For the Muslim inhabitants , the legacy is all the more remarkable given that they were not Arabised , unlike most other Syrians who like them were Islamised over the centuries but also adopted Arabic and shifted to an `` Arab '' ethnic identity .
For the Muslim inhabitants , the legacy is all the more remarkable given that they were not Arabized , unlike most other Syrians who like them were Islamized over the centuries but also adopted Arabic and shifted to an `` Arab '' ethnic identity .