية al-ʿarabīyah, ( Arabic pronunciation ) or عربي ʿarabī) is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. Arabic has more speakers than any other language in the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million, the main unifying feature among Arabs, is a Semitic language The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. They constitute a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. The most widely spoken Semitic language by far today is Arabic . It is followed by Amharic (2 originating in Arabia The Arabian Peninsula , Arabia, and the Arabian subcontinent is a peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia. The area is an important part of the Middle East and plays a critically important geopolitical role because of its vast reserves of oil and natural gas. From there it spread to a variety of distinct peoples across most of West Asia Western Asia, West Asia, Southwest Asia or Southwestern Asia are terms that describe the westernmost portion of Asia. The terms are partly coterminous with the Middle East - which describes geographical position in relation to Western Europe rather than location within Asia. Due to this perceived Eurocentrism, international organizations such as and North Africa North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes seven countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, and,[12] resulting in their acculturation Acculturation is the exchange of cultural features that results when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first hand contact; the original cultural patterns of either or both groups may be altered, but the groups remain distinct and eventual denomination as Arabs. Arabization Arabization describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture. It was most prominently achieved during the 7th century Arabian Muslim conquests which spread the Arabic language, culture, and—having been carried out by Arabian Muslims as opposed to Arabian, a culturo-linguistic shift, was often, though not always, in conjunction with Islamization Islamization or Islamification (pejorative Muhammadization) means the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam, a religious shift.

With the rise of Islam Islam (Arabic: الإسلام‎ al-’islām, pronounced [ʔislæːm] [note 1]) is the monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of their one, incomparable God (Arabic: الله‎, Allāh), and by the Prophet of Islam Muhammad's teachings and normative example (in Arabic called in the 7th century CE The 7th century is the period from 601 to 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era, and as the language of the Qur'an The Qur’an is the central religious verbal text of Islam, also sometimes transliterated as Quran, Koran, Qur’ān, or Al-Qur’ān. Muslims believe the Qur’an to be the verbal book of divine guidance and direction for mankind. Its text addresses the Arabic speaking "children of Israel". Muslims also consider the original Arabic, Arabic became the lingua franca A lingua franca is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues of the wider Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a completely region. It was in this period that Arabic language and culture was widely disseminated with the early Islamic expansion The Spread of Islam started shortly after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632. During his lifetime, the community of Muslims, the ummah, was established in the Arabian Peninsula by means of conversion to Islam. In the first centuries conversion to Islam followed the rapid growth of the Muslim world under the Rashidun and Umayyad, both through conquest Muslim conquests , (Arabic: فتح‎, Fataḥ, literally opening,) also referred to as the Islamic conquests or Arab conquests, of non-Arab peoples began after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. He established a new unified political polity in the Arabian Peninsula which under the subsequent Rashidun (The Rightly Guided Caliphs) and and cultural contact Acculturation is the exchange of cultural features that results when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous first hand contact; the original cultural patterns of either or both groups may be altered, but the groups remain distinct.[13]

Arabic culture Arab culture is an inclusive term that draws together the common themes and overtones found in the Arabic-speaking cultures, especially those of the Middle-Eastern countries. This region's distinct religion, art, and food are some of the fundamental features that define Arab culture and language, however, began a more limited diffusion before the Islamic age The Islamic Golden Age is traditionally dated from the mid-8th to the mid-13th century A.D. although it has been extended by one scholar to at least the 15th century. During this period, artists, engineers, scholars, poets, philosophers, geographers and traders in the Islamic world contributed to agriculture, the arts, economics, industry, law,, first spreading in West Asia beginning in the 2nd century The 2nd century is the period from 101 to 200 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian/Common Era. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period, as Arab Christians Christian Arabs are Christians from the Arab world that are self-identified as being Arab, like Arab Muslims. For the purposes of this article, Arabic-speaking Christians refers to Christians from the Arab world who do not identify as Arab. Their origins are from Southwest Asia and North Africa and have been blended with many cultures and such as the Ghassanids The Ghassanids (al-Ghasāsinah, also Banū Ghassān "Sons of Ghassān") were a group of South Arabian Christian tribes that emigrated in the early 3rd century from Yemen to the Hauran in southern Syria, Jordan and the Holy Land where some intermarried[dubious – discuss] with Hellenized Roman settlers and Greek-speaking Early Christian, Lakhmids The Lakhmids , Banu Lakhm (Arabic: بنو لخم‎), Muntherids (Arabic: المناذرة‎), were a group of Arab Christians who lived in Southern Iraq, and made al-Hirah their capital in 266. Poets described it as a Paradise on earth, an Arab Poet described the city's pleasant climate and beauty "One day in al-Hirah is better than a year and Banu Judham The Banu Judham is a Yemeni tribe that emigrated to Syria and Iraq and dwelled with the Azd and Hamdan Kahlani tribes. Most Arab genealogists are not sure whether they are a Kahlani or a Himyarite tribe began migrating north from Arabia into the Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert , also known as the Syro-Arabian desert is a combination of steppe and true desert that is located in the northern Arabian Peninsula. It is part of the Al-Hamad, which covers portions of Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Its border on the west is the Orontes Valley, and its border on the east is the Euphrates. In the north, and the Levant The Levant (Arabic: ‎ ash-Shām, also known as المشرق (Mashriq)) describes, traditionally, the Eastern Mediterranean at large, but can be used as a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia formed by the lands bordering the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, roughly bounded on the north by the Taurus Mountains, on the.[14][15] Currently, as many as 7.1% up to 10% of Arabs are Arab Christians,[16] with other smaller religious communities.

