In contact with
Arabs speak Arabic and use the Arabic script. The number of Arabs is about 350 million people. More than 90% of Arabs profess Islam, part - Christianity.
Story
In biblical times
In biblical times, the Arabs were called Zebedee.
"Then Jonathan turned against the Arabs, who are called Zebedee, struck them down and took their prey"
Braun & Schneider, Public Domain“When they had withdrawn nine stadia from there, heading against Timothy, the Arabs attacked them, not less than five thousand and five hundred horsemen. The battle was fierce, and when those who were with Judah, with the help of God, won the victory, the defeated Arab nomads asked Judah for peace, promising to deliver livestock to them and to be useful to them in other ways.
- 2 Macc 12:10-11
In the Brockhaus Bible Encyclopedia (M., 1999):
"The Bible knows the Arabs as a nomadic tribe of Semitic origin, and also as descendants of Ishmael" (p. 47).
Braun & Schneider, Public Domain Flavius Josephus repeatedly mentions the Arabs (starting from the era of the patriarchs):
“Meanwhile, Judah, also one of the sons of Jacob, saw Arab merchants from the tribe of Ishmael, who were carrying spices and other Syrian goods to Egypt from Gilead, and, in view of the absence of Reubil, advised the brothers to pull Joseph out and sell him to the Arabs, because such In this way, Joseph will die in a foreign land among foreigners, and they themselves will not stain their hands with his blood.
Jewish antiquities, book. 2.3:3
IV-XX centuries
The ancient Semitic tribes, from which the ancient Arab people subsequently developed, occupied the territory of the Arabian Peninsula. The first Arab state formations arose on the northern border of Arabia, as well as in Central Arabia (the Kindite kingdom, the states of the Lakhmids and Hassanids).
Matson service photographer , Public Domain By the 5th-6th centuries. Arab tribes made up the majority of the population of the Arabian Peninsula. In the first half of the 7th c. with the advent of Islam, the Arab conquests began, as a result of which the Caliphate was created, which occupied vast territories from India to the Atlantic Ocean and from Central Asia to the central Sahara. Arab scientists were famous as excellent doctors and mathematicians.
AT North Africa the population, who spoke Semitic-Hamitic languages close to Arabic, was relatively quickly Arabized, adopting the language and many elements of the culture of the conquerors.
Al Jazeera English, CC BY-SA 2.0 At the same time, the reverse process of assimilation by the Arabs of some elements of the culture of the conquered peoples took place, in particular, in the countries of the Transcaucasus, such as Lazika, Kartli and Armenia; as well as in Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, eastern Turkmenistan), Spain, Portugal, Sicily, southern Italy and Pakistani India.
Imperio Resendiz, Public Domain Arab caliphate to the X century. as a result of the resistance of the conquered peoples and the growth of feudal separatism, it broke up into separate parts.
In the XVI century. the Arab countries of Western Asia (except for a significant part of the Arabian Peninsula) and North Africa (with the exception of Morocco) became part of.
Matthew Yohe, CC BY-SA 3.0 Since the 19th century Arab lands were subjected to colonial conquests and became colonies and protectorates of Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain.
To date, all of them (with the exception of Western Sahara and) are independent states.
Places of residence
The largest number of Arabs live in Asia and Africa.
In Africa: Mauritanians (Mauritania), Saharans (Western Sahara), Moroccans (Morocco), Algerians (Algeria), Tunisians (Tunisia), Libyans (Libya), Sudanese (Sudanese), Egyptians (Egypt), Shuva (Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan).
In Asia: Palestinian Arabs (live in Palestine, refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and other countries), Israeli Arabs (Israel), Lebanese (Lebanon), Jordanians (Jordan), Syrians (Syria), Iraqis (Iraq), Ahwazi ( Iran), Kuwaitis (Kuwait), Bahrainis (Bahrain), Emiratis (UAE), Yemenis (Yemen), Qataris (Qatar), Omanis (Oman), Saudis ( Saudi Arabia).
Arabs also live in Turkey (en:Arabs in Turkey), Uzbekistan, Afghanistan (Afghan Arabs), Indonesia (en:Arab Indonesians), India (en:Arab (Gujarat), Chaush) and Pakistan (en:Arabs in Pakistan, en :Iraqi biradri), Singapore (en:Arab Singaporean), the Philippines (en:Arab settlement in the Philippines) and other countries.
W.bengough, Public Domain There are Arab emigrants in Western Europe, North and South America, West and South Africa, Australia, etc.
Ethnic Arabs of Central Asia Central Asian Arabs are settled in small groups among Uzbeks, Tajiks and Turkmens, gradually being assimilated by them; the bulk live in the Bukhara and Samarkand regions of Uzbekistan.
They speak the language of the country of residence, but the Tajikized Mesopotamian Arabic dialect has been partially preserved. Consider themselves descendants of tribes resettled in Central Asia Timur; linguistic and anthropological data indicate that they moved to the right bank of the Amu Darya from Northern Afghanistan.
unknown , Public Domain The number is steadily declining: 21,793 people. in 1939, 8 thousand in 1959, about 4 thousand in 1970.
In addition, they distinguish their ancestral origin of the Khoja (Persian master, lord). In addition to the Arabs themselves, Islam was also spread by sedentary Turkic-speaking Muslims who converted to Islam before the nomadic Turks.
In addition, persons from other Turkic tribes were attributed to the “Khoja” clan for their excellent knowledge of Islam, which indicates the origin of the “Khoja” not as a tribal formation, but rather as a mixed tribal and caste formation, which also had as one of its many ancestors Arabs. At the same time, along with the Khodja, there is the class of seyid (Arabic ‘lord, master’).
Representatives of this class trace their genealogy to Khazret Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. The Sayyids are descended from Hussein, the son of Khazret Ali and the daughter of Muhammad Fatima.
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, Qatar , Kuwait , Lebanon , UAE , Oman , Saudi Arabia , Syria
Region of residence: Asia
ARABS, al-Arab (self-name), a group of peoples, a meta-ethnic community. In Asia, Arabs make up the majority of the population of Bahrain (Bahraini Arabs), Jordan (Jordanian Arabs), Iraq (Iraqi Arabs), Yemen (Yemeni Arabs), Qatar (Qatari Arabs), Kuwait (Kuwaiti Arabs), Lebanon (Lebanese Arabs), United Arab Emirates (UAE; United Arab Emirates Arabs), Oman (Omani Arabs), Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabian Arabs), Syria (Syrian Arabs); in Africa - Algeria (Algerian Arabs), Western Sahara (Moors), Egypt (Egyptian Arabs), Libya (Libyan Arabs), Mauritania (Moors), Morocco (Moroccan Arabs), Sudan (Sudanese Arabs), Tunisia (Tunisian Arabs). There are Palestinian Arabs in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and other countries; Arabs also live in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Indonesia and other countries. There are Arab emigrants in Western Europe, North and South America, West and South Africa, Australia, and others. The total number is about 167 million people, of which over 56 million people live in Asia; in Africa over 107 million people. They belong mainly to the Indo-Mediterranean race of the large Caucasoid race. Arabic belongs to the southern subgroup of the West Semitic group of the Afroasian family. Literary Arabic, common among all Arabs, has dialect variants (Iraqi Arabic, Yemeni Arabic, etc.). Modern spoken Arabic dialects fall into the following major groups: Arabian, Yemenite, Iraqi, Syro-Lebanese, Egyptian, Sudanese, Maghreb, Hasaniya, Shuva, etc. Representatives of ethno-confessional communities (Sabians, etc.) speak the New Aramaic dialects of the northern subgroup of the West Semitic languages in some regions of Syria and Iraq. Some of the Arabs of the South Arabian coast speak the small languages of the southern peripheral subgroup of the Semitic group of the Afroasian family: Shahri, Bothari, Harsusi in Oman, Mahra and Socotrians in Yemen. Writing on the Arabic graphic basis.
The bulk of the Arabs profess Islam. Sunnis predominate; there are Shiites of different persuasions: in Iran (where they make up the vast majority), Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc., including Druzes and Nusayris; Ibadis (in the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf and North Africa). Among the Christian Arabs are the Copts of Egypt, the Maronites and the Orthodox of Lebanon, the Melkites (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, etc.), etc.
The ancestors of the Arabs are the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, who in the 2nd half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. after the domestication of the camel, the economic and cultural type of nomadic camel breeders (Bedouins) began to take shape. The first North Arab states of the 1st millennium BC. e. - 1st millennium AD e. - Palmyra (Tadmor), Nabatea, Likhyan, Gassan, Lakhm and Kinda tribal associations of Central Arabia - did not consolidate the tribes of Arabia into a single ethnic group. This happened with the advent of Islam and the creation of the Arab Caliphate (7th century). With the beginning of the Arab conquests (1st third of the 7th century), the ethnonym Arabs turns into the self-name of the Arabian tribes that made up the medieval Arab people. The collapse of the Ottoman Empire (late 19th - early 20th centuries), the liberation struggle of the Arabs against the European colonial powers in the 20th century. led to political freedom Arab world, the consolidation of the Arab nations.
