Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
The Arabs live in medial regions of the world, and their role in history has been
people. In various history periods they experienced contact with the west, sometime
borrow from it and at others contributing to it, but at all times proceeding from a clear
sense of cultural identity. This was natural for a nation a rising in history bearing the
message of Islam, a central role in the formation of the Arab-Islamic civilization. The
cultural surrounding of the Arabs have been of great diversity; but while mutual
influences between cultures have been a common phenomenon, this has involved
neither the negative of diversity nor the effacement of sense of identity [1].
Arabs and Arab's history are deeply rooted in mankind history. With Arab's land
being is located in Arabian Peninsula as clearly mentioned in the Qur'an" The first
House built for people is the one in Mecca1," meaning the holy mosque built by
In the recent years Arabs are presented to the world in a very unrealistic way,
depicting them as terrorist, murderer, and uncivilized. The propaganda played by the
western media has played a very vital role to distort the Arabs image around the
globe, picturing them as desert niggers and Camel lovers. It is only fair to say that this
negative picture is meant for all Muslims in general and Arabs in particular. Well,
Arabs and Islam are two faces of the same coin. Arabs cannot be mentioned without
Islam, nor can Islam be mentioned without Arabs. It is true that not all Arabs are
1
The first image that jump to non Arab mind about Arabs is that, they lack the basic
means of the civilized world, but the truth is that Arabs origins extended far back into
antiquity, of the great old civilization, i.e. during the pharos rule, Arabs where known
as hyksos, where "hyk" means king and "sos" means desert, and as far as the
The idea of presenting this book is merely to give a glimpses for non Arabs of Arabs
roots, and history, to establish an idea of how Arab's life really is, and what kind of
people are they. It is not intended for this book to be history document or reference,
even though most of the facts stated are taken from books written either by Arab
authors or oriental historians. It is felt that most of the books are specialized books in
Arab's history and Arab's civilization, and the need arise for a quick reference for
those who want a quick information about the Arab's world. The book combines the
countries, and some enchanting information of some of the Arab's social life and
customs. A historical background is given to establish the idea of how far the Arabs
history goes, and then a brief of each Arab country is presented. A run over of some of
the Arabs contribution to the human Civilization is given, with emphasis on how this
knowledge affected the non Arabs world. Appendices also added for further reading.
It is fair to say that the information presented here in a simple language with some of
the Arabic terminology translated and the Arabic word is put between brackets. This
book is a simple effort to give the reader a fair a mount of information, and to
establish a bright picture a bout Arabs world in appose to the dark one presented by
2
For further reading please see Appendix (A)
3
For further reading please see Appendix (A)
2
With the Arabs world being the link between the east and the west civilizations, it has
its share of dramatic events that changed the face of the history of the Arabs nation.
From occupations by the Roman and the Persian empires in the past to the most recent
events that are circulating in the Arabs world. Arabs glory started to shine to the
world as a nation with the dawn of Islam. Islam resurrected Arabs from there
differences, and awakens them from their deep sleep. No religious in the world have
done to a nation a favor as what Islam has done for the Arabs. Islam has transferred
Arabs from small tribes fighting each other to an empire that extended from China in
There are no political motives presented in this book, and all examples of political
differences have been avoided for example, the reader will notice the use of the word
"Gulf" instead of saying Arabian/Persian Gulf. Even the geographical maps presented
3
1.1 WHO ARE ARABS?
Arab origins extend far back into history, but written references to them date back
only to a relatively late period (the ninth century BC). As for the Arabic linguistic
explanations of the word "Arab", these are later restatements of meaning that were
fixed for the term during the first three centuries After Immigration (Hijrah) (AH)4.
There is no clear historical reference that gives the origin of the name "Arab". With
some historian consider the name related to some old places like Araba in old
Palestine [1], other relate the name to the language spoken which is Arabic. It is
believed that the first man spoken the Arabic language was named (Amleeq- Areeb)
and that where the word "Arab" is taken, some Arab scholars have equated Joktan
with the ancient Arab patriarch Qahtan bin Yarub whose tribe is thought to have
There are modern interpretations that attempt to ascribe the word 'Arab' to ancient
west', 'sons of the south', 'people of the desert'. But such appellations refer only to the
location of certain 'Arab' groupings relative to the inhabitants of the cultivated areas,
or condition; hence, it is nothing more than sheer conjecture to cite them as ethnic
evidence [2].
The oldest written reference to the Arabs mention nomadic (Bedouin) or semi-settled
groups that, because of their presence astride the trade routes or the danger they posed
to the agrarian hinterlands, came into conflict with the Assyrians in the Syrian Desert
between the Euphrates and Al-Aqaba and the vicinity of Dumat Al-Jandal and Tayma.
It is worth noting that these inscriptions are Assyrian, dating from the ninth century
4
Muslim calendar begins with Prophet Muhammad flight to Medina in 622 because it marked the
founding of a separate Muslim community.
5
For further reading please see Appendix (A).
4
(853 B.C.) to the end of the seventh B.C. The groups are called by the names "Aribi",
It became clear that during the years, that Arab have started as a race, but later on
evolved to a nation with common Semitic language called "Arabic". This is also
evident from the Qur'an6 which says "and we brought an Arabic Qur'an," where here
the word "Arabic" clearly relate to the language. Ethnically, Arabs are mostly dark
haired with brown eyes, and medium light skin. But there are Arabs that are black,
and Arabs that are quite blond. These differences are regional, and a result of the
process described above. Moreover, the number of ethnically pure Arabs might be
Most Arabs are Muslims but there are also millions of Christian Arabs and thousands
of Jewish Arabs, just as there are Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Americans.
Assyrian inscriptions of the 9th century B.C. The name was subsequently applied to all
inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. From time to time Arab kingdoms arose on the
fringes of the desert, including the Nabataeans7 at Petra in southern Jordan in the 2nd
century B.C. and Palmyra in central Syria in the 3rd century A.D., but no great Arab
When reading historical works, one asks, where did the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the
Mesopotamians go? The answer is banal enough; they started to speak Arabic, and
calling themselves Arabs. The whole process took centuries in most regions, but in
areas close to Hijaz (now western Saudi Arabia), more of original Arabs seem to have
6
The physical entity of the Holy Qur'an as a book carries a sanctity and reverence as the direct
revelation of God (Allah) to the Prophet Muhammad. This revelation is set in 114 chapters
(Surah).Included within its pages are detail prescriptions of personal and social conduct covering such
things as moral standards, divorce, food, drink and the treatment of prisoners.
7
For further reading please see Appendix (A).
5
1.2 The Arab Home Land
The Arabian Peninsula8 was the original home of the Arab, and through its climate
and geographical location it both fashioned their natural environment and impressed a
created the first civilization in the fertile lands to the north. The language of those
who emigrated from the peninsula and those who stayed there has some common
roots and similarities [1]. This concept is documented by the Arab thinker, Al-Mas'udi
(A.H.345/956). He pointed out that the unity of origins and language in asserting that
one nation had inhabited Iraq, Syria and the Arabian Peninsula: the Assyrian,
Babylonian, Aramaen and the Arabian peoples, he maintained, were off-shoots from a
single nation (the Chaldaean). This nation had one tongue, and the languages that
evolved from it could actually be considered dialects of one language, Arabic being
Thus we see that the Arabian Peninsula was the cradle for the group of peoples that
emerged in the same natural environment, started out from the same linguistic origins
and, in spite of their dispersal and development, continued to bear the same linguistic
heritage. The Arabs were the last group to expand beyond the peninsula. But the
ethnic groups that emigrated obviously did not melt a way in either cultural or ethnic
terms; rather, they established early civilizations of their own. For their part, the Arabs
drove a way the invading peoples, overthrew their authority and founded an Arab-
Islamic civilization that embodied those that had preceded it. It was at that point in
8
Arabian Peninsula, 1,000,000 sq mi (2,590,000 sq km), SW Asia, containing the world's largest
known reserves of oil and natural gas. It is politically divided between Saudi Arabia (the largest and
most populous nation), Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. Jordan
and Iraq are to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and the Gulf to the east. Rugged mountains rising to
12,000 ft (3,700 m) in the southwest catch what little moisture is available, making the basin-shaped
interior of the peninsula one of the world's driest deserts, with less than 4 in. (10 cm) of precipitation
annually.
6
history that the peoples who had previously emigrated from the peninsula entered into
The Arab land geographical position between India and the Far East, on the one hand,
and the Mediterranean world and the West, on the other, placed astride the
international trade routes. This has a decisive influence on both the settled and
nomadic societies of the Arabs. It led, and is still doing, to extensive commercial
activity on the part of the Arabs, and to their domination of the transit trade. Arab land
was a hub for trades between the East and the West, and now plays a vital role in Oil
It was in the Arab land that the three monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity
and Islam were established, and thus began spreading throughout the world. Back
then; these faiths lived in harmony throughout the centuries in the Arab World, since
Three thousand years ago David conquered the city of Jerusalem and established the
Two thousand years ago, Jesus walked the streets of Jerusalem to preach the message
of peace to the world, leaving the richest possible legacy of Christianity to mankind,
with its non-severable links to the site of the Last Supper, Via Dolorosa, Golgotha,
Calvary and the Resurrection. Indeed, it was just over nine hundred years ago that
Christian Europe marshaled its forces to reclaim Jerusalem in a Crusade that ruled it
Fourteen hundred years ago Prophet Muhammad preached the word of Islam,
as the first direction of prayer (qiblah), the ordination of the five daily prayers. In
Moslem tradition, it is to Jerusalem that he took his nocturnal journey (Al Isra) and
7
from the Rock, which is housed at the Dome of the Rock, he ascended to Heaven
where he conversed with the prophets, Al Miraj. Muslims believe that the city is the
site of the Day of Judgment, and the place where the angels convene [6].
Now, Arabs form the bulk of the population of Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands,
Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and
8
1.3 FAMOUS ARAB TRIBES
According to the Arab genealogical works, the Arab race propagated itself in two lines
of descent: 'Adnan and Qahtan', both are the sons of Yarub. The genealogist point of
departure was that the primordial Arabs in the Arabian Peninsula- such tribes as Ad,
Thamud, Tasim, Jadis, Al Amaliqah, Jaharan I – were tribes that disappeared before
the rise of Islam. The sources contain nothing on the identity of these lost Arab tribes,
yet some of them were mentioned in the Qur'an as been destroyed by God wrath i.e.
Thamud and Ad. But the important point is that they were Arab, and indeed, were
primarily regarded as the primordial Arabs. The Arab view concentrates on the two
great ancestors of the Arabs and the two branches descended from them. The
descendent of Qahtan are called the "pure" Arabs (Al Ariba or Al arba), while the
[7]. The Qahtaniya are those Arabs who trace their roots back to the South-Western
corner of Arabia (Yemen), while the Adnaniya are the northern Arabs.
Saba' was considered the descendent of Qahtan and the father of Himyar and Kahlan,
the two main branches of the Yamanya. It is worth mentioning that the Sabaens, Maid
Himyar, and that the civilization of their kingdom was characterized collectively as
In the Islamic time the primary role was played by such scions of Kahlan as Tayyi,
Hamdhan, Al-azud and Madher. There was also Qudh'a, which played an important
part in early Islam. Tracing their descents from Qudh'a are a number of tribes i.e.
The northern Arabs trace their descent back to Ma'add the son of Adnan or to his
grand son Nizar. Mudhar and Rabi'a, the two sons of Nizar, became the starting points
9
for the two branches of the northern Arabs, while the descendant of Iyad died out
during the Islamic period. Qays "Aylan'" was considered one of the two main
branches of Mudhar, and include such Mudharite tribes as Hawazin, Sulaym, Thaqif,
and Amir ibn Sa'sa'a. as for the other branch of Mudhar, it included Tamim, Huyay,
and Kinana (and from Kinana, Quraysh, which is the tribe of Prophet Muhammad.).
From Rabi'a were traced the tribe of Abdul Qais, the Baker ibn Wail grouping and
Taghlib9.
The division of the Arabs into northern and southern tribes does not accurately
indicating that the Sabaeans came to Yemen from the north; and many Yemenite tribes
(such as Lakhm, Ghassan, Kinda, Al-Aws and Khazraj) migrated to the north in pre-
Islamic times, in particular to Syria. The division apparently goes back to the
perception among the tribes of their territories at some particular point in history.
It is further noted, that tribal genealogy does not necessarily imply that the tribe were
isolated from one another, each within its own genealogical framework. Indeed,
groups or individuals could, through alliance or clientage, gather under the banner of
a certain tribe and with the passage of time be included in that tribe genealogy [8].
As mentioned earlier, that when Islam came to Arabia, so many non Arab became
Muslims and they started speaking Arabic. Those people are called "Al Ajim", and
they referred to those whom their mother tongue was not Arabic. Since they didn't
belong to any Arab tribes, people use to call them by either their country of origin i.e.
Farsi, Afghani (Iran, Afghanistan) and so on. Some of them even been referred to by
their home town i.e. Asfahani, Khurasani (both towns are in Iran). There are also
other Arabs who kept their original names i.e. the Barbarian (AL Barabirah), in North
Africa, the Coptic (AL Aqbat) in Egypt, and the Kurds in northern Iraq.
9
Please see Appendix (B) for flowchart.
10
Most of the modern Arab tribes are either directly rooted to the main tribe or branched
out, were the branch is usually called (fakhydhah). The tribe name or last name is still
Arabic is a Semitic language, part of the family of languages that includes Hebrew,
Aramaic (the language of Jesus), Syriac and Ethiopic. Originally confined to the
northern part of Arabia its use spread during the spread of Islam to the whole region.
Many Arabic words are also found in many other languages like Farsi (Persian), Urdu,
and the languages of the Mediterranean and African countries. As a matter of fact
Swahili (the African Language) is made of Arabic, and Latin languages. Familiarity
with Arabic extends to the wider Muslim community in other parts of the world. Until
today the Arabic script is used with modifications in Farsi and Urdu. Other Fareast
Languages, Swahili, and Turks Language used to use Arabic script. They were
replaced by English letters upon the British colonialism. The languages that used
As the revelations of the holy Quran were revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad
in Arabic, the language has a sacred quality for Muslims. Arabic Language is the
There are significant differences between written and spoken Arabic. Written or so
called literary Arabic closely resembles the classical language which is enriched in the
Holy Qur'an. This is the Arabic used in newspapers, books, radio and T.V. broadcasts
and speeches. Classical Arabic has an extensive and highly descriptive vocabulary and
The spoken language on the other hand differs considerably from country to country,
each one having its own variations or dialect. Arab people always revert to the
11
literary or classical Arabic when they come from different dialect countries. Non
Arabs should always learn the classical Arabic since it's recognized every where.
Arabic script has a distinctive letter that is not found in any other language in the
world, that is the letter (dh). It is very difficult to translate this letter, which is why
There are good reasons for mastering a little Arabic. For anyone who is serious about
getting on with Arabs it gives an excellent impression. The Arabs are a ware of the
difficulties of their language and are therefore delighted when a foreigner makes the
effort to learn their language. Here is an offer of some of the basic rules of Arabic.
Pronunciation
All but a few Arabic letters or sounds have an equivalent in English but those which
Transliteration Pronounced as
Aa a in father
Ow ow in how
u~ u in put
Th th in the
Ch ch in Scottish
Gh r in French rue
Ei eye
Q a guttural k
Kh kh like in Ras Al Khaymah
'(apostrophe) a glottal stop
There is no P or V in Arabic and an Arab will substitute B and F respectively i.e. Peter
Double consonants should be given double emphasis. The definite article Al is linked
native pronounce the word and try imitating. Never be shy to ask "would you mind
saying that again? Arabs are used to a wide variety of accents from within the Arab
12
world. Don't take correction as a criticism- it will improve your fluency and will help
Basic Grammar
is written and there are no silent letters. Secondly, the rules of grammar tend to be
although it looks complicated, the script has a rational basis with only a few more
Tri-literal Roots
Arabic nouns, adjectives and verbs can be traced back to three or sometimes four
consonants. For example, the consonant K plus T plus B is the root for 'writing'. By
putting vowels and other consonants around this root in various combinations, it is
KaTab He wrote
KaTaBat She wrote
KaTaBoo They wrote
yaKTaB He will write
taKTaB She will write
KiTaaB A book
KaaTiB A clerk
maKTaB An office
maKTaBah A library
maKTooB A letter or it is written
Word Order
The word order in a sentence of literary Arabic is verb, subject, and object. In the
spoken language, however, the order is as in English - subject, verb, and object.
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pronounced ash-shams, whereas, al-qamar (the moon) is pronounced as it is. For this
reason it is called al ashamsyah and al al-qamaryah. So for the book you say al-kitab
Nouns
Nouns in Arabic are either masculine or feminine in gender. Nouns referring only to
females may be assumed to be feminine and so may most nouns ending in h (ha al
tanith) for example emra'ah means woman. Most other nouns will be masculine, for
example rajul means man. There are exceptions, of course, and theses simply need to
Numbers
Numbers in Arabic are not easy to grasp, but with practice it will become an easy
r
9 Tisa'ah 19 Tisat'ashar 100 Meeyah
22 Ithnan wa Ishreen
33 Thalathah wa Thalatheen
48 Thamanyah wa Arba'een
The word wa means and. So it is the opposite of English where the number 21 is
pronounced twenty one in English, whereas, in Arabic the one comes first so it is
14
Unlike words or sentences, numbers in Arabic are written from left to right. However,
groups of numbers such as dates are usually written from right to left.
A or An
object by using wahid (one). For example bint (girl), when standing on its own, means
Two
There is a special way of saying 'two' of anything in Arabic. This is known as 'dual'
(al-muthana) and is formed by adding the ending ayn (n) to the noun.e.g. bint means
'one girl' bintan if subject or bintayn if object means 'two girls'. Same for walid means
Numbers 3 to 10
From 3 to 10 the accompany noun is in the plural but from eleven onwards it is in the
singular, e.g.
Twenty percent is rendered as 'twenty in (a) hundred' i.e. Ishreen bil meeyah.
Fractions
The basic fractions that one might need are the following:
A half Nuss
A quarter Rub'a
A third Thu'lth
Plurals
As explained previously, there are three kinds of quantity in Arabic-the singular, the
dual, and the plurals or sound plurals. The broken plurals are not formed on one
particular pattern but are nevertheless variants of the singular and are best learnt by
15
Singular bint (girl) Plural banat (girls)
Singular bayt (house) Plural booyoot (houses)
Sound plurals if they are feminine and end in h form the plural by adding aat.
And masculine nouns referring to people form their plural simply by adding oon if
Singular Muslim
Adjectives
Adjectives follow their noun. If the noun carries the definite article then so does the
adjective, i.e.
Notice that adjective has to agree with noun in gender, and so does in numbers.
However, when the noun is referring to plural 'things' or 'animals' then the adjective is
Arabic has only two tenses- one denoting completed action, and the other incomplete
action. In simple terms this means a past tense and a [resent tense. The present tense is
16
Katab = He wrote (past)
The verb 'to be' does not exist in the present tense. For example:
In colloquial Arabic, 'there is' and 'there are' are translated by the word fee, followed
'there was' and 'there were' are translated by the words kaan fee.
He was = kaan
I was = kunt
He will be = yakoon
I will be = akoon
Simple regular verbs in Arabic consist of root of three consonants and when an Arab
the person wants to emphasis the subject by clearly mentioning the pronoun i.e.
17
The Present and Future Tense
This is formed with a prefix (and sometimes also a suffix) to the modified root and by
The Imperative
The Negative
Personal Pronouns
18
bayt + na = our house
When a noun has a feminine ending h, then t is put in front of the suffix:
ghorfah + t + ee
The object of a verb is also denoted by using the same suffix, with the exception that
ee becomes nee:
To Have
This is expressed in arabic by adding the same suffix to the word eind. For example:
But there is a special rule of Possession in Arabic called the construct state: ' the car of
The definite article is dropped from the first word and 'of' is understood. Names are
Questions
The complicated appearance of the Arabic script always tends to drive people away
from learning the language. But it is not that difficult if one analyze it.