Contents

Etymology

Further information: Etymology of the word Arab The proper name Arab or "Arabian" has been used to translate several different but similar sounding words in ancient and classical texts which do not necessarily have the same meaning or origin. The etymology of the term is of course closely linked to that of the place name "Arabia". Grunebaum, in his book Classical Islam said

The earliest documented use of the word "Arab" as defining a group of people dates from the 9th century BCE.[17]

The root of the word has many meanings in Semitic languages including "west/sunset," "desert," "mingle," "merchant," "raven" and are "comprehensible" with all of these having varying degrees of relevance to the emergence of the name. It is also possible that some forms were metathetical Metathesis is a sound change that alters the order of phones in a word. The most common instance of metathesis is the reversal of the order of two adjacent phonemes, such as "foilage" for foliage. Many languages have words that show this phenomenon, and some use it as a regular part of their grammar (e.g. the Fur language). The process from ʿ-B-R "moving around" (Arabic ʿ-B-R "traverse"), and hence, it is alleged, "nomadic."

Arab identity

Arab identity is defined independently of religious Religion (from O.Fr. religion "religious community," from L. religionem "respect for what is sacred, reverence for the gods," "obligation, the bond between man and the gods" is the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or more in general a set of beliefs explaining the existence of and giving meaning to the universe, identity, and pre-dates the rise of Islam Islam (Arabic: الإسلام‎ al-’islām, pronounced [ʔislæːm] [note 1]) is the monotheistic religion articulated by the Qur’an, a text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of their one, incomparable God (Arabic: الله‎, Allāh), and by the Prophet of Islam Muhammad's teachings and normative example (in Arabic called, with historically attested Arab Christian Arab Christians are Christians who's ethnically Arab. Large numbers of Arab Christians can be found in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Emigrants from Arab Christian communities make up a significant portion of the Middle Eastern diaspora, with high population kingdoms and Arab Jewish tribes. Today, however, most Arabs are Muslim, with a minority adhereing to other faiths, largely Christianity Christianity has its origin in the Middle East and was the major religion of the region from the time of Jesus and for some time after the Muslim Conquests of the seventh century. Although Greek was the dominant language of the Early Church emerging from Hellenized communities around the Eastern Mediterranean , many Christian groups used other,.

Islamized Islamization or Islamification (pejorative Muhammadization) means the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam but non-Arabized Arabization describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture. It was most prominently achieved during the 7th century Arabian Muslim conquests which spread the Arabic language, culture, and—having been carried out by Arabian Muslims as opposed to Arabian peoples, and therefore the majority, or 80% of the world's Muslim population Islam is the world's second largest religion after Christianity. According to a 2009 demographic study, Islam has 1.57 billion adherents, making up 23% of the world population, do not form part of the Arab World, but instead comprise what is the geographically larger, and more diverse, Muslim World.

In the modern era, defining who is an Arab is done on the grounds of one or more of the following three criteria:

Distribution of Arabic as sole official language (green) and one of several official or national languages (blue). Traditional Bedouin in Southern Jordan

The relative importance of these three factors is estimated differently by different groups and frequently disputed. Some combine aspects of each definition, as done by Habib Hassan Touma,[20] who defines an Arab "in the modern sense of the word", as "one who is a national of an Arab state, has command of the Arabic language, and possesses a fundamental knowledge of Arab tradition, that is, of the manners, customs, and political and social systems of the culture." Most people who consider themselves Arab do so based on the overlap of the political and linguistic definitions. Few people consider themselves Arab based on the political definition without also having Arabic as a language. Thus few Kurds and Berbers identify as Arab, although for instance some Berbers also consider themselves Arab (see for example: Gellner, Ernest and Micaud, Charles, Eds. Arabs and Berbers: from tribe to nation in North Africa. Lexington: Lexington Books, 1972). Some religious minorities within Western Asia and North Africa who speak Arabic or any of its varieties as their primary community language, such as Egyptian Copts and Lebanese and Syrian Christians, may not identify as Arabs.

The Arab League at its formation in 1946 defined Arab as "a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic speaking country, who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic speaking peoples".

