Arab Muslims

Arab Muslims

ﺍﻟْمُسْلِمون ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ‎
Percentages of Muslims in Arab League member states
Regions with significant populations
Arab League
Languages
Arabic
Religion
Sunni Islam (majority) Shia Islam (minority)
Related ethnic groups
Arab Christians and other Arabs

Part of a series on
Arabic culture
Architecture Styles Islamic Yemeni Nabataean Umayyad Abbasid Fatimid Moorish Mamluk Features Ablaq Alfiz Arabesque Arabic dome Banna'i Gardens Girih Horseshoe arch Howz Hypostyle Islamic calligraphy Islamic geometric patterns Islamic ornament Iwan Liwan Mashrabiya Riad Mosaic Multifoil arch Muqarnas Nagash painting Qadad Reflecting pool Riwaq Sahn Socarrat Stucco decoration Tadelakt Vaulting Voussoir Windcatcher Zellij Types Albarrana tower Alcázar Bazaar Caravanserai Bimaristan Hammam Kasbah Madrasa Maqam Mazar Mosque Medina quarter Qalat Ribat Sabil Shadirvan Tekyeh Well house Zawiya
Art Styles Ancient South Arabian art Nabataean art Islamic art Fatimid art Mamluk art Types Arabic calligraphy Arabic graffiti Arab carpet Arabic miniature Arabic pottery Palestinian wood carving Islamic embroidery Islamic hardstone carving Islamic garden Islamic glass Islamic ivory carving Islamic Metalwork Features Arabesque Arabic geometric patterns Banna'i Damascus steel Damask Girih tiles Hedwig glass Kiswah Muqarnas Pseudo-Arabic Zellij
Cuisine Khalij (Arabian Peninsula) Arab Mashriq (Levant) Mashriq (Mesopotamia) Mawset (Egypt) Mawset (Sudan) Arab Maghreb (North Africa)
Dress Headwear Agal Battoulah Haik Keffiyeh Litham Madhalla Taqiyah Tantour Tarboush (fez) Turban Clothing Abaya Bisht Burnous Djellaba Durra'ah Fouta towel Izaar Jellabiya Kaftan Macawis Robe of honour Sirwal Takchita Thawb Tiraz
Music Theory Arabic maqam Arab tone system Algerian scale Rhythm in Arabic music Taqsim Jins Lazma Teslim Quarter tone Arabic musical instruments Great Book of Music Kitab al-Aghani Genres Arabic pop Arabic hip hop Arabic rock Arabic jazz Classical Arab music Opera Al Jeel Khaliji Raï Art music Andalusian classical music Andalusi nubah Bashraf Dawr Dulab Layali Malhun Iraqi maqam Mawwal Muwashshah Qasidah Qudud Halabiya Sama'i Tahmilah Taqsim Waslah Folk Ataaba Algerian Raï Bedouin Chaabi (Algeria) Chaabi (Morocco) Egyptian folk Fann at-Tanbura Fijiri Gnawa (North Africa) Liwa Mawwal Mezwed Samri Sawt Shaabi Zajal
Dance Ardah Belly dance Dabke Deheyeh Guedra Hagallah Khaleegy Liwa Mizmar Ouled Nail Raqs Sharqi Samri Shamadan Schikhatt Tahtib Tanoura Yowlah Zār
Literature Scripts Old Paleo Classical Modern Prose Epic literature Saj (ryhmed prose) Maqama Love in Arabic literature Arabic erotic literature Arabic grimoires Literary_criticism Arabic short story Tabaqat Tezkire Rihla Mirrors for princes Islamic Quran Tafsir Hadith Sīra Fiqh Aqidah Poetry Anthologies Poets Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry Modern Arabic poetry Genres Madih Hija Rithā' Waṣf Ghazal Khamriyyah Tardiyyah Khawal Fakhr Hamasah Forms Diwan Qasida Muwashshah Urjūza Mathnawi Ruba'i Nasīb Riddles Kharja Zajal Mawwal Nabati Ghinnawa Humayni Arabic prosody Bayt Ṭawīl Madīd Basīṭ Kamil Wāfir Hazaj Rajaz Ramal Munsariħ Khafīf Muqtaḍab Mujtathth Muḍāriʿ Sarīʿ Mutaqārib Mutadārik National literatures of Arab States Algeria Bahrain Comoros Djibouti Egypt Iraq Jordan Kuwait Lebanon Libya Mauritania Morocco Oman Palestine Qatar Saudi Arabia Somalia Sudan Syria Tunisia U.A.E. Yemen
Science Arabic chemistry Arabic astrology Arabic astronomy Arabic geography Arabic Golden Age Arabic mathematics Arabic medicine Arabic psychology Arabic technology
Philosophy Early Arabic Philosophy Islamic Aristotelianism Islamic Platonism Islamic Logic Kalam Sufi metaphysics Sufi philosophy Farabism Avicennism Averroism Concepts Al-aql al-faal Aql bi-l-fi'l Al-Insān al-Kāmil Dhati Peace Arcs of Descent and Ascent Asabiyyah Hal Irfan Nafs Qadar Qalb Texts Liber de Causis The Theology of Aristotle Al-isharat The Book of the Apple Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity The Incoherence of the Philosophers The Incoherence of the Incoherence Hayy ibn Yaqdhan Theologus Autodidactus On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy Muqaddimah Sicilian Questions Fusus al-Hikam
Mythology Ababil Atlantis of the Sands Bahamut Beast of the Earth Book of Idols Book of Wonders Buraq Dandan Falak Ghoul Hinn Houri Ifrit Iram of the Pillars Jinn Karkadann Kujata Luqman Magic carpet Marid Mount Qaf Nasnas One Thousand and One Nights Qareen Qutrub Roc Shaddad Shadhavar Shams al-Ma'arif She-Camel of God Wāḳwāḳ Zulfiqar Zarqa al Yamama Fictional Arab people Aladdin Abdul Alhazred Ali Baba Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad Battal Gazi Hayy ibn Yaqdhan Kara Ben Nemsi King Marsile Layla and Majnun Othello Palamedes Princess Jasmine Ra's al Ghul Sindbad Talia al Ghul
Spirituality North Arabian deities Allah Al-‘Uzzá Al-Lat Manāt Dushara Chaabou Manaf Nuha Al-Kutbay Asira Awal Azizos Bajir Quzah Manāt Manāt A'ra Abgal Aglibol Al-Qaum Atarsamain Baalshamin Bēl Hubal Suwa' Theandrios Wadd Malakbel Orotalt Ruda Sa'd Yarhibol Isāf and Nā'ila South Arabian deities Almaqah Amm Anbay Athtar Salman Dhat-Badan Haubas Ta'lab Qaynan Basamum Dhul Khalasa Haukim Nasr Sīn Ya'uq Yaghūth Yatha
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Arab Muslims (Arabic: ﺍﻟْمُسْلِمون ﺍﻟْﻌَﺮَﺏ al-Muslimūn al-ʿArab) are the largest subdivision of the Arab people and the largest ethnic group among Muslims globally,^[1] followed by Bengalis^[2][3][4] and Punjabis.^[5] Likewise, they comprise the majority of the population of the Arab world.^[6][7]