Arabic script is written from right to left and is cursive, meaning that most of the
19
There are twenty eight characters of the Arabic alphabet; some people consider them
twenty nine if hamzah is added as a letter. All but three have an equivalent sound in
English. There are no capital letters in Arabic. Each letter has a slight different form
depending on its position in a word, but the basic characteristic of the letter is
Letter
أ Alif A as in apple
ب Ba B as in ball
ت Ta T as in top
ث Tha Th as in thin
ج Jeem J as in job
ح Ha(hard from the throat) H as in hoot
خ Kha(full mouth) Kh as in loch
د Dal D as in day
ذ Dhal Th as in then
ر Ra R rolled as in roar
ز Za Z as in zebra
س Seen S as in sit
ش Sheen Sh as in shine
ص Sa'ad S as in sword
ض Dha'ad Dh as in dhahar (noon) with emphsis
ط Ta'a(more emphasis on t) T as in taught w/emphasis
ظ Dha Th as in then w/emphasis
ع 'ein Like glottal stop
غ Ghein Like the r in French 'rue'
ف Fa F as in feed
ق Qaaf C as in caught
ك Kaaf K as in kite
ل Lam L as in let
م Meem M as in meet
ن Noon N as in net
ه Ha(soft) H as in hear
و Wow W as in well
ي Ya Y as in yet
1.5 Islam
Islam is all-pervasive in Arabia. A visitor who knows nothing of Islam will find it
difficult to understand the Arab society one has come across, since its teaching govern
all aspects of daily life. The Arabic meaning of the word Islam is "submission to the
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will of Allah (God)". Thus Muslim is one who submits. Islam consists of three main
elements. The first and most important is faith and belief in God and in the fact that
Muhammad is his prophet, the last in the line of prophets, through whom the
definitive revelation was made. These central beliefs are repeated five times a day in
the call to prayer. The second element is a respect for the rites of worship and the
revealed law (known as ash-shari'ah). The holy Qur'an, the record of God revelation
through the prophet Muhammad, is the primary source of these obligations, but is
supplemented as a source of law by the saying of the prophet (the Hadith), which are
collection of reports of the deeds and saying of the prophet Muhammad. Finally,
Islam imposes an obligation of virtue and excellence in the way the Muslim leads his
La Illah ila Allah. Muhammad Rasool Allah! = there is no God but one God (and)
The holly Qur'an occupies a very different place in Islam from that of the Bible in
Christianity. For one thing, it produces the very word of God as spoken in Arabic
through the prophet Muhammad. When it was reveled to the prophet, the Arabic
language was at its most strong proficiency, and Began Arabs used to brag by the
powerful strength of their language. That is way when the Qur'an used to be reveled
to the prophet, the non believers used to listen to it. It is stated in the Qur'an that God
has challenged the Began to make a chapter (surah) like the one in the Qur'an, and
they couldn't. Then God challenged them to make a verse (ayah) and they failed. Then
the ultimate challenge was to bring a word like the Qur'an and they were mystified. It
is agreed by Arab Muslims that the Qur'an is the most powerful and most beautiful
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work in the Arabic language, affecting readers and listeners with the power of its
Any copy of the holly Qur'an is treated with admiration and great respect; non-
Muslims should not handle one without permission, and will give offence if they
Arabs use phrases from the Qur'an in their every day life in their speech. Perhaps the
best known is the expression " In sha' Allah"- if God wills- which is usually added to
the expression of any future intention. This is not just a formulaic religious sentiment;
the Muslim believes that it is necessary qualifications of his intention. In the Qur'an it
says "and don't say that I will do so tomorrow unless God wills". To show the respect,
one should return back the same phrase " In sha' Allah" to the person speaking to him.
A feature of Islam which will be evident to the visitor of the Arab World is the extent
to which so many aspects of daily life are regulated by precise directions. These
directions stem from the Qur'an and the prophet way (al-Sunah), and are therefore not
changeable. Whereas, Christianity sets out general moral principles against which
actions may be judged, and the law in Christian society may be amended as
circumstances change, Islam and the shariah may not be altered. So the law of
shariah tell a Muslim precisely how and when to worship; they cover eating and
drinking; marriage, divorce and inheritance; they define honorable behavior and
stipulate how a person should act towards the poor, prisoners and orphans; they lay
down penalties for crimes; they govern tax, capital and the return on capital; and
many things besides. To unfamiliar person, this may appear as odd restrictive system,
but to the Muslims their unchanging nature gives them comfortable feeling that they
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There are five mandatory acts required to be performed by every faithful Muslim:
2- Prayers (as-salah)
3- Almsgiving (Zakat)
To testify the unity of God and that Muhammad is his messenger. Person embracing
Islam should say "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is
his messenger". Who ever recite these words is declared a Muslim, and he/she should
2- Prayers
To Muslim prayers are the ways to connect and communicate with the creator. Prayers
are not merely physical actions, but they are physical and spiritual deeds. A Muslim is
required to pray five times a day at the following times: at dawn, at noon, in late
Worship is preceded by ablutions when the worshipper washes his head, arms and feet
with water. If no water is available, for example in the desert, then a symbolic
ablution is performed with sand called (tayamum). The prayer must be said facing the
direction of Makkah. The prayer consists between two and four sections, with a
bowing, and with the forehead touching the ground. When the prayer was first
ordered to Prophet Muhammad by God, he was ordered to face the holly Mosque in
Jerusalem. That is why Muslims call the Jerusalem Mosque the First Direction (ula
23
The mosque (masjid- a place of prostration) is the place of public prayers. Although
worshipper may also pray wherever he happens to be the time of the prayer provided
the place is clean and relatively undisturbed, unlike Christianity where prayer must be
performed in the Church. The visitor to the Arab world should not be surprised when
he/she sees prayers being performed in offices, in the airport lounge, on aircraft or on
the street. This is normal practice. One has to be cautious not to walk in front of
someone in prayer or take special notice of them. Women shouldn't pray when they
The call to the prayer is chanted by the Mu'athen from the mosque. The call is as
follow:
I bear witness (testify) that there is no God but Allah! (said twice)
I bear witness (testify) that Muhammad is the messenger of God! (said twice)
4- Hayy ala-as-salah!
5- Hay ala-al-falah!
24
Upon entering the mosque, Muslims remove their shoes, keep their head covered
(optional) and perform a minor ablution (wudoo) before prayer. Inside the mosque
there is a niche (mihrab) in one wall which indicates the direction of the holy city of
Makkah. In big mosques (ja'ma) there is also a pulpit (minbar) from which the oration
The mosque is attended mainly by men. Women either pray at home or use the special
3- Almsgiving
Each year, all capable Muslims must pay zakat to help the poor. This is traditionally a
fixed proportion of the savings that exceeds the basic sum of approximately $700,one
4- Fasting
Each year throughout the holy month of Ramadhan, the ninth month in the Muslim
calendar, Muslims observe a fast (by the Gregorian calendar the month of Ramadhan
moves forward eleven or twelve days each year). The fast commemorates the month
of the revelation of the first verses of the Holy Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad and
the victory of the Muslims over the Began of Makkah at the battle of Bader in AD
624. Between sunrise and sunset the Muslim abstains from food, drink and all
pleasurable pursuits.
Anon- Muslim visiting an Arab country during Ramadhan should not eat, drink or
After sunset the fast is broken with substantial meal. Ramadhan ends with a festival
called Eid Al- Fitar. Muslims wear their finest clothes and gather for prayer after the
sunrise, after which they celebrate with visits to each other's houses and hold feasts.
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It is obligatory for every Muslim once in his lifetime, provided that he can afford it
financially and his health permits, to make the pilgrimage to Makkah. This takes place
For the pilgrimage, the male Muslim exchanges his normal dress for two plain
unstitched sheets of white cloth. This demonstrate that Muslim give away every thing
for the sake of their faith and also show the unity in which all Muslims are equal
before God. There is no difference between rich and poor. Women are not required to
change their dresses. On arrival in Makkah the person performs various ceremonies.
One must first circle the Kaabah seven times in counter clock wise direction. The
Kaabah, an immense stone cube shrouded in black cloth with the sacred Black Stone
in one corner, is situated in the middle of the Great Mosque in Makkah. It is the most
important shrine in Islam. The pilgrim then perform seven times journey between two
small hills called Al-safa wa Al-Maruah, acting out the frantic search of Abraham's
The mount of mercy in the plain of Arafat is the next stop for the pilgrim, where
he/she stands and meditates from midday to just before sunset. Finally, the pilgrim
goes to Mina to carry out the stoning of the three pillars, an act symbolic of the
The pilgrimage ends with the most important of all Muslims festivals- Eid Al Adha, or
feast of Sacrifice. This is celebrated in the same way as the Eid Al-Fitar except that in
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The official start of the Muslim era is the year of the migration (Hijrah) in AD 622
preaching God's message in Makkah. The Muslim calendar begins on the day after
this flight. The Muslim year is based on twelve lunar moths. These lunar months are
shorter than the months of the Gregorian calendar and overall the year is shorter by
around eleven days. This calendar is used today to mark the religious occasions i.e.
1- Muharam
2- Safar
3- Rabee Al-Awal
4- Rabee Al-Thanee
5- Jumada Al Awal
6- Jumada Al-Thanee
7- Rajab
8- Shaban
9- Ramadhan
10- Shawaal
1- As-Sabat
2- Al- Ahad
3- Al-Ithnain
4- Al- Thalaatha
5- Al-Arba'a
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6- Al-Khamees
7- Al- Juma'ah
Although the Arabs are increasingly aware of western culture through the media and
through frequent travels to the west, there is a strong desire to protect the Arab and
Islamic culture. The traditional Arab values of honorable behavior, courtesy and
unfailing hospitality survive. Honoring ones word, loyalty to the family, respect for
age, and the care of the poor continues to be a major influence on an Arab's way of
life. Arabs are by tradition a very proud and dignified people; status, influence and
appearance matter.
Although most Arabs are modest, they do not admire those who fail to exercise their
authority or honor, family or faith, however light-hearted, could well cause offence.
Conscious of recent history and the considerable influence wielded by the Western
powers in the region, the Arabs are not unnaturally sensitive to anything which could
be dealt with fairly and on equal terms. Even though their customs might vary from
one Arab country to another, but the values remain the same. The following are
examples of these values and customs that are still in existence and practiced by those
Arabs are distinguished by being friendly, courteous and hospitable. They set great
store by personal relationships. The custom of greeting, shaking hands and asking
28
after someone's health is more than formality. The quires are often searching and
evidence a genuine desire to know of one's well-being and that of one's family. The
Arab's world. Whereas, in the West a friendship may develop from a successful
business deal, in the Arab world the reverse is true. The degree of success in
establishing a rapport depends on one's character, but someone who is polite and
sensitive, straightforward and open is likely to succeed. Perhaps the single most
The special situation with regard to women in the Arab world is one of the most
difficult for a foreigner to judge what they see by their own standards. They would do
well to remind themselves that they are dealing with a different culture and moral
Women in the Arab world are not judged inferior to men. That may have been the case
before Islam but an important aspect of the Muslim faith is that the rights of women
are protected. Now day's Arab women play increasingly important role in private and
public life. The seclusion of women varies from one country to another. Countries that
still follow the strict Arabian traditions, then seclusion are strong.
Arab women are not seen by strange visitors, and when appearing in public, it is
commonplace to see women wearing the traditional long clock (abaya) and the head
scarf (hijab). Women pray separately from men. Yet, in many Arab counties, one may
find that woman, apparently behaving very much as they were in the west, wearing
western clothes, and driving cars. Arab women may own property, inherit goods, and
money and a wife's individual possession are always protected- she does not have to
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It is less well known that even in the most conservative of households women are
often the power behind the throne, that although marriages are often arranged, the
bride is still free to decline to marry someone if she wishes. What ever happens,
women can usually find out a lot about her future husband before decision on
marriage is taken and modern reforms have secured the eradication of any
Modern Arab women have traveled further a field and are better informed through
newspapers, radio, T.V. and western movies. The most significant advancement in the
recent years, as with men, has been in education. Women are now able to play an
increasingly vital role in society in a variety of profession. They are women teachers,
medicine doctors, broadcasters, and even engineers. There are also a number of highly
successful Arab businesswomen, and lawyers, and other have risen to the highest
2.4 Marriage
Marriage in Arabia is like all other Muslims affairs dictated by the Islamic law. A
Muslim Arab can only marry a Muslim woman, or a woman of the people of the book
namely, Christian and Jews. A female Muslim can only marry male Muslim, she is not
allowed to marry non-Muslims. The reason is that children usually follow the foot
steps of their father, so if the father is non-Muslim there is a big chance that the
children will embrace the idealism of their father and vice versa. A male Muslim can
marry four women at one time, whereas, a female can only marry one man at a time.
This also attributed that men are more vulnerable to commit an affairs then women,
and since adultery is considered a capital crime in Islam with death punishment, men
are urged to get married legally. But the multiple marriages are only possible
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providing that the husband can be just to all his wives. He has to distribute his wealth
and time equally among them. So if he buys a house for one, he will have to buy the
same for the rest of them. The justice goes as far as; he should not love one woman
more then the others. That is why multiple marriages are not common any more. Of
course woman can only marry one man at a time since woman is the one responsible
for bringing kids, so multiple marriages might create confusion on whose children are
who. Divorce is always at the authority of the man, but women can ask the court for
divorce if she can justify the case. When a Muslim woman is divorced she dose not
take half of the husband owning, but some amount of money that the two couple has
agreed on in the beginning of their marriage and it is called late dowry (muakher
sadaq).
Marriage in the old days used to be arranged where the pride and the groom never see
each other until the wedding days. This custom has vanished and a woman can either
agree or disagree to a certain proposed groom. As a matter of fact, there are couple of
rules that has to be accomplished before any marriage can be announced. These rules
include; the guardian agreement, the pride agreement, witnesses, and finally the
illegal. Of course there are those who might tolerate some of the rules like the
agreement of the guardian, but others are a must. The dowry can be any thing, not
necessary money, but money is preferred to cover some of the wedding expenses. The
dowry is given to the pride and she alone has the right to spend it.
The wedding ceremony differs from one to another, but most of them agree on certain
symbolic celebrations. There usually two occasions, the writing of the book, the
engagement, (katib Al-ktitab) and the wedding night (lailate Al-Dukhalah). The first
one is more of marriage authentications where the religious man announce the
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marriage in front of the witnesses and some people follow it with small feast for male
attendance. Women celebrate this occasion by taken the dowry to the pride, singing
and dancing and chanting all kind of prayers that the two wedded should be blessed.
Men don’t mingle in women's party. For the later occasion, people are invited to a big
feast at the groom expenses, those who are financially capable can run celebrations
for several days, with singers and dancers performing in public. For the groom and
pride on this night there are different customs for different countries, these ceremonies
can even be different within each country itself. Non-Arab should ask what is the
custom followed where he/she is located. In some countries the pride is taken to the
groom house in a convoy accompanied by some of her close relatives or friends, who
will spend some time with the pride until she settled down. Whereas, in other cultures
it is the opposite way, the groom is taken in convoy to stay with the pride family for at
least a week. That way the pride will be more relaxed and get to know her new mate
before she moves in with him. Even though marriage is not arranged, usually Muslims
are not allowed to date so the pride and the groom can spend time with each other
only after the engagement. Nowadays, people celebrate in hotels and some of them
they can have both men and women at the same party, which is why an inquiry from
foreigner to his host is a must. Gifts are usually given to the pride, but some gifts can
be offered to the couples after the wedding. Non-Arabs are advised to observe and see
the ritual conducted and not get carried a way by participating unless invited. The
wedding night is called the night of the life time (lailate Al-Umar) so that is why most
Arab insists on marking this occasion passionately, and they usually get irritated when
things don't go the way they plan. So if invited, and this is your first time, ask as many
questions as you can; ask about the location; is it separate party for men and women;
what type of dress; can you bring a friend along; and how long should you stay. The
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last one is very important, because Arabs will never ask a visitor to leave, so you
should know the leaving time or else see when other people start to leave and follow
The traditional Arab male dress is a long loose garment called variously a thobe or
dishdasha. This dress is made of fine white cotton which in summer it is ideally suited
for the desert hot climate. In countries with cold winter the dress is with heavier
weave and maybe augmented by brown or black cloak (bisht) or sometime with jacket
or over coat. In the Arab Gulf countries, a head cloth (ghutra or shemagh) is also
worn tightly round the head or piled high like turban. The most common headgear in
Oman and some Arab African countries however, is a small round woven cap (qubba
2.6 Children
Arabs adore children and used to brag by the number of the kids each father can bring
to this life. In the past, when the strive for living was the most concern of Arab tribes,
men used to be very happy when they know that the new born is a baby boy. A man
used to be an added benefit to the clan, whereas, women are more of a burden to the
tribe then blessing. Women can't defend the tribe from the invaders, can't graze a herd
of camels, and can't be a head of tribe (Sheikh). Moreover, women can be taken as a
prisoner of war and they get raped and bring disgraces to the whole tribe. That is why
before Islam, Arab used to jump with joy when they know that the new comer is a
boy, and their faces darken and frowns when they know that the newly born is a girl.
Some of them used to go to the extreme of burying their infant girl a live, so to
abolish the shame and disgrace that has struck the family and to avoid mockery.
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Islam came as a salvation to women, and changed all the old customs. Women
became a very welcome part of the family, and treated as a human being rather than a
devil. Men and women are the same in front of the creator, and they are being judged
by their deeds rather than by their sex. As mentioned earlier, women now play
There is another tricky customs that non Arabs find odd to understand and that is
circumcision. Male circumcision is a must for all boys born into the Islamic faith. In
the recent past, boys were circumcised outside hospitals, either by a religious men or
even Gypsies who knew the trade. Great celebration used to take place after the
circumcisions were done, the feast with singer and dancers. People considered it as a
celebration of cleansing, for both the body and the sole. Nowadays, these rituals are
As far as female is concerned, circumcision was practiced until very recently. It is not
more of tradition then religious ritual. In the past when girls were around six to eight
years old, the tip of the clitoral was snipped of by a known midwife and this practice
is kept very secretly not like the case of boys. With the recent education, young
Arabs in the old time make two celebrations for the newly born, one after the child
birth called Aqeeqah and the other one when the child complete one year old and in
some countries it is called Hol Hol where the word Hol means year. After forty days
of the child birth it is customary to shave his/ her head and the hair is weighted, with
Nowadays, Arabs celebrate birthdays just like the west, every year with cake, candles,
and gifts.
34
A child disciplinary in Arabia is always connected to the faith of Islam. There is a
well known saying among Arabs that "spoil them for seven years, teach them and be
firm with them for the next seven years, and be their friend for the last seven years
then leave them when they are twenty one and they will always be on the straight
path". This way of raising kids has been very successful especially for teenagers
where they really need a companion to show them the right path and a guardian to
make them void sliding in the wrong doing. Unfortunately, with the globalization of
the word this way is becoming very difficult to adhere to, since every thing is
available at all time, and the line of distinction between the allowed and forbidden has
Whenever you greet or take leave of someone always shake hands and only with the
right hand, left hand is considered unclean since it is used for ablution. On entering a
room full of people, there are two ways to go a bout. If the gathering is small, like
small lunch invitation, then start with the host. Otherwise, in big gathering, like
paying condolences on someone's death, always start with the right of your entrance
and shake hands with all attendance. Once an Arab feels he knows you do not be
One exception to the rule of shaking hands is that it is not normal for a foreign person
to shake the hand of an Arab woman unless she follows the western custom and
specifically offers it. Also don't be offended if a person offered the back of his hand to
35
shake your hand. Arabs can't refuse to shake hand under any circumstances, so if ones
hand is wet or carrying some thing, he will offer the back of his hand.
2.8 Greeting
It is particularly important to give a person on whom you are calling his correct name
and title. Although Arabs are only too conscious of the difficulties of their language
and will almost certainly greet you in English, you may sometimes gain kudos if you
are able to master one or two of the basic pleasantries in Arabic. Most common
observed no matter how frequently you meet someone or talk on the phone. Even if
you ring an Arab say, twice in one hour it is still considered important to ask how he
is before mentioning the subject of your call. Enquires about the family are restricted
to the collective family and children. Because of the greater privacy accorded to
women in the Arab world one should never enquire after an Arab's wife, unless you or
A common customary word used very often in Arab land is "Tafuddal ". The meaning
of the word cannot be exactly translated into English but is the term used when
36
offering a seat, ushering someone through a doorway or handing over something.
Literally translated it means ' be pleased to' or 'be so good as to' (go first). When
entering a crowded room the seat will probably be on the immediate right or left of
your host and this position is usually reserved for the most important visitors. When
someone else arrives you should stand up, shake hands with the newcomer and be
prepared to vacate your seat for him. Watch your host and take your lead from him.
A traditional custom in the Arab world is still observed today to avoid presenting the
sole of your foot directly at another person. The sole of the foot was traditionally
considered unclean and this used to mean, and still in some countries, that you
intentionally insulting that person. So to be on the safe side it is advisable to sit with
both feet on the floor and not to cross your legs unless your host does so and even
then to avoid presenting your sole directly to him. If you are fortunate enough to be
invited to an Arab meal sitting on the floor the same rule applies. Shoes are removed
and the soles of the feet tucked in underneath or kept behind you.
2.10 Refreshments
When one visit an Arab he will invariably offer this person a refreshment, normally
tea or coffee. Usually coffee is served with either fresh dates (palm tree fruit) or dry
dates. It is usual to wait for this refreshment to arrive before mentioning the purpose
dispense with such formalities and start talking seriously as soon as greeting have
been exchanged. Your host's manner and comportment will usually tell you what type
of person he is. If he abides by the traditional customs, the initial greeting will be
37
You can be offered a variety of non-alcoholic refreshments. In many places in the
region you will still be offered Arab coffee (qahwa) in Bedu tradition. It would be
impolite to refuse. Arab coffee is pale, bitter and often flavored with cardamom,
saffron, and some other spices. A small amount is poured from a long spouted brass
coffee pot into a small handless cups (finjan) which should be taken in the right hand,
even if you are left-handed. Only the right hand should be used when drinking, eating
or offering any thing to another person (even for waving welcome). Drink as many as
you like but not a lot more than your host or others present. Two or three is usual.