The relation of ʿarab and ʾaʿrāb is complicated further by the notion of "lost Arabs" al-ʿArab al-ba'ida mentioned in the Qur'an as punished for their disbelief. All contemporary Arabs were considered as descended from two ancestors, Qahtan and Adnan.

Versteegh (1997) is uncertain whether to ascribe this distinction to the memory of a real difference of origin of the two groups, but it is certain that the difference was strongly felt in early Islamic times. Even in Islamic Spain there was enmity between the Qays of the northern and the Kalb of the southern group. The so-called Himyarite language described by Al-Hamdani (died 946) appears to be a special case of language contact between the two groups, an originally north Arabic dialect spoken in the south, and influenced by Old South Arabian.

During the Muslim conquests of the seventh and eighth centuries, the Arabs forged an Arab Empire (under the Rashidun and Umayyads, and later the Abbasids) whose borders touched southern France in the west, China in the east, Asia Minor in the north, and the Sudan in the south. This was one of the largest land empires in history. In much of this area, the Arabs spread Islam and the Arabic language (the language of the Qur'an) through conversion and cultural assimilation. Many groups became known as "Arabs" through this process of Arabization rather than through descent. Thus, over time, the term Arab came to carry a broader meaning than the original ethnic term: cultural Arab vs. ethnic Arab. Arab nationalism declares that Arabs are united in a shared history, culture and language. A related ideology, Pan-Arabism, calls for all Arab lands to be united as one state. Arab nationalism has often competed for existence with regional nationalism in the Middle East, such as Lebanese, Syrian, Iraqi and Egyptian nationalism.

Population of Arabic speakers

Main articles: Arab World and Arab diaspora

The Arab World is the third largest geocultural unit in the world after Russia and Anglo-America, with a population exceeding 300 million and spanning more than 14,000,000 square kilometres (5,400,000 sq mi), from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east. The table below is based on the number of Arabic-speakers (Arabophones), some of whom do not identify as Arabs, note that Gulf countries speak Arabic exclusively and the rate below also includes foreign guest workers there.

Arab states
Flag Country Number of Arabic speakers Total Population % Arabic speakers Notes
Egypt 82,667,004 82,999,000 99.6% [7] For more information, see Egyptians: Identity.
Algeria 34,546,050 34,895,000 99%
Morocco 31,705,063 31,993,000 99.1%
Saudi Arabia 28,000,000 28,686,633 99.7% [7]
Iraq 24,206,350 31,234,000 77.5% [7]
Yemen 23,580,000 23,580,000 100% [7]
Syria 19,781,118 21,906,000 90.3% [7]
Sudan 16,486,080 42,272,000 39% [7]
Somalia 20,456,080 27,342,000 80% [7]
Tunisia 10,121,244 10,327,800 98% [7]
Libya 6,227,400 6,420,000 97% [7]
Jordan 6,189,680 6,316,000 98% [7]
Lebanon 4,012,800 4,224,000 95% [7] Many Lebanese reject Arab identity and do not self identify as Arabs (see Lebanese people: Identity, Lebanese nationalism, Phoenicianism)
Kuwait 2,388,000 2,985,000 80% [7]
UAE 1,839,600 4,599,000 40% [7]
Oman 1,650,100 2,845,000 58% [21]
Mauritania 1,645,500 3,291,000 50% [7]
Qatar 563,600 1,409,000 40% [7]
Bahrain 493,584 791,000 62.4% [7]
– Total ~298,150,751 ~345,434,433 ~86.32%

The Arab diaspora is a global diaspora estimated at between 30 and 50 million people distributed across every continent and almost every country in the world. More than half of the Arabic diaspora is concentrated in Latin America. Other regions with high concentrations are Western Europe, Western Asia and North America.

Arab diaspora
Flag Country Number of Arabic speakers Total Population % Arabic speakers Notes
Brazil 12,000,000 191,241,714 6.28% [22]
France 6,000,000 65,073,482 9.22%
Argentina 3,500,000 40,482,000 8.65% [23]
United States 3,500,000 307,473,000 1.14% [24]
Iran 2,225,880 74,196,000 3% [7]
Italy 1,950,210 60,234,000 3.1% [25]
Israel 1,500,000 7,411,000 20.24% [26]
Turkey 1,200,000 74,816,000 1.60%
Mexico 1,100,000 111,211,789 1%
Chile 700,000 16,928,873 4.2% [27]
Colombia 700,000 44,928,970 1.56% [28]
United Kingdom 500,000 61,113,205 0.82%
Australia 500,000 21,885,016 2.29%
Canada 500,000 33,790,000 1.48%
Venezuela 400,000 26,814,843 1.5% [29]
Germany 400,000 82,060,000 0.49%
Pakistan 300,000 180,808,000 0.17%
Ecuador 200,000 13,625,000 1.47%
Russia 200,000 142,008,838 0.14%
– Total ~36,025,880 – –

History

This section requires expansion.

