Defining who an Arab is
The definition of an Arab is defined independently of
religious identity, and pre-dates the rise of
Islam, with historically attested
Arab Christian kingdoms and
Arab Jewish tribes. The earliest documented use of the word "Arab" as defining a group of people dates from the
9th century BC.
http://books.google.com/books?id=pUepRuQO8ZkC&pg=PA211&lpg=PA211&dq=%22west+semites%22&source=web&ots=6kyuNF1B1w&sig=sLzW2BOuHDDYHYEHbQqW-RyqVh8#PPA105,M1 Islamized but non-Arabized peoples, and therefore the majority of the world's Muslims, do not form part of the
Arab World, but comprise what is the geographically larger and 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:
Genealogical: someone who can trace his or her ancestry to the tribes of Arabia - the original inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula - and the Syrian Desert. This definition covers fewer self-identified Arabs than not, and was the definition used in medieval times, for example by Ibn Khaldun.
Linguistic: someone whose first language, and by extension cultural expression, is Arabic, including any of its varieties. This definition covers more than 250 million people. Certain groups that fulfill this criteria, such as many Egyptians, reject this definition on the basis of genealogy.[Jankowski, James. "Egypt and Early Arab Nationalism" in Rashid Kakhlidi, ed., Origins of Arab Nationalism, pp. 244-45][qtd in Dawisha, Adeed. Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century. Princeton University Press. 2003, p. 99]. See also Egypt#Identity.
Political: in the modern nationalist era, any person who is a citizen of a country where Arabic is either the national language or one of the official languages, or a citizen of a country which may simply be a member of the Arab League and thus having Arabic as an official government language, even if not used by the majority of the population. This definition would cover over 300 million people. It may be the most contested definition as it is the most simplistic one. It would exclude the entire Arab diaspora, but include not only those genealogically Arabs (Gulf Arabs and others, such as Bedouins, where they may exist) and those Arabized-Arab-identified, but also include Arabized non-Arab-identified groups (such as some Maronite Lebanese) and even non-Arabized indigenous ethnicities which may be non-Arabic-speaking, monolingually or otherwise (such as the Berbers in Morocco, Kurds in Iraq, or the Somali majority of Arab League member Somalia).
,
[1996, p.xviii ] 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 the linguistic one; thus few
Kurds and
Berbers identify as Arab. But some do, for instance some Berbers also consider themselves Arab (v. e.g. Gellner, Ernest and Micaud, Charles, Eds. Arabs and Berbers: from tribe to nation in North Africa. Lexington: Lexington Books, 1972). Some religious minorities within the Middle East and North Africa who have Arabic or any of its varieties as their primary community language, such as Egyptian
Copts, 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 '
and ' is complicated further by the notion of "lost Arabs" '''' 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 Arabic.
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. Some native people in
Sudan,
Morocco and
Algeria (
Berbers) and in other regions became Arabized.
Arab nationalism declares that Arabs are united in a shared history, culture and language. Arab nationalists believe that Arab identity encompasses more than outward physical characteristics,
race or
religion. 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 and Egyptian.
Origins & History
Pre-Arabic Near East
. Although the Semites lost political control, the Aramaic language remained the lingua Franca of Mesopotamia and Syria. Eventually, Aramaic lost its day-to-day use with the defeat of the Persians and the arrival of the Hellenic armies around 330BC.
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. Its earliest attested use referring to the neighboring nomadic groups.
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 BC
Hasaean inscriptions of eastern Saudi Arabia, the 6th century BC
Lihyanite texts of southeastern Saudi Arabia and the
Thamudic texts found throughout Arabia and the
Sinai (not in reality connected with
Thamud).
The
Nabateans moved into territory vacated by the
Edomites -- Semites who settled the region centuries before them. The Nabateans were nomadic newcomers who wrote in a vernacular Aramiac that evolved into modern Arabic and modern Arabic script around the 4th century. This process included
Safaitic inscriptions (beginning in the 1st century BC) and the many Arabic personal names in
Nabataean inscriptions in Aramaic. From about the 2nd century BC, a few inscriptions from Qaryat al-Faw (near
Sulayyil) reveal a dialect which is no longer considered "proto-Arabic", but pre-classical Arabic.
Qahtani migrations to the North
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
South Arabian 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.
The Ghassanids revived the Semitic presence in the then Hellenized Syria. They mainly settled the Hauran region and spread to modern Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. The Ghassanids held Syria until engulfed by the expansion of Islam.