The signal to show that you have had enough is to give the cup a quick twist or shake
when handing it back. If it is handed back without doing this the server will simply
continue to refill it. It is not done to say that you have had sufficient- just indicate by
shaking the cup. You could also be offered thick, strong , Turkish coffee (in a small
cup) after being asked whether you take it without sugar, medium or sweet .Turkish
coffee should be sipped, being careful to leave the thick coffee grounds in the bottom
of the cup. Another refreshment offered is tea in the Arab style which is sweet,
2.11 Communication
Many Arabs can speak good English now days, yet as a general rule one should bear
Make due allowance for a limited knowledge of English. A limited vocabulary may
make a person's meaning obscure. If you are in any doubt it is prudent to rephrase it
also make a phrase sound unintentionally rude. An example of this can be seen when a
custom official at the airport says to you ' Give passport!' because those are the only
38
Use simple English. One has to realize that he/she are in a foreign land, speaking
English a second language. So use short sentences rather than long ones for additional
clarity.
Avoid discussing politics, religion and women. These are delicate and often emotive
subjects. For example refer to the Gulf and not the Persian Gulf. Respect Islam but
don't be tempted to comment on it. Finally, women in the Arab world enjoy an
altogether more secluded position than in many other cultures and a male visitor
Be careful with Arab sense of humor. Arabs have a great sense of fun. Do not be
afraid to show that you have a sense of humor, but as mentioned earlier avoid the
sensitive topics. Here is an example; An Arab Sheikh who, in the early days of the
development of the Arabian Peninsula States, asked a British official to send him an
'expert'. The British official readily agreed but asked what the expert specialization
was to be. The Sheikh replied that he did not want the official to invent problems, just
to provide him with an expert." Right, Your Highness!' said the British official and
took his leave. As he reached the door, the Sheikh called out," And another thing, let
him have only one arm." "Only one arm, Your highness?" queried the official. 'Yes,"
said the Sheikh, "I want none of this,' on the one hand…. and on the other hand'!"
Sometimes when an Arab says 'thank you' he means ' No', for example when replying
to an offer of refreshment, etc. this works in much the same way as merci used in
French. If you wish to accept when something is offered simply say 'Yes'.
Whereas Arabs love horses, and hawks, and have a great respect for camels, dogs are
39
way indicating that Arab hate dogs, or mistreat them. The following are examples of
these animals:
Camels
Domesticated thousands of years ago by frankincense traders, who trained the gangly
cud-chewer to make the long and arduous journey from southern Arabia to the
northern regions of the Middle East, the camel went on to become the desert dweller's
primary source of transport, shade, milk, meat, wool and hides. The Bedouin name the
camel as the gift of God (Ata Allah), most Arab nickname the camel as the desert ship.
Camels have the reputation of being bad-tempered and obstinate creatures that spit
and kick. In reality, they tend to be good-tempered, patient and intelligent. The
moaning and bawling sound they make when they're loaded up and have to rise to
their feet is like the grunting and heavy breathing of a weight-lifter in action, not a
Camels need very little water if their regular diet contains good, moisture-rich pasture.
Although camels can withstand severe dehydration, a large animal can drink as much
as 100 litres/21 gallons in ten minutes. Such an amount would kill another mammal,
but the camel's unique metabolism enables the animal to store the water in its
bloodstream.
Horses
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Another important animal in Arabia is the horse. It was used for transportation, for
The Arabian horse is thought to be the most beautiful and the fastest of all the horses.
(All thoroughbred race horses are from Arabian horses.) Horses were also ridden on
trips. However, horses couldn't travel well in the desert. They couldn't go very long
without water so the camel was the most prized animal for long distance
transportation.
Donkeys
The donkey is a humble "beast of burden" - one that works throughout its life. In
Middle Eastern poetry the donkey is praised for his suffering to help man, and is often
Donkeys were used for carrying heavy loads a short distance and were cheaper to
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Sheep and Goats
Sheep and goats were important for food (milk and meat) and for hides and wool used
to make clothing. Until today, people raise these animals for domestic consumption,
A. The Onager: Hunted into Extinction! The onager, or "wild ass", lived in great
numbers in the dry grassy plains of Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq. Because
42
of its speed and ability to withstand the worst conditions of the deserts, onagers
continued to live in large numbers even though hunters enjoyed shooting this game
animal with bow and arrows or killing them with spears. It was found in large
numbers in the Middle East for thousands of years and it is mentioned in the Qur'an.
But it had almost disappeared by the middle of the nineteenth century. A few lived on
in Iraq and southeast Jordan until early this century, but now these are gone as well. It
was the invention of guns and automobiles that enabled hunters to destroy this
beautiful animal.
B. "The Oryx: On the Verge of Extinction": The Oryx, or Arabian antelope, was
extinct in the wild in the 1970s, but a herd was being raised on a farm. A herd of these
animals was recently "reintroduced" to the plains and they are doing well back in their
natural environment.
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• Eating of certain animals is forbidden to Muslims in the Qur'an:
o All carnivorous (meat eating) animals and birds, e.g. lions, tigers,
vultures, eagles
o Any animal that has died due to natural causes, killed by some wild
Arab names can be complicated to spell and may be transliterated from Arabic into
English in a number of ways. The best solution is to use the version written by the
Arab himself, i.e. on his card or letter heading. Note that two names may sound the
same but there might be slight, but important differences: Mohammed is different
from Mahmood, Maajid different from Majeed, and Saleem different from Saalim. In
Arab names usually consist of three names – the individual's name followed by that of
their father and grandfather or possibly the family or tribe name. The names are
sometime linked by bin or ibn meaning ' son of' or, in the case of a woman, by bint,
meaning ' daughter of '. For example, a man's full name might be Mazin Hamed Ali
AlRashidi or Mazin bin Hamed bin Ali Al Rashidi, with the last name is the name of
the tribe. His sister in the same way would be called Wisal bint Hamed bin Ali Al
Rashidi. Arab Muslim women do not use their husband name rather they keep their
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There are so many holidays in Arab Countries, but the most notable ones are two
The first one comes after the fasting month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Arabic
Abraham had for his son, and it is held at the same time that Muslim perform the
ritual of pilgrimage to Mecca, on the tenth day of the twelve month (Th'u Al Hijah) of
The Arab World consists of 22 countries in the Middle East10 and North Africa:
Algeria, Bahrain, the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya,
Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria,
Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Iran and Turkey are not Arab countries
Arab countries have a rich diversity of ethnic, linguistic, and religious communities.
These include Kurds, Armenians, Berbers and others. There are over 200 million
Arabs.
10
See Appendix (A) for further information.
45
Since 1945 most Arab countries have joined the Arab League. Several of these
countries control two thirds of the world's oil reserves and are members of
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Since 1948 disputes with the
46
(E), and Niger and Mali (S).
The principal cities are Algiers (the capital) and Oran. The Atlas Mountains divide
northern Algeria into a coastal lowland strip (the Tell) and a semiarid plateau. In the
south is the much larger, but arid and sparsely populated, Saharan region; Algeria's
highest point, Mountain Tahat (9,541 ft/2,908 m), in the Ahaggar Mountains, is
located here.
The earliest known inhabitants of the region that is now Algeria were Berber-speaking
nomads, who were settled there by the 2nd millennium B.C. As Numidia, it became (9th
century B.C.) a province of Carthage and then (106 B.C.) of Rome; during the
Christian era, Saint was bishop at Hippo (now Annaba). With Rome's decline in the
5th century, A.D., Algeria was conquered by the Vandals (430–31), the Byzantine
Empire (6th century), and finally, in the late 7th and early 8th century, by the Arabs,
whose introduction of Islam profoundly altered the character of the area. Spain
captured the coastal cities in the 15th century, but was expelled (middle16th century)
with the help of the Ottoman Turks, who assumed control. During this period the
Algerian coast was a stronghold of pirates and a center of the slave trade. France
invaded Algeria in 1830 and declared it a colony in 1848. Europeans began to arrive
in large numbers, dominating the government and the economy, and leaving the native
began to develop after World War I, and a war for independence, led by the National
Liberation Front (FLN), broke out in 1954. After more than seven years of bitter
fighting, in which at least 100,000 Muslim and 10,000 French soldiers were killed,
Algeria became independent on July 3, 1962. Since independence, Algeria has been a
prominent nonaligned state and a champion of the movements against white minority
47
rule in Africa. It also has supported the protracted struggle of the Polisario Front for
Ahmed Ben Bella, prime minister and then president of Algeria after independence,
Chadli Benjedid succeeded (1979) him as president. Riots in 1988 led President
Benjedid to reduce the role of the state economically and of the FLN politically. After
Islamic fundamentalists won 42% of the seats in the first round of parliamentary
elections in December 1991, the army forced Benjedid to resign (1992) and canceled
the election. A civilian-led state council was installed, but real power resided with the
army. The fundamentalist party was banned and its leaders arrested. Fundamentalists
launched a guerrilla insurrection, and Algeria was torn by violence from both sides. In
1994 General Liamine Zeroual, the defense minister, was appointed president,
replacing the state council; he won a presidential election the following year. Zeroual
resigned early in 1999 and presidential elections held in April, 1999, were won by
candidates had withdrawn before the vote. One of the main guerrilla groups
renounced its struggle against the government in June 1999; however, other groups
continued to wage war. By middle1999, 100,000 people had been killed in the
violence and repression that began in 1992. Under an amnesty approved in September
1999, 80% of the Islamic guerrillas surrendered to the government by the middle of
January, 2000 deadline, and the violence has since greatly diminished. The easing of
the fighting has brought such issues as government corruption and widespread
poverty and unemployment (estimated at 30%) to the fore. In addition, in 2001 there
were large demonstrations and clashes with police by Berbers, who remained deeply
unhappy about Arabic’s status as the sole national language, a policy that was
48
reversed the following year. Berber protests also sparked demonstrations against the
2002, were boycotted by a number of major opposition parties and many voters, and
the FLN won more than half the seats. French president Jacques Chirac made a state
visit to Algeria in March, 2003; it was the first such visit since Algerian independence.
Two months later a strong earthquake devastated many towns east of the capital,
About a quarter of Algeria's workforce are farmers, producing cereals, wine, citrus
fruits, and cork. Mining and manufacturing, developed since the 1960s, contribute the
bulk of the national income. Petroleum is the leading export, and much natural gas is
produced, with proven reserves that are among the worlds largest. The state plays a
leading role in planning the economy and owns many important industrial concerns,
but a 1994 law permitted privatization of some state firms. The great majority of the
independence accounted for 10% of the total, now are only 1% of the population.
Arabic and Tamazight, a Berber language, are official languages, and French is widely
spoken.
49
3.3 The Country & People of Bahrain
each other and Saudi Arabia by causeway. The capital and chief port is Al Manamah.
Flat and sandy, with a few low hills, Bahrain has a hot, humid climate. The economy
has been based on oil, and oil revenues have financed modernization projects,
particularly in health and education. Oil reserves are expected to be exhausted in the
50
near future, however, and other industries such as shipyards and aluminum smelting
have been established. Bahrain is an important financial center and the site of a major
Anciently known as Dilmun, the island was known to the Greeks as Tylos. Ruled by
Portugal (16th century) and Persia (intermittently from 1603, and long claimed by
sheikh's powers and established an elected national assembly, but in 1975 the sheikh
suspended the constitution and dissolved the national assembly. Bahrain established
closer ties with other Gulf States, particularly Saudi Arabia, in the early 1980s, and
Bahraini territory was used by coalition forces during the 1991 Gulf War. Since late
conditions and the return of an elected parliament. Sheikh Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa,
who had ruled since 1961, died in 1999; he was succeeded by his son, Sheikh Hamad
bin Isa al-Khalifa. A new national charter, establishing a constitutional monarchy, was
approved in 2001, and Bahrain was proclaimed a kingdom in 2002. Elections to the
The majority of the populations are Muslim Arab Bahrainis, but other Arabs and
Iranians, Indians, and other Asians make up over 35% of the inhabitants. About 75%
of the populations are Shiite Muslims; most of the rest are Sunnis. Arabic is the
official language, but English, Farsi, and Urdu are also spoken.
51
3.4 The Country & People of Comoros
as numerous coral reefs and islets. A fourth island, Mayotte, is administered by France
but claimed by the Comoros. Because of poor soil, lack of natural resources, and
52
Originally populated by immigrants from Africa, Indonesia, and Arabia, the islands
were ceded to the French between 1841 and 1909. After occupation by the British in
World War II, they were granted administrative autonomy within the French Union
(1946) and internal self-government (1968). In 1974 the islands voted to become
independent, except for Mayotte, which chose to remain under French control. In
1978 the Comoros was proclaimed a federal Islamic republic; shortly thereafter, a
one-party state was formed under President Ahmed Abdallah Abderrahman. After his
attempt in 1991 and several coup attempts. In 1996 Mohamed Taki Abdulkarim was
elected president. In 1997 rebels took control of the islands of Nzwani and Mwali,
declaring their secession and desire to return to French rule. In 1999 the islands were
granted greater autonomy. Following a coup in April 1999, Colonel Azali Assoumani
assumed the Comoran presidency. Nzwani voted (2000) for indepedence, but in 2001
forces favoring reuniting with the Comoros seized power there, and a Comoran
referendum approved additional autonomy for the three islands. Azali resigned (2002)
prior to new elections, and Prime Minster Hamada Madi became interim president.
After two disputed elections, Azali was declared president in May 2002. An accord in
December, 2003, concerning the division of powers between the federal and island
Most of the population is engaged in agriculture, involving subsistence crops and the
production of vanilla, copra, and essential oils for export. The people are of mixed
African, Arab, Malay, and Indian descent. French and Arabic are the official
languages, but most people speak a local blend of Swahili and Arabic. The state
religion is Islam.
53
3.5 The Country & People of Djibouti
underdeveloped. Djibouti is important for its strategic location on the strait between
the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. Nomadic animal-herding is the chief occupation,
but most revenue is derived from the port of Djibouti and the country's free-trade zone
status. Hides, cattle, and coffee (transshipped from Ethiopia) are the major exports.
54
3.5.2 The People
France obtained a foothold in the area in 1862 and organized it as a colony, French
Somaliland, in 1896. The colony gained territorial status in 1946 and was renamed the
French Territory of the Afars and the Issas in 1967. In a 1967 referendum the Afars
voted to continue ties with France, while the Issas voted for independence and
eventual reunion with Somalia. Djibouti became independent in 1977 under President
Hassan Gouled Aptidon, who established a single-party state in 1981. The country has
been adversely affected by warfare in and between neighboring Ethiopia and Somalia.
Tensions between Afars and the Issa-dominated government led to an Afar rebellion
in 1991 that finally ended in 2000. Limited multiparty elections were restored under a
1992 constitution and Gouled was reelected in 1993. The 1999 presidential elections
were won by Ismail Omar Guelleh, the government candidate. The French remain a
strong military and technical presence in Djibouti, and the United States has also
allowing for a limited multiparty state was approved by Djibouti’s voters. In 1993,
Gouled was reelected in the country’s first multiparty elections, which were widely
boycotted by the opposition. The 1999 presidential election was won by Ismail Omar
Guelleh, the governing party candidate. In 2003 the government sought to expel an
estimated 100,000 illegal immigrants, largely Ethiopians and Somalis, from the
The population is about 40% Issa (of Somali origin) and 35% Afar (of Ethiopian
origin), with the rest largely other Somali tribes, Arabs, and Ethiopian refugees. Both
Issas and Afars are Muslim and speak Cushitic languages. French and Arabic are the
official languages.
55
3.6 The Country & People of Egypt
and the Red Sea (E), Sudan (S), and Libya (W).
The Sinai Peninsula, the only part of Egypt located in Asia, is separated from the rest
of the country by the Suez Canal. Major cities include Cairo (the capital) and
Alexandria. The principal physiographic feature is the Nile River, which flows the
length of the country from south to north and separates the Libyan (Western) and
Arabian (Eastern) deserts that comprise 90% of the land area. Bordering the Nile
between Aswan and Cairo are narrow strips of cultivated land, home of the vast
considerably in the 20th century, the Economy has been severely strained by Egypt's
limited farmland and its large and rapidly growing population. Agriculture, which
employs about 40% of its population, depends on the Nile for its fertility. Completion
56
of the Aswan High Dam in 1970 greatly increased arable land, which still constitutes
less than 5% of Egypt's total land area. Cotton is the leading cash crop. Major
manufactures include refined oil, chemicals, textiles, and processed foods. The Suez
Egyptian civilization, one of the world's oldest, developed in the valley of the Nile
over 5,000 years ago. The rival kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt were united as a
centralized state 3200 B.C.; by a king named Menes, who established his capital at
Memphis. A high culture developed early, and the use of writing was introduced.
During the Old Kingdom (3110–2258 B.C.) ; Egyptian culture and commerce
flourished, and the great pyramids were built. Its fall introduced a period of anarchy,
which ended 2000 B.C.; with the establishment of the Middle Kingdom, with its
capital at Thebes. Civilization again flourished until in 1786 B.C.; weak rulers
allowed the country to pass under the rule of foreign nomads, known as the Hyksos.
The Hyksos were expelled 1570 B.C.; and the New Kingdom was Established. During
the XVIII dynasty (1570–1342 B.C.), ancient Egyptian civilization reached its zenith;
a vast empire was established and Thebes and Memphis became the political,
commercial, and cultural centers of the world. After the XX dynasty (1200–1085
B.C.), Egypt came increasingly under foreign domination, with periods of rule by
Libya, Sudan, Assyria, Nubia, and Persia. Following a brief reestablishment of native
power in 405 B.C.; Egypt fell without a struggle to Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.;
After Alexander's death (323 B.C.); Egypt was inherited by his general, Ptolemy, who
founded the dynasty of Ptolemies and under whom the new city of Alexandria became
the intellectual and religious center of the Hellenistic world. The Ptolemies
maintained a formidable Empire for more than two centuries until, weakened by
57
internal dynastic disputes, Egypt fell to Rome in 30 B.C.; Christianity was readily
accepted in Egypt, which became part of the Byzantine Empire about A.D.; 395. With
the Arab conquest (639–42) Egypt became an integral part of the Muslim world.
After 500 years as part of the caliphate, Egypt was seized by the Mamluks in 1250
and the Ottoman Turks in 1517. The first close contact with the West occurred in
1798, when French forces under Napoleon occupied the country; they were expelled
in 1801 by combined Ottoman and British troops. In 1805 Muhammad Ali, a common
soldier, was appointed pasha of Egypt; under his rule the foundations of the modern
state of Egypt were established. The construction of the Suez Canal (1859–69) put
Egypt deeply into debt, and, although nominally still part of the Ottoman Empire, the
affairs. The British consolidated their control between 1883 and 1907, and during
World War I, when Turkey joined the Central Powers, Great Britain declared Egypt a
British protectorate, which effectively persisted for some years after independence in
1923.
In 1952 the Egyptian army deposed King Farouk in a coup; a republic was established
in 1953, and Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser became president (1954). For a brief period
Egypt and Syria merged (1958) in the United Arab Republic, then were joined by
Yemen in the United Arab States; the union was dissolved in 1961. Inaugurating a
program of economic and social reform, modernization of the army, and construction
of the Aswan High Dam, Nasser, with the aid of the USSR, strove to make Egypt the
undisputed leader of the Arab world. His rallying cry was denunciation of Israel; in
1967 Egypt lost much territory in the Six-Day War, which also shattered its economy
58
and armed forces. Nasser died in 1970 and was succeeded by Anwar al-Sadat, who
regained some of Egypt's lost territory in the Yom Kippur War (October War) in1973
and reversed a 20-year trend by ending Soviet influence and seeking closer ties with
the West. In 1977 Sadat angered his Arab allies by traveling to Jerusalem as a
conciliatory gesture to Israel; the two nations signed a peace treaty in 1979. In 1981
Sadat was assassinate, and Hosni Mubarak, who pledged to continue Sadat's policies,
became president. The Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai and its return to Egypt,
Egypt's inhabitants are mainly a complex racial mixture, descended from the ancient
Egyptians, Berbers, sub-Saharan Africans, Arabs, Greeks, and Turks. The majorities
are Sunni Muslims, but there is a substantial minority of Coptic Christians. Arabic is
59
Official Name Republic of Iraq, republic.
Populations 20,644,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 434,924 sq km (167,924 sq mi).
Location SW Asia, bordered by the Persian Gulf, Kuwait, and Saudi
Arabia (S), Jordan and Syria (W), Turkey (N), and Iran (E).
Principal cities include Baghdad (the capital), Basra, and Mosul. Iraq is an almost
landlocked country, its only outlet to the sea a short stretch of coast on the Gulf. It is
composed of a mountainous region in the northeast and the vast Syrian Desert,
inhabited by a few nomadic shepherds, in the southwest; in-between is the heart of the
country, a fertile lowland region watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Although
about one third of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, oil production, notably in
the great fields of Mosul and Kirkuk, dominates the economy. Iraq is among the
largest oil producers of the Middle East. Its petroleum resources were nationalized in
1972, and oil revenues were used to promote industrialization and to transform Iraq
into a military power. The UN-sponsored economic embargo imposed after the
invasion of Kuwait has severely reduced Iraq's oil exports and devastated the
economy. The country has a small, diversified industrial sector, with textiles, shoes,
processed food, and building materials among its products. Iraq is a major producer of
60
dates; other crops include cotton, cereals, and vegetables. Agriculture depends largely
on irrigation.