Ancient Near East

Main article: Ancient Near East Al Khazneh, "The Treasury" at Petra in Jordan, built in the early 1st century BCE by the Nabataeans

Many scholars[who?] derive the entire population of Mesopotamia from population movements out of Jazirat al-Arab ("island of the Arabs") – an area between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, with Hadramawt its southern perimeter, extending northward up to the area just east of the Dead Sea (Jordan).[30] Early Semitic peoples from the Ancient Near East, such as the Arameans, Akkadians and Canaanites, built civilizations in Mesopotamia and the Levant; genetically, they often interlapped and mixed.[31] Slowly, however, they lost their political domination of the Near East due to internal turmoil and attacks by non-Semitic peoples. Although the Semites eventually lost political control of Western Asia to the Persian Empire, the Aramaic language remained the lingua franca of Mesopotamia and the Levant. Aramaic itself was replaced by Greek as Western Asia's prestige language following the conquest of Alexander III of Macedon.

The first written attestation of the ethnonym "Arab" occurs in an Assyrian inscription of 853 BCE, where Shalmaneser III lists a King Gindibu of mâtu arbâi (Arab land) as among the people he defeated at the Battle of Karkar. Some of the names given in these texts are Aramaic, while others are the first attestations of Proto-Arabic dialects. In fact several different ethnonyms are found in Assyrian texts that are conventionally translated "Arab": Arabi, Arubu, Aribi and Urbi. Many of the Qedarite queens were also described as queens of the aribi. The Hebrew Bible occasionally refers to Arvi peoples (or variants thereof), translated as "Arab" or "Arabian." The scope of the term at that early stage is unclear, but it seems to have referred to various desert-dwelling Semitic tribes in the Syrian Desert and Arabia.

Proto-Arabic, or Ancient North Arabian, texts give a clearer picture of the Arabs' emergence. The earliest are written in variants of epigraphic south Arabian musnad script, including the 8th century BCE Hasaean inscriptions of eastern Saudi Arabia, the 6th century BCE Lihyanite texts of southeastern Saudi Arabia and the Thamudic texts found throughout Arabia and the Sinai (not in reality connected with Thamud).

The Nabataeans were nomadic newcomers[32][dubious – discuss] who moved into territory vacated by the Edomites – Semites who settled the region centuries before them. Their early inscriptions were in Aramaic, but gradually switched to Arabic, and since they had writing, it was they who made the first inscriptions in Arabic. The Nabataean Alphabet was adopted by Arabs to the south, and evolved into modern Arabic script around the 4th century. This is attested by Safaitic inscriptions (beginning in the 1st century BCE) and the many Arabic personal names in Nabataean inscriptions. From about the 2nd century BCE, a few inscriptions from Qaryat al-Faw (near Sulayyil) reveal a dialect which is no longer considered "proto-Arabic", but pre-classical Arabic. Five Syriac inscriptions mentioning Arabs have been found at Sumatar Harabesi, one of which has been dated to the 2nd century CE.

Early migrations

Further information: Ancient Arabia, History of the Levant, Syria (Roman province), and Arabia Petraea

In Sassanid times, Arabia Petraea was a border province between the Roman and Persian empires, and from the early centuries AD was increasingly affected by Arab influence, notably with the Ghassanids migrating north from the 3rd century.

The Ghassanids, Lakhmids and Kindites were the last major migration of non-Muslims out of Yemen to the north.

Coin showing the Roman Emperor, Philip the Arab

Greeks and Romans referred to all the nomadic population of the desert in the Near East as Arabi. The Romans called Yemen "Arabia Felix".[33] The Romans called the vassal nomadic states within the Roman Empire "Arabia Petraea" after the city of Petra, and called unconquered deserts bordering the empire to the south and east Arabia Magna.

Early Islamic period

Further information: Muslim conquests Age of the Caliphs Expansion under Muhammad, 622–632/A.H. 1–11 Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate, 632–661/A.H. 11–40 Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661–750/A.H. 40–129

Muslims of Medina referred to the nomadic tribes of the deserts as the A'raab, and considered themselves sedentary, but were aware of their close racial bonds. The term "A'raab' mirrors the term Assyrians used to describe the closely related nomads they defeated in Syria.

The Qur'an does not use the word ʿarab, only the nisba adjective ʿarabiy. The Qur'an calls itself ʿarabiy, "Arabic", and Mubin, "clear". The two qualities are connected for example in ayat 43.2–3, "By the clear Book: We have made it an Arabic recitation in order that you may understand". The Qur'an became regarded as the prime example of the al-ʿarabiyya, the language of the Arabs. The term ʾiʿrāb has the same root and refers to a particularly clear and correct mode of speech. The plural noun ʾaʿrāb refers to the Bedouin tribes of the desert who resisted Muhammad, for example in ayat 9.97, alʾaʿrābu ʾašaddu kufrān wa nifāqān "the Bedouin are the worst in disbelief and hypocrisy".

