The term Arab originally meant a member of the Semitic race of people of the Arabian Peninsula east of Palestine. They were the nomadic Bedouins of the desert. Today, Arabs live throughout the world, including parts or all of Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Some Arabs hold Israeli citizenship. (Note that Iran is not an Arab country. Its roots go back to ancient Persia, with a totally different history and culture.) Although not all Arabs speak Arabic, the language is one of the great unifying and distinguishing characteristics of the people, even though dialects differ from place to place.
It is a common misconception that Islam is a unifying force in the Arab world. The truth is that only about 12 percent of Arabs worldwide are Muslims. Not all Arab traditions are Islamic, and Islam does not unite Arabs. Muhammad once commented, "The desert Arabians are most confirmed in unbelief and hypocrisy." There are more Muslims in Indonesia alone than in all Arab countries combined. Some thirty million Chinese are Muslim. In many countries, Muslim and Christian Arabs live side by side, although it is true that in most Arab countries, Islam is the predominate religion. In the Middle East it is not uncommon to meet Arab Muslims, Christians, Druze, and Jews all living within a few blocks of each other.
During the time of the Crusades in the Middle Ages, it became the custom of Christians to use the terms "Muslim," "Pagan," "Turk," "Infidel," and "Arab" almost interchangeably. Today, the Western "man on the street" usually thinks "Muslim" when he hears the word "Arab." This misapprehension is the result of mistaking religion for culture.
a group of peoples inhabiting the Arab countries of western Asia and North Africa. The Arabs comprise most of the population of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, the People’s Republic of Southern Yemen, Oman and Muscat, Trucial Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Republic (UAR), Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Sudan. In addition, Arabs are found in Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Israel, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Republic of Chad, Tanzania, and other East African countries. There are considerable groups of Arab immigrants in North and South America, France, and other countries. The total number of Arabs, including those residing outside Arab countries, was estimated at about 96 million in 1967, of whom about 32 million were in Asia and 63 million in Africa. Their language is Arabic. Most Arabs are Sunnite Muslims. Some are members of other Muslim sects—for example, the Shiites in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon; the Druzes in Syria and Lebanon; and the Ibadites in North Africa. Others are members of various Christian churches—for example, the Coptic Church in the UAR and the Maronite, Orthodox, Uniate, and other churches in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan.
It is thought that the ancient Semitic tribes from which the ancient Arab people later originated occupied the Arabian Peninsula as far back as the second millennium B.C. During the first millennium B.C., the first Arab state formations—Palmyra (Tadmore), Nabataea, and Lihyan on the northern borders of Arabia, and Kindah in Central Arabia—were established. A single Arab people was being formed. At that time the tribal system was disintegrating in Arab society and the process of class formation had begun among the sedentary tribes. However, the old patriarchal-clan relationships and the tribal ties persisted for a long time. Among the nomadic and semisedentary populations they have survived to the present day and have included such customs as the blood feud, avunculate, and cousin marriage.
In the fifth and sixth centuries, Arab tribes formed the greater part of the population of the Arabian Peninsula. The penetration by the Arabs of neighboring countries intensified in the first half of the seventh century with the rise of Islam; the period of Arab conquests began then, resulting in the formation of the vast Arabian Caliphate, extending from India to the Atlantic Ocean and from Central Asia to Central Africa, where the population, which spoke Hamito-Semitic languages close to Arabic, accepted the language, religion (Islam), and many elements of the material and spiritual culture of the Arabs and became quickly Arabized. The Arabs, for their part, absorbed a considerable amount of the culture of the peoples they had subjected. A distinctive Arab culture developed which has strongly influenced world culture. The Arabian Caliphate, which had been established by force of arms, disintegrated by the tenth century as a result of the struggle for liberation by the conquered peoples and of the growth of feudal separatism. In the 16th century the countries of Southwest Asia (except for a considerable part of the Arabian Peninsula) and of North Africa (with the exception of Morocco) became part of the Ottoman Empire.
From the 19th century, Arab territories were systematically subjected to plundering and aggression by the colonialist states of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain; a part of the territory of Morocco had already been seized by Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries. However, the struggle waged by the Arabs against the colonizers never ceased, and it became particularly intense at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. From the 1940’s to the 1960’s the powerful surge of the anti-imperialist movement of national liberation ended in the achievement of independence by most of the Arab countries.
The great majority of the Arabs are sedentary in their mode of life and a considerable proportion of them (fellahin) live in villages and engage in agriculture and horticulture. In the towns of most Arab countries a national bourgeoisie, working class, and intelligentsia have developed; there is a considerable stratum of handicraftsmen among the urban Arab population. Some Arabs have retained a seminomadic way of life, combining agriculture with herding and grazing of livestock (sheep and goats). There are also entirely nomadic Arabs engaged mainly in camel raising (Bedouins). In the past the main source of income for nomads was servicing caravan trails. The economic, material, and spiritual ways of life of the Arabs of different countries vary considerably. Agriculture is, as a rule, irrigational among the Arabs. Camels, asses, horses, and, less frequently, buffaloes (in southern Iraq) or zebus (eastern Arabia and the Hejaz) are used as draft animals. Modern agricultural techniques are being introduced in a number of Arab countries, including Syria, Iraq, the United Arab Republic, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Traditional dwellings vary in different countries and regions. The Mediterranean type of house—a closed-off complex of rooms around a small inner courtyard—is prevalent; in southern Arabia, the houses are tower-like structures with several stories; the rural poor live mainly in one-room structures with an outer courtyard; huts made of palm leaves or reeds are also found, particularly in southern Iraq. The nomadic or seminomadic population still lives in four-cornered tents, sewn out of wide strips of woolen cloth, and nowadays also frequently out of tarpaulin.
In the towns, European clothing is increasingly replacing the traditional costume of white shirt, woolen cloak, and headcloth, almost identical for men and women. The women wear many metal and glass ornaments, such as necklaces and rings, on their fingers, in their ears, and sometimes in their noses. In Central Arabia and to some extent in North Africa, girls tattoo their foreheads and chins, and sometimes also their cheeks, lips, breasts, and feet, with blue dye. The diet consists mainly—depending on the locality—of barley or wheat bread; wheat, millet, maize, or rice porridge; figs; beans; lentils; peas; and, among the pastoral population, dairy products.
The growth of industry in the Arab countries, the adoption of a sedentary way of life by the nomads, and the growth in the number of rural and urban workers are all dealing a severe blow to the survival of family-tribal and feudal relationships. In a number of Arab countries (United Arab Republic, Algeria, Syria) important social and economic changes of an anticapitalist nature have occurred as of the 1960’s. A movement is developing to unite Arab peoples in the struggle against imperialism and for social progress.
N. S. LUTSKAIA