The word
Arab
is used with several meanings.
It is often used to refer to any
person of the
Middle East or
North Africa whose mother tongue is
the
Arabic language. Broadly, the term
refers to anyone of a people living in
this area, even though such a people
may have no connection to
Arabia, other than having been
invaded during the Arab expansion. The
Berber peoples of North Africa, for
example, though often called Arabs by
Westerners, are connected to Arabia
only by often speaking Arabic as a
second language, since that remains the
official language of the country in
which they live as a result of the Arab
expansion.
Racially, an Arab
is a person of Arabic descent, whose
original ancestry comes from the
Arabian Peninsula. Arabs are a
Semitic people, who trace their
ancestry from the ancient patriarch
Abraham.
Most, but not all, Arabs have
embraced the religion of
Islam. Many American Arabs are
Christian Arabs from
Syria and
Lebanon.
see
Semitic people,
Ababda,
Pan-Arabism,
Arab League