Based on this, in early Islamic terminology, ʿarabiy referred to the language, and ʾaʿrāb to the Arab Bedouins, carrying a negative connotation due to the Qur'anic verdict just cited. But after the Islamic conquest of the 8th century, the language of the nomadic Arabs became regarded as the most pure by the grammarians following Abi Ishaq, and the term kalam al-ʿArab, "language of the Arabs", denoted the uncontaminated language of the Bedouins.

Levant and Iraq

Main articles: Muslim conquest of Syria and Islamic conquest of Iraq Map detailing Rashidun Caliphates invasion of Levant.

The arrival of Islam united many tribes in Arabia, who then moved northwards to conquer the Levant and Iraq. In 661, and throughout the Caliphate's rule by the Ummayad dynasty, Damascus was established as the Muslim capital. In these newly acquired territories, Arabs comprised the ruling military elite and as such, enjoyed special privileges. They were proud of their Arab ancestry and sponsored the poetry and culture of pre-Islamic Arabia whilst diffusing with Levantine and Iraqi culture. They established garrison towns at Ramla, ar-Raqqah, Basra, Kufa, Mosul and Samarra, all of which developed into major cities.[34]

Caliph Abd al-Malik established Arabic as the Caliphate's official language in 686. This reform greatly influenced the conquered non-Arab peoples and fueled the Arabization of the region. However, the Arabs' higher status among non-Arab Muslim converts and the latter's obligation to pay heavy taxes caused resentment. Caliph Umar II strove to resolve the conflict when he came to power in 717. He rectified the situation, demanding that all Muslims be treated as equals, but his intended reforms did not take effect as he died after only three years of rule. By now, discontent with the Umayyads swept the region and an uprising occurred in which the Abbasids came to power and moved the capital to Baghdad. The Abbasids were also Arabs (descendants of Muhammad's uncle Abbas), but unlike the Ummayads, they had the support of non-Arab Islamic groups.[34] Through the adoption of the Arabic language and Islam, the Levantine and Iraqi populations became Arabized.

North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula

Main articles: Muslim conquest of Egypt, Umayyad conquest of North Africa, and Umayyad invasion of Hispania

Inland in North Africa, the nomadic Berbers allied with Arab Muslims in invading Spain. The Arabs mainly settled the old Phoenician and Carthagenian towns, while the Berbers remained dominant inland. Inland north Africa remained partly Arab until the 11th century, whereas the Iberian Peninsula, particularly its southern part, remained heavily Arab, until the expulsion of the Moriscos in the 15th century.

Islamic Golden Age

This section requires expansion.
Main articles: Islamic Golden Age, Abbasid Caliphate, and Al-Andalus View of the Alhambra from the Mirador de San Nicolás in the Albaycin of Granada.

During the Muslim conquests of the 7th and early 8th centuries, Rashidun armies established the Caliphate, or Islamic Empire, one of the largest empires in history. The Islamic Golden Age was soon inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to the newly founded city Baghdad. The Abbassids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and hadith such as "The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of martyrs" stressing the value of knowledge. During this period the Muslim world became an intellectual centre for science, philosophy, medicine and education as the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established the "House of Wisdom" (Arabic:بيت الحكمة) in Baghdad; where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate and gather all the world's knowledge into Arabic. Many classic works of antiquity that would otherwise have been forgotten were translated into Arabic and later in turn translated into Turkish, Persian, Hebrew and Latin. During this period the Muslim world was a cauldron of cultures which collected, synthesized and advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Mesopotamian, Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, North African, Greek and Byzantine civilizations. Rival Muslim dynasties such as the Fatimids of Egypt and the Umayyads of al-Andalus were also major intellectual centres with cities such as Cairo and Córdoba rivaling Baghdad.[35]

Arabs of the Caucasus and Central Asia

Further information: Arabs in the Caucasus, Emirate of Tbilisi, Emirate of Armenia, and History of Arabs in Afghanistan

In 1728, a Russian officer described a group of Sunni Arab nomads who populated the Caspian shores of Mughan (in present-day Azerbaijan) and spoke a mixed Turkic-Arabic language.[36] It is believed that these groups migrated to the Caucasus in the 16th century.[37] The 1888 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica also mentioned a certain number of Arabs populating the Baku Governorate of the Russian Empire.[38] They retained an Arabic dialect at least into the mid-19th century,[39] but since then have fully assimilated with the neighbouring Azeris and Tats. Today in Azerbaijan alone, there are nearly 30 settlements still holding the name Arab (e.g. Arabgadim, Arabojaghy, Arab-Yengija, etc.).

