Arab Muslims
ﺍﻟْمُسْلِمون ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ | |
|---|---|
 Percentages of Muslims in Arab League member states | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Arab League | |
| Languages | |
| Arabic | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam(majority) Shia Islam(minority) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Arab Christiansand otherArabs |
| Part ofa serieson |
| Arabic culture |
|---|
 |
Arab Muslims(Arabic:ﺍﻟْمُسْلِمون ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏal-Muslimiyyūn al-ʿArab) are the largest subdivision of theArab peopleand the largest ethnic group amongMuslimsglobally,[1]followed byBengalis[2][3][4]andPunjabis.[5]Likewise, they comprise the majority of the population of theArab world.[6][7]
Although Arabs account for the largest ethnicity among the world's adherents ofIslam,they are a minority in theMuslim worldin terms of sheer numbers.Muhammad,the founder of Islam, was an ethnic Arab belonging to theBanu Hashimof theQuraysh,and most of theearly Muslimswere also Arabs.
Ethnogenesis
[edit]They are descended from the early Arab tribes of theLevant,theArabian Peninsula,andMesopotamiawho embraced Islam in the 7th century.[8]TheArab identitycan haveethnic,linguistic,cultural,historical,andnationalistaspects.[9]
Mashriq
[edit]The wordMashriqrefers to the eastern part of the Arab world.[10]
Arabian Peninsula
[edit]The seventh century saw the rise of Islam as the peninsula's dominant religion. TheIslamic prophetMuhammad was born in Mecca in about 570 (53BH) and first began preaching in the city in 610, butmigratedtoMedinain 622. From there, he and his companions united thetribes of Arabiaunder the banner ofIslamand created a single Arab Muslim religious polity in the Arabian peninsula.
Muhammad established a new unified polity which, under the subsequentRashidunandUmayyadcaliphates,saw a century of rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire.
Levant
[edit]The Arabs of theLevantare traditionally divided intoQays and Yaman tribes,back to the pre-Islamic era and was based on tribal affiliations and geographic locations. They includeBanu Kalb,Kinda,Ghassanids,andLakhmids.[11]On the eve of theRashidun Caliphate'sconquest of the Levantin the 7th century, Arab tribes largely migrated to the Levant andUpper Mesopotamiawith the Muslim armies in the mid-7th century.[12]
Egypt
[edit]The caliphate also allowed the migration of Arab tribes to Egypt. The Muslim governor of Egypt encouraged the migration of tribes from the Arabian Peninsula to Egypt to increase the Muslim population in the region and to strengthen his regime by enlisting warrior tribesmen to his forces, encouraging them to bring their families and entire clans. TheFatimidera was the peak of Bedouin Arab tribal migrations to Egypt.[13]
Sudan
[edit]In the 12th century, the ArabJa'alin tribemigrated intoNubiaandSudanand formerly occupied the country on both banks of theNilefromKhartoumtoAbu Hamad.They trace their lineage toAbbas,uncle of Muhammad. They are of Arab origin, but now of mixed blood mostly withNilo-SaharansandNubians.[14][15]Other Arab tribes migrated into Sudan in the 12th century and intermarried with the indigenous populations, forming theSudanese Arabs.[16]In 1846, many ArabRashaidamigrated fromHejazin present-day Saudi Arabia into what is nowEritreaand north-east Sudan after tribal warfare had broken out in their homeland. The Rashaida of Sudan and Eritrea live in close proximity with theBeja people.Large numbers ofBani Rasheedare also found on the Arabian Peninsula. They are related to theBanu Abstribe.[17]
Maghreb
[edit]The wordMaghrebrefers to the western part of the Arab world, including a large portion of theSahara Desert,but excludingEgyptandSudan,which are considered to be located in theMashriq— the eastern part of the Arab world.[18]
Following the death of Muhammad in 632 (11AH), Arabs aimed at geographically expanding their empire. They started conquering North Africa in 647, and by 709, all of North Africa was under Arab Muslim rule from Egypt to Morocco.[19]North Africa was then divided into three main areas:Egyptwith its governing center beingAl-Fustat,IfriqiyainTunisiawith its governing center beingKairouan,and the Maghreb (modern-dayAlgeriaandMorocco), with its governing center being located inFez.[20]North Africa experienced three distinct invasions leading to the establishment of not only a new religion (Islam) but also a new language and norms that differed significantly from what was established by the indigenous inhabitants.[21]
Arabic is the main language of the region, though each country (Libya,Tunisia,MoroccoandAlgeria) has its own dialects of theTamazight languagesand Arabic.[22]Sunni Islamis the region’s main religion, and theMalikiMadhhab is the main Islamic school of thought followed by North Africans.[23]The vast majority ofNorth Africansidentify asArabsor Arab Muslims. Therefore, North Africans perceive themselves as part of theMediterraneanand theMiddle Eastrather thanAfricawhere they are geographically located.[24]
Berbers
[edit]Before the Arab-Islamic conquest took place,North Africawas mainly inhabited byBerbers.[25]The Berbers were largelyanimistsuntilIslamreached North Africa and they were thus coerced into converting to Islam in a process known asArabizationandIslamization.[26]Arabization refers to the process ofacculturationin which the peoples of North Africa adopted the Arabic language in addition to various other aspects of Arab culture.Islamizationrefers to the process by which North Africans converted to Islam and thus became Muslims by faith. Though the majority of North Africans identify as Arabs today, a considerable number of the population perceive themselves as Berbers.[27]
Diaspora
[edit]A substantial number of Arab Muslims live outside their countries of origin. Arab Muslims comprise the majority of the Arab populations in Belgium, France, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, whilstArab Christiansare the majority of the Arab populations in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Greece, Haiti, Mexico, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Around a quarter ofArab Americansidentify as Arab Muslims.[28]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Margaret Kleffner NydellUnderstanding Arabs: A Guide For Modern Times,Intercultural Press, 2005,ISBN1931930252,page xxiii, 14
- ^roughly 152 million Bengali Muslims inBangladeshand 36.4 million Bengali Muslims in theRepublic of India(CIA Factbook2014 estimates, numbers subject to rapid population growth); about 10 millionBangladeshis in the Middle East,1 millionBengalis in Pakistan,5 millionBritish Bangladeshi.
