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Arab people

Arab people

Arabic-speaking ethnic and national groups, originally from the Arabian Peninsula From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arabs
Who is an ArabTraditional genealogyReligionNotesReferencesOther websites

The Arabs (Arabic: العرب) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in the Middle East and North Africa. They speak Arabic which is one of the Semitic languages, and which is also the name of the ethnic family which they belong to. Genealogically, Arabs are those who can trace their ancestry back to the people who first lived on the Arabian Peninsula. During the Middle Ages, Islam fostered a vast Arab union, leading to significant Arab migrations around the world under the rule of Arab empires such as the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid.

Quick Facts Arabic: عَرَب (ʿarab), Total population ...
Arabs
Arabic: عَرَب (ʿarab)
Thumb
Total population
c. 450 million[1][2] to 420+ million[3][4]
  • Arab League: 353,500,000[5][6]
  • Arab diaspora: c. 50 million
Regions with significant populations
 Arab League
   353,500,000[5][6]
 Brazil11,600,000–20,000,000[7][8][9]
 France5,500,000–7,000,000[10][11]
 Turkey5,000,000[12][a]
 United States3,700,000[14]
 Argentina3,500,000[15]
 Colombia3,200,000[16][17][18][19][20]
 Israel2,080,000[21]
 Chad1,800,000[22]
 Iran1,600,000[23]–4,000,000[24]
 Venezuela1,600,000[25]
 Germany1,401,950[26]
 Spain1,350,000[27][28]
 Mexico1,100,000[29]
 Chile800,000[30][31][32]
 Canada750,925[33]
 Italy705,968[34]
 Sweden543,350[35]
 United Kingdom500,000[36]
 Australia500,000[37]
 Netherlands480,000–613,800[38]
 Ivory Coast300,000[39]
 Honduras280,000[40]
 Ecuador170,000 [41]
 Niger150,000 (2006)[42]
 Denmark121,000[43]
 Indonesia118,866 (2010)[44]
 El Salvador100,000[45][46][47][48][49]
 Eritrea80,000 (2010)[50]
 Uruguay75,000[51]
 Tanzania70,000[52]
 Kenya59,021 (2019)[53]
 Somalia30,000[54]
Languages
Arabic
Religion
Predominantly:
  • Islam
  • (mostly Sunni, large Shia minority, smaller Ibadi, Alawite minorities)
  • Significant minority:
    Christianity
  • (Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholic, Maronite Catholic Church, Roman Catholic, Protestant)
  • Smaller minority: Other monotheistic religions
  • (Druze, Judaism, Baháʼí Faith)
  • Historically: Pre-Islamic Arabian polytheism
Related ethnic groups
Other peoples of the Middle East and North Africa[55]
Close

Notable Arabs include Hatim al-Tai, Muhammad, Abu Bakr, Umar ibn Al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan, Ali ibn Abi Talib, Mu'awiya I, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Mohammed VI of Morocco, Abdullah II of Jordan, and Mohammed bin Salman.

There are three points which decide whether someone is considered Arab or not:

  • Political: whether they live in a country which is a member of the Arab League (or the Arab world); this definition covers more than 450 million people.
  • Linguistic: whether their main language is Arabic; this definition covers more than 423 million people.[56]
  • Genealogical: whether they can trace their ancestry back to the people who first lived on the Arabian Peninsula.[57]

Minorities are the Iraqi Turkmens in some Arab countries. The Iraqi Turkmen people are often considered Arab, but they are an Turkic people ethnic group with their own language and culture. The same goes for Berbers (Amazigh) and Bedouins.[58]

There are many people who can be called Arabs by these points, but who do not think of themselves as Arab. Examples include modern Egyptians (Coptics) and the Syriacs (Aramaics/Assyrians). Although they live in countries like Syria or Egypt which is part of the Arab League and speak the official language-Arabic, they are different cultural groups. They have their own languages,[59] culture, identity and churches, such as the Coptic Church and the Syriac Catholic and Orthodox churches. Even though many have assimilated to Arab society, they have their own heritage that spans 3,000 years.

In Islamic and Jewish tradition, Arabs are a Semitic people from the Ishmaelites, who trace their ancestry from Ishmael, a son of the ancient patriarch Abraham and Hagar and of the sons from Abhraham and his wife Keturah. Medieval Arab genealogists separate the Arabs into two groups: the "original Arabs" (Bedouin) of South Arabia, descending from Qahtan (identified with the biblical Joktan) and the "Arabized Arabs" (musta`ribah) of North Arabia (The Levant), descending from Adnan who is descended from Ishmael.

Most Arabs today follow the religion of Islam, whose central prophet is Muhammad. Christianity makes up the largest religious minority - most of the Christians that do consider themselves Arabs belong to the Greek Orthodox Church with smaller numbers of Roman Catholics.

While Coptic and Maronite Catholic Christians are native Arabic-speakers, many reject the Arab pan-ethnicity, but are still considered Arab by outsider sources.

There are some small communities practicing Judaism and polytheism (the worship of many gods).

  1. Including 1–2 million native Arabs[12] and 3,763,565 registered Syrian refugees.[13]
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    Paul Amar (15 July 2014). The Middle East and Brazil: Perspectives on the New Global South. Indiana University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-253-01496-2. there are, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than sixteen million Arabs and descendants of Arabs in Brazil, constituting the largest community of Arabs descent outside the Middle East.
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    "australianarab.org/about-us". Archived from the original on 30 October 2016.
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    The Coptic language survives only in certain religious rituals; it is not now spoken by Coptic Christians.
  • A is for Arabs: What the world owes Arabs and Muslims Archived 2005-06-09 at the Wayback Machine
  • Maps of the Arab World Archived 2005-08-28 at the Wayback Machine
  • News from Arabic countries
  • Business news from Arab countries
  • Arabia in ancient history - with a discussion of the ancient usage of the word Arab
  • Araboo.com - Arab Guide
  • Arabic Search Archived 2006-12-23 at the Wayback Machine - Arabic ThroughSearch
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Who is an Arab

Traditional genealogy

Religion

Notes

References

Other websites