Modern Iraq is approximately coextensive with ancient Mesopotamia and prior to the
Arab conquest in the 7th century A.D. it was the site of a number of flourishing
civilizations, including Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Babylonia. In the 8th century, as
capital of the Abbasid caliphate, Baghdad became an important center of learning and
the arts. Mesopotamia fell to the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century. The British
invaded Iraq in World War I, and in 1920 the country became a League of Nations
mandate under British administration. Iraq was made a kingdom under Faisal I in
1921, and the British mandate was terminated in 1932, although British military bases
remained. Meanwhile, the first oil concession had been granted in 1925, and in 1934
the export of oil began. Domestic politics were marked by turbulence, and the country
experienced seven military coups between 1936 and 1941. Following an army coup in
1958, Iraq became a republic under General Abdul Karim Qassem. The chronic
Kurdistan11 gained control of much of Northern Iraq. The rebellion collapsed (1975),
but intermittent warfare continued. In 1968 a coup brought the Ba'ath party to power,
and in 1979 Saddam Hussein became party leader and Iraq's president. Opposition
within Iraq grew among the Shiites, who were the majority of the population yet were
excluded from political control. Iraq launched (1980) a costly war against Iran that
ended (1988) in a stalemate. In 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait, which it had previously
claimed, provoking the Gulf War; economic sanctions were also imposed, and
remained in effect long after the war, although they were modified in 2002 to
emphasize military-related goods. The war ended (1991) with Iraq ousted from
11
For further information please see Appendix (A).
61
Kuwait. Following the war, Iraqi Shiites and Kurds revolted. The uprisings were
crushed, but both groups were provided (1992) with limited UN protection, which
proved ineffective in the case of the Shiites; the Kurds established a self-proclaimed
autonomous region in Northern Iraq. An Iraqi military buildup near the Kuwait border
in 1994 led to the deployment of U.S. troops in Kuwait. In 1996, Iraq reached an
accord with the UN that allowed it to sell $1 billion worth of oil every 90 days, with
the money set aside for food and medicine and compensation to Kuwaitis. Beginning
in late 1997, Iraq resisted cooperating with the weapons inspections; this led to a U.S.
military buildup in the Gulf. U.S. and British bombing raids against Iraq began in
November. 1998 and have persisted on a smaller scale. In 2002 the U.S. threatened
military action against Iraq over its failure to permit weapons inspections, leading Iraq
to announce that inspectors could return. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Britain continued
to prepare for war with Iraq, and in March, 2003 demanded that Saddam Hussein step
down or face an invasion. On March, 19, 2003, they launched an air strike aimed at
Hussein personally, and sizable ground troops began invading the following day. After
less than a month of fighting, Hussein's rule had collapsed, and U.S. and British
forces had established a controlling presence in the major urban areas, although
pockets of resistance remained. Hussein survived the war and went into hiding, and
guerrilla attacks by what were believed to be Ba’ath loyalists and Islamic militants
central Iraq. The Kurdish-dominated north and Shiite-dominated south were generally
calmer. L. Paul Bremer 3rd was appointed as civilian head of the occupation. UN
economic sanctions were lifted in May, 2003, and in mid-July an interim Governing
Nonetheless, civil order and the economy appeared to be being restored at a slow pace
62
that threatened to create animosity toward the occupying forces. The cost for
rebuilding Iraq was estimated by Bremer in late 2003 to be as much as $100 billion
weapons led to charges that Anglo-American leaders had exaggerated the Iraqi threat
established by mid-December. Events, however, led the United States to speed up the
process, and in November the Governing Council endorsed a U.S.-proposed plan that
called for self-rule in mid-2004 under a transitional assembly, which would be elected
by a system of caucuses. However, many Shiites objected to this because it would not
involve elections; they feared a diminished voice in the government and greater U.S.
influence if caucuses were used to choose the assembly. Hussein was finally captured
Most of the populations are Muslim Arabs, divided religiously into the Sunnis of
central Iraq and Shiites of the south. The Kurds, who inhabit the north, are the
principal minority. Arabic is the official language in most of the country; Kurdish is
63
Official Name Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, kingdom.
Population 4,101,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 97,740 sq km (37,737 sq mi).
Location SW Asia, bordered by Israel (W), Syria (N), Iraq (NE), and
Amman is the capital and largest city. Pre-1967 Jordan fell into three main
geographical regions: East Jordan, which encompasses about 92% of the country's
land area; the Jordanian Highlands (highest point, 5,755 ft/1,754 m); and West Jordan
(the West Bank, part of historic Palestine. In the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, Israel
captured and occupied the West Bank, and Jordan has since renounced its claim to the
area. Jordan's economy has traditionally been based on agriculture, although less than
5% of the land is arable. The principal crops are vegetables, wheat, and citrus fruits;
olives are grown for oil. Manufactures are limited to such items as foodstuffs,
clothing, and cement, and there is some oil refining. Phosphate rock and potash are
the only minerals produced in quantity. The annual cost of Jordan's imports far
exceeds its earnings from exports. Aqaba, on the Gulf of Aqaba, is the only seaport.
64
The region of present-day Jordan was conquered successively by the Seleucids (4th
century B.C.), Romans (mid-1st century A.D.), and Muslim Arabs (7th century). After
the Crusaders captured (1099) Jerusalem, it became part of the Latin Kingdom of
Jerusalem. The Ottoman Turks gained control in 1516, and what is now Jordan
remained in the Ottoman Empire until World War I. In 1920 Trans-Jordan (as it was
then known) was made part of the British mandate of Palestine. The country gained
independence in 1946, and the name was changed (1949) to Jordan, reflecting its
acquisition of land west of the Jordan River, during the Arab-Israeli War of 1948.
Abdullah ibn Husain, a member of the Hashemite dynasty that headed Jordan since
1921, was assassinated in 1951. His grandson, Hussein I, became king the following
year. Jordanian forces were routed by Israel in the 1967 war and Jordan lost the West
operating in Jordan led to a brief civil war in 1970, and guerrilla bases were destroyed
in 1971. Jordan renounced (1974; reaffirmed 1988) its claims to the West Bank in
state in this territory. Jordan also joined most of the other Arab countries in opposing
the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. It was officially neutral in the Gulf
War, but many Jordanians supported Iraq. In 1991 Jordan began peace talks with
Israel, and a treaty was signed in 1994. Hussein continued to promote peace between
Arabs and Israelis until his death in 1999; he was succeeded by his son Abdullah II
who pledged to work toward a more open government and to ease restrictions on
public expression. Although there has been some progress in terms of economic
development, the country remains dependent on tourism, which has been hurt by its
65
The inhabitants of Jordan are mostly of Arab descent (over half are of Palestinian
descent), and Arabic is the official language, although English is also spoken among
the higher socio-economic groups. About 95% of the people are Sunni Muslims.
Under the 1952 constitution, the king is the most powerful figure in the country; he
appoints a cabinet (headed by a prime minister). The bicameral parliament has been
convened and dissolved by the king several times since 1974; the 1989 elections were
the first in 22 years. Political parties were again permitted to field candidates in 1993.
66
Official Name State of Kuwait
Populations 1,817,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 16,000 sq km (6,177 sq mi).
Location NE Arabian peninsula, at the head of the Persian Gulf,
The capital is Kuwait. It is a sandy and barren country. With more than 10% of the
world's estimated oil reserves, Kuwait is a leading exporter of petroleum and has used
some of the enormous profits for social improvements. In the 1960s the government
Kuwait, settled by Arab tribes in the early 18th century, has been ruled since its
production began in the 1940s and was controlled by a joint British-American firm
until 1974, when Kuwait nationalized most of the operations. In August 1990, Kuwait
was invaded and forcibly annexed by Iraq, an act that led to and was reversed by the
Gulf War. The war and widespread looting and intentional destruction by Iraqi troops
devastated Kuwait, particularly its oil fields, but by the end of 1992 the country had
67
repaired nearly all the damage and its oil output were at about the pre-war level. Large
candidates won a majority of the seats in parliament; the Al-Sabah family, however,
continued to dominate the government. An Iraqi military buildup near the Kuwait
border led the U.S. to send troops to Kuwait in 1994. Parliament was dissolved by the
sheikh in May 1999; elections in July gave Islamist and liberal candidates the most
seats.
The population is predominantly Arab and Sunni Muslim, although only half the
68
Official Name Republic of Lebanon, republic.
Populations 3,695,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 10,400 sq km (4,015 sq mi).
Location SW Asia, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea (W), Syria (N, E),
The capital is Beirut. Much of the terrain is mountainous, with two main ranges—the
Lebanon in the west and the Anti-Lebanon in the east—paralleling the coast; the
fertile Al Biqa valley lies between them. Until the disruption caused by the civil strife
of 1975–90, Lebanon had a service-oriented economy, and Beirut, a free port, was the
financial and commercial center of the Middle East. Through the 1980s the
commercial and industrial life of Lebanon was in severe disarray, but by the early
1990s the economy had begun to revive. Banking, food processing, and the
crops are citrus fruits, vegetables, olives, and tobacco. Remittances from Lebanese
The site of the ancient maritime city-state of Phoenicia, the area later fell to
successive Middle Eastern powers. Christianity was introduced under the Roman
Empire and persisted even after the coming of Islam with the Arab conquest (7th
69
century). In the late 11th century Lebanese Christians aided the Crusaders in the
region. The area came under the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century, and after the
Turkish defeat in World War I it became part of a French mandate known as Greater
Lebanon. Since independence in 1945, Lebanon has been plagued by civil strife and
problems with its neighbors. A member of the Arab League, it took little part in the
Arab-Israeli Wars that followed Israel's establishment in 1948, but the stage was set
for future problems when many Palestinians fled Israel and settled in southern
rebellion against pro-Western policies, and U.S. forces were called in briefly. In 1975
civil war erupted between leftist Muslims, aided by the Palestine Liberation
and a cease-fire was declared, but Israel and the PLO engaged in a sporadic border
force was placed in south Lebanon. Fighting continued, however, and in 1982 Israel
invaded Lebanon, forcing out many members of the PLO and causing widespread
the Christian president, Amin Gemayel. Gemayel, on the expiration of his term,
challenged his legitimacy. In 1989 Arab governments brokered a peace agreement that
produced a new constitution that increased the political power of the Muslim majority.
Elias Al Hrawi, a Christian, was elected president, but Aoun refused to step down and
fighting broke out. In 1990, at Al Hrawi's request, Syrian troops attacked Aoun's
position; Aoun fled to France, ending the civil war. Al Hrawi signed (1991) a treaty of
friendship and cooperation with Syria that essentially guaranteed Syrian domination
of Lebanon's foreign relations. In 1993, 1994, 1996, and 1999 fighting again erupted
70
between Shiite Hezbollah (Party of God) guerrillas and Israel in South Lebanon.
Hrawi's presidential term was extended for three years in 1995, as the country
continued to recover from years of heavy fighting which had crippled its
infrastructure and economy. Gen. Emile Lahoud was elected president in 1998. In
May 2000, Israel withdrew its troops from Southern Lebanon. The 2000
parliamentary elections brought the opposition back into power, and Rafiq Hariri
became prime minister; he had previously held the office from 1992 to 1998.
Most Lebanese are Arabs; there is a small Armenian minority. Arabic is the official
language, but French and English are also widely spoken. The population is about
70% Muslim (mainly Sunni and Shiite, but there are other groups as well) and 30%
71
Official Name Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahirya, republic.
Populations 5,248,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 1,759,540 sq km (679,358 sq mi).
Location N Africa, bordered by Algeria and Tunisia (W), the
Mediterranean Sea (N), Egypt and Sudan (E), and Chad and
Niger (S).
The principal cities are Tripoli (the capital) and Tobruk. Most of Libya is part of the
Sahara desert; the population is restricted to a coastal strip along the Mediterranean
and a few widely scattered oases in the Libyan Desert, in the east, and the Fazzan
region, in the south. The discovery of oil, in 1958 transformed Libya from a poor
agricultural country into one of the world's leading petroleum producers, with vast
for 95% of export earnings and about a third of national income; Libya is also an
important producer of natural gas. Major crops include cereals, olives, fruits, dates,
and vegetables. Lower oil prices and economic sanctions arising from the Lockerbie
72
At various times in its history the territory that is now Libya was occupied by
Carthage, Rome, Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, and Spain. It was part of the Ottoman
Empire from 1551 to 1911, serving in the 18th century as a base for pirates who, in
return for immunity, provided large revenues to the local ruler. Libya was seized by
Italy in 1911, but Libyan resistance continued until the 1930s. During World War II,
as an Italian colony, it was one of the main battlegrounds of North Africa, passing
under an Anglo-French military government when the Axis were defeated in the area
as the United Kingdom of Libya, with King Idris I as ruler. Idris was ousted in 1969
government. British and American bases were closed in 1970, and unification was
sought, unsuccessfully, with several other Arab countries. In 1979 Libya intervened in
Uganda to help keep Idi Amin in power, and in 1981 it dispatched troops into
neighboring Chad (Libya had occupied the disputed Aozou Strip, in Northern Chad,
in 1973), withdrawing most of them later that year. Qaddafi's forces continued to take
sides in Chadian fighting, for a time occupying much of Northern Chad. In 1990 the
dispute over the Aozou Strip was submitted to the International Court of Justice,
which ruled in Chad's favor, and the strip was returned to Chad in 1994. As a member
of OPEC, Libya has been a leading exponent of limiting production and increasing
prices of petroleum. Since 1986 Libya has attempted to form a union with the Arabic
countries of the Maghreb, especially Algeria and Tunisia. In the late 1980s the U.S.
took action against Libya for its backing of activities against U.S. citizens, including
an air strike (1986) on Qaddafi's residence and other sites in Libya. In 1992 the UN
Security Council accused Libya of supporting state terrorism and called for a ban on
air flights and arms sales to it unless suspects in the Lockerbie and another airplane
73
bombing were turned over to the U.S., Britain, and France. Libya's foreign assets
were also frozen. In April, 1999, Libya handed over the suspects in the Lockerbie
crash to the UN, which lifted its sanctions, but those imposed by the United States
remained in place. Libya agreed in 2003 to a $2.7 billion settlement with the families
of the victims. In December, after negotiations with the United States and Great
Britain, the government renounced the production and use of chemical, biological,
The majority of the inhabitants are Arabs, but there are scattered communities of
Berbers and, in the southwest, many of mixed Berber and African descent. There are
large numbers of foreign workers in Libya; in 1995 several thousand of them without
proper papers were expelled. Islam is the official religion (most Libyans are Sunni
74
Official Name Islamic Republic of Mauritania, republic.
Populations 2,263,000 (estimate 1995).
Area 1,030,700 sq km (397,953 sq mi).
Location NW Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (W), Western
Sahara (N), Algeria (NE), Mali (E and SE), and Senegal (SW).
Nouakchott is the capital. Most of the country is low-lying desert, forming part of the
Sahara, but some fertile soil is found in the semiarid Sahel of the southwest, along the
Senegal River. The economy is divided between a traditional agriculture sector and a
modern mining industry developed in the 1960s. Irrigated crops include millet, dates,
rice, and sorghum. Stock raising (cattle, sheep, goats, and camels) was sharply
reduced by the great drought of the 1970s and 80s. There is a growing fishing
industry, based in the Atlantic, and fish processing is important. Shipments of iron ore
75
Settled by Berbers in the 1st millennium A.D., the region was the center of the ancient
empire of Ghana (700–1200) and later became part of the empire of Mali (14th–15th
centuries). By this time the Sahara had encroached on much of Mauritania, limiting
established a fishing base, and from the 17th century, European traders dealt in gum
Arabic along the southern coast. France gained control of Southern Mauritania in the
mid-19th century, declared a protectorate over the region in 1903, and made it a
separate colony in French West Africa in 1920; however, little was done to develop
the economy. Nationalist political activity began after World War II, and Mauritania
gained full independence in 1960. A Muslim state was created in 1961 under Makhtar
Waled Daddah as president. His rule was troubled by ethnic tensions between the
Fulani and the Arab-Berber group, by economic problems aggravated by the severe
drought in the Sahel, and by worker-student protests. The military deposed Waled
Daddah in 1978, and military governments subsequently ruled the country. A 1975
agreement with Spain and Morocco giving Mauritania control over the southern third
of the Spanish (Western) Sahara ignited a conflict in the former colony. The Polisario
Mauritanian troops until 1979, when Mauritania renounced its claims to the area and
signed a peace treaty with the front. Slavery was only officially abolished in 1980,
and racial unrest erupted in the late 1970s and persisted into the 1990s, aggravated by
Ahmed Taya became president after a coup. A new constitution approved in 1991
called for an elected president and national assembly, and the government legalized
political parties. Taya won election as president in 1992 and 1997. In 1993 the United
76
oppression of its black citizens and its support of Iraq during the Gulf War; the
66.7% of the vote; his nearest challenger, former president Heydalla, almost 19%.
Heydalla was arrested after the election on charges of plotting a coup, which he
Nearly a third of the population are nomadic Moors, of Berber and Arab background;
another third are mostly Africans, many of whom live as agriculturalists near the
Senegal; and the rest are of mixed Moor and African descent. Islam is the state
77
Official Name Kingdom of Morocco, kingdom.
Populations 29,161,000 (estimate 1954)
Area 445,050 sq km (171,834 sq mi).
Location NW Africa, bordered by the Mediterranean Sea (N), the
Principal cities include Rabat (the capital), Casablanca, Marrakech, and Fas. The
dominate most of the country. In the south lie the sandy wastes of the Sahara desert,
but in the north is a fertile coastal plain, home of most of the population. Agriculture
and mining are economic mainstays. Morocco is a leading producer and exporter of
phosphates; other important minerals include iron ore, copper, lead, zinc, cobalt,
manganese, and coal. Food processing and the manufacture of leather goods and
textiles are also important. Half the labor force is employed in agriculture, growing
cereals, citrus fruits, and vegetables. Tourism and fishing also contribute to the
economy.
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Originally inhabited by Berbers, Morocco became a province of the Roman Empire in
the 1st century A.D. After successive invasions by barbarian tribes, Islam was brought
by the Arabs in 685. An independent Moroccan kingdom was established in 788; its
dissolution in the 10th century began a period of political anarchy. The country was
finally united in the 11th century by the Almoravids, a Berber-Muslim dynasty, who
established a kingdom reaching from Spain to Senegal. Unity was never complete,
however, and conflict between Arabs and Berbers was incessant. European
encroachment began in 1415, when Portugal captured Ceuta, and ended with the
Portuguese defeat at the battle of Qsar El Kabir (Alcazarquivir) in 1578. In the 19th
and early 20th centuries, the strategic importance and economic potential of Morocco
once again excited the European powers, sparking an intense, often violent, rivalry
among France, Spain, and Germany. Finally, in 1912, most of Morocco became a
began to surface in the 1930s, becoming more militant after World War II, and in 1956
Morocco gained its independence. In 1957 the sultan became King Muhammad V. He
was succeeded in 1961 by his son, Hassan II, whose early reign, plagued by internal
unrest, coups, and assassination attempts, was repressive. Hassan's position was
strengthened in 1976, when Spain relinquished the Spanish Sahara (now Western
guerrilla movement backed by Algeria and seeking independence for the area,
Mauritania withdrew in 1979, but Morocco continued battling there and claimed the
entire territory. King Hassan died in 1999 and was succeeded by his son Muhammad
VI. Initially extremely popular, the new king revealed himself to be a strong advocate
uninhabited islet off Ceuta that is claimed by Spain, drawing international attention to
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the disputed Spanish enclaves along Morocco’s Mediterranean coast. After Spanish
forces removed the Moroccans, both sides agreed to leave the islet unoccupied.
Most Moroccans are of mixed Arab-Berber descent and are Muslim; Islam is the state
religion. There are small Christian and Jewish minorities. Arabic is the official
language; Berber dialects, French (a main language of commerce), and Spanish are
also spoken.
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Official Name Sultanate of Oman, formerly Muscat and Oman, independent
sultanate.
Populations 2,340,815 (estimate 2003).
Area 309,000 sq km (83,000 sq mi).
Location SE Arabian peninsula, bounded by the Gulf of Oman (E), the
Arabian Sea (S), Yemen and Saudi Arabia (W), and the United
The capital is Muscat. Oman comprises a coastal plain and an interior region of hills
and desert. Dates, limes, nuts, and vegetables are cultivated in the north and livestock
are raised in the southwest, but the major product is oil. Natural gas production and
copper mining were developed in the early 1980s to diversify the economy.
