Arab people facts for kids
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Total population | |||||||||||
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approx. 450 million | |||||||||||
Regions with significant populations | |||||||||||
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430,754,575 | ||||||||||
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12,000,000 | ||||||||||
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6,000,000 | ||||||||||
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3,500,000 | ||||||||||
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3,500,000 | ||||||||||
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700,000 - 2,000,000 | ||||||||||
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1,500,000 | ||||||||||
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1,100,000 | ||||||||||
Languages | |||||||||||
Arabic, Modern South Arabian | |||||||||||
Religion | |||||||||||
Predominantly Islam; largest minority: Christianity; other religions |
The Arabs (Arabic: العرب ʻarab) are an ethnic widespread in the Middle East and North Africa. Arabic is one of the Semitic languages, which is also the name of the ethnic family which they belong to.
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.
There are many people who can be called Arabs by these points, but who do not think of themselves as Arab. Examples include the original Egyptians (Coptics) and the Syriacs (Aramaics/Assyrians). 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 cultural groups. They have their own languages, culture, identity and churches, such as the Coptic Church and the Syriac Catholic and Orthodox churches. Even though many 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 who trace their ancestry from Ishmael, a son of the ancient patriarch Abraham and Hagar. Medieval Arab genealogists separate the Arabs into two groups: the "original Arabs" of South Arabia, descending from Qahtan (identified with the biblical Joktan) and the "Arabized Arabs" (musta`ribah) of North Arabia, descending from Adnan who is descended from Ishmael.
Religion
Most Arabs today follow the religion of Islam, whose greatest 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). Yazidis are sometimes counted as Arabs.
Images for kids
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The Namara inscription, an Arabic epitaph of Imru' al-Qais, son of "Amr, king of all the Arabs", inscribed in Nabataean script. Basalt, dated in 7 Kislul, 223, viz. 7 December 328 CE. Found at Nimreh in the Hauran (Southern Syria).
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Life-size bronze bust sculpture of historian Ibn Khaldun.
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Façade of Al Khazneh in Petra, Jordan, built by the Nabateans.
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The Near East in 565, showing the Lakhmids and their neighbors
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The Great Mosque of Kairouan in Kairouan, Tunisia was founded in 670 by the Arab general Uqba ibn Nafi; it is the oldest mosque in the Maghreb and represents an architectural testimony of the Arab conquest of North Africa
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The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, built in 715, is one of the oldest, largest and best preserved mosques in the world
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The Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, constructed during the reign of Abd al Malik
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Mustansiriya University in Baghdad
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Harun al-Rashid receiving a delegation sent by Charlemagne
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Soldiers of the Arab Army in the Arabian Desert carrying the Flag of the Arab Revolt
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The Near East in 565, showing the Ghassanids, Lakhmids, Kinda and Hejaz
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Arab tribes before the spread of Islam
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Post-card of Emir Mejhem ibn Meheid, chief of the Anaza tribe near Aleppo with his sons after being decorated with the Croix de Légion d'honneur on 20 September 1920
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Commander and Amir of Mascara, Banu Hilal
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Syrian immigrants in New York City, as depicted in 1895
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Amel Bent, a French-born Maghrebi pop singer
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The Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, the United States of America
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Bas-relief: Nemesis, Allāt and the dedicator
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The holiest place in Islam, the Kaaba in Al-Haram Mosque, is located in Mecca, the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia
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Aladdin flying away with two people, from the Arabian Nights, c. 1900
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Illustration from Kitab al-Aghani (Book of Songs), by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani. The 14th-century historian Ibn Khaldun called the Book of Songs the register of the Arabs.
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Mosaic and arabesque on a wall of the Myrtle court in Alhambra, Granada.
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Arabic miniature depicting Al-Harith from Maqamat of al-Hariri
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The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, built by Abd al Rahman I in 987
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Umm Kulthum was an internationally famous Egyptian singer.
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Al-Lat was the god of Arabs before Islam; It was found in Ta'if
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Averroes, founder of the Averroism school of philosophy, was influential in the rise of secular thought in Western Europe.
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Ibn Arabi, one of the most celebrated mystic-philosophers in Islamic history.
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Albategnius's Kitāb az-Zīj was one of the most influential books in medieval astronomy
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The Tabula Rogeriana, drawn by al-Idrisi for Roger II of Sicily in 1154, is one of the most advanced ancient world maps. Modern consolidation, created from the 70 double-page spreads of the original atlas.
![]() | Hypatia |
![]() | Agnodice |
![]() | Aglaonice |
![]() | Mary the Jewess |