- ^Richard Eaton (8 September 2009). "Forest Clearing and the Growth of Islam in Bengal". In Barbara D. Metcalf (ed.).Islam in South Asia in Practice.Princeton University Press. p. 275.ISBN978-1-4008-3138-8.
- ^Meghna Guhathakurta; Willem van Schendel (30 April 2013).The Bangladesh Reader: History, Culture, Politics.Duke University Press.ISBN978-0822353188.Retrieved7 November2016.
- ^Gandhi, Rajmohan (2013).Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten.New Delhi, India, Urbana,Illinois:Aleph Book Company. p. 1.ISBN978-93-83064-41-0..
- ^Peter Haggett(2001).Encyclopedia of World Geography.Vol. 1.Marshall Cavendish.p. 2122.ISBN0-7614-7289-4.
- ^"Middle East-North Africa".Pew-Templeton: Global Religious Futures Project.
- ^Webb, Peter (2016).Imagining the Arabs: Arab identity and the rise of Islam.Edinburgh, UK.ISBN978-1-4744-0827-1.OCLC964933606.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^*Hourani, Albert (2010).A history of the Arab peoples(1st Harvard Press paperback ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-05819-4.
- "HISTORY OF MIGRATION".Historyworld.net.Retrieved18 December2017.
- Power, Bethany G. "The Emergence and Expansion of Islam to 1500."Education 613: MTEL Guide.University of Massachusetts.Archived from theoriginalon 3 September 2016.
- "History of the Arabs (book)".Historyworld.net.Retrieved18 December2017.
- ^"Mashriq | geographical region, Middle East | Britannica".britannica.Retrieved2022-11-18.
- ^Hugh KennedyThe Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic Statep.33 Routledge, 17 June 2013ISBN1-134-53113-3
- ^Hugh KennedyThe Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic Statep.33 Routledge, 17 June 2013ISBN1-134-53113-3
- ^Suwaed, Muhammad (2015-10-30).Historical Dictionary of the Bedouins.Rowman & Littlefield. p. 77.ISBN978-1-4422-5451-0.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-08-26.Retrieved2022-08-25.
- ^.Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 15 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 103.
- ^Ireland, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and (1888).Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.The Institute. p. 16.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-05-30.Retrieved2022-08-25.
- ^Inc, IBP (2017-06-15).Sudan (Republic of Sudan) Country Study Guide Volume 1 Strategic Information and Developments.Lulu. p. 33.ISBN978-1-4387-8540-0.Archivedfrom the original on 2022-08-26.Retrieved2022-08-25.
{{cite book}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^Admin."Eritrea: The Rashaida People".Madote.Archivedfrom the original on 2017-07-20.Retrieved2022-08-21.
- ^"Maghreb | History, Languages, & Facts | Britannica".britannica.Retrieved2022-11-18.
- ^Gharba, Mahdi (8 December 2020)."A BRIEF HISTORY OF ISLAM IN NORTH AFRICA".The Muslim Vibe.
- ^Chakra, Hayden (11 January 2022)."Arab Conquest of North Africa".About History.
- ^Gearon, Eamonn."Arab Invasions: The First Islamic Empire".History Today.
- ^"What Languages Are Spoken In Africa?".World Atlas.30 July 2018.
- ^"Islam: Islam in North Africa".Encyclopedia.
- ^"How 'African' is Northern Africa?".Global Voices.28 May 2018.
- ^Budjaj, Aymane; Benítez, Guillermo; Pleguezuelos, Juan Manuel (2021)."Ethnozoology among the Berbers: pre-Islamic practices survive in the Rif (northwestern Africa)".Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine.17(1): 43.doi:10.1186/s13002-021-00466-9.PMC8278736.PMID34256776.
- ^Cartwright, Mark."The Spread of Islam in Ancient Africa".World History Encyclopedia.
- ^Kokole, Omari H (1984). "The Islamic Factor in African-Arab Relations".Third World Quarterly.6(3): 687–702.doi:10.1080/01436598408419793.
- ^"Arab Americans: Demographics".Arab American Institute. 2006. Archived fromthe originalon 1 June 2006.Retrieved22 August2020.
Bibliography
[edit]- Ankerl, Guy (2000).Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western.Geneva: INU Press.ISBN2-88155-004-5.