Occupied by Portugal in 1508 and Turkey in 1659, Oman came under Sultan Ahmad
ibn Said, founder of the present royal line, in 1741. It has had close ties with Britain
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since the 19th century. Sultan Qaboos bin Said overthrew the strict regime of his
father, Sultan Said bin Timur, in 1970, instituted a program of liberalization and
modernization, and put down (1975) leftist guerrilla forces operating in Dhofar
Region, in the south. In 1980 the U.S. obtained the use of ports and airfields in Oman
in exchange for economic and military aid. In 1981 Oman joined other Gulf nations in
founding the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The country opened its bases to
international coalition forces against Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War and to U.S. forces
mounting strikes against Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. In 1996 the sultan
announced a new basic law that provided for a legislature with limited powers and
guaranteed basic civil liberties for Omani citizens. In 2003 the lower house of the
The population is predominantly Muslim Arab, with Pakistani, Indian, Baluchi and
Lawati minorities.
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Official Name The State of Palestine
Populations 1,320,000 West Bank
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Historic region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, comprising parts of
modern Israel, Jordan, and Egypt; also known as the Holy Land. Palestine is the Holy
Land of the Jews, where King David has lived; of the Christians because it was the
scene of Jesus' life; and of the Muslims because Jerusalem is the traditional site of
the Great Rift Valley, a ridge, and a coastal plain. The earliest known settlements in
Palestine, e.g. Jericho, may date from 8000 B.C. An independent Hebrew kingdom
was established 1000 B.C. After 950 B.C. this kingdom broke up into two states,
Israel and Judah. Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans in turn
conquered Palestine, which fell to the Muslim Arabs by A.D. 640. The area was the
focus of the Crusades and was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1516. By the late
19th century, Zionism arose with the aim of establishing a Jewish homeland in
Palestine, and during World War I the British, who captured the area, supported this
goal by what is known as Belford Promise. After the League of Nations approved
(1922) the British mandate of Palestine, Jews immigrated there in large numbers
despite Arab opposition. There was tension and violence between Jews and Arabs, and
the British, unable to resolve the problem, turned (1947) the Palestine question over to
the UN. At that time there were about 1,091,000 Muslims, 614,000 Jews, and 146,000
Christians in Palestine.
West Bank is occupied by Israel since the Arab-Israeli War of 1967. Many Israelis
refer to it as Judaea and Samaria. It includes the cities of Hebron, Jericho, and Nablus,
and the Old City of Jerusalem. The north is fertile; the south largely barren. Olives,
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fruit, and citrus products are produced; small-scale industries manufacture goods such
as cement and textiles. The inhabitants are mostly Muslim Arab Palestinians; there are
about 198,000 Israeli Jewish settlers. After the partition of Palestine and the formation
(1948) of Israel, the territory was annexed (1950) by Jordan. Following the 1967 war,
the UN Security Council called for Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank. The
Camp David accords (1978) incorporated plans for Arab self-rule in the region. A
in the area and by Israeli-PLO hostility (Arab states, including Jordan, recognized the
Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole representative of the West Bank Arabs in
1974). A 1993 accord between Israel and the PLO led to limited Palestinian self-rule
in Jericho and the Gaza Strip in mid-1994. An interim agreement in 1995 called for
the extension of self-rule to, and the withdrawal of most Israeli forces from, all Arab
cities and villages in the West Bank (except East Jerusalem) in 1996. Much of this had
been accomplished when increased tensions between Israel and the Palestinians put
the agreement in jeopardy. However, most of Hebron was turned over to Palestinian
control in 1997. Yasir Arafat was elected president of the Palestinian government in
1996. A 1998 accord called for further territorial handover; although there were
unfruitful, and widespread violence erupted in the West Bank (and Gaza) in the fall
after Ariel Sharon visited the Haram esh-Sherif (or Temple Mount) in Jerusalem.
Palestinians and Israeli attacks on facilities of the Palestinian authority and Israeli
the region, which nearly doubled in population from 1992 to 2001, has also proved a
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major irritant to Arabs and stumbling block to peace. In March, 2003, the Palestinian
barrier in the West Bank became an international issue in 2003. It was begun in 2002
in the north West Bank, where it paralleled the border, and around Jerusalem, but
plans to extend it south and into the West Bank to protect Israeli settlements brought
would end up in the 15% of the territory on the Israeli side of the 400-mi (640-km)
fence and wall barrier, and that 400,000 more would have their lives disrupted by it.
The United Nations General Assembly requested (December, 2003) that the
there is also a small minority of Israeli settlers. The strip was part of the British
mandate for Palestine from 1917 to 1948, passed to Egyptian control in 1949, and has
been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Autonomy for the region,
promised by the Camp David accords (1978), has yet to be granted. The Palestinian
uprising (intifada) began in Gaza in 1987; the area has been the scene of renewed
violence since 2000. A 1993 accord between Israel and the Palestine Liberation
but the Palestinian National Authority in Gaza has been undermined by conflicts with
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Official Name State of Qatar.
Populations 534,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 11,400 sq km (4,400 sq mi).
Location On a largely barren peninsula in the Persian Gulf, bordering
The capital is Doha. The economy of Qatar is dominated by oil and natural gas, which
accounts for 70% of export income. Oil and gas revenues have been used to diversify
the economy, including the development of chemicals, steel, cement, and fertilizer
Qatar was ruled by Bahrain from the 1700s until the mid-1800s, when Great Britain
and the Ottoman Empire began vying for control of the peninsula. It was a British
protectorate from 1916 until 1971, when it became independent. In the 1980s and 90s
Qatar had territorial disputes with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. During the Persian Gulf
War (1991) international coalition forces were deployed on Qatari soil. The present
emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, came to power in 1995 after ousting his
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father. In the late 1990s Sheikh Hamad eased press censorship and promoted ties with
Iran and Israel. Since 2001 Qatar has allowed U.S. use of the Al Udeid air base, and
the headquarters for the U.S. invasion of Iraq (2003) were in the country.
Minorities (20%) of the population are Qataris (Arabs of the Wahhabi sect of Islam);
the rest are largely other Arabs, Pakistanis, Indians, and Iranians. Arabic is the official
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Official Name Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, kingdom.
Populations 18,730,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 2,149,690 sq km (829,995 sq mi).
Location SW Asia, occupying most of the Arabian peninsula, bounded
by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait (N), the Gulf, Qatar, and the
United Arab Emirates (E), Yemen and Oman (S), and the Red
Sea (W).
Riyadh is the capital, Jidda the principal port. Saudi Arabia has five major physical
regions: the great Rub al-Khali, a sand desert occupying the entire south and
southeast; the Nejd, a vast, barren plateau in the center; the Hejaz and Asir, along the
Red Sea, with mountains rising from an arid coastal plain; and the Eastern Province,
along the Gulf, site of the country's rich oil resources. The climate is usually hot and
dry, although the humidity along the coasts is high. Saudi Arabia has at least one
quarter of the world's oil reserves, and the oil industry dominates the economy. Huge
revenues from oil exports have been used to diversify the industrial base; metals,
chemicals, plastics, cement, and fertilizer are now produced. Irrigation projects have
reclaimed many acres of desert, and grains, dates, citrus fruits, and vegetables are
grown. Nomadic Bedouins raise camels, sheep, goats, and horses. Income is also
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derived from Muslim pilgrims who travel from all parts of the world to the holy cities
Arabia has been inhabited for thousands of years by nomadic Semitic tribes. With the
birth (A.D. 570) of Muhammad, in Mecca, Arabia was briefly the center of Islam, but
by the end of the 7th century, the area was disunited. Modern Saudi Arabia owes its
existence to King AbdulAziz Ibn Saud, an adherent of the Wahhabi Muslim sect.
Beginning in 1902 he conquered the Nejd, Al Hasa, and Hejaz regions, and in 1932 he
proclaimed himself king of a united Saudi Arabia. Oil was discovered in 1936;
commercial production began in 1938. Ibn Saud died in 1953 and was succeeded by
his eldest son, Saud. In 1964 Saud was deposed by Faisal, who secured (1974) an
agreement giving the Saudis a 60% majority ownership of foreign oil concessions in
their country. In 1975 Faisal was assassinated; he was replaced by Khalid, who
Israel, Saudi Arabia has generally supported the Arab states, although as a friend of
the U.S. it is a somewhat moderating force. Its moderating influence has also been felt
acted to stabilize petroleum prices. Khalid died in 1982 and was succeeded as king by
Fahd. Military clashes, oil-policy disputes, and rioting Iranian pilgrims in Mecca led
Saudi Arabia to sever diplomatic relations with Iran in 1989. In 1990 the kingdom
joined the coalition that opposed Iraq's forcible annexation of Kuwait, and the forces
of the coalition were largely based in northern Saudi Arabia. In 1992 King Fahd
decreed a new constitution; among its features were an appointed national council
(est. 1993) with the right to review, but not overrule, government acts. However, the
royal family's power was basically undiminished. In the late 1990s, Crown Prince
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Abdullah, the king's half-brother and heir to the throne, effectively became the
country's ruler due to King Fahd's poor health. Under the crown prince, the country
has been more openly frustrated with and critical of U.S. support for Israel. A treaty
with Yemen that ended border disputes dating to the 1930s was signed in 2000, and
early the next year both nations withdrew their troops from the border area in
compliance with the pact. The Saudi government restricted the use of American bases
in the country during the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan (2001) and Iraq (2003),
and by September, 2003, all U.S. combat forces were withdrawn from the country.
Also in 2003, the king issued a decree giving the People Council (Shura) the authority
to propose new laws without first seeking his permission. The move was perhaps
prompted in part by rare protests in favor of government reform; the kingdom also
was shaken by violent incidents, including a massive car bomb attack against a
The overwhelming majority of the populations are Arabs who adhere to the Sunni
(Wahhabi) sect of Islam, but 27% of the population consists of resident foreigners.
91
Official Name Country
Populations 7,348,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 637,657 sq km (246,200 sq mi).
Location E Africa, directly south of the Arabian Peninsula across the
Mogadishu is the capital; other large cities are Hargeisa, Berbera, and Kismayo. The
country is arid and semi-desert, with a barren coastal lowland rising to the great
interior plateau (generally 3,000 ft/910 m high), which stretches to the northern and
western highlands. Pastoralism is the dominant mode of life, and herding (both
nomadic and sedentary) of cattle, sheep, goats, and camels is the principal occupation.
Livestock, charcoal, bananas, hides, and fish make up the bulk of exports. The major
cash crops are bananas, mangoes, and sugarcane; subsistence crops include sorghum
and corn. Processing of raw materials constitutes the bulk of the small industry. The
most valuable mineral resource is uranium; many other minerals are largely
unexploited. Petroleum deposits have been found, and a refinery was built in 1979.
However, much industry has been shut down due to civil strife.
92
Muslim Arabs and Persians established trading posts along Somalia's coasts from the
7th to 10th centuries, and Somali warriors joined Muslim sultanates in their battles with
Christian Ethiopia in the 15th and 16th centuries. Britain, France, and Italy began to
dominate the region in the 19th century. Britain established a protectorate in 1887 and
concluded an agreement with France in 1888 defining their Somali possessions. Italy
created a small protectorate in 1889, added territory in the south, and in 1925
with Italian Somaliland in 1936 to form Italian East Africa. Britain conquered Italian
Somaliland in World War II, and renamed Somalia, it gained internal autonomy in
1956 and independence and unification with British Somaliland in 1960. The presence
Somalia, and fighting erupted with Ethiopia in 1964 over the Ogaden region, which
Somalia claims. In 1969 a coup led by Maj. Gen. Muhammad Siyad Barre resulted in
a socialist state. In 1977 the corrupt and repressive regime broke with the USSR over
Soviet aid to Ethiopia and received aid during the 1980s from the U.S. The Somali
army invaded the Ogaden region in 1977 but was defeated (1978) by Ethiopian
forces; skirmishes continued into the early 1980s. Barre was ousted (1991) by rebels
after intense and bloody fighting. The Somali National Movement gained control of
the north, the old British Somaliland, and proclaimed it the Somaliland Republic. The
Mogadishu and most of the south the United Somali Congress achieved control, but
savage warfare erupted between rival sub-clans. Almost a quarter of the population
faced starvation because of the fighting. UN food supplies and peacekeepers arrived
in 1992 and were soon joined by troops from the U.S. and other nations to assure
distribution of food aid. A national cease-fire was signed, but no central government
93
was formed. Fighting again erupted (1993) in Mogadishu as the UN unsuccessfully
attempted to arrest Gen. Mohammed Farah Aidid. The U.S. and other nations
withdrew their troops in 1994 and the last UN forces were withdrawn in 1995. That
year some factions again proclaimed Aidid president, but the country remained
divided into spheres of influence with no central government. Aidid died from battle
wounds in 1996, and his faction chose his son, former U.S. Marine Hussein
Mohammed Farah, to succeed him. The country was devastated by floods in 1997,
and in the late 1990s was still without any organized, internationally recognized
government. Breakaway states were declared in Puntland (NE) and Jubaland (S) in
and elected a 225-national assembly and a president, Abdikassim Salad Hassan. Salad
returned to Somalia in August, but several militias have refused to recognize the new
government (which has little real authority). Somaliland voted (2001) to remain
government in Baidoa. A cease-fire accord (October, 2002) among all major factions
except Somaliland failed to halt all fighting, and subsequent talks failed to produce
government expired in August, 2003, but the president withdrew from talks, refused
to resign, and had the prime minister (who remained involved in the talks) removed
from office.
The Somali, who are the vast majority of the population, are divided into many clans
and sub-clans. There are Italian, Indian, and Pakistani minorities. Islam is the state
religion. Somali is the official language, but Arabic, English, and Italian are in wide
use.
94
3.19 The Country & People of Sudan
95
Official Name Republic of the Sudan, republic.
Population 30,120,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 2,505,813 sq km (967,494 sq mi).
Location The largest country in Africa, bordered by Egypt (N), the Red
Sea (NE), Eritrea and Ethiopia (E), Kenya, Uganda, and the
The principal cities are Khartoum (the capital) and Omdurman. The most notable
geographical feature is the Nile River, which, with its tributaries, flows through
eastern Sudan from south to north. Rainfall in Sudan diminishes from south to north;
thus the southern part of the country is characterized by swampland and rain forest,
the central region by savanna and grassland, and the north by desert and semi-desert.
There are mountains in the northeast, south, center, and west; the highest point is
nature, dominates the economy. Long-staple cotton, the principal cash crop, is raised
in the irrigated Al Gezira region. Other crops include sesame, sorghum, millet,
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peanuts, dates, and sugarcane. Cotton, sesame, gum arabic (much of the world's
production), livestock, and peanuts are exported. The small mining industry extracts
chromites, copper and manganese ores, gypsum, and gold. Industry is largely devoted
Northeast Sudan, called Nubia in ancient times, was colonized by Egypt about 2000
B.C. and was ruled by the Cush kingdom from the 8th century B.C. to the 4th century
A.D. Most of Nubia was converted to Coptic Christianity in the 6th century, but by the
15th century, Islam prevailed. In 1821 the north was conquered by Egypt, but a revolt
Anglo-Egyptian force under Herbert Kitchener destroyed the theocratic Mahdist state,
and in 1899 most of Sudan came under the joint rule of Egypt and Britain (with
Britain exercising actual control). Independence was achieved in 1956. In 1955 the
animist southerners, fearing that the new nation would be dominated by the Muslim
north, began a civil war that lasted 17 years. In 1972 Pres. Muhammad Gaafar Al-
Nimeiry ended the war by granting the south a measure of autonomy. However, his
imposition of Islamic law on the entire country in 1983, reopened the conflict, and
close to 2 million people has died since, many from starvation. Nimeiry was deposed
by Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir; he officially became president in 1993 and was
elected to the post in 1996. Bashir's government reinstituted Islamic law, banned
opposition parties, and jailed dissidents. Throughout the 1990s the army mounted
offensives against the rebels in Southern Sudan; several cease-fires were announced
to allow the distribution of food to famine victims, but they did not hold. In 1998 U.S.
97
manufacturing chemical weapon compounds to be used in terrorist activities, but
international investigators were unable to find evidence to support the charges. In late
1999 a power struggle developed between Bashir and the speaker of the parliament,
Hassan al-Turabi. Bashir dissolved parliament and in 2000 also secured his control of
the ruling National Congress Party. In December, 2000 he was reelected president,
and his party swept the parliamentary elections; the opposition boycotted the vote.
Turabi was put under house arrest in February, 2001 after signing an agreement with
the rebels calling for peaceful resistance to Bashir's government. The government and
rebels agreed in July 2002 to a framework for peace that called for autonomy for the
south and a referendum on independence after six years, and a truce was signed in
October. Despite some cease-fire violations, talks continued in 2003. The Darfur
rebels subsequently agreed to form alliance with the Beja rebels in NE Sudan (around
Kasala) if they were not included in any settlement with the government; the Beja
group had expected to be part of the negotiations with the southern rebels.
The population is divided into three main groups: northerners, who are Muslim and
speak Arabic (the official language); westerners, largely Muslim and originally (20th
century) from W Africa; and southerners, who follow traditional beliefs mostly and
98
Official Name Syrian Arab Republic, republic.
Population 15,452,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 185,100 sq km (71,467 sq mi).
Location SW Asia, bordered by Israel, Lebanon, and the Mediterranean
Principal cities include Damascus (the capital) and Aleppo. Most of Syria is occupied
by the Syrian Desert, which is crossed by the Euphrates River. In the west are the
highest point; in the southwest the fertile plain of Hawran extends from the Jabal al-
Duruz Mountains. to the Sea of Galilee. Major crops include wheat, fruit and
vegetables, barley, sugar beets, cotton, and tobacco; poultry, cattle, and sheep are
raised. The state plays a major role in the economy, and a large-scale industrialization
program begun in the early 1960s has diversified the formerly agricultural economy.
manufactures. The Euphrates Dam supplies most of the nation's electric power.
Situated on trade and military routes between the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia,
Syria (which historically included all of modern Syria and Lebanon, and parts of
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Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia) has always been an object of foreign conquest.
Settled (2100 B.C.) by the Amorites, a Semitic people from the Arabian Peninsula, it
fell to the Hittites (15th–13th century B.C.), the Assyrians and Babylonians (11th–6th
century B.C.), the Persians (6th–4th century B.C.), and the Greeks (333 B.C.). Syria
was Hellenized by the Seleucids and had fallen to Rome by 63 B.C. After a period of
Byzantine rule (5th–7th century A.D.), Syria was conquered (633–40) by Muslim
Arabs. Most Syrians converted to Islam, and Damascus, as the usual capital of the
Umayyad caliph (661–750), became the center of the Islamic world. The area was
later ruled by the Seljuk Turks, the Mongols, Saladin, and the Mamluks. Christians
also came to Syria on the Crusades (11th–14th centuries). It was part of the Ottoman
Empire from 1516 until the end of World War I, and in 1920 France received a League
of Nations mandate over the Levant States (roughly modern Syria and Lebanon).
During World War II Free French forces granted (1944) independence to Syria, but
French troops did not leave until 1946. Syria joined with Egypt in the United Arab
Republic in 1958, but withdrew in 1961. Independent Syria has been characterized by
economic growth, political instability, and resentment toward Israel. In 1981 Israel
exacerbated the situation by occupying the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the
Six-Day War (1967). Syrian troops entered Lebanon in 1976, ostensibly to quell civil
strife, and they continue to maintain a presence in that country. During the 1982
Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Syria suffered severe losses in combat with Israeli forces.
The ruling Ba'ath party, which came to power in a 1963 coup, maintains a policy of
socialism and Arab nationalism. In the 1980s Syria experienced internal unrest,
moved closer to the USSR. By 1990, however, the country was trying to improve
relations with Western nations. In 1991 Syria contributed 20,000 soldiers to the
international coalition forces in the Gulf War and in the same year it participated in
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initial peace talks with Israel. Although talks broke off in 1996, Syria appeared more
Israel in 1999. Talks resumed in December, 1999, but after secret details concerning
Syrian concessions were published (January, 2000) in Israel, Syria took a harder line
and talks stalled. After Assad died suddenly in June, 2000, his son, Bashar Al-Assad,
who had been groomed to succeed his father since 1994, became president. The son
movement toward both has proceeded slowly and has at times been reversed or
hindered. A new cabinet with a mandate to push reforms forward was appointed in
September, 2003. In October, Israel struck at what it called a terrorist training base in
Syria in retaliation for suicide-bombing attacks in Israel; it was the first Israeli strike
Most Syrians are Arabic-speaking Muslims, mainly Sunnite with significant Alawite
and Druze minorities; there are also Kurds, Armenians, and Circassians. About 10%
of the people are Christian, mainly Orthodox. Arabic is the official language.
101
Official Name Republic of Tunisia, republic.
Populations 8,880,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 164,150 sq km (63,378 sq mi).
Location NW Africa, bordered by Algeria (W), the Mediterranean Sea
with fertile plains near the coast; in the south, below the Chott Djerid and other salt
lakes, stretches the Sahara desert. The irregular coastline has several fine harbors.