From the time of the Arab conquest of the Caucasus, continuous small-scale Arab migration from various parts of the Arabic-speaking world was observed in Dagestan influencing and shaping the culture of the local peoples. Up until the mid-20th century, there were still individuals in Dagestan who claimed Arabic to be their native language, with the majority of them living in the village of Darvag to the north-west of Derbent. The latest of these accounts dates to the 1930s.[37] Most Arab communities in southern Dagestan underwent linguistic Turkicisation, thus nowadays Darvag is a majority-Azeri village.[40][41]

According to the History of Ibn Khaldun, the Arabs that were once in Central Asia have been either killed or have fled the Tatar invasion of the region, leaving only the locals .[42] However, today many people in Central Asia identify as Arabs. Most Arabs of Central Asia are fully integrated into local populations, and sometimes call themselves the same as locals (e.g. Tajiks, Uzbeks) but they use special titles to show their Arabic origin such as Sayyid, Khoja or Siddiqui.[43]

Iranian Arab communities are also found in Khorasan Province.

Tribal genealogy

Arab family of Ramallah, early 1900s

Medieval Arab genealogists divided Arabs into three groups:

Book of Jubilees 20:13 And Ishmael and his sons, and the sons of Keturah and their sons, went together and dwelt from Paran to the entering in of Babylon in all the land which is towards the East facing the desert. And these mingled with each other, and their name was called Arabs, and Ishmaelites.

Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddima distinguishes between sedentary Muslims who used to be nomadic Arabs and the Bedouin nomadic Arabs of the desert. He used the term "formerly-nomadic" Arabs and refers to sedentary Muslims by the region or city they lived in, as in Egyptians, Spaniards and Yemenis.[44] The Christians of Italy and the Crusaders preferred the term Saracens for all the Arabs and Muslims of that time.[45] The Christians of Iberia used the term Moor to describe all the Arabs and Muslims of that time.

Religion

Main articles: Islam and Arab Christians

Arab Muslims are generally Sunni, Shia, Sufi, Salafi, Ismaili and Druze. Arab Christians generally follow Eastern Churches such as the Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic churches and the Maronite church.[46] The Greek Catholic churches and Maronite church are under the Pope of Rome, and a part of the larger worldwide Catholic Church.

The Kaaba, located in Mecca (Saudi Arabia) is the center of Islam. It is where Muslims from all over the world travel to and gather there to pray in unity Christian martyr Saint Abo, the patron saint of Tbilisi

Before the coming of Islam, most Arabs followed a pagan religion with a number of deities, including Hubal,[47] Wadd, Allāt,[48] Manat,[49] and Uzza.[50] A few individuals, the hanifs, had apparently rejected polytheism in favor of monotheism unaffiliated with any particular religion. Some tribes had converted to Christianity or Judaism. The most prominent Arab Christian kingdoms were the Ghassanid and Lakhmid kingdoms.[51] When the Himyarite king converted to Judaism in the late 4th century,[52] the elites of the other prominent Arab kingdom, the Kindites, being Himyirite vassals, apparently also converted (at least partly). With the expansion of Islam, polytheistic Arabs were rapidly Islamized, and polytheistic traditions gradually disappeared.[53][54]

Today, Sunni Islam dominates in most areas, overwhelmingly so in North Africa. Shia Islam is dominant in southern Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon. Substantial Shi'a populations exist in Saudi Arabia,[55] Kuwait, northern Syria, the al-Batinah region in Oman, and in northern Yemen. The Druze community, concentrated in the Levant, follow a faith that was originally an offshoot of Ismaili Shia Islam,[56] and are also Arab.

Christians make up 5.5% of the population of the Near East.[16] In Lebanon they number about 39% of the population.[57] In Syria, Christians make up 16% of the population.[58] In Palestine before the creation of Israel estimates ranged as high as 25%, but is now 3.8% due largely to the 1948 Palestinian exodus. In West Bank and in Gaza, Arab Christians make up 8% and 0.8% of the populations, respectively.[59][60] In Israel, Arab Christians constitute 1.7% (roughly 9% of the Palestinian Arab population).[61] Arab Christians make up 6% of the population of Jordan.[62] Most North and South American Arabs are Christian,[63] as are about half of Arabs in Australia who come particularly from Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territories.

Jews from Arab countries – mainly Mizrahi Jews and Yemenite Jews – are today usually not categorised as Arab. Sociologist Philip Mendes asserts that before the anti-Jewish actions of the 1930s and 1940s, overall Iraqi Jews "viewed themselves as Arabs of the Jewish faith, rather than as a separate race or nationality".[64] Prior to the emergence of the term Mizrahi, the term "Arab Jews" was sometimes used to describe Jews of the Arab world. The term is rarely used today. The few remaining Jews in the Arab countries reside mostly in Morocco and Tunisia. From the late 1940s to the early 1960s, following the creation of the state of Israel, most of these Jews left or were expelled from their countries of birth and are now mostly concentrated in Israel. Some immigrated to France, where they form the largest Jewish community, outnumbering European Jews, but relatively few to the United States. See Jewish exodus from Arab lands.