Most of the Arabs are fellahic peasants, engaged in arable farming, nomadic pastoralism, horticulture and horticulture. The basis of the tribal organization is the lineage, which has common ancestor in the male line and bound by customs of mutual aid, blood feud and endogamy (patrilateral orthocousin marriage is preferred). Several such groups make up a subdivision of a tribe or the tribe itself, led by a leader. The kinship system is mainly of the Arabic type. The traditional dwelling of nomads and semi-nomads is a quadrangular tent made of black (usually goat) wool, sometimes made of tarpaulin, settled Arabs - a frame-pillar dwelling. The houses of peasants and townspeople belong to various variants of the Mediterranean type (one-story rectangular house with a courtyard). Depending on the area, adobe buildings, stone fortress houses, huts made of mats, etc. are built. Religious and secular architecture (monuments of Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, etc.) and the arts and crafts of the Arabs had a great influence on world culture. The clothes of the population of South Arabia are characterized by over-skirts (foot) and headbands, for the interior of the peninsula - sleeveless cloaks (aba), long-sleeved shirts, head scarves. The difference between men's and women's clothing often lies in the finish and the way it is worn. Rings, earrings, bracelets and anklets, cufflinks, and other jewelry are often the only personal possessions of women. The Bedouins practice tattooing and painting of the face, hands, feet and body. Many Muslim women cover their faces with veils, masks or veils. Modern Arab clothing is a combination of Arab and other oriental (Iranian, Turkish, etc.) and European elements.
The usual Bedouin food is camel milk, unleavened wheat, barley, millet or corn cakes, dates. The settled Arabs - porridge from various cereals, goat's milk, sheep's cheese, herbs, vegetables, etc.; occasionally meat depending on the country and season. Many Muslim Arabs observe the food prescriptions of Islam (fasting in the month of Ramadan, a ban on alcoholic drinks and pork).
The folklore of the Arabs is rich, which became the source of classical Arabic poetry and is closely connected with musical creativity. The main musical instruments are a tambourine, drums, a lute, a two-stringed or one-stringed bowed rebab (a prototype of a violin), etc.
The development of industry in the Arab countries, the settlement of nomads, the growth in the number of agricultural and urban workers are destroying the remnants of tribal and patriarchal-feudal relations.
Arabs - the indigenous population of Arabia - belong to the so-called Semitic group of peoples. In the 6th-7th centuries they were divided into Arab townspeople and Bedouins.
The name "Bedouin" means in Arabic a person living in the steppe, and comes from the word "badiye", which means "steppe, desert."
The Bedouins were nomads. They were engaged in cattle breeding. The camel was the main animal in their household. The whole life of a Bedouin is connected with a camel from birth to death. The camel gave him milk, dairy products, meat. Camel wool was used to make clothes and dwellings - tents and tents. Sandals, saddles, harnesses, wineskins for storing water were made from camel skins and skins. The shoulder blades of a camel often served as a material for records among Arab townspeople, and dried dung was used as fuel.
The camel, on the other hand, was the main means of transportation, especially convenient in the desert, since it can not drink for up to twenty-five days in winter and more than five days in summer. It is no coincidence that there are still about a thousand names of a camel in the Arabic language, which characterize the most subtle shades in the color of wool and differences in age and purpose. The Arabs considered the camel a gift from Allah and sang it in their songs.
In addition to camels, the Bedouins raised sheep, goats and, to a lesser extent, horses.
In addition to raising livestock, worthy men occupations were considered raids on neighboring tribes for the sake of robbery and the removal of livestock. The life of a Bedouin, full of hardships and dangers, required constant struggle. Fight against thirst, cold, hunger, enemies. These conditions created strong, courageous and dexterous people who knew how to overcome difficulties and quickly find the right solution in case of danger. And it is not surprising that, living constantly as if in a state of siege, the Arabs considered courage to be the greatest virtue.
Hospitality was another Bedouin virtue. The same camel that the Bedouin sang, he was ready to generously slaughter to feed his hungry companions and his guest.
Bedouin (modern image).
As long as the guest was under the roof of the host, he was safe. However, when the guest, having said goodbye, drove off for a certain distance, the recent host could rob him or even kill him.
The basis of the Bedouin society was the tribal organization. Each tent represented a family of five to eight people. A group of tents made up a "hayy" or camp. All members of the haya
belonged to the same genus. Several clans made up a tribe. The head of the clan was "sheikh", which means "old man", usually the oldest member of the clan. The Sheikh was chosen and he ruled based on personal experience, knowledge, authority and generosity.
Under the sheikh, there was something like a council of representatives of individual families.
It is clear that in such a society the most important thing was kinship by blood, connection with the tribe. In the harsh natural conditions of the desert, a man without a family, without a tribe, was completely helpless and was in constant danger. The mutual connection and support of the members of the tribe was especially clearly manifested in the custom of blood feud. If a member of the clan killed his relative, then the rest of the members of the clan refused to support him. In the event of flight, he became an outcast, and anyone could kill him without fear of revenge. If the murder was committed outside the clan, then any member of the clan could pay for it with his life, and the whole clan protected each of its representatives. And vengeance was bound to follow. The death of the Bedouin did not frighten, but the fear that his blood would be shed in vain was frightening. The enmity caused by the custom of blood feud could last for decades.
Sometimes one tribe asked for protection from another. The tribes connected by such relations promised not to attack each other, to help each other. At the same time, a weak tribe had to bear more responsibilities and obey a stronger one. The same relationship could exist between individuals.
But one should not think that the life of the Bedouins proceeded in patriarchal simplicity, without internal complications and conflicts.
By the 6th-7th centuries, rich and poor stand out more and more sharply among them. The leaders of clans and tribes use power in their own interests. The pastures that belonged to the whole tribe gradually pass into the hands of the leaders. They exploit their poor compatriots. They have slaves and slaves who graze cattle, care for them and perform various household chores. Some families get richer, others get poorer.
Unable to explain to themselves the various phenomena of nature, the Bedouins endowed the objects around them with supernatural qualities. They deified trees, stones, wells, springs, caves and worshiped them. In addition, each tribe had its own deity.
One tribe had a deity made of dough, and when there was a famine year, the tribe ate it without a trace.
The deserts and gorges of the Bedouins were inhabited by spirits, the so-called jinn. These genies, according to the ideas of the Arabs, sometimes helped travelers, but they could destroy them if they were angry with something.
Many tribes of Arabia worshiped the moon, the sun, and the stars. But for all Arabs, the city of Mecca was a sacred place. Representatives of another group of the population of Arabia lived there - the city-Arabs.
Black stone.
The urban Arabs - the settled population of the "Island of the Arabs" - lived in a few oases where cities arose. The largest and most famous were Mecca, Yathrib, later called Medina, and Taif.
In Yathrib, and especially in Taif, the inhabitants were mainly engaged in agriculture and gardening. The main plant cultivated by the Arabs was the date palm. In the life of an Arab city dweller, a palm tree was as important as a camel for a Bedouin.
The fruits of the date palm were eaten fresh and dried in reserve. They also prepared an intoxicating drink - nabiz. Camels were fed with fruit bones, and various household items were made from trunks.
In addition to the date palm, grapes, apples, pomegranates, apricots, almonds, oranges, sugar cane, watermelons, and bananas grew in Arabia. Wheat and barley were grown in small quantities.
Mecca was significantly different from other cities of the peninsula. Located in a dry and unhealthy area, it arose from the very beginning as a holy city for all Arabs.
In Mecca there was a temple, the so-called Kaaba, which in Arabic means "cube". The name of the temple was due to its cubic shape. A sacred black stone was placed in the temple, which, according to legend, fell from the sky. The idols of almost all the tribes of Arabia were also kept there. Every Arab considered it his duty at least once in his life to visit the Kaaba and kiss the black stone. (Probably this stone is of meteoric origin.)
The area around the city was also considered sacred, and it was impossible to wage war on it. In the same place, in Mecca, there is also a sacred spring Zemzem. Pilgrims (people who come to venerate a shrine)
when visiting Mecca, they performed a number of rituals and made sacrifices to the gods.
Mecca was also of great importance as a trading point. For a long time, it has become a station on the “spice road”, through which goods went further north. The Meccans themselves annually sent a rich caravan of goods to Syria. Trade greatly enriched the inhabitants of Mecca. In 624, for example, a caravan was equipped, which consisted of a thousand camels and was estimated at 50,000 dinars, almost 400,000 rubles in our money. The Mecca area was considered sacred, and therefore safe. Therefore, Mecca also became the center of intra-Arabian trade.
Every year, during the holy months when war was forbidden, Arabs from all over the peninsula gathered in the city itself for the fair.
... Here is a Bedouin riding a camel. On his head is a white scarf, the corners of which hang down over his shoulders and back. The scarf is reinforced on top with an akal - a ring made of a rope made of willow 
The caravan of Hadjievs (pilgrims) enters Mecca. (Snapshot of the 20th century.)
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Mecca. General form. In the center is a rectangular building of the Meccan mosque. In the courtyard of the mosque, the Kaaba, hung with a black veil, in which the Black Stone is located. (Drawing of the 18th century.)
puffer wool. On the shoulders of the Bedouin is a long black cloak, under which a white (gray from dust) shirt is visible. Bare feet. In his hand is a long bamboo spear. Behind the rider slowly and sedately paces another camel with skins and skins laden on it, and in front of it a small herd of sheep dusts with bleating and noise. The tents are scattered all around. People crowd in groups. A ram is being slaughtered behind one of the tents. Several people are watching nearby: how can you miss this significant event! Merchants laid out their goods right on the ground. One has colorful Yemeni fabrics. The other has Indian swords. A third offers dried dates. The fourth arranged pottery and various trifles needed in the nomad's household.
At the other end of the fair, a large crowd is listening to the poet. There are exclamations, exclamations of surprise and admiration for the poems.
Everything makes noise, talks, shouts, sings. The fair splashes in a narrow valley, bordered by gray cliffs.
