Arab people
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Arabs العرب |
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Total population | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
approx. 300 to 340 million[needs proving] |
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Regions with significant populations | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic and other minority languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Religions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Islam, Christianity, Druzism and Judaism |
The Arabs (Arabic: عرب ʻarab) are an originally Arabian ethnicity widespread in the Middle East and North Africa.
Contents |
[change] 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 300 million people.
- Linguistic: whether their main language is Arabic; this definition covers more than 200 million people.
- Genealogical: whether they can trace their ancestry back to the people who first lived on the Arabian Peninsula.
There are many people who can be called Arabs by these points who do not think of themselves as Arab.
[change] Traditional genealogy
In Islamic and Jewish tradition, Arabs are a Semitic people who trace their ancestry from Ishmael, a son of the ancient patriarch Abraham and Hagar. Medieval Arab genealogists separate the Arabs into two groups: the "original Arabs" of South Arabia, descending from Qahtan (identified with the biblical Joktan) and the "Arabized Arabs" (musta`ribah) of North Arabia, descending from Adnan, supposed to be a son of Ishmael.
[change] References
[change] Other websites
- A is for Arabs: What the world owes Arabs and Muslims
- Maps of the Arab World
- 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 - Arabic ThroughSearch