I’ve been wondering what the term Arab includes. My handiest dictionary gives the first definition as referring to a member of the Semitic people of the Arabic peninsula. That raised my eyebrows, as obviously I’ve been considering the term “Semitic” too narrowly for some years now.
2nd definition claims to refer to a member of the Arabic speaking people. Okay. So this would exclude Iranians, for just one example?
Then I turned to “Semitic” to go try to flesh out the first definition. Here I am told that a Semite is a Jew or Arab but traditionally also included Babylonians, Phoenicians, and the like. “Semitic” can refer to any of the Afro-Asiatic langauge family that include Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Ethiopic. That’s when it doesn’t just mean “Jewish.”
Okay, so what, exactly, is “an Arab?” Are we using this term correctly when we use it to include all of the non-Jewish denizens of the Middle East? My gut feeling is no.
Well, I for one wouldn’t go the language route. Since the Qur’an is written in Arabic, and many Muslims are at least familiar enough with Arabic to process the Qur’an, this would include many non-Arabic Muslims. Conversely, there are certainly sects in some of the countries which you mentioned who are not Muslims. A great number of Coptic Christians in Egpyt, for example, would be Arabs but neither Jews nor Muslims. Your last example may be closest to the mark, non-Jewish denizens of the Middle East, but that depends on how broadly you define Middle East, and how you define denizens. Egypt and some members of Sudan should be included, some Eritreans and Ethiopians, perhaps. Iran is not in from a base language standpoint nor, IMO, from a geographical standpoint.
But a good guess might be the tribes native to that area who were not Jewish.
Guess I’ll just sit back and let someone else figure this out.
Iran, formerly known as Persia, is populated by Persians, who are not Arabs. Other people who are not Arabs, but live in the middle east, Arab countries, even, are the Kurds. Meanwhile, all of these people are caucasian.
An Arab can be any religion, even Christian. Lebanon has quite a few of them. As for the “when is a jew an arab” question, I won’t even dare go into that.
The Arab world’s greatest hero, who we know as Saladin, was not an Arab, but a Kurd.
This is no more confusing than figuring out who’s an American, who’s an African-American, who’s a native American, and who’s a teutonic-American, Scottish-American, or Hawaiian. As in every other confusing place around the world, it’s a matter of perception, racism, elitism, intermarriage, etc.
There’s not going to be a clear, easy answer to this question.
I’d say, generally, it refers to the people of the Middle East who speak Arabic as their native language. So the non-Arabic, but Muslim, countries in that region would be Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and the Central Asian former Soviet republics. Also, there are minority groups in the region, such as the Kurds, who don’t speak Arabic as their native language.
The correct nomenclature there is Saudis, although to be fair Saudi is derived from the ruling Monarchy’s family name, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is the country that takes up most of the space on the Arabian peninsula. Since there have been other dynasties I would imagine that some other Saudis might actually not like to be called Saudis. You’ll note that the United Arab Emirates also has the term “Arab” in the name.
Thank you. And wouldn’t you know it, from one of my own local newspapers, no less. I’m bookmarking it, and sending a few friends there whom I know are misusing the term.
In North Africa there is a lot of overlap between the Berbers and Arabs. As I understand “Arabs” are predominantly city dwelling and Berbers are more rural, and are biligual Berber/Arab speakers. But that is not a clear division, and a generalisation of course. Sadly, Arab Berber conflict is very bitter in Algeria, so it’s no small matter.
There are many Arabs in Iran, along the border with Iraq. But Iran is not an “Arab” country as a whole.
Also in places like Sudan and Mauretania, the difference between an “Arab” and a “Black African” is based more on language and religion than “race”. Those are sort of Arab transition zones. I understand Somalia is a member of the Arab league, even though the Somalis are usually not considered Arabs by scholars. But they are connected to the Arab world.
I think the best definition of an Arab is a person who views himself or herself as an Arab, and has some connection to a wider Arabic community.