And the bright Arabian sun mercilessly burns the rocks devoid of vegetation, and the steppe with sparse shrubs adjoining the valley, and people...
This is what these annual fairs looked like, at which representatives of all parts of the "Island of the Arabs" met.
Mecca and its shrines were in the hands of the Koreish tribe. The inhabitants of Mecca and other cities, like the Bedouins, had a tribal organization. However, in their environment, property inequality manifested itself much more sharply than among the Bedouins. The Meccan merchants had many more slaves than the Bedouins.
Not limited to the exploitation of slaves, rich merchants enslaved their relatives. This was usually done through loans. Wanting to participate in the trade, the poor borrowed money from the rich before leaving the caravan to Syria. When the caravan returned and all transactions were completed, the debtor was obliged to pay an amount much larger than that borrowed.
In this article, we present you full list countries where Arabic is spoken. The list includes not only those countries in which Arabic is the official language, but also those where Arabic is the second official language.
The Arab countries included in the first list are in alphabetical order. The article also includes data on gross domestic product (GDP), population and divisions for each dialect group of spoken Arabic. You will find the same data in the list of countries in which a significant part of the population speaks Arabic or whose second official language is Arabic.
List of Arab countries in alphabetical order
Jordan
Mauritania
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Palestine
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Tunisia
A Brief History of the Arabic Language and the Arab World
About 420 million people speak Arabic, making it the sixth most widely spoken language in the world. The word "Arab" means "nomad", and this is understandable, because the Arabic language came from nomadic tribes inhabiting the desert regions of the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabic language developed in the fourth century AD from the Nabataean and Aramaic scripts. Arabic is written from right to left, the writing resembles italics, and the Arabic alphabet includes 28 letters - almost like in English. It has remained unchanged since the seventh century AD thanks to the revelations of the Prophet Muhammad recorded in the Qur'an. From the 8th century, the Arabic language began to spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, as many people began to convert to Islam. Muslims are required to pray only in Arabic. Today, the Arab world is called the region, which includes the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and the Arabic language is official there. Arab countries differ from each other in terms of history, culture, politics and dialects.
List of Arabic-speaking countries with GDP
The combined GDP of Arabic-speaking countries is $2851 trillion. This is approximately 4% of the gross world product (GMP). Many countries in the Arab world are considered emerging market economies. The Arab world, especially the Middle East, is most notable for its oil production. Saudi Arabia ranks second in the world in terms of oil production along with Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, occupying 7th, 8th and 11th places respectively. The economies of many of these countries depend solely on oil revenues. In Qatar, the Arab state with the highest GDP growth (5.6%), oil accounts for more than 70% of total government revenue, more than 60% of gross domestic product and about 85% of export earnings. However, oil production is not the only industry in the Arab world. For example, Jordan does not have oil or other resources for energy production. Their place is taken by services, which in this country account for more than 67% of GDP. The Jordanian banking sector is one of the most powerful in the region. The Arab Bank, headquartered in the Jordanian capital Amman, is one of the largest financial institutions in the Middle East. The standard of living in the countries of the Arab world is very different. Thus, Qatar has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world and is about $93.352, while Yemen has one of the lowest, equal to $1.473.
| Country | GDP (billion US dollars) |
| Saudi Arabia | 646,00 |
| 370,29 | |
| Egypt | 330,78 |
| Iraq | 180,07 |
| Algeria | 166,84 |
| Qatar | 164,60 |
| Kuwait | 114,04 |
| Morocco | 100,59 |
| Oman | 69,83 |
| Libya | 29,15 |
| Sudan | 97,16 |
| Syria | 73,67 |
| Tunisia | 43,02 |
| Lebanon | 47,10 |
| Yemen | 37,73 |
| Jordan | 37,52 |
| Bahrain | 31,12 |
| Palestine | 6,90 |
| Mauritania | 5,44 |
Arabic speaking border financial markets and least developed countries
Many Arabic-speaking countries either fall into the category of frontier financial markets or are considered Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Frontier financial markets tend to have large market opportunities and high potential for rapid growth. On the other hand, these frontier markets are often more risky than mature markets, and the lack of infrastructure can make it difficult to do business. The Arab LDCs are the Arabic-speaking countries with the lowest economic development. Countries like war-torn Syria are having their currency taken out and their economies in decline instead of growth.
It is important to note that even in these markets there are still some emerging industries and products in high demand.
The study of the economy shows that with a decrease in income, the demand for low-grade goods increases. Bus travel is an example of a low-grade product that is chosen by those whose incomes are lower. However, even in countries where the economy is in decline, the demand for some expensive goods may increase. Take, for example, armored personnel carriers. In war-torn Arab countries where security is paramount, they are in high demand.
The following is a list of the four Arab countries in this category:
The population of Arabic-speaking countries
According to 2013 data, the total population of the Arab world is estimated at 369.8 million people. This region stretches from Morocco in North Africa to Dubai in the Persian Gulf. The most populous country in the region is Egypt, while the sparsely populated country is Bahrain. Many countries in the Arab world have very high population growth rates. For example, Oman and Qatar have the highest population growth rates in the world at 9.2% and 5.65 respectively. About 90 percent of people in the Arab world consider themselves Muslims, six percent are Christians, and four percent practice other religions. Most of these people are ethnic Arabs; other major ethnic groups include Berbers and Kurds.
The following is a complete list of Arabic-speaking countries, arranged according to population:
|
Country |
Population |
| Egypt | 82.060.000 |
| Algeria | 39.210.000 |
| Sudan | 37.960.000 |
| Iraq | 33.042.000 |
| Morocco | 33.010.000 |
| Saudi Arabia | 28.290.000 |
| Yemen | 24.410.000 |
| Syria | 22.850.000 |
| Tunisia | 10.890.000 |
| United Arab Emirates | 9.346.000 |
| Jordan | 6.459.000 |
| Libya | 6.202.000 |
| Lebanon | 4.467.000 |
| Palestine | 4.170.000 |
| Mauritania | 3.890.000 |
| Oman | 3.632.000 |
| Kuwait | 3.369.000 |
| Qatar | 2.169.000 |
| Bahrain | 1.332.000 |
Other Arabic speaking countries
In many countries, Arabic is either the second official language or there are significant Arabic-speaking communities. However, in all these countries, Arabic is a minority language. For example, in Chad there are two official languages– French and literary Arabic, as well as over 120 indigenous languages.
| Country | GDP (billion US dollars) | Population |
| Chad | 11,02 | 12.450.000 |
| Comoros | 0,5959 | 717.503 |
| Djibouti | 1,239 | 859.652 |
| Eritrea | 3,092 | 6.131.000 |
| Israel | 242,9 | 7.908.000 |
| Somalia | 0,917 | 100.200.000 |
| South Sudan | 9,337 | 10.840.000 |
Arabic dialects
There are three forms of Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), Classical Arabic/Qur'anic, and Colloquial Arabic. MSA is the official modern language of the Arab world, based on the language of the Koran. MSA is widely taught in schools and universities in Arabic-speaking countries. It is also used to varying degrees in the workplace, government and media throughout the Arab world.
Despite the existence of the MSA, Arabic speakers grow up speaking the dialect of the region in which they live. Each Arabic-speaking country has its own form of spoken Arabic, which differs significantly from MSA. Any one dialect of colloquial Arabic can be used in an entire region or even a country. The main dialect groups of Arabic are as follows:
| Dialect | Distribution zones | Number of Speakers |
| Egyptian | Egypt | 55,000,000 |
| Dialects of the Persian Gulf | Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE | 36,056,000 |
| Mauritanian | Mauritania, Southern Morocco, Southwestern Algeria, Western Sahara | 3,000,000 |
| Levantine (Levantine) | Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Syria | 21,000,000 |
| Maghreb | Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia | 70,000,000 |
| Mesopotamian/Iraqi | Iraq, East Syria | 35,000,000 |
| Sudanese | Sudan, South Egypt | 40,000,000 |
| Yemeni | Yemen, Somalia, Djibouti, South Saudi Arabia | 15,000,000 |
Map of Arabic dialects
Gulf Arabic - Dialects of the Persian Gulf
Bahrani - Bahraini
Najdi - Najdi
Omani - Omani
Hijazi and Rashaida - Hijazi
Dhofari - Dhofari
Yemeni and Somali - Yemeni and Somali
Chadic and Shuwa - Chadic
Sudanese - Sudanese
Sa'idi - Said
Egyptian - Egyptian
Judeo-Arabic - Jewish-Arabic
Nubi - Nubian
Cypriot Arabic - Cypriot Arabic
Iraqui - Iraqi
Levantine - Levantine (Levantine)
North Mesopotanian - North Mesopotamian
Morrocan - Moroccan
Tunisian - Tunisian
Algerian - Algerian
Lybian - Libyan
Hassaniya - Moorish
Saharans - Saharan
The Arabs call Arabia their homeland - Jazirat al-Arab, that is, the “Island of the Arabs”.
Indeed, from the west, the Arabian Peninsula is washed by the waters of the Red Sea, from the south - by the Gulf of Aden, from the east - by the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. The rugged Syrian Desert stretches to the north. Naturally, with such a geographical position, the ancient Arabs felt isolated, that is, "living on an island."Speaking about the origin of the Arabs, they usually single out historical and ethnographic areas that have their own characteristics. The allocation of these areas is based on the specifics of the socio-economic, cultural and ethnic development. The Arabian historical and ethnographic region is considered the cradle of the Arab world, the boundaries of which do not coincide with modern states Arabian Peninsula. This includes, for example, the eastern regions of Syria and Jordan. The second historical and ethnographic zone (or region) includes the rest of Syria, Jordan, as well as Lebanon and Palestine. Iraq is considered a separate historical and ethnographic zone. Egypt, Northern Sudan and Libya are united into one zone. And finally, the Maghrebino-Mauritanian zone, which includes the countries of the Maghreb - Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, as well as Mauritania and Western Sahara. This division is by no means universally recognized, since the border regions, as a rule, have features characteristic of both neighboring zones.