Culture

Arab culture is an inclusive term that draws together the common themes and overtones found in the Arabic-speaking cultures, especially those of the Middle-Eastern countries. This region's distinct religion, art, and food are some of the fundamental features that define Arab culture.

Arabic music is the music of Arabic-speaking people or countries, especially those centered around the Arabian Peninsula. The world of Arab music has long been dominated by Cairo, a cultural center, though musical innovation and regional styles abound from Morocco to Saudi Arabia. Beirut has, in recent years, also become a major center of Arabic music. Classical Arab music is extremely popular across the population, especially a small number of superstars known throughout the Arab world. Regional styles of popular music include Algerian raï, Moroccan gnawa, Kuwaiti sawt, Egyptian el gil and Arabesque-pop music in Turkey.

See also

Arabic-speaking world

Geography

Language and culture

Arab Organizations

Arab People

References

Notes
  1. ^ Arabic Language - ninemsn Encarta
  2. ^ Brazil - Brasil - BRAZZIL - News from Brazil - Arabs: They are 12 Million in Brazil - Brazilian Immigration - September 2004
  3. ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117979837.html?categoryid=2879&cs=1
  4. ^ Inmigración sirio-libanesa en Argentina
  5. ^ http://www.aaiusa.org/about/17/our-history Arab American Institute (AAI)
  6. ^ Iran, CIA factbook (1% Arabic-speakers and 3% ethnic Arabs)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r The World Factbook [1]
  8. ^ WorldStatesmen.org - Mexico
  9. ^ Kister, M.J. "Ķuāḍa." Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman , Th. Bianquis , C.E. Bosworth , E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2008. Brill Online. 10 April 2008: "The name is an early one and can be traced in fragments of the old Arab poetry. The tribes recorded as Ķuḍā'ī were: Kalb [q.v.], Djuhayna , Balī, Bahrā' [q.v.], Khawlān [q.v.], Mahra , Khushayn, Djarm, 'Udhra [q.v.], Balkayn [see al-Kayn ], Tanūkh [q.v.] and Salīh"
  10. ^ Serge D. Elie, "Hadiboh: From Peripheral Village to Emerging City", Chroniques Yéménites: "In the middle, were the Arabs who originated from different parts of the mainland (e.g., prominent Mahrî tribes10, and individuals from Hadramawt, and Aden)". Footnote 10: "Their neighbours in the West scarcely regarded them as Arabs, though they themselves consider they are of the pure stock of Himyar.” [2]
  11. ^ Deng, 1995, p. 405.
  12. ^ "Arab". Dictionary.reference.com. 1945-03-22. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Arab. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  13. ^ "Islam and the Arabic language". Islam.about.com. 2009-11-03. http://islam.about.com/library/weekly/aa032300a.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  14. ^ "Banu Judham migration". Witness-pioneer.org. 2002-09-16. http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/ch1s1.html. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  15. ^ "Ghassanids Arabic linguistic influence in Syria". Personal.umich.edu. http://www-personal.umich.edu/~andyf/hist_arab.html#Linguistic%20Situation%20in%20Pre-Islamic%20Middle%20East. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  16. ^ a b Christian Communities in the Middle East. Oxford University Press. 1998. ISBN 0-19-829388-7.
  17. ^ Retsö, 2003, p. 105.
  18. ^ Jankowski, James. "Egypt and Early Arab Nationalism" in Rashid Kakhlidi, ed., Origins of Arab Nationalism, pp. 244–45
  19. ^ qtd in Dawisha, Adeed. Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century. Princeton University Press. 2003, p. 99
  20. ^ 1996, p.xviii
  21. ^ Joshua Project. "Arab, Omani of Oman Ethnic People Profile". Joshua Project. http://www.joshuaproject.net/peopctry.php?rop3=100431&rog3=MU. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
  22. ^ "Brazil – Brasil – BRAZZIL – News from Brazil – Arabs: They are 12 Million in Brazil – Brazilian Immigration – September 2004". Brazzil. http://www.brazzil.com/2004/html/articles/sep04/p118sep04.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
  23. ^ "Inmigracion sirio-libanesa en Argentina". Fearab.org.ar. http://www.fearab.org.ar/inmigracion_sirio_libanesa_en_argentina.php. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  24. ^ http://www.aaiusa.org/about/17/our-history Arab American Institute (AAI)
  25. ^ http://istati.it
  26. ^ "CBS Israel". Cbs.gov.il. http://www.cbs.gov.il/www/publications/isr_in_n08e.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  27. ^ (Spanish) En Chile viven unas 700.000 personas de origen árabe y de ellas 500.000 son descendientes de emigrantes palestinos que llegaron a comienzos del siglo pasado y que constituyen la comunidad de ese origen más grande fuera del mundo árabe.
  28. ^ "Colombia awakens to the Arab world". .anba.com.br. http://www2.anba.com.br/noticia_diplomacia.kmf?cod=8701931. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  29. ^ Al Jadid Magazine. "Arabs making their mark in Latin America". Aljadid.com. http://www.aljadid.com/features/ArabsMakingTheirMarkinLatinAmerica.html. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  30. ^ Cragg, 1991, p. 13.
