Arab people
The Arabs (Arabic: العرب ʻarab) 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.
| ||||||||||
| Total population | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| approx. 450” million[1] | ||||||||||
| Regions with significant populations | ||||||||||
 Pan-Arab States | 449,754,575 | |||||||||
 Brazil | 12,000,000[2] | |||||||||
 France | 6,000,000[3] | |||||||||
 Argentina | 3,500,000[4] | |||||||||
 United States | 3,500,000[5] | |||||||||
 Iran | 700,000 - 2,000,000[6] | |||||||||
 Portugal | 1,500,000[7] | |||||||||
 Mexico | 1,100,000[8] | |||||||||
| Languages | ||||||||||
| Arabic[9] | ||||||||||
| Religion | ||||||||||
| Predominantly Islam largest minority: Christianity; other religions | ||||||||||
Who is an Arab
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.[10]
- Genealogical: whether they can trace their ancestry back to the people who first lived on the Arabian Peninsula.[11]
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.[12]
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,[13] 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.
Traditional genealogy
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.
Religion
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).
References
Other websites
- 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