Agriculture, mining, energy, tourism, and manufacturing are all important to the
economy. Wheat, barley, grapes, olives, sugar beets, citrus fruits, and dates are the
leading crops, and petroleum and phosphates are the principal minerals. Manufactured
Settled in the 12th century, B.C. by Phoenicians, Tunisia became (6th century B.C.) the
center of the powerful city-state of Carthage, which was destroyed by Rome in 146
B.C. Taken by the Vandals (5th century A.D.) and the Byzantines (6th century), the
Arabs conquered Tunisia in the 7th century, and the Berber population was converted
to Islam. The area came under a succession of Muslim rulers, reaching its peak under
the Berber Hafsid dynasty (1230–1574). In the late 16th century, Tunisia was seized by
the Ottoman Turks, and as one of the Barbary States it became a stronghold of pirates,
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on whom the treasury depended for several centuries. European intervention began in
the 19th century, and in 1881 Tunisia became a French protectorate. Nationalist
agitation, which first surfaced in the 1920s, became intense after World War II, and
independence was achieved in 1956. In 1957 the country became a republic, with
1975, Tunisia was a moderate Arab state, following a generally pro-Western foreign
policy; support for a negotiated settlement with Israel strained the country's relations
Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali. Ben Ali promised continued democratic reform, but he has
opposition. Under his regime the economy has seen significant growth as it has
moved away from state control. In recent years relations with Libya have improved,
and Tunisia joined with its North African neighbors in forming (1989) the Arab
Maghreb Union. Ben Ali was reelected unopposed in 1994 and against token
The population is largely Berber and Arab, and Islam is the dominant religion. Arabic
103
Official Name Federation of Emirates.
Populations 2,925,000 (estimate 1995)
Area 77,700 sq km (30,000 sq mi).
Location SW Asia, on the E Arabian Peninsula, bordered by the Gulf (N),
the Gulf of Oman (E), Oman (S), Saudi Arabia (S, W), and Qatar
(NW).
It comprises the emirates (in fact, sheikhdoms) of Abu Dhabi (with 80% of the area),
Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Qaiwain. The city of
Abu Dhabi is the capital. The land is largely hot, dry desert; in the east is a portion of
Mountains. Oil, first exploited in the 1960s, is critical to the economy; oil exports
rank among the world's largest, and oil revenues have made the per capita income one
of the world's highest. There are also rich natural-gas deposits, but banking and
Formerly known as the Trucial States, Trucial Coast, or Trucial Oman, the seven
constituent emirates were bound to Great Britain by truce (1820) and agreement
(1892). After World War II Britain granted autonomy to the emirates, and in 1971 the
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independent federation was formed; neighboring Qatar and Bahrain, which originally
were to be part of the federation, opted for separate statehood. Originally governed by
tensions in the late 1970s and 1980s, with rivalry between Abu Dhabi and Dubai
hampering closer cooperation. The United Arab Emirates participated with the
international coalition against Iraq during the Gulf War (1991) and since then has
constitution was made permanent in 1996. A dispute erupted with Saudi Arabia in
1999 over relations with Iran, a traditional enemy; while Saudi Arabia appeared
willing to seek improved ties, the emirates still regarded Iran as a foe.
workers, mostly from Asia, originally attracted by the petroleum boom. The official
language is Arabic, but Farsi and English are widely used. Overall governmental
authority is invested in the Supreme Council, which consists of the seven sheikhs; a
majority of five (including both Abu Dhabi and Dubai) must agree to any action.
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Official Name Republic of Yemen, republic.
Populations 14,728,000 estimate 1995
Area 536,000 sq km (207,000 sq mi).
Location SW Asia, on the S Arabian peninsula, bordered by Saudi
Arabia (N), Oman (E), the Gulf of Aden (S), and the Red Sea
(W).
Formed in 1990 by the union of the Yemen Arab Republic (Yemen or Northern
Yemen), and People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (Southern Yemen). The capital
is Sana; the port of Aden is the commercial capital. A narrow coastal plain rises to
interior highlands and the Rub al Khali desert. The country includes several islands,
e.g., Perim and Socotra. Most of the population is engaged in growing grains,
vegetables, fruits, cotton, coffee, and khat (a stimulant-containing shrub) and raising
sheep, goats, and camels. Oil has been produced since the late 1980s, and imported oil
is also processed into petroleum products for export. Salt is the only other
products, provides little revenue. Foreign aid and remittances from Yemenis working
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Once part of the ancient Sabaean kingdom (750 B.C.;–115 B.C.), Yemen was later
Muslim Arabs in the 7th century A.D.; and in the 16th century, it became part of the
Ottoman Empire. The northwestern portion bordering on the Red Sea became (1918)
dynasty, imams of the Zaidi Shiite sect of Islam. In 1962 an army coup led to the
proclamation of a republic. Civil war followed, with Egypt supporting the republicans
and Saudi Arabia and Jordan backing the royalists; it ended in 1970 with a republic in
place. The southern portion bordering on the Gulf of Aden was penetrated in the 19th
century by the British, who conquered Aden in 1839 and between 1886 and 1914
signed a number of protectorate treaties with local rulers. Aden was made a crown
colony in 1935, and the area to its east became the Aden Protectorate in 1937. In the
British, and independence was granted to Southern Yemen in 1967. The National
Liberation Front gained control of the government and established a Marxist regime
in 1971. Unity agreements between the two Yemens in 1971 and 1981 were not
formal unification in 1990. Ali Abdullah Saleh of Northern Yemen became president.
By 1993, however, relations between the north and south had grown tense, and
fighting between army units in 1994 erupted into a nine-week civil war in which
northern forces were victorious. Yemen clashed with Eritrea over control of the
Hanish Islands in the Red Sea in 1995; the Hague Tribunal awarded the islands to
Yemen in 1998. In 1999, in Yemen's first direct presidential election, Saleh was
returned to office. A border treaty ending disputes with Saudi Arabia that dated to the
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1930s was signed in 2000, and early in 2001 the two nations began implementing the
pact.
Yemen is the second most populous nation on the Arabian Peninsula, after Saudi
Arabia. The great majority of the inhabitants are Arabs, about two thirds of whom are
Sunni Muslims; the rest are Shiite Muslims. Arabic is the official language.
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The Arab world of the seventh to the thirteenth centuries was a great cosmopolitan
civilization. It was an enormous unifying enterprise, one which joined the peoples of
Spain and North Africa in the west with the peoples of the ancient lands of Egypt,
It was the rapid expansion of Islam that initially brought this empire together.
Alliances were made, trade routes were opened, lands and peoples were welded into a
new force. Islam provided the dynamism, but it was the Arabic language, which
provided the bond that held it together. Islam spread to lands more distant than North
Africa and the Fertile Crescent, but it was in this area that a common Arab culture
emerged.
To be an Arab, then as now, was not to come from a particular race or lineage. To be
The Arab civilization brought together Muslims, Christians and Jews. It unified
Canaanites, and many other people. This great “melting pot” was not without
tensions, to be sure, but it was precisely the tension of this mixing and meeting of
At its peak the Arab empire extended from the Atlantic Ocean across North Africa and
the Middle East to central Asia. A great Arab civilization emerged in which education,
In Europe the Arab conquests were particularly important in Sicily, from the 9th to late
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There were two great Islamic dynasties of Arab origin, the Umayyads12 (661-750),
centered in Damascus, and the Abbasids13 (750-1258), whose capital was Baghdad.
Most Umayyad rulers insisted on Arab primacy over non-Arab converts to Islam,
while the Abbasid caliphs accepted the principle of Arab and non-Arab equality as
Muslims. At its height in the 8th and 9th centuries, the Abbasid caliphate was
extraordinarily wealthy, dominating trade routes between Asia and Europe. Islamic
civilization flourished during the Abbasid period even though the political unity of the
caliphate often shattered into rival dynasties. Greek philosophy was translated into
and Aristotle, greatly influenced Christian thinkers in Europe in the 12th century by
The most important of these are the following three, the last two of which are
considered to be the Arab golden age. These are: The Omayad State with its capital
city in Damascus (661-750); the Abbasid State with its capital city in Baghdad (750-
1258); and Arab Andalusia (711-1492) in the European Iberian Peninsula of Spain and
Portugal (a continuation of the Omayad State) with its capital city first in Cordoba and
later in Granada. For centuries Arab Andalusia represented Europe's main cultural
center. Although the Arab Abbasid State of the east and Arab Andalusia of the west
existed at the same time, they were not united because of the rivalry between their
Arab leaders.
Arab civilization reached its golden age during the Abbasid era (750-1258). Baghdad,
the seat of the powerful Abbasid State, was the proud Arab capital city and the world's
major center for the arts and sciences. Abbasid's Baghdad was not only the largest city
12
See Appendix (A) for further information.
13
See Appendix (A) for further information.
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in the world in size, about100 square kilometers, but was also the world's most
crowded city, containing about 2 million people. During its heyday, Baghdad was the
center of the richest and most powerful country in the entire world. It contained two
of the world's oldest and greatest universities, the Nizamiyah and the Mustansiriyah.
Baghdad was also the seat of the legendary, the House of Wisdom (Bait al-Hikmah),
the most widely-respected "think tank" and the major research center in all of the vast
Abbasid Empire. From it came various important translations of Greek and other
artistic fields; and different discoveries in various scientific fields that enriched Arab
civilization and in turn benefited the West and the rest of the world.
Moreover, Baghdad had many banks, where the world's first checking accounts were
established, with various branches all over the world even as far as China; an
comprehensive sewage system; and a great paper mill. Even though paper was
invented in China, it was the Arabs who introduced it to the West. The Europeans,
who up to the12th century used only parchment for writing, learned for the first time
the art of manufacturing paper from straw after the Crusaders invaded the Arab world
[11].
The Arabs Abbasid began almost 8 centuries of Arab occupation and civilization in
Europe's most southwestern part. To be exact, the Arabs stayed in Europe 781 years
during which they introduced to the West a wonderful civilization; religious tolerance;
racial harmony; public baths; and the novel idea of cleanliness expressed in public
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As early as the10th century, the Arab Andalusian capital, Cordoba, was a magnificent
metropolitan center of progress. The pride of the Arabs in Europe, Cordoba had a half
million people living in it at a time when no European city could claim a population
of even10, 000. Indeed, Arab Cordoba was the largest and most cultured city in all of
Europe. Its jewelry, leather work, woven silk and elaborate brocades were highly
prized throughout the world. Cordoba's Arab women copyists excelled far better than
German nun by the name of Hrosvitha, who died in1002, was highly impressed by
Arab Cordoba. She referred to it as "the jewel of the world". She wrote: "In the
western parts of the globe ... there shone forth a fair ornament ... a city well cultured
... rich and known by the famous name of Cordoba, illustrious because of its charms
and also renowned for all resources, especially abounding in the seven streams of
After the fall of Cordoba to the Spanish Christians, the Arabs moved their capital city
to Granada - in the south of the Iberian Peninsula - which also became famous as an
Arab center of arts and learning. Arab Granada was also renowned for its wealth and
trade especially in silk. To immortalize Grenada, its Andalusian Arab rulers built the
magnificent Red Palace (Alhambra Palace). This unique palace has two splendid
courts, the Court of the Lions and the Court of the Myrtles, considered to be the most
magnificent and glorious of all Arab monuments in Spain. The Alhambra Palace,
which was also an Arab fortress, took about 100 years to build and is today a major
tourist attraction attesting to the beauty and genius of Arab architecture. In addition to
Cordoba and Granada, Seville and Toledo also served as the greatest houses of Arab
Andalusian knowledge. In fact, Toledo was the main center of scientific translation
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The power of the Arab Abbasid family declined from the 10th century onward due to
internal political and religious rivalries and victories by Christian European Crusaders
seeking to recapture territory lost to Islam. The Mongol invasion of the 13th century
led to the destruction of the Abbasid caliphate in 1258 and opened the way for the
eventual rise of a great Turkish Muslim empire known as the Ottoman Empire. The
Ottomans took Constantinople (Istanbul) from the Byzantines in 1453 and had taken
control of the Arab Middle East and most of North Africa by the end of the 16th
century. Arabs remained subjects of the Ottoman Turks for over 300 years--into the
20th century.
The years between the seventh and thirteenth centuries mark a period in history when
culture and learning flourished in North Africa, Asia, Southern Europe, and the
Middle East. When one sets aside the vagaries of politics, intrigue, mistrust, and
suspicion which have plagues Man’s history, one finds that the Arab world continue to
spin out the thread of earliest recorded civilization. It enhanced and developed the arts
and sciences and preserved the libraries of the early centuries of the Greek, Roman,
and Byzantine cultures. Indeed, during the Dark Ages of Europe, much learning was
preserved for the world through the Arab libraries in the universities of Morocco
(Fez), Mali (Timbuktu) and Egypt (al-Azhar). From this period of Arab influence, new
words such as orange, sugar, coffee, sofa, satin, and algebra filtered into the languages
of Europe and eventually into English14. New discoveries were made in the sciences
and arts which improved the life and condition of Man, and thousands of Arab
contributions have become an integral part of human civilization [12]. The following
are few examples of the fields that Arabs have aced in;
4.2.1 Mathematics
14
For further words please see Appendix (C).
113
In mathematics, the Arab zero (sifr), provided new solutions for complicated
concept – and the Arab decimal system facilitated the course of science. The Arabs
invented and developed algebra and made great strides in trigonometry. Al-
Khwarizmi, credited with the founding of algebra, was inspired by the need to find a
more accurate and comprehensive method of ensuring precise land divisions so that
the Qu'ran could be carefully obeyed in the laws of inheritance. The writings of
Leonardo de Vinci, Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa, and Master Jacob of Florence show
of the calendar, with a margin of error of only one day in five thousand years, was
4.2.2 Astronomy
Like algebra, the astrolabe was improved with religion in mind. It was used to chart
the precise time of sunrises and sunsets, and to determine the period for fasting during
the month of Ramadan, Arab astronomers of the Middle Ages compiles astronomical
charts and tables in observatories such as those at Palmyra and Maragha. Gradually,
they were able to determine the length of a degree, to establish longitude and latitude,
and to investigate the relative speeds of sound and light. Al-Biruni, considered one of
the greatest scientists of all time, discussed the possibility of the earth’s rotation on its
own axis – a theory proven by Galileo six centuries later. Arab astronomers such as
Al-Fezari, Al-Farghani, and al-Zarqali added to the works of Ptolemy and the classic
pioneers in the development of the magnetic compass and the charting of the zodiac.
Distinguished astronomers from all over the world gathered to work at Maragha in the
thirteenth century.
4.2.3 Medicine
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In the field of medicine, the Arabs improved upon the healing arts of ancient
Among his many volumes of medical surveys, perhaps the most famous is the Kitab
al-Mansuri. It was used in Europe until the sixteenth century. Al-Razi was the first to
diagnose smallpox and measles, to associate these diseases and others with human
Arab. He was the greatest writer of medicine in the Middle Ages, and his Canon was
required reading throughout Europe until the seventeenth century. Avicenna did
believed that some illnesses were psychosomatic, and he sometimes led patients back
present ailment.
In the fourteenth Century, when the Great Plague ravaged the world, Ibn Khatib and
Ibn Khatima of Granada recognized that it was spread by contagion. In his book,
an Arab from Syria, Ibn al-Nafis, discovered the fundamental principles of pulmonary
circulation.
Camphor, cloves, myrrh, syrups, juleps, and rosewater were stocked in Arab
pharmacies (sydaliyah) centuries ago. Herbal medicine was widely used in the Middle
East, and basil, oregano, thyme, fennel, anise, licorice, coriander, rosemary, nutmeg,
and cinnamon found their way through Arab pharmacies to European tables.
4.2.4 Architecture
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As with astronomy and mathematics, the great purpose of early Arab architecture was
to glorify Islam. Architects devoted their skills primarily to the building of mosques
and mausoleums. They borrowed the horseshow arch from the Romans, developed it
into their own unique style, and made it an example for the architecture of Europe.
The Great Mosque of Damascus, built in the early eighth century, is a beautiful
demonstration of the use of the horseshoe arch. The mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo,
with its pointed arches, was the inspiration behind the building of many magnificent
cathedrals in Europe.
Arab cusp (tefoil) and ogee arches provided models for the Tudor arch such as those
used in the cathedrals of Wells in England and Chartres in France. The Muslin
minaret, itself inspired by the Greek lighthouse, became the campanile in Europe. One
of the most famous examples of this can be seen in the San Marcos Square in Venice.
Designs from the Islamic mosques of Jerusalem, Mecca, Tripoli, Cairo, Damascus,
and Constantinople were borrowed in the building of ribbed vaults in Europe. The
Arab use of (cubal) transitional supports under domes was incorporated into the
Arab styles were elegant and daring. Arabesque designs, calligraphy, and explosions
of color can be seen today in such structures as the Lion Court of the Alhambra Palace
in Granada, the Great Mosque of Cordoba, and many of the great medieval, religious
While Westerners are more familiar with the influence of Arab architecture of the
Romance countries of Spain, Italy and France, they do not often remember that the
Arab empires reached into Eastern Europe and Asia as well. Startling remnants of a
once powerful conquest are particularly prevalent in Russia. The brilliant blue tiled
dome of the Mosque of Bibi Khanum, Timu’s (Tamerlane) favorite wife, catches the
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visitor’s eye in Samarqand. Here, as well as in the complex of tombs called Shah-I-
Zinda (the Living Prince), much of the old beauty is being returned to its former
Canaanites who, probably simultaneously with the Egyptians, discovered the Atlantic
Ocean. The medieval Arabs improved upon ancient navigational practices with the
One of the most brilliant geographers of the medieval world was al-Idrisi, a twelfth
century scientist living in Sicily. He was commissioned by the Norman King, roger II,
to compile a world atlas, which contained seventy maps. Some of the areas were
Ibn Battuta, an Arab, must have been the hardiest traveler of his time. He was not a
professional geographer, but in his travels by horse, camel and sailboat, he covered
over seventy five thousand miles. His wanderings, over a period of decades at a time,
took him to Turkey, Bulgaria, Russia, Persia, and central Asia. He spent several years
in India, and from there was appointed ambassador to the emperor of China. After
China, he toured all of North Africa and many places in western Africa. Ibn Battuta’s
book, Rihla (journey), is filled with information on the politics, social conditions, and
A twenty five year old Arab, captured by Italian pirates in 1520, has received much
attention in the West. He was Hassan al-Wazzan, who became a protégé of Pope Leo
X. Leo persuaded the young man to become a Christian, gave him his own name, and
later convinced him to write an account of his travels on the them almost unknown
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African continent. Hassan became Leo Africanus and his book was translated into
several European languages. For nearly two hundred year, Leo Africanus was read as
exploring the east coast of Africa new Malindi, was guided by an Arab pilot who used
maps never before seen by Europeans. The pilot’s name was Ahmed ibn Majid.
4.2.6 Horticulture
The ancient Arabs loved the land, for in earth and water they saw the source of life
and the greatest of God’s gifts. They were pioneers in botany. In the twelfth century
an outstanding reference work, Al-Filahat by Ibn al-Awam, described more than five
hundred different plants and methods of grafting, soil conditioning, and curing of
The Arab contributions to food production are legion. They were able to graft a single
vine so that it would bear grapes in different colors, and their vineyards were
responsible for the future of wine industries of Europe. Peach, apricot, and loquat
trees were transplanted in southern Europe by Arab soldiers. The hardy olive was
encouraged to grow in the sandy soil of Greece, Spain, and Sicily. From India they
introduced the cultivation of sugar, and from Egypt they brought cotton to European
markets. “May there always be coffee at your house” was their expression, wishing
prosperity and the joy of hospitality for their friends. Coffee (qahwah) was that which
gives strength and derivatives of that name are used today in almost every country of
the world. They also perfected the storage of soft fruits to be eaten fresh, throughout
the year.
Arab horticulture gave the world the fragrant flowers and herbs from which perfumes
were extracted. Their walled gardens were for the pleasure of the senses – a pine tree
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standing green and aromatic in the heart of a garden scented with jasmine; a fountain
or artificial pool to delight the eye amidst lavender and laurel; a special rose garden
blooming in riotous color, the roots injected with saffron to produce yellow, and
indigo to produce blue; vines and trees injected with perfumes in the autumn flooding
the air with fragrance in the spring; a weeping willow dripping gracefully into the
middle of a clear lake; arbors and pergolas constructed where streams of water could
bubble through them, cooling the air and giving relief from the heat of the desert.
Mimosa and wild cherry lavished color against stonewalls, and cypress grew tall,
close and straight bordering alleyways to obliterate from view all that was not
pleasing.
Bulb flowers were already in a highly hybridized and cultivated state when the
Crusaders carried them home from Palestine to Western Europe toward the end of the
centuries of Arab power. Rice, Sesame, pepper, ginger, cloves, melons and shallots, as
well as dates, figs, oranges, lemons, and other citrus fruits, were introduced into
European cuisine via the Crusaders and the trade caravans of Eastern merchants.
The women of Europe borrowed from the cosmetics first prepared by the Egyptians,
Syrians, and Phoenicians. Some of these included lipsticks, nail polishes, eye shadow,
eye liner (kohl), perfumes and powders, hair dyes (henna), body lotions and oils, and
even wigs. A symbol of the vanity of the medieval ladies of European courts was the
high peaked, pointed cap with its trailing veil of silk. This fashion of Jerusalem was
called the tontour, and noble ladies of both the East and Europe vied with each other
on the height of the tontour and the elegance of the fabrics used in the design of the
face-framing millinery.
