Arab people

The Arabs () are an ethnic group in West Asia and North Africa. They speak Arabic which is one of the Semitic languages, and which is also the name of the ethnic family which they belong to. Genealogically, Arabs are those who can trace their ancestry back to the people who first lived on the Arabian Peninsula. During the Middle Ages, Islam and Christianity fostered a vast Arab union, leading to significant Arab migrations around the world under the rule of Arab empires such as the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid.

 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 450 million people.
 Linguistic: whether their main language is Arabic; this definition covers more than 423 million people.
 Genealogical: whether they can trace their ancestry back to the people who first lived on the Arabian Peninsula.

Minorities are the Iraqi Turkmens in some Arab countries. The same goes for Berbers (Amazigh) and Bedouins.

There are many people who can be called Arabs by these points, but who do not think of themselves as Arab. Examples include modern Copts, Kurds, the Assyrians and Moroccans. Although they live in countries like Syria or Egypt which is part of the Arab League and speak the official language-Arabic, they are different ethnic groups. They have their own languages,The Coptic language survives only in certain religious rituals; it is not now spoken by Coptic Christians. culture, identity and churches, such as the Coptic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, and the Syriac Orthodox Church. Even though a number have assimilated to Arab society, they have their own heritage that spans 3,000 years.

 Traditional genealogy 
In Islamic and Jewish tradition, Arabs are a Semitic people from the Ishmaelites, who trace their ancestry from Ishmael, a son of the ancient patriarch Abraham and Hagar and of the sons from Abhraham and his wife Keturah. Medieval Arab genealogists separate the Arabs into two groups: the "original Arabs" (Bedouin) of South Arabia, descending from Qahtan (identified with the biblical Joktan) and the "Arabized Arabs" (musta`ribah) of North Arabia (The Levant), descending from Adnan who is descended from Ishmael.

Religion
Most Arabs today follow the religion of Islam, whose central prophet is Muhammad. Christianity makes up the largest religious minority - most of the Christians that do consider themselves Arabs belong to the Greek Orthodox Church with smaller numbers of Roman Catholics.

While Coptic and Maronite Catholic Christians are native Arabic-speakers, many reject the Arab pan-ethnicity, but are still considered Arab by outsider sources.

There are some small communities practicing Judaism and polytheism (the worship of many gods).

Notes

 References 

 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


Category:Ancient history