Economic activity
The agricultural culture of Arabia developed quite early, although only some parts of the peninsula were suitable for land use. These are, first of all, those territories on which the state of Yemen is now located, as well as some parts of the coast and oases. St. Petersburg orientalist O. Bolshakov believes that "in terms of the intensity of agriculture, Yemen can be put on a par with such ancient civilizations as Mesopotamia and Egypt." The physical and geographical conditions of Arabia predetermined the division of the population into two groups - settled farmers and nomadic pastoralists. There was no clear division of the inhabitants of Arabia into settled and nomads, because there were various types of mixed economy, relations between which were maintained not only through the exchange of goods, but also through family ties.
In the last quarter of the II millennium BC. the cattle breeders of the Syrian desert had a domesticated dromedary camel (dromedary). The number of camels was still small, but this already allowed part of the tribes to move on to a truly nomadic way of life. This circumstance forced pastoralists to lead a more mobile lifestyle and carry out many kilometers of transitions to remote areas, for example, from Syria to Mesopotamia, directly through the desert.
First state formations
On the territory of modern Yemen, several states arose, which in the 4th century AD. were united by one of them - the Himyarite kingdom. The South Arabian society of antiquity is characterized by the same features that are inherent in other societies of the Ancient East: a slave-owning system was born here, on which the wealth of the ruling class was based. The state carried out the construction and repair of large irrigation systems, without which it was impossible to develop agriculture. The population of the cities was mainly represented by artisans who skillfully made high-quality products, including agricultural implements, weapons, household utensils, leather goods, fabrics, and decorations from sea shells. Gold was mined in Yemen, and fragrant resins were also collected, including frankincense, myrrh. Later, the interest of Christians in this product constantly stimulated transit trade, due to which the interchange of goods between the Arabian Arabs and the population of the Christian regions of the Middle East expanded.
With the conquest of the Himyarite kingdom at the end of the 6th century by Sasanian Iran, horses appeared in Arabia. It was during this period that the state fell into decline, which affected primarily the urban population.
As for the nomads, such collisions affected them to a lesser extent. The life of the nomads was determined by the tribal structure, where there were dominant and subordinate tribes. Within the tribe, relations were regulated depending on the degree of kinship. The material existence of the tribe depended solely on the harvest in the oases, where there were cultivated plots of land and wells, as well as on the offspring of the herds. The main factor influencing the patriarchal life of the nomads, in addition to the attacks of unfriendly tribes, were natural disasters - drought, epidemics and earthquakes, which are mentioned by Arab legends.
Nomads of central and northern Arabia for a long time bred sheep, cattle and camels. Characteristically, the nomadic world of Arabia was surrounded by economically more developed regions, so there is no need to talk about the cultural isolation of Arabia. In particular, this is evidenced by the excavation data. For example, in the construction of dams and reservoirs, the inhabitants of southern Arabia used cement mortar, which was invented in Syria around 1200 BC. The presence of links that existed between the inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast and southern Arabia as early as the 10th century BC confirms the story of the trip of the ruler of Saba (“Queen of Sheba”) to King Solomon.
Advance of Semites from Arabia
Approximately in the III millennium BC. Arabian Semites began to settle in Mesopotamia and Syria. Already from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. began an intensive movement of Arabs outside the "Jazirat al-Arab". However, those Arabian tribes that appeared in Mesopotamia in the 3rd-2nd millennium BC were soon assimilated by the Akkadians living there. Later, in the XIII century BC, a new advancement of the Semitic tribes began, who spoke Aramaic dialects. Already in the 7th-6th centuries BC. Aramaic becomes spoken language Syria, displacing Akkadian.
ancient Arabians
By the beginning of the new era, significant masses of Arabs moved to Mesopotamia, settled in southern Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula. Some tribes even managed to create state formations. So, the Nabataeans founded their kingdom on the border of Arabia and Palestine, which lasted until the 2nd century AD. Along the lower reaches of the Euphrates, the Lakhmid state arose, but its rulers were forced to recognize vassal dependence on the Persian Sassanids. The Arabs who settled in Syria, Transjordan and southern Palestine united in the 6th century under the rule of representatives of the Ghassanid tribe. They also had to recognize themselves as vassals of the stronger Byzantium. It is characteristic that both the Lakhmid state (in 602) and the Ghassanid state (in 582) were destroyed by their own suzerains, who feared the strengthening and growing independence of their vassals. Nevertheless, the presence of Arab tribes in the Syrian-Palestinian region was a factor that subsequently contributed to softening the new, more massive invasion of the Arabs. Then they began to penetrate into Egypt. Thus, the city of Koptos in Upper Egypt, even before the Muslim conquest, was half inhabited by Arabs.
Naturally, the newcomers quickly joined the local customs. Caravan trade allowed them to maintain ties with kindred tribes and clans within the Arabian Peninsula, which gradually contributed to the convergence of urban and nomadic cultures.
Prerequisites for the unification of the Arabs
In the tribes living near the borders of Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia, the process of decomposition of primitive communal relations developed faster than among the population of the interior regions of Arabia. AT V-VII centuries underdevelopment was observed internal organization tribes, which, in combination with the remnants of the maternal account and polyandry, testified that, due to the specifics of the nomadic economy, the decomposition of the tribal system in Central and Northern Arabia developed more slowly than in neighboring regions of Western Asia.
Periodically, kindred tribes united in unions. Sometimes there was a fragmentation of tribes or their absorption by strong tribes. Over time, it became obvious that large formations are more viable. It was in tribal unions or confederations of tribes that the preconditions for the emergence of a class society began to take shape. The process of its formation was accompanied by the creation of primitive state formations. As early as the 2nd-6th centuries, large tribal unions began to take shape (Mazhidj, Kinda, Maad, etc.), but none of them could become the core of a single pan-Arab state. The prerequisite for the political unification of Arabia was the desire of the tribal elite to secure the right to land, livestock and income from caravan trade. An additional factor was the need to join forces to resist external expansion. As we have already pointed out, at the turn of the 6th-7th centuries, the Persians captured Yemen and liquidated the Lakhmid state, which was in vassal dependence. As a result, in the south and north, Arabia was under the threat of absorption by the Persian state. Naturally, the situation had a negative impact on Arabian trade. The merchants of a number of Arabian cities suffered significant material damage. The only way out of this situation could be the unification of kindred tribes.
The Hejaz region, located in the west of the Arabian Peninsula, became the center of the unification of the Arabs. This area has long been famous for its relatively developed agriculture, handicrafts, but most importantly - trade. The local cities - Mecca, Yasrib (later Medina), Taif - had strong contacts with the surrounding tribes of nomads who visited them, exchanging their goods for the products of urban artisans.
However, the religious situation prevented the unification of the Arabian tribes. The ancient Arabs were pagans. Each tribe revered its patron god, although some of them can be considered pan-Arab - Allah, al-Uzza, al-Lat. Even in the first centuries in Arabia it was known about Judaism and Christianity. Moreover, in Yemen, these two religions have practically supplanted pagan cults. On the eve of the Persian conquest, Yemenite-Jews fought with Yemenite-Christians, while the Jews focused on Sasanian Persia (which subsequently facilitated the conquest of the Himyarite kingdom by the Persians), and Christians - on Byzantium. Under these conditions arose its own form of Arabian monotheism, which (especially in early stage) to a large extent, but in a peculiar way, reflected some postulates of Judaism and Christianity. Its adherents - hanifs - became carriers of the idea of a single god. In turn, this form of monotheism set the stage for the emergence of Islam.
The religious beliefs of the Arabs of the pre-Islamic period are a conglomeration of various beliefs, among which were female and male deities, the veneration of stones, springs, trees, various spirits, genies and shaitans, who were intermediaries between people and gods, was also widespread. Naturally, the absence of clear dogmatic ideas opened up wide opportunities for the ideas of more developed religions to penetrate into this amorphous worldview and contributed to religious and philosophical reflections.
By that time, writing began to become more and more widespread, which subsequently played a huge role in the formation of medieval Arab culture, and at the stage of the birth of Islam contributed to the accumulation and transmission of information. The need for this was colossal, as evidenced by the practice of oral memorization and reproduction of ancient genealogies, historical chronicles, poetic narratives, common among the Arabs.
As noted by the St. Petersburg scholar A. Khalidov, "most likely, the language was formed as a result of a long development based on the selection of different dialectal forms and their artistic comprehension" . In the end, it was the use of the same language of poetry that became one of the most important factors that contributed to the formation of the Arab community. Naturally, the process of mastering the Arabic language did not occur at the same time. This process took place most rapidly in those areas where the inhabitants spoke the related languages of the Semitic group. In other areas, this process took several centuries, but a number of peoples, once under the rule of the Arab Caliphate, managed to maintain their linguistic independence.
Arab caliphs
Abu Bakr and Omar
Omar Ibn Khattab
Caliph Ali
Harun ar Rashid
Abd ar Rahman I
Arab Caliphate
The Arab caliphate is a theocratic state headed by a caliph. The core of the Caliphate arose on the Arabian Peninsula after the advent of Islam at the beginning of the 7th century. It was formed as a result of military campaigns in the middle of the 7th - beginning of the 9th century. and the conquest (with subsequent Islamization) of the peoples of the countries of the Near and Middle East, North Africa and Southwestern Europe.
