ﺍﻟْمُسْلِمون ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ | |
|---|---|
 Percentages of Muslims in Arab states | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Arab League | |
| approx. 350+ million (2007)[1] | |
| Languages | |
| Arabic | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam (majority) Shia Islam (minority) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Arab Christians and otherArabs |
Arab Muslims (Arabic:ﺍﻟْمُسْلِمون ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ,romanized: al-Muslimūn al-ʿArab) are theArabs who adhere toIslam. They are the largest subdivision of the Arab people and the largestethnic group amongMuslims globally,[2] followed byBengalis[3][4][5] andPunjabis.[6] Likewise, they comprise the majority of the population of theArab world.[7][8] Currently, around 93% of Arabs are Muslims, while the rest are mainlyArab Christians, as well asDruze andBaháʼís.[9]
Although Arabs account for the largest ethnicity among the world's adherents ofIslam, they are a minority in theMuslim world in terms of sheer numbers.Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was an ethnic Arab belonging to theBanu Hashim of theQuraysh, and most of theearly Muslims were also Arabs.
They are descended from the early Arab tribes of theLevant, theArabian Peninsula, andMesopotamia who embraced Islam in the 7th century.[10] TheArab identity can haveethnic,linguistic,cultural,historical, andnationalist aspects.[11]
The wordMashriq refers to the eastern part of the Arab world.[12]
The seventh century saw the rise of Islam as the peninsula's dominant religion. TheIslamic prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in about 570 (53BH) and first began preaching in the city in 610, butmigrated toMedina in 622. From there, he and his companions united thetribes of Arabia under the banner ofIslam and created a single Arab Muslim religious polity in the Arabian peninsula.
Muhammad established a new unified polity which, under the subsequentRashidun andUmayyadcaliphates, saw a century of rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire.
The Arabs of theLevant are traditionally divided intoQays and Yaman tribes, back to the pre-Islamic era and was based on tribal affiliations and geographic locations. They includeBanu Kalb,Kinda,Ghassanids, andLakhmids.[13] On the eve of theRashidun Caliphate'sconquest of the Levant in the 7th century, Arab tribes largely migrated to the Levant andUpper Mesopotamia with the Muslim armies in the mid-7th century.[14]
The Arabs have inhabited the eastern Egypt Desert and theSinai Peninsula for thousands of years, and were a part of theNabatean Kingdom.[15]The Muslim caliphate also allowed the migration of Arab tribes to Egypt. The Muslim governor of Egypt encouraged the migration of tribes from the Arabian Peninsula to Egypt to increase thespread of Islam and to strengthen his regime by enlisting warrior tribesmen to his military forces, encouraging them to bring their families and entire clans. TheFatimid era was the peak of Bedouin Arab tribal migrations to Egypt.[16]
In the 12th century, the ArabJa'alin tribe migrated intoNubia andSudan and formerly occupied the country on both banks of theNile fromKhartoum toAbu Hamad. They trace their lineage toAbbas, uncle of Muhammad. They are of Arab origin, but now of mixed blood mostly withNilo-Saharans andNubians.[17][18] Other Arab tribes migrated into Sudan in the 12th century and intermarried with the indigenous populations, forming theSudanese Arabs.[19] In 1846, many ArabRashaida migrated fromHejaz in present-day Saudi Arabia into what is nowEritrea and north-east Sudan after tribal warfare had broken out in their homeland. The Rashaida of Sudan and Eritrea live in close proximity with theBeja people. Large numbers ofBani Rasheed are also found on the Arabian Peninsula. They are related to theBanu Abs tribe.[20]
The wordMaghreb refers to the western part of the Arab world, including a large portion of theSahara Desert, but excludingEgypt andSudan, which are considered to be located in theMashriq — the eastern part of the Arab world.[21]
Following the death of Muhammad in 632 (11AH), Arabs aimed at geographically expanding their empire. They started conquering North Africa in 647, and by 709, all of North Africa was under Arab Muslim rule from Egypt to Morocco.[22] North Africa was then divided into three main areas:Egypt with its governing center beingAl-Fustat,Ifriqiya inTunisia with its governing center beingKairouan, and the Maghreb (modern-dayAlgeria andMorocco), with its governing center being located inFez.[23] North Africa experienced three distinct invasions leading to the establishment of not only a new religion (Islam) but also a new language and norms that differed significantly from what was established by the indigenous inhabitants.[24]
Arabic is the main language of the region, though each country (Libya,Tunisia,Morocco andAlgeria) has its own dialects of theTamazight languages and Arabic.[25]Sunni Islam is the region’s main religion, and theMaliki Madhhab is the main Islamic school of thought followed by North Africans.[26] The vast majority ofNorth Africans identify asArabs or Arab Muslims. Therefore, North Africans perceive themselves as part of theMediterranean and theMiddle East rather thanAfrica where they are geographically located.[27]
Before the Arab-Islamic conquest took place,North Africa was mainly inhabited byBerbers.[28] The Berbers were largelyanimists untilIslam reached North Africa and they were thus coerced into converting to Islam in a process known asArabization andIslamization.[29] Arabization refers to the process ofacculturation in which the peoples of North Africa adopted the Arabic language in addition to various other aspects of Arab culture.Islamization refers to the process by which North Africans converted to Islam and thus became Muslims by faith. Though the majority of North Africans identify as Arabs today, a considerable number of the population perceive themselves as Berbers.[30]
A substantial number of Arab Muslims live outside their countries of origin. Arab Muslims comprise the majority of the Arab populations in Belgium, France, Germany, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, the Netherlands, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, whilstArab Christians are the majority of the Arab populations in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Greece, Haiti, Mexico, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Around a quarter ofArab Americans identify as Arab Muslims.[31]
Dr. Gross' emphasis on Southeast Asia takes on added meaning when considering that two of the world's three largest Muslim populations reside there–196 million in Indonesia, 138 million in Pakistan, and 114 million in Bangladesh. This compares with the 350-plus million residing in Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
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