# Afro-Arabs

Afro-Arabs, African Arabs, or Black Arabs are Arabs who have predominantly or total Sub-Saharan African ancestry. These include primarily minority groups in the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Western Sáhara, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. The term may also refer to various Arab groups in certain African regions.

## Overview

From the 7th century onward Muslim communities were established along the coast of Eritrea and Somalia, subsequently spreading inland. The Arab slave trade, which began in pre-Islamic times but reached its height between 650 AD and 1900 AD, transported millions of African people from the Nile Valley, the Horn of Africa, and the eastern African coast across the Red Sea to Arabia. Millions more were taken from sub-Saharan Africa across the Sahara as part of the trans-Saharan slave trade.
By around the first millennium AD, Persian traders established trading towns on what is now called the Swahili Coast.
The Portuguese conquered these trading centers after the discovery of the Cape Road. From the 1700s to the early 1800s, Muslim forces of the Omani empire re-seized these market towns, mainly on the islands of Pemba and Zanzibar. In these territories, Arabs from Yemen and Oman settled alongside the local "African" populations, thereby spreading Islam and establishing Afro-Arab communities. The Niger-Congo Swahili language and culture largely evolved through these contacts between Arabs and the native Bantu population.
In the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, descendants of people from the Swahili Coast perform traditional Liwa and Fann at-Tanbura music and dance, and the mizmar is also played by Afro-Arabs in the Tihamah and Hejaz.
In addition, Stambali of Tunisia and Gnawa music of Morocco are both ritual music and dances that in part trace their origins to West African musical styles.

## Notable Afro-Arabs

* Bilal ibn Rabah, early Muslim and companion of Muhammad
* Umm Ayman, early Muslim and companion of Muhammad
* Ayman ibn Ubayd, early Muslim and companion of Muhammad
* Usama ibn Zayd, early Muslim and companion of Muhammad
* Sumayyah bint Khabbat, early Muslim and companion of Muhammad
* Wahshi ibn Harb, early Muslim and companion of Muhammad
* Rasad, concubine of al-Zahir li-I'zaz Din Allah
* al-Mustansir Billah, Fatimid caliph
* Turki bin Said, Sultan of Oman
* Faisal bin Turki, Sultan of Muscat and Oman, Sultan of Oman
* Taimur bin Feisal, Sultan of Oman
* Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar, Sultan of Zanzibar
* Ali bin Said of Zanzibar, Sultan of Zanzibar
* Ali bin Hamud of Zanzibar, Sultan of Zanzibar
* Jamshid bin Abdullah of Zanzibar, last Sultan of Zanzibar
* Colette Dalal Tchantcho, Kuwaiti-Cameroonian actor
* Imaan Hammam, Dutch fashion model of Morroccan and Egyptian descent
* Zinedine Zidane, French player
* Tippu Tip, Afro-Omani trader and explorer
* Sefu bin Hamid, Zanzibari slave trader
* Saad Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait
* Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi prince
* Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, Saudi princess
* Faisal bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, Saudi prince
* Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud (born 1977), Saudi prince
* Baraka Al Yamaniyah, concubine of King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia
* Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, Saudi prince
* Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi, Saudi businessman
* Etab, Saudi singer
* Majed Abdullah, Saudi footballer
* Salem Al-Dawsari, Saudi footballer
* Mohamed Al-Deayea, Saudi footballer
* Ali Al-Habsi, Omani footballer
* Khalid Eisa, Emirati footballer
* Chahine van Bohemen, Dutch-Moroccan footballer
* Almoez Ali, Qatari footballer
* Fahad Al-Abdulrahman, Qatari footballer
* Sanna Abubkheet, First female athlete from Gaza to compete at the Olympics
* Majed Abu Maraheel, First Palestinian to compete at the Olympic Games
* Ghadir Ghrouf, Track and Field sprint athlete who represented Palestine at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing
* Mohammed Abukhousa, Palestinian sprinter who competed at the 2013 and 2015 World Championships and at the 2016 Olympics