Abbasids, the second great dynasty of Arab caliphs
Caliphate conquests
Trade in the Caliphate
Arabic dirhams
In c.6 c. Arabia lost a number of territories - trade was disrupted.
Unification became necessary.
The unification of the Arabs was helped by the new religion of Islam.
Its founder, Mohammed, was born around 570 in a poor family. He married his former mistress and became a merchant.
Islam
The science
Arab army
applied arts
Bedouins
Bedouin tribes: At the head - the leader The custom of blood feuds Military skirmishes over pastures At the end of the VI century. - Arab trade disrupted.
The conquests of the Arabs - VII - n. 8th century A huge Arab state was formed - the Arab Caliphate, the capital of Damascus.
The heyday of the Baghdad caliphate - the years of the reign of Harun ar-Rashid (768-809).
In 732, as the chroniclers testified, the 400,000-strong army of the Arabs crossed the Pyrenees and invaded Gaul. Later studies lead to the conclusion that the Arabs could have from 30 to 50 thousand warriors.
Not without the help of the Aquitaine and Burgundian nobility, who opposed the process of centralization in the kingdom of the Franks, the Arab army of Abd el-Rahman moved across Western Gaul, reached the center of Aquitaine, occupied Poitiers and headed for Tours. Here, on the old Roman road, at the crossing of the Vienne River, the Arabs were met by a 30,000-strong army of Franks, led by the mayor of the Carolingian family Pepin Karl, who had been the de facto ruler of the Frankish state since 715.
Even at the beginning of his reign, the Frankish state consisted of three long-separated parts: Neustria, Austrasia and Burgundy. Royal power was purely nominal. This was not slow to take advantage of the enemies of the Franks. The Saxons invaded the Rhine regions, the Avars invaded Bavaria, and the Arab conquerors moved across the Pyrenees to the Laura River.
Karl had to pave his way to power with weapons in his hands. After the death of his father in 714, he was thrown into prison along with his stepmother Plektruda, from where he was able to escape the following year. By that time, he was already a fairly well-known military leader of the Franks of Austrasia, where he was popular among free peasants and medium landowners. They became his the main support in the internecine struggle for power in the Frankish state.
Having established himself in Austrasia, Karl Pepin began to strengthen his position on the lands of the Franks by force of arms and diplomacy. After a bitter confrontation with his opponents, in 715 he became the major of the Frankish state and ruled it on behalf of the infant king Theodoric IV. Having established itself in royal throne, Charles began a series of military campaigns outside of Austrasia.
Charles, having gained the upper hand in battles over the feudal lords who tried to challenge his supreme power, in 719 won a brilliant victory over the Neustrians, led by one of his opponents, Major Ragenfrid, whose ally was the ruler of Aquitaine, Count Ed. At the Battle of Sausson, the Frankish ruler put the enemy army to flight. Having extradited Ragenfried, Count Ed managed to conclude a temporary peace with Charles. Soon the Franks occupied the cities of Paris and Orleans.
Then Karl remembered his sworn enemy - his stepmother Plectrude, who had her own large army. Starting a war with her, Karl forced his stepmother to surrender to him the rich and well-fortified city of Cologne on the banks of the Rhine.
In 725 and 728, Major Karl Pepin made two large military campaigns against the Bavarians and eventually subjugated them. This was followed by campaigns in Alemannia and Aquitaine, in Thuringia and Frisia ...
The basis of the combat power of the Frankish army until the battle of Poitiers was the infantry, which consisted of free peasants. At that time, all the men of the kingdom who were able to bear arms were liable for military service.
Organizationally, the Frankish army was divided into hundreds, or, in other words, into such a number of peasant households that in wartime could field one hundred foot soldiers in the militia. Peasant communities themselves regulated military service. Each Frankish warrior was armed and equipped at his own expense. The quality of weapons was checked at the reviews, which were conducted by the king or, on his behalf, military leaders-counts. If the warrior's weapon was in an unsatisfactory condition, then he was punished. There is a known case when the king killed a warrior during one of these reviews for the poor maintenance of personal weapons.
The national weapon of the Franks was the "francisca" - an ax with one or two blades, to which a rope was tied. The Franks deftly threw axes at the enemy at close range. For close hand-to-hand combat, they used swords. In addition to Francis and swords, the Franks were also armed with short spears - angons with teeth on a long and sharp tip. The teeth of the angon had the opposite direction and therefore it was very difficult to remove it from the wound. In battle, the warrior first threw angon, which pierced the enemy's shield, and then stepped on the shaft of the spear, thereby pulling back the shield and hitting the enemy with a heavy sword. Many warriors had bows and arrows, which were sometimes saturated with poison.
The only defensive armament of the Frankish warrior in the time of Karl Pepin was a shield of a round or oval shape. Only rich warriors had helmets and chain mail, since metal products cost big money. Part of the armament of the Frankish army was military booty.
In European history, the Frankish commander Karl Pepin became famous primarily for his successful wars against the Arab conquerors, for which he received the nickname "Martell", which means "hammer".
In 720, the Arabs crossed the Pyrenees and invaded what is now France. The Arab army took the well-fortified Narbonne by storm and laid siege to the large city of Toulouse. Count Ed was defeated, and he had to seek refuge in Austrasia with the remnants of his army.
Very soon, the Arab cavalry appeared on the fields of Septimania and Burgundy and even reached the left bank of the Rhone River, entering the lands of the Franks. So on the fields of Western Europe, for the first time, a major clash matured between the Muslim and christianity. The Arab commanders, having crossed the Pyrenees, had big conquest plans in Europe.
We must pay tribute to Charles - he immediately understood the danger of the Arab invasion. After all, the Moorish Arabs by that time had managed to conquer almost all the Spanish regions. Their troops were constantly replenished with new forces that came through the Strait of Gibraltar from the Maghreb - North Africa, from the territory of modern Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. Arab commanders were famous for their martial arts, and their warriors were excellent riders and archers. The Arab army was partially staffed by North African Berber nomads, for which in Spain the Arabs were called Moors.
Charles Pepin, having interrupted the military campaign in the upper reaches of the Danube, in 732 gathered a large militia of Austrasians, Neustrians and Rhine tribes. By that time, the Arabs had already plundered the city of Bordeaux, captured the fortress city of Poitiers and moved towards Tours.
The Frankish commander resolutely moved towards the Arab army, trying to prevent its appearance in front of the fortress walls of Tours. He already knew that the Arabs were commanded by the experienced Abd el-Rahman and that his army was much superior to the militia of the Franks, which, according to the same European chroniclers, numbered only 30 thousand soldiers.
At the point where the old Roman road crossed the river Vienne, across which a bridge had been built, the Franks and their allies barred the Arab army from reaching Tours. Nearby was the city of Poitiers, after which the battle was named, which took place on October 4, 732 and lasted several days: according to Arabic chronicles - two, according to Christian ones - seven days.
Knowing that the enemy army was dominated by light cavalry and many archers, Major Karl Pepin decided to give the Arabs, who adhered to active offensive tactics on the fields of Europe, a defensive battle. Moreover, the hilly terrain made it difficult for large masses of cavalry to operate. The Frankish army was built for the battle between the rivers Clen and Vienne, which, with their banks, well covered his flanks. The basis of the battle formation was the infantry, built in a dense phalanx. The cavalry, heavily armed in a knightly manner, was stationed on the flanks. The right flank was commanded by Count Ed.
Usually, the Franks lined up for battle in dense battle formations, a kind of phalanx, but without proper support for the flanks and rear, trying to solve everything with one blow, a general breakthrough or a swift attack. They, like the Arabs, had a well-developed mutual assistance based on family ties.
Approaching the river Vienne, the Arab army, not immediately getting involved in the battle, spread their camp not far from the Franks. Abd el-Rahman immediately realized that the enemy was in a very strong position and it was impossible to cover him with light cavalry from the flanks. The Arabs did not dare to attack the enemy for several days, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Karl Pepin did not move, patiently waiting for an enemy attack.
In the end, the Arab leader decided to start the battle and built his army in a fighting, dissected order. It consisted of battle lines familiar to Arabs: horse archers made up the “Morning of the Barking Dog”, then came the “Day of Help”, “Evening of Shock”, “Al-Ansari” and “Al-Mugadzheri”. The reserve of the Arabs, intended for the development of victory, was under the personal command of Abd el-Rahman and was called the "Banner of the Prophet."
The battle of Poitiers began with the shelling of the Frankish phalanx by Arab horse archers, to which the enemy responded with crossbows and longbows. After that, the Arab cavalry attacked the positions of the Franks. The Frankish infantry successfully repulsed attack after attack, the enemy's light cavalry could not break through their dense formation.
A Spanish chronicler contemporary with the Battle of Poitiers wrote that the Franks "stood close together, as far as the eye could see, like an immovable and icy wall, and fought fiercely, hitting the Arabs with swords."
After the Frankish infantry repulsed all the attacks of the Arabs, which line by line, in some disorder, rolled back to their original positions, Karl Pepin immediately ordered the knightly cavalry, which was still inactive, to launch a counterattack in the direction of the enemy camp located behind the right flank of the battle formation of the Arab army .
Meanwhile, the Frankish knights, led by Ed of Aquitaine, launched two ram attacks from the flanks, overturning the light cavalry opposing them, rushed to the Arab camp and captured it. The Arabs, demoralized by the news of the death of their leader, could not hold back the onslaught of the enemy and fled from the battlefield. The Franks pursued them and inflicted considerable damage. This ended the battle near Poitiers.