  31. ^ "Journal of Semitic Studies Volume 52, Number 1". Pnas.org. 2000-06-06. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/12/6769. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  32. ^ "Biblical Israel Tours". Biblical Israel Tours. http://www.biblicalisraeltours.com/Arch/ArchaeologyJordan.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  33. ^ Reconstruction of the World Map according to Dionysus
  34. ^ a b Lunde, Paul (2002). Islam. New York: Dorling Kindersley Publishing. pp. 50–52. ISBN 0-7894-8797-7.
  35. ^ Vartan Gregorian, "Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith", Brookings Institution Press, 2003, pg 26–38 ISBN 081573283X
  36. ^ Genko, A. The Arabic Language and Caucasian Studies. USSR Academy of Sciences Publ. Moscow-Leningrad. 8–109
  37. ^ a b Zelkina, Anna. Arabic as a Minority Language. Walter de Gruyter, 2000; p. 101
  38. ^ Baynes, Thomas Spencer (ed). "Transcaucasia." Encyclopædia Britannica. 1888. p. 514
  39. ^ Golestan-i Iram by Abbasgulu Bakikhanov. Translated by Ziya Bunyadov. Baku: 1991, p. 21
  40. ^ Seferbekov, Ruslan. Characters Персонажи традиционных религиозных представлений азербайджанцев Табасарана.
  41. ^ Stephen Adolphe Wurm et al. Atlas of languages of intercultural communication. Walter de Gruyter, 1996; p. 966
  42. ^ History of Ibn Khaldun
  43. ^ Arabic As a Minority Language By Jonathan Owens, pg. 184
  44. ^ "Levity.com, Islam". Levity.com. http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam20.html. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  45. ^ "www.eyewitnesstohistory.com". www.eyewitnesstohistory.com. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/lionheart.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  46. ^ United Networks. "CHRISTIANS (in the Arab world)". Medea.be. http://www.medea.be/index.html?page=2&lang=en&doc=38. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  47. ^ "Is Hubal The Same As Allah?". Islamic-awareness.org. http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/Allah/hubal.html. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  48. ^ Dictionary of Ancient Deities. Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=jEcpkWjYOZQC&vq=Allat&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34#PPA37,M1. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  49. ^ "The Book of Idols (Kitab Al-Asnam) by Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi". Answering-islam.org. http://answering-islam.org/Books/Al-Kalbi/manah.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  50. ^ "The Book of Idols (Kitab Al-Asnam) by Hisham Ibn Al-Kalbi". Answering-islam.org. http://answering-islam.org/Books/Al-Kalbi/uzza.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  51. ^ "From Marib The Sabean Capital To Carantania". Buzzle.com. http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/1-29-2005-64989.asp. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  52. ^ "Msn Encarta entry on Himyarites". Msn Encarta entry on Himyarites. http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570797/himyarites.html.
  53. ^ "History of Islam". Mnsu.edu. 2009-01-06. http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/islam/history.html. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  54. ^ "Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion". Cqpress.com. http://www.cqpress.com/context/articles/epr_islam.html. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  55. ^ Lionel Beehner. "Shia Muslims in the Mideast". Cfr.org. http://www.cfr.org/publication/10903/shiite_muslims_in_the_middle_east.html#2. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  56. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica. "Britannica – Druze". Britannica.com. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/172195/Druze. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
  57. ^ CIA – The World Factbook – Lebanon
  58. ^ CIA – The World Factbook – Syria
  59. ^ CIA The World Factbook – West Bank
  60. ^ CIA The World Factbook – Gaza
  61. ^ CIA The World Factbook – Israel
  62. ^ CIA The World Factbook – Jordan
  63. ^ "The Arab American Institute | Arab Americans". Aaiusa.org. http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
  64. ^ "THE FORGOTTEN REFUGEES: the causes of the post-1948 Jewish Exodus from Arab Countries By Philip Mendes". Palestineremembered.com. http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General/Story2127.html#Iraqi%20Jews%20in%20the%20pre-1948%20period. Retrieved 2010-04-13.
Bibliography
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There is no doubt that it would be useful to track down your personal daily expenditure along with your income, as it will help you manage your income and.

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What is the role of Arab newspapers and the Internet?
Q. I've watched a film on September 11th, and I was wondering what the role of Arab newspapers and the Internet are in Arab countries. Thanks.
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A. Some are governmental, some tow the party line and many in countries like Qatar, Lebanon or Egypt are free and have vigorous debates. The situation is better than in America where we are nominally free but in reality everyone tows the party line and there is no serious debate because the advertising corporate dollars disappear.
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