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Much of our contemporary jewelry is a result of inspiration from adornments of the
ancient and medieval Arabs, and the highly prized squash blossom design was once
Concerning Arab contributions to engineering, one can look to the water wheel,
cisterns, irrigation, water wells at fixed levels, and the water clock. In 860, the three
sons of Musa ibn Shakir published the Book on Artifices, which described a hundred
optics, Kitab Al Manazir. He explored optical illusions, the rainbow, and the camera
discoveries in atmospheric refractions (mirages and comets, for example), studied the
eclipse, and laid the foundation for the later development of the microscope and the
telescope. Al-Haytham did not limit himself to one branch of the sciences, but like
many of the Arab scientists and thinkers, explored and made contributions to the
4.2.8 Crafts
Because the ancient Arabs believed that the arts served God, they raised small scale
artistries to new levels of perfection. Glassware, ceramics, and textile weaves attest to
their imagination and special skills. They covered walls and objects with intricately
detailed mosaics, tiles, carvings, and paintings. Syrian beakers and rock crystals were
in great demand in Renaissance Europe and the Azulejos. The iridescent luster pottery
from the Moorish kilns in Valencia also enjoyed great popularity. New glazing
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techniques were developed, and the brilliant blues took on many names. (The Chinese
called them Muhammedan blues, and Dutch traders called them Chinese blues).
They were masters of silk weaving, and the Arab cape worn by Sicily's King Robert II
on his coronation is one of the best examples of this delicate art. Cotton muslin,
Damask linen and Shiraz wool became watchwords for quality in textiles in Europe.
tanners of the Middle Ages developed methods for tanning hides almost to the
softness of silk, and they used vegetable dyes that retained color indefinitely. These
leathers were used for book bindings, and the gold tooling and colored panels of the
Arab style are still being produced, particularly in Venice and Florence to the present
day.
The Arabs further developed the art of crucible steel forging. They hardened the steel,
polished and decorated it with etchings, and produced tempered Damascene swords.
Other works in metal included intricately cut brass chandeliers, ewers, salvers, jewel
cases inlaid with gold and silver, and, of course, the beautifully decorated astrolabe.
became an art form. It was the chief form of embellishment on all the mosques of the
Arab world, and the religious and public buildings of Palermo, Cordoba, Lisbon and
The Arabic language is rich and pliant, and poetry, literature, and drama have left their
mark on both East and West. Among the earliest publications of the Arabs were the
translations into Arabic of the Greek and Roman classics – the works of Aristotle,
Plato, Hippocrates, Ptolemy, Dioscorides and Galen. Some note that the poet Nizami’s
translations of the twelfth century romance, Crazy in Love of Layla (Majnun Layla),
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may have been an inspiration for the later work, Romeo and Juliet. Ibn Tufail’s Alive,
Son of Awake (Hayy ibn Yaqdhan), considered by many to be the first real novel, and
was translated by Pocock into Latin in 1671 and by Simon Ockley into English in
1708. It bears many similarities to Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. A Thousand and One
Nights and Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat are among the best loved and most widely read
of Arab literature. The fascination with Arabic, following the Hellenistic period of
(Othello and the Price of Morocco), in Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great,
called isnad. This procedure documents all reliable sources and it provides the
modern historian with accurate and comprehensive materials. Foremost among these
writes: “Ibn Khaldun, has conceived and formulated a philosophy of history which is
undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by any mind
in any time.”
4.2.10 Music
The harp, lyre, zither, drum, tambourine, flute, oboe and reed instruments are today
either exactly as they were used from earliest Arab civilization or variations of the
Arabs’ early musical instruments. The guitar and mandolin are sisters to that plaintive,
The bagpipe was first introduced into Europe by Crusaders returning from the wars in
Palestine. It quickly became identified with the British Isles. Once, the entertainment
of the lonely Arab shepherds, the bagpipe returned to Palestine with the British Army.
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This lost musical art was relearned during the period of Sir John Glubb’s
Arab poetry was put to music the subtle delicacy of minor key sequences and rhythm.
The modes continue to influence our ballads and folk songs today. Extempore poetry
was perfected into musical expression, and Arab wedding and other occasions are still
4.2.11 Philosophy
Arab philosophers effectively integrated faith and scientific fact, letting one exit
within the framework of the other. The Arab philosophers after Byzantium re-
find answers to the fundamental questions concerning God’s creation of the universe,
the nature and destiny of the human soul, and the true existence of the seen as the
unseen.
Among the well-known philosophers of the medieval world were Al-Kindi, who
contributed to the work of Plato and Aristotle; Al-Farabi, who made a model of Man’s
community; Avicenna (Ibn Sina), who developed theories on form and matter that
scientists, artists, educators, philosophers, poets and musicians, one must remember
that their thought was molded and shaped by many ancient cultures – Greek, Roman,
Chinese, Indian, Byzantine, Canaanite and Egyptian, for example. Arab culture, from
its ancient beginnings to the present, has given us three great monotheistic religions:
Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In government and law, one refers to Hammurabi
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(Babylonian), Ulpian and Papinian (Phoenicians). Perhaps the greatest contribution of
the Arabs to human civilization has been the phonetic alphabet [13].
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5.1 Arab and the West
OH, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
The relation between the Western world and the Arab world has always been in
dispute. Frankly speaking, it is not clashes between two great civilizations, but the
understand this type of resentment between the West and the Arab world, it is
The existence of Islam has always made the west profoundly uneasy. Islam was the
only major religion to be revealed after the rise of Christianity, and consequently it
was from the moment of the revelation of Islam in the seventh century A.D., viewed
Christianity was increased by the fact that Muslims regarded Islam as having
form of Islam. Muhammad was the last, the 'seal' of the prophets. Consequently, the
problem on how to deal with Islam was perhaps the most important problem that faces
Christendom [15].
The problem posed itself on two levels: the political and military, and the theological.
On the political and military level, Christendom had two possible responses open to it:
theological level, Islam could be regarded as a Christian heresy, as a schism within the
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Historically, by the end of the seventh century A.D., the Mediterranean had become a
Muslim lake, with Muslims controlling the whole southern shore of the Gibraltar. In
711, the Arabs seized Gibraltar and, within the next few years, overran the Iberian
Peninsula and crossed the Pyrenees. The defeat of the Arab by Charles Martel at the
battle of Poitiers in 732, though only a minor reverse for the Arabs, in fact marked the
extreme limit of Muslim penetration into Europe for some six centuries. The west
viewed Arabs as only one of the large number of enemies threatening it at that time.
Initially, therefore the political and military reaction of the West was limited and ad
hoc.
On the theological and religion level, the reaction of the West was strong, sustained
and, almost without exception, hostile. Hostility was based on fear, which had its
rooted in ignorance. Christendom feared Islam, and therefore misrepresented it. They
religion which pandered to man's sexual appetites in this world and the hereafter.
They remained almost totally ignorant of Islam's real beliefs and doctrines.
On the other hand Muslims were equally ignorant of the Western world, but for quite
different reasons. In the Muslim view, since the revelation of God to His Prophet
Muhammad, supplemented and made perfect all previous revelations, it followed that
stretching from Spain across North Africa to the Middle East15, was the center of the
civilized world at that time. Since the West was stagnating during the dark Ages,
While Islam was at its peak, Muslims saw no reason to modify this view.
After the battle of Poitiers, Islam and Christendom settled down to three and a half
centuries of co-existence; at best, this co-existence was on a cold war basis and, from
time to time, hostilities were renewed. During the ninth century, the Arabs gradually
15
See Appendix (A) for further reading.
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conquered Sicily, and brought the islands of Corsica and Sardinia under Muslim rule.
The region in which there was the greatest degree of contact and interaction between
the two civilizations was Spain. There, a rich and flourishing culture developed – in
many ways a unique culture, to which Arabs, Christians and Jews each made their
original masterpiece as the Great Mosque at Cordoba, the Alcazar at Seville, and the
Alhambra at Granada. A prosperous trade grew up between Spain and North Africa,
had not reconciled itself to a permanent Muslim presence in Europe, especially as this
presence could not be ignored, for Islam, far from withering away, had produced great
philosophers and scientists. In particular, the Muslim presence could not be ignored
on the level of religion. Not only had Muslims resisted conversion to Christianity, but
many Christians and Jews had become converts to Islam, and had learnt Arabic.
In the eye of Christian church, such a situation could not be allowed to continue, and,
soon after 1000 A.D., Christendom abandoned the idea of co-existence with Islam and
resorted to military counter-action. In 1095 the first Crusade was launched, when
Pope Urban II declared a holy war against Islam. Christendom carried its counter-
In October 1187 A.D., the great Muslim leader, Saladin, reoccupied Jerusalem and
recaptured many of the Crusader strongholds. Acre was recaptured by Richard the
Lionheart on the Third Crusade, and this followed by a treaty with Saladin which
In terms of cultural interaction, the results of the Crusades are meager. During the
forty years or so the Crusader and Muslim forces were roughly in equilibrium, the
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Crusaders learned to live on friendly terms with the local Muslim population, but
learned little from them, and developed little of their own which could influence the
West.
The results of the Crusaders are to be seen rather in the stimulation of trade and
commerce between Europe and the Middle East, and in the impetus given to various
social and political changes in Europe. A by-product of this greatly increased trade
between East and the West was the development of banking and credit, to serve the
The military strength of the Ottoman Empire16 obliged the West to resign itself to
another period of co-existence with the Arabs. The West ceasing for the moment to
see the Islamic world as the abode of unimaginable evil and vices, put in its place the
concept of the 'exotic East', the home of the rare and bizarre, of fabulous riches and
voluptuous delight. There was increased study of the Arabic language. More people,
especially merchants, traveled to the Middle East, but their accounts of life there were
not always reliable, and many merely fed the need of a public avid for exotica.
This improvement in the relations between Christendom and Islam was not to last.
The advent of the nineteenth century marked the rise of imperialism in the West. As
the West lost its fear of the Ottoman Empire, it also lost much of its temporary respect
The Western imperialist powers attempted to conceal their economic and political
objectives under a veneer of altruism. As they saw it, there were people in Asia in
need of good government and, in the West, there were people who not only knew how
to govern but were eager to confer the benefits of good government on others.
England therefore, shouldered 'the white man's burden', and France devoted itself to
its 'mission civilization'. The technological superiority of the West over the East,
16
See Appendix (A) for further reading.
128
which was the product of the Industrial Revolution brought with it unshakable belief
in the superiority of Western civilization over Islamic civilization. The West wanted to
demonstrate to Muslims not only their technological superiority but the superiority of
Christendom. So with the government officials went the missionaries, and the
The Islamic reaction to this double onslaught by the armies and administrators of
Western powers and by Christian missionaries was both religious and nationalist.
Colonial people did not accept the West's belief in its superior moral culture or its
superior religion, but believed rather that the West owed its dominance to the accident
of prior industrialization. At all events, rising nationalism in the Islamic world meant
that, by the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, the
imperial power were faced with simple alternative of relinquishing their colonies or
For fourteen centuries, Christendom and Islam have confronted each other as 'two
November, 1947 the United Nations divided Palestine, then under British mandate,
into Jewish and Arab states. Six months later the British withdrew, and on May 14,
1948, the state of Israel was proclaimed. Most Arabs view the new state as another
type of Crusader war but under different name. Arabs are seeing that history is
repeating itself, not by the Crusader this time, but by the Jews supported by the
Christendom either in Europe or in North America. Muslims see the West as the real
threat to Islamic stability. Most see Israel as an agent of the West in the Middle East.
Even secular Arabs who admire the West and fear reintroduction of a Muslim
129
theocracy nevertheless often feel angered at what they perceive as Western and
So until the Israeli-Arab conflict is resolved, the unease in both worlds will remain,
and with waging of the war on terror, most Muslims believe that the war is on Islam
as a faith rather then on outlawed gangs that are using the Islam as a cover.
5.2 Arabs Relations with Indian Subcontinent, Far East & Africa
Islam, and aware, too, that it has been thus virtually since its beginnings. A generation
after the Prophet’s death it had reached westward through Egypt to Berber North
Africa, eastward through Asia Minor toward Persia and India, after which it moved on
to the Malay world in the one direction and to Black Africa on the other. But through
through Mughal state formation—as intense and as various as any body of thought
and belief has ever passed, the fact that its mid-eastern, Arabic character and image,
unrewarded. It is more sensed than specifically inquired into, more taken for granted
Religion in general has been one of the major mechanisms by means of which
particular local cultures have projected themselves onto a larger world screen
evangelizing impulse that gripped it after the Reformation, brought European views
and values to various parts of Asia and Africa, as well as to the New World.
Buddhism, the movable form of Indiacism, carried aspects of South Asian sensibility
over into Southeast Asia, China, and even into Japan. But Islam has been particularly
effective in injecting the tone and temper of the Near East into distant contexts, as
130
well as, what is even more important, in maintaining and reinforcing them once they
were injected.
The focus on Mecca and Medina as the sacred center of Dar al-Islam and the growing
doctrine, as well as of law, prayer, poetry, ornament, and history; the strongly literary,
half of the last century— all these rigorist, not to say purist, institutions and
movements have served to keep the traditions of Arabic culture, and a good deal of its
feel as well, alive within even the most seemingly uncongenial contexts: African
The Arabs had commercial relations with southern India long before Islam, and their
commerce by sea continued -- along with missionary activity -- after the appearance
of the Prophet Muhammad. The Muslim Arabs first settled on the Malabar Coast
about fifty years after the Hijrah, toward the end of the seventh century A.D., at a
time when South India was agitated by religious conflicts and political instability.
Islam, with its simplicity of faith and clarity of doctrine, made a tremendous
impression on the Hindu mind, and within the first twenty-five years many of the
people, including the King of Malabar, had accepted the new religion.
As for India, Islam entered into the land east of the Indus River peacefully. Gradually
Muslims gained political power beginning in the early 13th century. But this period
which marked the expansion of both Islam and Arabic culture came to an end with the
established the powerful Mogul17 empire which produced such famous rulers as
17
For further reading please see Appendix (A).
131
Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan and which lasted, despite the gradual rise of British
As the old contractual obligations in society were weakened, Islam became the new
binding force of the conquered societies. And in order to cement their rule, Islamic
rulers initially promoted a system in which there was a revolving door between the
clergy, the administrative nobility and the mercantile classes. Ibn Batuta is a classic
the Maldives, and as an envoy and trader in the Malabar. There was never a
contradiction in any of his positions because each of these roles complemented the
other. Islam created a compact under which political power, law and religion became
fused in a manner so as to safeguard the interests of the mercantile class. This led
world trade to expand to the maximum extent possible in the medieval world.
The first Arabs Muslim invasion of India took place during the reign of the Umayyad
Caliph Walid (A.H.87-97; A.D. 705-15) who sent Muhammad Ibn Qasim on an
expedition into Sind, the area which then included most of what is now the Punjab.
Although Sind was at that time governed by a Brahman family, the religion of the
common people was Buddhist. The Buddhists were suffering serious religious, social,
and economic disabilities under the Brahman rule, as is shown by their petition to
Qasim for the right to worship in their Buddhist temples as they used to do.
Muhammad Ibn Qasim treated the Hindus very generously, keeping Hindu ministers
and police inspectors in his service, but he was soon recalled and after his departure
many of the Hindu feudal princes revolted against the Caliph’s authority.
The first Abbasid Caliph sent an army into Sind to oust the Umayyad governor, and
the second Caliph, Mansur, sent another expedition which founded the garrison town
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of Mansura. During the time of the Abbasid Caliph Ma'mun (A.H.198-218; A.D. 813-
33) many Arab families migrated to Sind, founding a large Arab colony. Later, as the
power of the Abbasid Caliphs declined, Sind became a neglected province governed
by petty princes who acknowledged the Caliph only as their spiritual head. The two
principal Muslim kingdoms of Sind were at that time Multan and Mansura.
The rule of the Arabs in Sind came to an end in (A.H.396, A.D. 1005) when
Mohamed of Ghazna sent an army of Turks and Hindu mercenaries under Abdul’r
Razzaq to uproot the power of the Qarmati Ima’ilis, who seem to have gained
considerable influence there. The Punjab was annexed to the Ghaznavid Empire and
ruled from Ghazna, but Mohamed's successors, faced with the rising power of the
Although, Arab rule of India was uprooted by the Turks, Islam kept expanding in the
Afghanistan, in North India. Turks vanished, and all avenues to power and office were
open to Indianized Muslims, converts and nonconverts. They extended Muslim power
much farther into southern India than ever before. The farthest southern extension of
Muslim rule came under the Tughluqs, who held power from 720 to 815 (A.D. 1320-
412) and pressed their invasion almost to the southern tip of the continent.
The chief Arab influence centered in the garrison towns established after the
departure of Qasim in an effort to retain some measure of control over the local rulers.
The Arab tribes which settled there left some influence on the language of Sind, but
little is known about them. After the establishment of the Fatimid rule in Egypt,
toward the end of the third century (A.D. 909), Isma‘ili preachers began to enter Sind
133
the same blood as the Druzes of Syria, founded a separate Kingdom near modern
Thatta. Later the Isma‘ilis gained a foothold in Multan, which had long been under
Sunni rule. The name of the Fatimid rulers was recited in the Friday addresses at
There were several Sindhi Muslim scholars of note in this period, men whose
influence extended to Iraq where the people thought highly of their learning. Their
judges were also noted for their mastery of Prophet reciting (Hadith). The school of
Hanafi, a sect of Muslim Sunni, came to dominate the whole province of Sind to the
exclusion of all other systems of jurisprudence. Two Sindhi poets, Abul Ata and Abu
Zila, attained great fame. The Arab poets were generally bilingual, writing in both
Sindhi and Arabic. Some of the poetic compositions of the Sind were transmitted
throughout the Arab Empire, and it is related that famous Arab poets visited Sind or
sent their poems to the governors there. The development of literature and poetry in
India was quickened by the coming of many scholars who were driven from their
homes in Iran and Transoxiana by the Mongol invasions. Outstanding among the
immigrant scholars was the famous historian Al-Biruni, author of the epoch-making
Kitabul Hind.
Under the Arabic rule the official language used for governmental and commercial
dealings in Sind was Arabic. The educated classes used both Arabic and Sindhi, but
the common people spoke only their own mother tongue. With the rise of Persian
power, the Persian language gained a firm footing in Sind along with Arabic, with the
result that modern Sindhi, written in Arabic script, contains more than fifty per cent
134
Although there is considerable debate amongst historians as to how much technology
was actually brought into India by the Arabs, there is one school of thought that
argues that inventions like the water-wheels for irrigation were imported during the
Islamic period. In some other cases, the evidence is much clearer. The use of ceramic
tiles in construction was inspired by architectural traditions prevalent in Iraq, Iran, and
in Central Asia. Rajasthan's blue pottery was an adaptation of Chinese pottery which
was imported in large quantities by the Mughal rulers. There is also the example of
The impact of Islam on Hinduism made itself felt in the reform movements it inspired
among the Hindus in the third to the sixth century (ninth to twelfth century A.D.).
These movements, associated with the names of Sankara and Ramanuja and their
followers, appeared first in South India as a result of early contacts with Muslims who
came to India as travelers and merchants, before there were any Muslim conquests in
southern India. It was only later that the reform movements spread to the north where
the rulers were Muslim. The early influence of Islam on Hinduism seems to have
come chiefly from observing the Sufi practices and the rites and customs of Muslims
Farther east in the Malay world, Islam began to spread in the 12th century in northern
Sumatra and soon Muslim kingdoms were established in Java, Sumatra and mainland
Malaysia. Despite the colonization of the Malay world, Islam spread in that area
covering present day Indonesia, Malaysia, the southern Philippines and southern
135
The most distinctive aspect of the historical career of Islam in the Far East especially
Malaysia and Indonesia is that, more than anywhere else, even more than in India, it
inserted itself, and rather late (mostly after the fourteenth century, and most decisively
It was in the expansion of trade where Islam's impact was the greatest. One of the
most significant aspects of the Islamic period in world history was the emergence of
Islamic courts capable of imposing a common commercial and legal system that
extended from Morocco in the West to Mongolia in the North East and Indonesia in
the South East. Although this was not of significant benefit to countries such as India
that enjoyed a substantial trade surplus, it was probably of great significance to the
people of the Arabian or Central Asian deserts whose oases depended heavily on
trade.
As far as Africa is concerned, Islam entered into East Africa at the very beginning of
the Islamic period but remained confined to the coast for some time, only the Sudan
and Somaliland becoming gradually both Arabized and Islamized. West Africa felt the
presence of Islam through North African traders who travelled with their camel
caravans south of the Sahara. By the 14th century there were already Muslim
sultanates in such areas as Mali, and Timbuctu in West Africa and Harar in East Africa
Gradually Islam penetrated both inland and southward. There also appeared major
charismatic figures who inspired intense resistance against European domination. The
process of the Islamization of Africa did not cease during the colonial period and
continues even today with the result that most Africans are now Muslims carrying on
136
a tradition which has had practically as long a history in certain areas of sub-Saharan
Arab immigration from Southwest Asia into East Africa has been ongoing since pre-
Islamic times. Today, pre-modern Arab genetic infusion can be found in Ethiopia,
Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. Some East Africans of Arab-black descent still
maintain family ties in Asia. These are descended from relatively recent immigrants
and have contact with relatives in Arab countries. Many Swahili have fairly recent
Omani ancestors and have used this link to migrate to well-paid posts in Oman.
