The Arabs

The Arab World

People who speak Arabic as their primary language are known as Arabs. Traditionally, the Arabs lived on the Arabian Peninsula, but the language and culture of the Arabs spread throughout the Middle East with the expansion of Islam. Arabic is the language of the Quran, the holy book of Islam. Today more than 400 million Arabs live throughout the world. Arabs constitute most people in Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.

The Spread of Islam

A century after the death of Mohammad in AD 632, Islam spread as far west as Spain and as far east as northern India. Arab merchants and traders extended their influence to as far away as Southeast Asia. Today the nation with the largest Muslim population is Indonesia, a group of islands in Southeast Asia far from the Arab world.

Arabic as an Official Language

Arabic is the official language of the following nations:

• Egypt
• Algeria
• Saudi Arabia
• Yemen
• Syria
• Tunisia
• Libya
• Jordan
• United Arab Emirates
• Palestine
• Lebanon
• Kuwait
• Mauritania
• Oman
• Qatar
• Bahrain

Arabic as a Co-official Language

Arabic is also a co-official language in the following nations:

• Sudan (with English)
• Morocco (with Berber)
• Iraq (with Kurdish)
• Chad (with French)
• Somalia (with Somali)
• Israel (with Hebrew)
• Eritrea (with English and Tigrinya)
• Djibouti (with French)
• Comoros (with French and Comorian)
• Sahrawi (with Spanish)

Arab Contributions to Learning

The Arabs were interested in learning and other cultures. Western Europe was in a period often called the “Dark Ages” from about AD 500 to AD 1000 because the civilizations of Greece and Rome had been extinguished. During that time, Arabs greatly advanced mathematics, medicine, and physical science. Algebra and chemistry are both Arabic words. Many Western Europeans once used Roman numerals until they discovered the more efficient Arabic numbers we use today.