This battle had extremely important consequences. The victory of Majordom Karl Pepin put an end to the further advancement of the Arabs in Europe. After the defeat at Poitiers, the Arab army, hiding behind detachments of light cavalry, left French territory and, without further combat losses, went through the mountains to Spain.
But before the Arabs finally left the south of modern France, Karl Pepin inflicted another defeat on the Berre River south of the city of Narbonne. True, this battle was not among the decisive ones.
The victory over the Arabs glorified the commander of the Franks. Since then, they began to call him Karl Martell (i.e., war hammer).
Usually little is said about this, but the battle of Poitiers is also known for being one of the first battles when numerous heavy knightly cavalry entered the battlefield. It was she who, with her blow, provided the Franks with a complete victory over the Arabs. Now not only riders, but also horses were covered with metal armor.
After the battle of Poitiers, Charles Martel won several more great victories, conquering Burgundy and regions in southern France, up to Marseilles.
Charles Martell significantly strengthened the military power of the Frankish kingdom. However, he stood only at the origins of the true historical greatness of the state of the Franks, which will be created by his grandson Charlemagne, who reached the highest power and became the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Arab army
Hamdanid army X - XI centuries.
Late Fatimid army (11th century)
Ghaznavid army (late 10th - early 11th centuries): Ghaznavid palace guard. Karakhanid equestrian warrior in full dress. Indian mounted mercenary.
ancient arabia
City of Petra
The cistern of the Genies in Petra, with a hole at the bottom
Monument of the Serpent in Petra
Obelisk (top) next to the altar (bottom), Petra
Nabataean sundial from Hegra (Museum of the Ancient East, Archaeological Museum of Istanbul
Literature during the Caliphate
Thousand and One Nights
Islamic script
Applied art of the Arabs
Bronze candlestick with silver inlay. 1238. Master Daoud ibn Salam from Mosul. Museum of Decorative Arts. Paris.
Glass vessel with enamel painting. Syria. 1300. British Museum. London.
Dish with luster painting. Egypt. 11th c. Museum of Islamic Art. Cairo.
Sculptural ceiling in the Khirbet al-Mafjar castle. 8th c. jordan
Jug with the name of Caliph al-Aziz Billah. Rhinestone. 10th c. Treasury of San Marco. Venice.
Arabic architecture
Architecture at Almoravids and Almohads
The Almohad tower and the Renaissance bell section merge into one harmonious whole at La Giralda Campanile, Seville
Almoravides invaded al-Andalus from North Africa in 1086 and united the taifas under their rule. They developed their own architecture, but very few examples of it survived, due to the next invasion, by the now Almohads, who imposed Islamic ultra-orthodoxy and destroyed almost every significant Almoravid building, including Madina al-Zahra and other caliphate structures. Their art was extremely austere and simple, and they used brick as their main building material. In a literal sense, their only external decoration, the "sebka", is based on a grid of rhombuses. The Almohads also used palm-pattern ornaments, but these were little more than a simplification of the much more luxuriant Almoravid palms. As time went on, the art became a little more decorative. The most famous example of Almohad architecture is the Giralda, the former minaret of the mosque of Seville. Considered a Mudejar style, but this style is absorbed into the Almohad aesthetic here, the Santa Maria la Blanca synagogue in Toledo is a rare example of the architectural collaboration of the three cultures of medieval Spain.
Umayyad dynasty
dome of the rock
Umayyad Grand Mosque, Syria, Damascus (705-712)
Mosque Tunisia XIII century.
Arab invasion of Byzantium
Arab-Byzantine wars
the entire period of the Arab-Byzantine wars can be divided (roughly) into 3 parts:
I. Weakening of Byzantium, offensive of the Arabs (634-717)
II. Period of relative calm (718 - middle of the 9th century)
III. Counteroffensive of Byzantium (late 9th century - 1069)
Main events:
634-639 - Arab conquest of Syria and Palestine with Jerusalem;
639-642 - campaign of Amr ibn al-As to Egypt. The Arabs conquered this populous and fertile country;
647-648 - Construction of the Arab fleet. Capture of Tripolitania and Cyprus by the Arabs;
684-678 - First siege of Constantinople by the Arabs. Ended unsuccessfully;
698 - the capture of the African Exarchate (belonging to Byzantium) by the Arabs;
717-718 - Second siege of Constantinople by the Arabs. It ended unsuccessfully. Arab expansion in Asia Minor was halted;
IX-X centuries - Arabs capture the southern Italian territories of Byzantium (the island of Sicily);
X century - Byzantium goes on a counteroffensive and conquers part of Syria from the Arabs, and in particular such an important outpost as Antioch. The Byzantine army at that time even put Jerusalem in immediate danger. The Arab Sultanate of Aleppo recognized itself as a Byzantine vassal. At that time, Crete and Cyprus were also reconquered.
Rise of the Caliphate of Baghdad under Haroun-ar-Rashid
Arabic culture
Caliphate of Baghdad
Architecture of Baghdad
In Baghdad, there was a kind of intellectual center of the Islamic Golden Age - the House of Wisdom. It included a huge library, a huge number of translators and scribes worked in it. The best scientists of their time gathered in the House. thanks to the accumulated works of Pythagoras, Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, Euclid, Galen, research was carried out in the field of the humanities, Islam, astronomy and mathematics, medicine and chemistry, alchemy, zoology and geography.
This greatest treasure the best works antiquity and modernity was destroyed in 1258. It, along with other libraries in Baghdad, was destroyed by the Mongol troops after the capture of the city. Books were thrown into the river, and the water remained colored with their ink for many months ...
Almost everyone has heard about the burned-out Library of Alexandria, but for some reason, few people remember the lost House of Wisdom...
Fortress Tower Talisman in Baghdad.
Necropolis Shakhi Zinda
The emergence of the Shakhi-Zindan memorial on the slope of the Afrasiab hill is associated with the name of Kusam ibn Abbas, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad. It is known that he participated in the first campaigns of the Arabs in Maverannahr. According to legend, Kusam was mortally wounded near the walls of Samarkand and took refuge underground, where he continues to live. Hence the name of the memorial Shakhi-Zindan, which means "The Living King". By the X-XI centuries. the martyr of the faith Kusam ibn Abbas acquired the status of an Islamic saint, the patron saint of Samarkand, and in the XII-XV centuries. Along the path leading to his mausoleums and funeral mosques, their exquisite beauty, as it were, denies death.
On the northern outskirts of Samarkand, on the edge of the Afrasiab hill, among the vast ancient cemetery, there are groups of mausoleums, among which the grave attributed to Kussam, the son of Abbas, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, is the most famous. According to Arabic sources, Kussam came to Samarkand in 676. According to some sources, he was killed, according to others, he died of natural causes; according to some reports, he died not even in Samarkand, but in Merv. The imaginary or real grave of Kussam under his Abbasid relatives (VIII century), perhaps not without their participation, became the object of the Muslim cult. Among the people, Kussam became known as Shah-i Zinda - "The Living King". According to legend, Kussam left the earthly world alive and continues to live in the “other world”. Hence the nickname "The Living King".
Mausoleum of Zimurrud Khatun in Baghdad
Conquest of Spain
At the end of the 7th century AD. Arabs after long wars expelled the Byzantines from North Africa. Once the land of Africa was a battlefield between Rome and Carthage, it gave the world such great generals as Jugurtha and Masinissa, and now it has passed into the hands of Muslims, albeit with difficulty. After this conquest, the Arabs set out to conquer Spain.
They were driven to this not only by the love of conquest and the dream of expanding the Islamic State. The locals of North Africa - the Berber tribes - were very brave, warlike, violent and temperamental. The Arabs feared that after some time of calm, the Berbers would set out to avenge the defeats, raise an uprising and then the Arabs would miss the victory. Therefore, the Arabs, having aroused interest among the Berbers in the conquest of Spain, wanted to distract them from this and extinguish their thirst for bloodshed and revenge by war. As Ibn Khaldun notes, it is not surprising that the Muslim army, which was the first to cross the Jabalitarik Strait and entered Spanish soil, could be said to have consisted entirely of Berbers.
From ancient history it is known that the main inhabitants of Spain were Celts, Iberians and Ligors. The peninsula was divided into territories that once belonged to Phenicia, Carthage and Rome. After the conquest of Spain, the Carthaginians built the majestic city of Carthage here. Around 200 BC. in the Punic Wars, Rome defeated Carthage, took possession of these fertile lands, and up to the B century AD. dominated these lands. At this time, from Spain, which was considered the most important and flourishing place of the empire, came such great thinkers as Seneca, Lucan, Marsial and such famous emperors as Trajan, Marcus Aurelius and Theodosius.
Just as the prosperity of Rome created the conditions for the progress of Spain, so the fall of this city led to the decline of Spain. The peninsula once again became the scene of battles. At the beginning of the B century, the tribes of the Vandals, Alans and Suebi, who destroyed Rome and France, also devastated Spain. However, soon the tribes of the Goths expelled them from the peninsula and took possession of Spain. From the YOU century until the attack of the Arabs, the Goths were the dominant force in Spain.
Soon the Goths mixed with the local population - the Latin peoples, and adopted Latin language and Christianity. It is known that before the XNUMXth century, the Goths prevailed among the Christian population of Spain. When the Arabs expelled them towards the Asturian mountains, the Goths, thanks to mixing with the local population, were again able to maintain their superiority. For example, among the Christian population of Spain, it was considered pride to be a descendant of the Goths and to bear the nickname "son of the Goths."