Greeks and Romans referred to all the nomadic population of the desert in the Near East as Arabi. The Greeks called Yemen "
Arabia Felix".
http://www.infilled.net/Infilled.net/reference/World%20map%20according%20to%20Dionysius,%20124%20A.D/Reconstruction%20of%20the%20world%20map%20according%20to%20Dionysius,%20124%20A.D..gif, 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.
http://www.unrv.com/images/provinces.jpg
The Lakhmids settled the mid Tigris region around their capital Al-hira they ended up allying with the Sassanid against the Ghassanids and the Byzantine Empire. The Lakhmids contested control of the Central Arabian tribes with the Kindites with the Lakhmids eventually destroying Kinda in 540 after the fall of their main ally Himyar. The Sassanids dissolved the Lakhmid kingdom in 602.
The Kindites migrated from Yemen along with the Ghassanids and Lakhmids, but were turned back in Bahrain by the Abdul Qais Rabi'a tribe. They returned to Yemen and allied themselves with the Himyarites who installed them as a vassal kingdom that ruled Central Arbia from Qaryah dhat Kahl (the present-day Qaryat al-Faw) in Central Arabia. They ruled much of the Northern/Central Arabian peninsula until the fall of the Himyarites in 525AD.
Early Islamic Arabization
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 '
, only the nisba adjective '. The Qur'an calls itself '
, "Arabic", and ', "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 '''', the language of the Arabs. The term ''
'' has the same root and refers to a particularly clear and correct mode of speech. The plural noun '
refers to the Bedouin tribes of the desert who resisted Muhammad, for example in ayat 9.97, ' "the Bedouin are the worst in
disbelief and hypocrisy".
Based on this, in early Islamic terminology, '
referred to the language, and ' 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 , "language of the Arabs", denoted the uncontaminated language of the Bedouins.
Syria/Iraq, 7th century
The arrival of Islam united the Arab tribes, who flooded into the strongly Semitic Greater
Syria and
Iraq. Within years, the major garrison towns developed into the major cities of Syria and Iraq. The local population, which shared a close linguistic and genetic ancestry with Qahtani and Adnani Muslims were quickly Arabized.
North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, 7th century
The
Phoenicians and later the
Carthaginians dominated North African and Iberian shores for more than 8 centuries until they were suppressed by the
Romans and the later
Vandal invasion. Inland, the nomadic Berbers allied with Arab Muslims in invading Spain. The Arab tribes mainly settled the old Phoenician and Carthagenian towns, while the Berbers remained dominant inland. Inland north Africa remained partly Arabized until the 11th century, whereas the Iberian Peninsula, particularly its southern part, remained heavily Arabized, until the expulsion of the Moriscos in the 17th Century.
Arabs of Central Asia
Most Arabs of Central Asia are fully assimilated with local populations, and call themselves the same as locals (e.g.
Kazakhs,
Tajiks,
Uzbeks).
[Arabic As a Minority Language By Jonathan Owens, pg. 184] In order to notice their Arab origin they have a special term:
Sayyid or
Siddiqui.
[Arabic As a Minority Language By Jonathan Owens, pg. 182]
Banu Hilal in North Africa, 1046AD
The
Banu Hilal was an Arabian tribal confederation, organized by the
Fatimids. They struck in
Libya, reducing the
Zenata Berbers (a clan that claimed Yemeni ancestry from pre-Islamic periods) and small coastal towns, and Arabizing the
Sanhaja berber confederation. The Banu Hilal eventually Settled modern (Morocco and Algeria) and subdued Arabized the Sanhaja by the time of
Ibn Khaldun.
Banu Sulaym in North Africa, 1049AD
The
Banu Sulyam is another Bedouin tribal confederation from
Nejd which followed through the trials of
Banu Hilal and helped them defeat the
Zirids in the Battle of Gabis in 1052AD, and finally took
Kairuan in 1057Ad. The Banu Sulaym mainly settled and completely Arabized Libya.
Banu Kanz Nubia/Sudan, 11th-14th century
A branch of the
Rabi'ah tribe settled in north Sudan and slowly Arabized the
Makurian kingdom in modern
Sudan until 1315 AD when the
Banu Kanz inherited the kingdom of
Makuria and paved the way for the Arabization of the Sudan, that was completed by the arrival of the
Jaali and
Juhayna Arab tribes.
Banu Hassan Mauritania 1644-1674AD
The Banu Maqil is a Yemeni nomadic tribe that settled in Tunisia in the 13th century. The
Banu Hassan a
Maqil branch moved into the
Sanhaja region in whats today the Western Sahara and Mauritania, they fought a thirty years war on the side of the
Lamtuna Arabized Berbers who claimed
Himyarite ancestry (from the early Islamic invasions) defeating the Sanhaja berbers and Arabizing Mauritania.