Although Arabs account for the largest ethnicity among the world's adherents of Islam, they are a minority in the Muslim world in terms of sheer numbers. Muhammad, the founder of Islam, was an ethnic Arab belonging to the Banu Hashim of the Quraysh, and most of the early Muslims were also Arabs.

They are descended from the early Arab tribes of the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, and Mesopotamia who embraced Islam in the 7th century.^[8] The Arab identity can have ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, and nationalist aspects.^[9]

The word Mashriq refers to the eastern part of the Arab world.^[10]

The seventh century saw the rise of Islam as the peninsula's dominant religion. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born in Mecca in about 570 (53 BH) and first began preaching in the city in 610, but migrated to Medina in 622. From there, he and his companions united the tribes of Arabia under the banner of Islam and created a single Arab Muslim religious polity in the Arabian peninsula.

Muhammad established a new unified polity which, under the subsequent Rashidun and Umayyad caliphates, 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 the Levant are traditionally divided into Qays and Yaman tribes, back to the pre-Islamic era and was based on tribal affiliations and geographic locations. They include Banu Kalb, Kinda, Ghassanids, and Lakhmids.^[11] On the eve of the Rashidun Caliphate's conquest of the Levant in the 7th century, Arab tribes largely migrated to the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia with the Muslim armies in the mid-7th century.^[12]

The 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 the Muslim population in the region and to strengthen his regime by enlisting warrior tribesmen to his forces, encouraging them to bring their families and entire clans. The Fatimid era was the peak of Bedouin Arab tribal migrations to Egypt.^[13]

In the 12th century, the Arab Ja'alin tribe migrated into Nubia and Sudan and formerly occupied the country on both banks of the Nile from Khartoum to Abu Hamad. They trace their lineage to Abbas, uncle of Muhammad. They are of Arab origin, but now of mixed blood mostly with Nilo-Saharans and Nubians.^[14][15] Other Arab tribes migrated into Sudan in the 12th century and intermarried with the indigenous populations, forming the Sudanese Arabs.^[16] In 1846, many Arab Rashaida migrated from Hejaz in present-day Saudi Arabia into what is now Eritrea and north-east Sudan after tribal warfare had broken out in their homeland. The Rashaida of Sudan and Eritrea live in close proximity with the Beja people. Large numbers of Bani Rasheed are also found on the Arabian Peninsula. They are related to the Banu Abs tribe.^[17]

The word Maghreb refers to the western part of the Arab world, including a large portion of the Sahara Desert, but excluding Egypt and Sudan, which are considered to be located in the Mashriq — the eastern part of the Arab world.^[18]

Following the death of Muhammad in 632 (11 AH), 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.^[19] North Africa was then divided into three main areas: Egypt with its governing center being Al-Fustat, Ifriqiya in Tunisia with its governing center being Kairouan, and the Maghreb (modern-day Algeria and Morocco), with its governing center being located in Fez.^[20] 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.^[21]

Arabic is the main language of the region, though each country (Libya, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria) has its own dialects of the Tamazight languages and Arabic.^[22] Sunni Islam is the region’s main religion, and the Maliki Madhhab is the main Islamic school of thought followed by North Africans.^[23] The vast majority of North Africans identify as Arabs or Arab Muslims. Therefore, North Africans perceive themselves as part of the Mediterranean and the Middle East rather than Africa where they are geographically located.^[24]

Before the Arab-Islamic conquest took place, North Africa was mainly inhabited by Berbers.^[25] The Berbers were largely animists until Islam reached North Africa and they were thus coerced into converting to Islam in a process known as Arabization and Islamization.^[26] Arabization refers to the process of acculturation 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.^[27]

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, whilst Arab 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 of Arab Americans identify as Arab Muslims.^[28]

• Arab Christians
• Arab Jews
• Druze
• Qahtanite
• Baháʼí Faith
• Berbers

• Ankerl, Guy (2000). Coexisting Contemporary Civilizations: Arabo-Muslim, Bharati, Chinese, and Western. Geneva: INU Press. ISBN 2-88155-004-5.