A little earlier, before the conquest of the Arabs, the nobility of the Goths and the Latin peoples united and created an aristocratic government. This association, engaged in the oppression of the oppressed masses, has gained the hatred of the people. And it is natural that this state, built on money and wealth, could not be strong and could not adequately defend itself from the enemy.
Also, the appointment of the ruler by election led to eternal strife and enmity for power between the nobility. This enmity and wars eventually hastened the weakening of the Gothic state.
General strife, internal wars, people's dissatisfaction with the local government and for this reason a weak rebuff to the Arabs, the lack of loyalty and the spirit of self-sacrifice in the army, and other reasons ensured an easy victory for the Muslims. It even came to the point that because of the above reasons, the Andalusian ruler Julian and the Bishop of Seville were not afraid to help the Arabs.
In 711, Musa ibn Nasir, who was the governor of North Africa under the rule of the Umayyad caliph Walid ibn Abdulmelik, sent a 12,000-strong army formed from Berbers to conquer Spain. The army was led by a Berber Muslim Tarig ibn Ziyad. The Muslims crossed the Jabalut-tarig strait, which got its name from the name of this famous commander Tariq, and entered the Iberian Peninsula. The wealth of this land, its clean air, delightful nature and its mysterious cities so impressed the army of the conquerors that in a letter to the Caliph Tarig wrote: “These places are similar to Syria in terms of air purity, similar to Yemen in temperate climate, similar to vegetation and incense. India, in terms of fertility and abundance of crops, are similar to China, in terms of the availability of ports, they are similar to Adena.
The Arabs, who spent half a century conquering the coastline of North Africa and met with fierce resistance from the Berbers, expected to face a similar situation when they conquered Spain. However, contrary to expectations, Spain was conquered in a short time, in just a few months. The Muslims defeated the Goths in the first battle. In this battle they were assisted by the Bishop of Seville. As a result, having broken the resistance of the Goths, the coastal zone passed into the hands of the Muslims.
Seeing the success of Tarig ibn Ziyad, Mussa ibn Nasir gathered an army consisting of 12 thousand Arabs and 8 thousand Berbers and moved to Spain in order to be a partner in success.
Throughout its journey, the Muslim army can be said not to have met a single serious resistance. The people dissatisfied with the government and the nobility, torn by strife, voluntarily submitted to the conquerors, and even sometimes joined them. Such major cities in Spain as Cordoba, Malaga, Granada, Toledo surrendered without resistance. In the city of Toledo, which was the capital, 25 valuable crowns of Gothic rulers, decorated with various precious stones, fell into the hands of Muslims. The wife of the Gothic king Rodrigue was captured and the son of Musa ibn Nasir married her.
In the eyes of the Arabs, the Spaniards were on a par with the populations of Syria and Egypt. The laws observed in the conquered countries were also enforced here. The conquerors did not touch the property and temples of the local population, local customs and orders remained the same as before. The Spaniards were allowed to contact contentious issues to their judges, to obey the judgments of their own courts. In return for all this, the population was obliged to pay a meager tax (jizya) for those times. The amount of tax for the nobility and the rich was set at the limit of one dinar (15 francs), and for the poor half a dinar. That is why the poor, driven to despair by the oppression of local rulers and countless dues, voluntarily surrendered to Muslims, and even by converting to Islam, were exempted from taxes. Despite the fact that in some places there were isolated cases of resistance, they were quickly suppressed.
As historians write, after the conquest of Spain, Musa ibn Nasir intended to reach Constantinople (present-day Istanbul; at that time Constantinople was the capital of the great Byzantine Empire), passing through France and Germany. However, the caliph called him to Damascus and the plan remained unfinished. If Moussa could carry out his intention, could conquer Europe, then at present the divided peoples would be under the flag of a single religion. Along with this, Europe would be able to avoid medieval darkness and medieval, terrible tragedies.
Everyone knows that when Europe groaned in the clutches of ignorance, fratricide, epidemics, senseless crusades, the Inquisition, Spain under the rule of the Arabs prospered, lived a comfortable life and was at the peak of its development. Spain shone in the darkness. In Spain, excellent conditions were created for the development of science and culture, and it owes this to Islam.
In order to define the role of the Arabs in the political, economic and cultural life Spain, it would be more appropriate to consider the ratio of their total number.
As mentioned above, the first Muslim army that entered the Iberian Peninsula consisted of Arabs and
Berbers. Subsequent military units consisted of representatives of the population of Syria. It is known from history that in the early Middle Ages in Spain, the leadership of science and culture belonged to the Arabs, and the Berbers were subordinate to them. The Arabs were considered the highest stratum of the population (ashraf), and the Berbers and the local population were considered a secondary and tertiary stratum of the population. Interestingly, even when the Berber dynasties were able to gain power in Spain, the Arabs managed to maintain their dominance.
As for the total number of Arabs, there is no exact data on this matter. One can only assume that after the Emirate of Cordoba separated from the Arab Emirate, the Arabs became isolated from the rest of the countries. However, due to the rapid growth and emigration from North Africa, the Berbers increased in number and gained supremacy in power.
Muslims mixed with the local Christian population of Spain. According to historians, in the very first years of the conquest of Spain, the Arabs married 30,000 Christian women and brought them into their harem (the harem in the Sibyl fortress, nicknamed the "girls' room", is a historical monument). In addition, at the beginning of the conquest, some of the nobility, in order to show their devotion to the Arabs, annually sent 100 Christian girls to the Caliph's palace. Among the women with whom the Arabs entered into marriage were girls from Latin, Iberian, Greek, Gothic and other tribes. It is clear that as a result of such mass mixing, a new generation arose in a few decades, radically different from the conquerors of the 700s.
From 711 (the date of the conquest of Spain) to 756, this area was subject to the Umayyad Caliphate. An emir appointed by the Umayyad caliph ruled over this territory. In 756, Spain seceded from the Caliphate and became independent. It became known as the Caliphate of Cordoba, whose capital was the city of Cordoba.
After 300 years had elapsed since the reign of the Arabs in Spain, their magnificent and glorious star began to fade. The strife that engulfed the Cordoba caliphate shook the power of the state. At this time, Christians living in the north took advantage of this chance and began to attack in order to take revenge.
The struggle of Christians for the return of the lands conquered by the Arabs (in Spanish: reconquista) intensified in the 10th century. In the Asturian region, where the Christians expelled from the Spanish lands concentrated, the Kingdom of Lyon and Castile arose. In the middle of the 11th century, both these kingdoms united. At the same time, the Navarrese, Catalan and Aragonese states, having united, created a new Aragonese kingdom. At the end of the 11th century, a Portuguese county arose in the west of the Iberian Peninsula. Soon this county also turned into a kingdom. Thus, at the end of the XNUMXth century, serious Christian rivals of the Caliphate of Cordoba began to appear on the Spanish map.
In 1085, as a result of a powerful attack, the northerners captured the city of Toledo. The leader of the northerners was the king of Castile and Leon, Alphonse VI. The Spanish Muslims, seeing that they could not resist on their own, asked the Berbers of North Africa for help. The al-Murabit dynasty, having established itself in Tunisia and Morocco, entered Spain and tried to resurrect the Caliphate of Cordoba. Al-Murabits in 1086 defeated Alphonse VI, and were temporarily able to stop the movement of the reconquista. In just half a century, they lost to a new dynasty that entered the political arena - al-Muwahhids. Having seized power in North Africa, the al-Muwahhids attacked Spain and subjugated the Muslim regions. However, this state was unable to properly resist the Christians. Although they decorated their palaces with such prominent personalities how Ibn-Tufail, Ibn-Rushd, al-Muwahhids became helpless before the reconquista. In 1212, near the town of Las Navas de Tolosa, the united Christian army defeated them, and the al-Muwahhid dynasty was forced to leave Spain.
The Spanish kings, who did not get along with each other, put aside the enmity, and united against the Arabs. The reconquista movement directed against the Muslims involved the combined forces of the Castilian, Aragonese, Navarre and Portuguese kingdoms. In 1236, the Muslims lost Cordoba, in 1248 Seville, in 1229-35 the Balearic Islands, in 1238 Valencia. Capturing the city of Cadiz in 1262, the Spaniards reached the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.
Only the Emirate of Grenada remained in the hands of the Muslims. At the end of the 13th century, Ibn al-Ahmar, nicknamed Muhammad al-Ghalib, who was from the Nasrid dynasty, retreated to the city of Granada, and fortified the fortress of Alhambra (al-Hamra) here. He was able to maintain his relative independence, subject to the payment of tribute to the King of Castile. In the palace of the Grenada emirs, who were able to defend their independence for two centuries, such thinkers as Ibn Khaldun and Ibn al-Khatib served.
In 1469, King Ferdinand II of Aragon married Queen Isabella of Castile. The Aragonese-Castilian kingdom united all of Spain. The Grenada emirs refused to pay tribute to them. In 1492, Grenada fell to a powerful onslaught of the Spaniards. The last Muslim fort in the Iberian Peninsula was captured. And with this, all of Spain was conquered from the Arabs and the reconquista movement ended with the victory of the Christians.