Other Afro-Arab mixed East Africans cannot name individual Arab ancestors because
the racial mixing was introduced hundreds, and even thousands of years ago. A 1st
century B.C. Greek source Periplus of the Erythraen Sea reports large ships going to
the East African coast manned by Arab captains and agents who are familiar with the
natives and intermarry with them, and who know the whole coast and understand the
language [13].
The Arab facial features which occur in Ethiopia and Eritrea's black populations also
the 5th century B.C., Sabaen (south Arabian) armies settled in the Ethiopian highlands.
The resulting intermingling of Sabaen and Ethiopian cultures produced the Axum
kingdom, which became a powerful empire. The term Abyssinia itself is taken from
Wars in Arabia in the 7th and 8th centuries sent a large influx of Arab refugees from
Arabia and the Gulf to African coastal cities of Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Out of
this intermingling of Arabs and black Africans was born the Swahili - a Bantu-based
Arabized culture. By the 10th century, Arabs were living as far south as Sofala.
137
Immigrants from Yemen and Hadramaut (district in Yemen) came to East Africa in the
13th and 14th century. Ibn Battuta, who visited the Swahili coast in 1331, wrote of
Mogadishu, then a Swahili town, that Swahili businessmen each had personal ties
with Asian merchants, whom they entertained and accommodated in their own
houses.
Until the 19th century, Arabs tended to integrate into the local culture and had
relatively little impact on local African traditions. But some new imports from Arab
culture became central to East African life. Apparently, East Africans were using
Arabic script at least by the 9th century. According to Chinese official records of the
Zenjistan ambassadors in 9th century China, (Persian Zenj from Arabic Zanj for the
people of the East African coast) the Zenjistan language was "like Arabic". Quite
likely, when asked by the Chinese to write some words, the East African ambassadors
The Swahili language is Bantu with a high proportion of Arab loan words. The word
"Swahili" itself is derived from the Arabic word for "coast". The Swahilis wrote their
language in Arabic script for centuries before switching to the Roman script recently.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Sultans of Omani descent built Zanzibar City, (now part
of Tanzania). Between 1880 and 1950, Immigrants from Arabia, from Aden and
Hadramaut in particular, flocked to East Africa. These newcomers brought with them
dominate the Swahili trade with southern Arabia. Other Arabs of lower economic
classes worked in Zanzibar City and Mombassa as hawkers, coffee sellers and
unskilled laborers. Many died in the Zanzibar revolution of 1964, and the remaining
138
The Arab world of today is the product of Ottoman decline, European colonialism,
and Arab demands for freedom from European occupation. At the beginning of World
War I all of North Africa was under French (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco), Italian
(Libya), or British (Egypt) domination. After World War I the League of Nations
divided the Arab lands that had remained Ottoman during the war between Britain and
France, with the understanding that each power would encourage the development of
the peoples of the region toward self-rule. Iraq and Palestine (including part of what is
now Jordan) went to Britain, and Syria and Lebanon to France. Britain had suggested
to Arab leaders during the war that Palestine would be included in areas to be given
Arab self-determination, but British officials then promised the region to the Zionist
movement, which called for a Jewish state there. The Arab lands gained their
independence in stages after World War II, sometimes, as in Algeria, after long and
bitter struggles. Much of Palestine became the state of Israel in May 1948, setting the
stage for the Arab-Israeli conflict, in which five wars have occurred (1948-49, 1956,
1967, 1973, and 1982), and contributing to the rise of the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO), which gained prominence after the humiliating Arab losses in the
1967 war.
Arab unity has been a central motive in Arab politics from the first days of Islam. This
unity has only been fulfilled in the first century, before the world of Islam was divided
In modern times, Arab unity was a central political inducement in the time following
independence of the different Arab states, that is in the 50's and the 60's. The only
viable example of Arab unity was the United Arab Republic, consisting of Egypt,
Syria and Yemen, from 1958 to 1961. In this union Egypt was too dominant and the
two other countries felt they had to leave. Today Arab unity on the level of political
139
leaders have lost its credibility, as the leaders will never agree upon who should give
up his position as president or king. In the Arab's hearts, though, Arab unity is
strongly felt, even if Arabs living in poor countries are provoked by the rich oil
The Arab League, formed in 1945, has been more a forum for Arab infighting than a
framework for cooperation. Arabs genuinely feel common bonds based on language
and a shared historical and cultural legacy, but they also identify themselves as
Egyptians, Iraqis, and so on. Their ideological differences reflect the wide range of
governing systems in the Arab world, from socialist regimes to oil-rich monarchies.
Conclusions
Arabia. Stereotypical portrayals of Arabs today use the image of the nomad or tribal
140
sheikh, usually with prejudicial intent. In fact, it is difficult to generalize about Arabs
in terms of appearance or way of life. Bedouin are less than 10 percent of the total
Arab population. Most Arab societies are heavily urbanized, particularly the oil-rich
This reversal of the stereotype of the desert Arab owes much to the fact that there is
little if any agriculture in such societies. Major peasant populations are found in
countries such as Egypt, Syria, Algeria, and Iraq, where there is water for irrigation,
but even there generalizations are difficult. All these nations have heavy urban
expanding. As a whole, then, Arab society today is more heavily urban than rural, as a
result of major political, economic, and social changes that have occurred in the last
century. In addition, there are important variations in political and religious outlooks
among Arabs.
This rapid pace of urbanization and social change has been encouraged by economic
constraints found in many Arab societies. Except for oil, there are few natural
generally high in Arab countries, but productive land is scarce in some regions
because of the lack of water, and droughts and rising demand have increased the
people to flock to major cities seeking education and employment. This has placed
This process has been exacerbated by another factor--the rapid rate of population
growth in many Arab countries. Most have a rate of increase near 3 percent annually,
141
growth rates reflect the impact of modern medicine and social services that have
lessened infant mortality. The tendency to smaller families found in Western urban
societies has not occurred because of the prevalence of traditional attitudes favoring
large families, particularly among the poor and in areas where tribal values prevail.
Oman has a growth rate approaching 5 percent, and even a rate of 2.3 percent for
Egypt means that nearly 1.4 million Egyptians are born every year in a country where
agricultural land comprises only 12 percent of the total land area, forcing further
urban congestion and the need to import more food to maintain subsistence levels.
This inability to feed the population from indigenous resources leads to increased
The Arab world holds potential for both growth and conflict. Some Arab efforts to
promote more unified approaches to common problems have been made in recent
years, including the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council (1981) and the Arab
Maghrib Union 1989), and the union of the Yemens. Efforts to forge Arab unity are
strained by competition among Iraq, Syria, and Egypt for leadership of the Arab
world, and the varied Arab reactions to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait shattered the myth
of such unity. Prospects for regional stability improved somewhat with the ending of
the cold war and the signing of the 1993 and 1994 accords between the PLO and
Israel, the 1994 accord between Israel and Jordan, and other Arab moves toward
emergence in many Arab countries of radical, populist Muslim movements with mass
supporters. Such movements have been kept under uneasy restraint in some nations,
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the life of the people of Arabia continue to struggle toward brighter future,
cultures, and dreaming of Arab unity. So in that sense Arabs are no different then any
other societies of the world that seeks stable life, and demand a prosperous future.
References
1- The Arab in Old history, The Arab History and its Geography, Ameen Madani,
P 27,28.
143
3- http://i-cias.com/e.o/index.htm, Encyclopedia of the Orient,
lexicorient.com/e.o by Charles D. Smith.
5- http://www.apomie.com/arabhistory.htm
6- http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/opinion/?id=7894
9- Taken with edition from "The Arab world hand book, Arabian Peninsula
edition" by James Peters, ed. Stacey International, 128 Kensington Church st.
London. Pp.60-83.
12- http://www.ismaili.net/Source/1221b.html.
13- http://www.barkati.net/english/#07 .
15- Islamic Civilization, Editor R.M. Savory. Christendom vs. Islam: interaction
and co0existance. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Pp.127-135.
16- www.abbc.com/sindi/arab.htm#08.
144
17- “The Near East in the Far East” was a paper that Geertz presented as the
Sabbagh Lecture on Arabic Culture at the University of Arizona, Tucson in
February, 2000 as part of a Festschrift for Lucette Valensi that will appear
soon. Valensi, a Member of the School in 1976-77, is the Director of Studies
of the Institut d’Études de l’Islam et des Sociétés du Monde Musulman, which
is a section of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. She
is author, among other texts, of The Birth of the Despot: Venice and the
Sublime Porte (English translation 1993).
18- http://india_resource.tripod.com/islam.html.
Appendix A
145
Assyria
ashur, assur (Ancient)
Babylonia
146
Ancient kingdom in Mesopotamia, lasting from approximately 18th century till the 6th
century.
The Babylonian society was both an urban society and an agricultural one. The
economy rested upon agriculture, but governance, industries and fine arts were
performed in the cities. In the entire kingdom there were no more than about 10- 15
cities with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. Apart from that, people belonged to villages
and hamlets. The Babylonian heartland was between the rivers of Euphrates and
Tigris, but at its largest the kingdom extended to the entire populated Middle East.
Mesopotamia
147
Nabateans
Ancient people of northwestern Arabia centered to modern Jordan. They formed a
kingdom in the 4th century BCE or possibly earlier which lasted until 106 CE,
representing about 450 years of existence. Their capital was Petra.
The Nabateans are most likely of the same ethnic origin as other peoples of Arabia,
and their modern descendants are either labelled Arabs or Bedouins.
Their core land was one without rivers or lakes, but they had cisterns built into the
mountains, fetching rain water.
Kurdistan
Kurdistan, extensive plateau and mountain region in SW Asia (74,000 sq mi/191,660
sq km), inhabited mainly by Kurds and including parts of E Turkey, N Syria, NE Iraq,
S Armenia, and NW Iran. Ethnically and linguistically close to the Iranians, the
Kurds, who number about 20 million, were traditionally nomadic herders but are now
mostly semi-nomadic or sedentary. The majorities are Sunni Muslims and speak
Kurdish. The Kurds have traditionally resisted subjugation by other nations. Kurdistan
was conquered by the Arabs and converted to Islam in the 7th cent. The region was
held by the Seljuk Turks in the 11th cent., by the Mongols from the 13th to 15th
century, and then by the Ottoman Empire. Since World War I the Kurds have
struggled unsuccessfully in the various countries in which they live for self-
determination and independence. In 1946 a short-lived, Soviet-backed Kurdish
republic was formed in Iran. There were Kurdish uprisings in Iraq in the 1960s, 70s,
and 80s. After the Persian Gulf War, Kurdish groups again rose against Iraq but were
crushed, and perhaps 1.5 million fled to Turkey and Iran. Returning under UN
protection, they established (1992) an autonomous region in N Iraq, but in 1994
fighting erupted among the rival Kurdish factions, and control of the area is divided
between two rival groups. Iraqi Kurds aided U.S.-British forces in 2003 in their war to
oust Saddam Hussein from power.
148
Umayyad
The Umayyad caliphate established in 661 was to last for about a century. During this
time Damascus became the capital of an Islamic world which stretched from the
western borders of China to southern France. Not only did the Islamic conquests
continue during this period through North Africa to Spain and France in the West and
to Sind, Central Asia and Transoxiana in the East, but the basic social and legal
institutions of the newly founded Islamic world were established.
Abbasids
Abbasids dynasty ruled from 750 until 1258. The Abbasids were all of one big family
that claimed to descend from Abbas, an uncle of Prophet Muhammad. The Abbasids
governed from Baghdad, a city the second Abbasid Caliph founded in 762, and
Samara for some periods in the 9th century. The Abbasids took the power from the
Ummawiyys in 750, and stayed in power until the Mongols conquered Baghdad in
1258, and had the Caliph killed for their first 100 years, the Abbasids were leaders,
both of Islam and of the Muslim community. The Shi'is of the period rejected the
legitimacy of the Abbasid leadership. The change came towards the end of the 9th
century, and started with the takeover by Sunni scholars of religious leadership, of the
cost of the Caliph. This change became especially clear after the Mihna of mid - 9th
century. In political terms, the Abbasid Caliphs became puppets in the hands of the
Turkish military troops, and in 935 the title Emiru l-Umara was transferred to the
chief of the Turkish soldiers. The Persian Shi'i Buwayhids were the real rulers from
945 until the 10th century. The Buwayhids were so strong that they had the power to
remove Caliphs at their own will. Branch of Abbasids, stayed in office until 1517.
At the same time as the Caliphs lost the grip of power, the unity of the Caliphate also
fell apart, and independent states were formed. These new states recognized the
position of the Caliph, but it was only the symbolic value that survived. In 1055 the
Turkish Seljuqs conquered Baghdad, but this had little influence to the position of the
Caliphs, who continued to play only his limited symbolical role. With the fall of the
traditional Caliphate in 1258, when the Mongols took over Baghdad, a new line of
Abbasid Caliphs continued in Cairo. In Cairo they played the same type of role as in
Baghdad, but now even the symbolical role was limited by geography. This, the last
Harun Al-Rashid is the most famous of the Abbasid Caliphs. The Abbasid period, is
recognized of being the one in Muslim history bringing the most elevated scientific
works. The Muslim world continued the achievements of classical Europe (especially
the 9th and 10th centuries), India and former science of the Middle East, during a
period when Europe was unable contribute much to the cultural and scientific fields.
The Abbasid era is often regarded as the golden age of Muslim civilization.
Mughal
It was under the Mughals that Muslim rule in India was finally consolidated. After
fifty years of rule Akbar was followed by Jahangir, who reigned from 1014 to 1038
(A.D. 1605-28). Shah Jahan, famous as the builder of the Taj Mahal, was emperor
from 1038 until 1070 (A.D. 1628-59), when the control of the government was taken
over by his son Aurangzeb, the last of the great Mughal emperors, who died in 1119
(A.D. 1707). Although the Mughal rule continued after Aurangzeb, it was a prolonged
period of disintegration, which lasted until the Mutiny of 1274 (A.D. 1857).
149
the state. He had a Vizier, or Chief Minister, aided by secretaries, but no cabinet of
ministers. The chief of the religious department occupied an important position as the
guardian of Islamic law. He awarded lands and stipends to religious scholars, schools,
and colleges and was charged with the duty of helping the needy. The chief judge was
the highest judicial officer, overseeing the Qadis and Muftis who tried and decided the
civil and criminal cases of the Hindus and Muslims. They were chiefly concerned
with the administration of sacred law based on the interpretations of the four Muslim
schools of law.
After about 983 (A.D. 1575) Akbar began to show unusual interest in religious
discussions, largely as a result of association with some of his courtiers who were
free-thinkers. Akbar erected a special hall where religious discussions were held with
scholars of all views and schools. The controversies could not, of course, be restricted
to the differing views of the Sunnis and Shi‘as, or the conflicts of the various schools
of law. Soon the fundamentals of religion came under discussion and Akbar felt
dissatisfied with the existing state of religion. He then began to invite people of all
religions to take part in the discussions. Even the Christian fathers from Goa,
represented by Aquaviva and Monserrate, came to join this debate, but they failed to
influence Akbar. Gradually he was led to assume the mantle of a religious leader. He
issued a decree of infallibility which made him the supreme arbiter in matters of
religion and then went a step further by promulgating a new religion compounded of
Muslim, Hindu and Christian elements. In the new religion Akbar required the
followers to prostrate themselves before the emperor and forbade circumcision,
prohibited the use of beef, and discouraged the growing of beards. Eighteen of his
courtiers joined the new religion but all the rest kept aloof. In the end, Akbar achieved
only the exasperation of the ulama.
The palaces and forts constructed by the Mughals are a mixture of Indian and Muslim
styles, but the mosques and mausoleums are chiefly Islamic in conception and
execution, with the dome and the pointed arch as their most characteristic features. Of
all the Mughals, Shah Jahan holds the preeminent position in the history of Muslim
architecture. His Special Hall (Diwan-i-Khas) and the Taj Mahal, which is the
mausoleum of his wife, are the finest achievements of Mughal architecture. Among
the characteristics of this architecture are the lavish use of marble and the decoration
of walls and roofs with multi-colored carved and inlaid lacework.
The art of calligraphy received great encouragement from the Mughals, who had
many famous calligraphers attached to the court. Even greater favor was shown to
painters. When Babar conquered India, the popularity of the great Persian painter
Bihzad was at its zenith. His style of miniature painting was the standard which
Mughal painters chose to follow. After the return of Humayun from his enforced exile
in Persia, the Mughal nobles took the Persian style of painting for their model, thus
making Bihzad and his school the example as Persian art was engrafted on Indian
painting.
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receptions in princely courts are also represented, and of piety and mysticism there is
no lack. The king and the beggar were the two poles around which the individual
moved. The Sultan of today may be the darwish of tomorrow -- hence the frequency
of the scenes showing the darwish living in the wild forest or the lonely cave, the
darwish as the miraculous master leading fierce animals as if they were lambs, and the
darwish dancing in the ecstacy of mystic joy. The supernatural was represented in the
figures of Jinn, goblins, monsters, and fairies.
The disintegration of the Mughal Empire after the death of Aurangzeb in 1119 (A.D.
1707 went on rapidly, but the Muslim literature of this period shows no consciousness
of the fate that was overtaking the Muslims. Age-old methods of education and the
cultivation of established sciences went on as before because of the large endowments
which learned scholars had received at the hands of the Mughal emperors. A
significant feature of this period was the rise of the Urdu language. The new language
was a combination of Hindi, Arabic, and Persian, its grammar and syntax being based
on Sanskrit while its vocabulary was largely Arabic and Persian.
Appendix (B)
Middle East
Bali, Tanukh,
Juhayna II and
Kalab
Baker ibn Wail Taghlib
151
Appendix (C )
152
Arabic words used in English Language;
[aba, abelmosk, abutilon, Achernar, acrab, admiral, adobe, afreet (or afrit), albacore,
alforja, algarroba, algebra, Algol, algorism (or algorithm), alidade, alkali, alkanet,
Allah, almanac, alphabet, Altair, amalgam, amber, ameer (or amir), aniline, antimony,
apricot, ardeb, argan, ariel, arrack, arroba, arsenal, artichoke, assassin, atabal (or
baldachin, banana, barberry, bard (or barde), bark, barkentine, bedouin, benzoin,
berseem, Betelgeuse, bint, bonduc, borax, buckram, bulbul, burnoose (or burnous) ...
cable, cadi (or kadi or qadi), calabash, caliber (or calibre), caliph, caliphate, camel,
camise, camlet, camphor, canal, candy, cane, Caph, carafe, carat, caravan, caraway,
carmine, carob, carrack, Casbah (or Kasbah), check (from the Arabic word "sakk"),
checkmate, chiffon, cinnabar, cipher, civet, coffee, coffer, coffle, colcothar, Copt,
dinar, dirham, djin (or djinn or djinni), dragoman, drub, durra ...
fakir, fedayee (or fedayeen), fellah, fennec, fils, Fomalhaut, fustic ...
153
gabelle, galingale, garble, gauze, gazelle, genet, genie, ghibli, ghoul, Gibraltar, ginger,
haik, hajj, hajji, hakim, halva (or halvah), hamal (or hammal), hardim, harem, hashish,
jar, jasmine, jebel, jerboe, jereed, jessamine, jihad, jinn (or jinni), jubba (or jubbah),
julep ...
Kaabah, kabob (or kebab), Kabyle, kafir (or kaffir), kantar (or qantar), kaph, kat (or
qat), kef, kermes, khamsin, khan, khanjar, kismet, kohl, Koran (or Qur'an)...
lacquer, lake, lapislazuli, latakia, leban (or leben), lemon, lilac, lime, lute ...
massage, mastaba, mate (as in checkmate in Chess), mattress, mecca (after Makkah or
mocha (from Mocha, Yemen), mohair, monsoon, mosque, muezzin, mufti, mullah,
mummy, Muslim, muslin (from Mosul), Mussalman (or Mussulman), myrrh ...
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oka (or oke), olibanum, orange, Ottoman, oud ...
racket, realgar, ream, rebec (or rebeck), retem, retina, rial, ribes, Rigel, rice, risk, riyal,
safari, safflower, saffron, Sahara, Sahel, sahib, saker, salam, salamoniac, salep,
saloop, saluki, sambul, santir, saphena, sash, satin, sayyid, scallion, senna, sequin,
serendipity, sesame, shadoof (or shaduf), shaitan, shallot, sharif, sheik (or sheikh),
sherbet, sherbert, sherif (or sheriff), shish-kebab, shrub, simoom (or simoon),
sinologue, sirocco, sirup, sloop, soda, sofa, spinach, sudd, Sufi, Sufism, sugar, sultan,
tabby, tabla, tabor (or tabour), taffeta, talc, talisman, tamarind, tambour, tambourine,
tangerine, taraxacum, tarboosh (or tarbush), tare, tariff, tarragon, tazza, timbal (or
155
wadi ...
zaffer (or zaffre), zareba (or zariba), zenith, zero, zibet (or zibeth).
156