Tribal genealogy
Medieval Arab
genealogists divided Arabs into three groups:
"ancient Arabs", tribes that had vanished or been destroyed, such as 'Ad and Thamud, often mentioned in the Qur'an as examples of God's power to destroy wicked peoples.
"Pure Arabs" of South Arabia, descending from Qahtan. The Qahtanites (Qahtanis) are said to have migrated the land of Yemen following the destruction of the Ma'rib Dam (''sadd Ma'rib'').
The "Arabized Arabs" (''musta`ribah'') of center and North Arabia, descending from Ishmael son of Abraham.
The
Arabic language spoken today in classical Quranic form evolved as a mix between the original Arabic of Qahtan and northern Arabic which shares a great deal with northern Semitic languages from the
Levant.
Religions
Arab Muslims are
Shi'a,
Sunni or
Ibadhite. The
Druze faith is usually considered separate.The self-identified
Arab Christians generally follow
Eastern Churches such as the
Greek Orthodox and
Greek Catholic churches.
Before the coming of
Islam, most Arabs followed a religion with a number of deities, including
Hubal,
Wadd,
Allāt,
Manat, and
Uzza. Some tribes had converted to Christianity or Judaism. A few individuals, the ''
hanifs'', had apparently rejected
polytheism in favor of a vague
monotheism. The most prominent Arab Christian kingdoms were the
Ghassanid and
Lakhmid kingdoms. When
Himyarite kings converted to
Judaism in the late 4th century, the elites of the other prominent Arab kingdom, the
Kindites, being Himyirite vassals, apparently also converted (at least partly). With the expansion of Islam, most Arabs rapidly became Muslim, and polytheistic traditions disappeared.
community follow a secretive faith particularly similar to Shia Islam, and are also Arab.
Estimates of the number of
Arab Christians vary, and depend on the definition of "Arab", as with the number of all Arabs, especially Muslim Arabs. Christians make up 9.2% of the population of the Near East.
In Lebanon they number about 39% of the population,
[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/le.html#People] in Syria 10%.
[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sy.html] In
Palestine before the creation of
Israel estimates ranged as high as 20%, but is now 3.8% due to mass emigration. In
Israel Arab Christians constitute 2.1% (roughly 10% of the
Palestinian Arab population). Most
North and
South American Arabs are Christian, as are about half of Arabs in
Australia who come particularly from
Lebanon,
Syria, 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".
[http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~ajds/mendes_refugees.htm] Prior to the emergence of the term ''Mizrahi'', the term "
Arab Jews" (''Yehudim ‘Áravim'', יהודים ערבים) 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.
References and notes
Sources
Touma, Habib Hassan. ''The Music of the Arabs''. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus P, 1996. ISBN 0-931340-88-8.
Lipinski, Edward. ''Semitic Languages: Outlines of a Comparative Grammar'', 2nd ed., Orientalia Lovanensia Analecta: Leuven 2001
Kees Versteegh, ''The Arabic Language'', Edinburgh University Press (1997) http://arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1&reading_id=36
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Robert Appleton Company, 1907, Online Edition, K. Night 2003: article Arabia
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/le.html#People
History of Arabic language, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. http://www.paklinks.com/gs/archive/index.php/t-4130.html. Retrieved Feb.17, 2006
The Arabic language, National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education web page (2006) http://arabworld.nitle.org/texts.php?module_id=1&reading_id=36. Retrieved Jun. 14, 2006.
Ankerl, Guy. ''Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western. Geneva: INUPRESS, 2000. ISBN 2881550045.
Hooker, Richard. "Pre-Islamic Arabic Culture." WSU Web Site. 6 June 1999. Washington State University. 5 July 2006 .
Owen, Roger. "State Power and Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East 3rd Ed" Page 57 ISBN 0-415-29714-1
af:Arabier
als:Araber
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bs:Arapi
bg:Араби
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da:Araber
de:Araber
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es:Pueblo árabe
eo:Araboj
fa:عرب
fr:Arabes
ko:아랍인
hr:Arapi
id:Bangsa Arab
it:Arabo
he:ערבים
ka:არაბები
sw:Waarabu
la:Arabes
lij:Popolo arabb-o
lt:Arabai
hu:Arabok
ms:Arab
nl:Arabieren
ja:アラブ人
no:Arabere
nn:Arabarar
pl:Arabowie
pt:Árabes
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ru:Арабы
sq:Arabët
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sk:Arabi
sl:Arabci
sr:Арапи
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tt:Ğäräp xalqı
uk:Араби
ur:عرب
yi:אראבער
zh:阿拉伯人 