The Muslims gave up Grenada on the condition that their religion, language and property be inviolable. However,
soon Ferdinand II broke his promise, and a wave of mass persecution and oppression began against the Muslims. At first they were forced to accept Christianity. Those who did not want to accept Christianity were brought to the terrible court of the Inquisition. Those who changed religion in order to escape torture soon realized that they had been deceived. The Inquisition declared the new Christians to be insincere and dubious, and began to burn them at the stake. At the instigation of the church leadership, hundreds of thousands of Muslims were killed: old people, young people, women, men. A monk of the Dominican order Belida offered to destroy all Muslims, young and old. He said that one should not show mercy even to those who converted to Christianity, because their sincerity is in question: “If we do not know what is in their hearts, then we must kill them so that the Lord God will draw them to his own judgment” . The priests liked the proposal of this monk, but the Spanish government, fearing the Muslim states, did not approve this proposal.
In 1610, the Spanish government demanded that all Muslims leave the country. The Arabs, who remained in a hopeless situation, began to move. Within a few months, more than a million Muslims left Spain. From 1492 to 1610, as a result of massacres directed against Muslims and their emigration, the population of Spain decreased to three million people. Worst of all, Muslims fleeing the country were attacked local residents as a result of which many Muslims were killed. The monk of Belida happily reported that three-quarters of the Muslims who migrated died on the way. The mentioned monk himself personally participated in the murder of one hundred thousand people who were part of the 140 thousandth caravan of Muslims heading towards Africa. Truly, the bloody crimes committed in Spain against the Muslims leave the night of St. Bartholomew in the shade.
The Arabs, having entered Spain, which was very far from culture, raised it to the highest point of civilization, and ruled here for eight centuries. With the departure of the Arabs, Spain underwent a terrible decline and for a long time could not eliminate this decline. Having expelled the Arabs, Spain lost highly developed agriculture, trade and art, science and literature, as well as three million people of science and culture. Once the population of Cordoba was one million people, and now only 300 thousand people live here. Under Muslim rule, the population of the city of Toledo was 200 thousand people, and now less than 50 thousand people live here. Thus, it is safe to say that despite the fact that the Spaniards defeated the Arabs in the war, abandoning the great Islamic civilization, they plunged themselves into the abyss of ignorance and backwardness.
(The article used the book of Gustave le Bon "Islam and Arab Civilization")
Arab capture of Khorezm
The first Arab raids on Khorezm date back to the 7th century. In 712, Khorezm was conquered by the Arab commander Kuteiba ibn Muslim, who inflicted cruel reprisals on the Khorezmian aristocracy. Kuteiba brought down especially cruel repressions on the scientists of Khorezm. As al-Biruni writes in the “Chronicles of Past Generations”, “and by all means scattered and destroyed Kuteyba all who knew the writing of the Khorezmians, who kept their traditions, all the scientists that were among them, so that all this was covered with darkness and there is no true knowledge about what was known of their history before the establishment of Islam by the Arabs.
Arabic sources say almost nothing about Khorezm in the following decades. On the other hand, it is known from Chinese sources that Khorezmshah Shaushafar sent an embassy to China in 751, which was at war with the Arabs at that time. During this period, a short-term political unification of Khorezm and Khazaria took place. Nothing is known about the circumstances of the restoration of Arab sovereignty over Khorezm. In any case, only at the very end of the VIII century. the grandson of Shaushafar takes the Arabic name of Abdallah and mints the names of the Arab governors on his coins.
Beginning in the 10th century new bloom city life of Khorezm. Arab sources paint a picture of the exceptional economic activity of Khorezm in the 10th century, and the surrounding steppes of Turkmenistan and western Kazakhstan, as well as the Volga region - Khazaria and Bulgaria, and the vast Slavic world Of Eastern Europe. The growing role of trade with Eastern Europe put forward the city of Urgench (now Kunya-Urgench) [specify], which became the natural center of this trade, to the first place in Khorezm. In 995, the last Afrigid, Abu-Abdallah Muhammad, was captured and killed by the emir of Urgench, Mamun ibn-Muhammad. Khorezm was united under the rule of Urgench.
Khorezm in this era was a city of high learning. Natives of Khorezm were such outstanding scientists as Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, Ibn Iraq, Abu Reihan al-Biruni, al-Chagmini.
In 1017, Khorezm was subordinated to Sultan Mahmud Gaznevi, and in 1043 it was conquered by the Seljuk Turks.
Arabshahid dynasty
The real name of this country since ancient times was Khorezm. The khanate was founded by nomadic Uzbek tribes who captured Khorezm in 1511, under the leadership of the sultans Ilbars and Balbars, descendants of Yadigar Khan. They belonged to the Genghisid branch, descended from Arab-shah-ibn-Pilade, a descendant of Shiban in the 9th generation, so the dynasty is usually called Arabshahids. Shiban in turn was the fifth son of Jochi.
The Arabshahids, as a rule, were at enmity with another branch of the Shibanids, who at the same time settled in Maverannahr after the captures of Shaibani Khan; the Uzbeks, who occupied Khorezm in 1511, did not participate in the campaigns of Shaibani Khan.
The Arabshahids adhered to steppe traditions, dividing the khanate into estates according to the number of men (sultans) in the dynasty. The supreme ruler, the Khan, was the eldest in the family and chosen by the council of sultans. During almost the entire 16th century, Urgench was the capital. Khiva became the residence of the khan for the first time in 1557-58. (for one year) and only during the reign of Arab-Mohammed-Khan (1603-1622) Khiva became the capital. In the 16th century, the khanate included, in addition to Khorezm, oases in the north of Khorasan and Turkmen tribes in the sands of Kara-Kum. The possessions of the sultans often included areas in both Khorezm and Khorasan. Until the beginning of the 17th century, the khanate was a loose confederation of virtually independent sultanates, under the nominal authority of the khan.
Already before the arrival of the Uzbeks, Khorezm lost its cultural significance due to the destruction caused by Timur in the 1380s. A significant settled population survived only in the southern part of the country. Much of the formerly irrigated land, especially in the north, was abandoned and urban culture was in decline. The economic weakness of the khanate was reflected by the fact that it did not have its own money until late XVIII Bukhara coins were used for centuries. Under such conditions, the Uzbeks were able to maintain their nomadic way of life longer than their southern neighbors. They were the military class in the khanate, and the settled Sarts (descendants of the local Tajik population) were taxpayers. The authority of the khan and the sultans depended on the military support of the Uzbek tribes; to reduce this dependence, the khans often hired Turkmens, as a result of which the role of Turkmens in the political life of the khanate grew and they began to settle in Khorezm. Relations between the khanate and the Sheibanids in Bukhara were generally hostile, the Arabshahids often allied with Safavid Iran against their Uzbek neighbors and on three occasions; in 1538, 1593 and 1595-1598. The khanate was occupied by the Sheibanids. By the end of the 16th century, after a series of internal wars in which most of the Arabshahids were killed, the system of dividing the khanate between the sultans was abolished. Shortly thereafter, at the beginning of the 17th century, Iran occupied the lands of the Khanate in Khorasan.
The reigns of the famous historian khan Abu-l-Gazi (1643-1663) and his son and successor Anush Khan were periods of relative political stability and economic progress. Large-scale irrigation works were undertaken, and new irrigated lands were divided among the Uzbek tribes; who became more and more sedentary. However, the country was still poor, and the khans filled their empty treasury with booty from predatory raids against their neighbors. From this time until mid-nineteenth century, the country was, in the words of historians, "a predatory state."
Culture in Spain during the Caliphate
Alhambra - the pearl of Arabic art
Tiles from the Alhambra. 14th century National Archaeological Museum, Madrid.
Arab harems
The Eastern harem is the secret dream of men and the personified curse of women, the focus of sensual pleasures and the exquisite boredom of beautiful concubines languishing in it. All this is nothing more than a myth created by the talent of novelists. A real harem is more pragmatic and sophisticated, like everything that was an integral part of the life and life of the Arab people.
The traditional harem (from the Arabic "haram" - forbidden) is, first of all, female half Muslim home. Only the head of the family and his sons had access to the harem. For everyone else, this part of the Arab home is a strict taboo. This taboo was observed so strictly and zealously that the Turkish chronicler Dursun Bey wrote: "If the sun were a man, then even he would be forbidden to look into the harem." Harem - the realm of luxury and lost hopes ...
Haram - Forbidden Territory
In early Islamic times, the traditional inhabitants of the harem were the wives and daughters of the head of the family and his sons. Depending on the wealth of the Arab, slaves could live in the harem, whose main task was the harem economy and all the hard work associated with it.
The institution of concubines appeared much later, during the time of the Caliphates and their conquests, when the number beautiful women became an indicator of wealth and power, and the law introduced by the prophet Muhammad, which did not allow having more than four wives, significantly limited the possibilities of polygamy.
In order to cross the threshold of the seraglio, the slave went through a kind of initiation ceremony. In addition to checking for innocence, the girl had to convert to Islam without fail.
Entering the harem was in many ways reminiscent of being tonsured as a nun, where instead of selfless service to God, no less selfless service to the master was instilled. Candidates for concubines, like God's brides, were forced to break all ties with the outside world, received new names and learned to live in humility. In later harems, wives were absent as such. The main source of a privileged position was the attention of the Sultan and childbearing. Showing attention to one of the concubines, the owner of the harem elevated her to the rank of a temporary wife. This situation was most often shaky and could change at any moment depending on the mood of the master. The most reliable way to gain a foothold in the status of a wife was the birth of a boy. A concubine who gave her master a son acquired the status of mistress.
Only the head of the family and his sons had access to the harem. For everyone else, this part of the Arab home is a strict taboo. This taboo was observed so strictly and zealously that the Turkish chronicler Dursun Bey wrote: "If the sun were a man, then even he would be forbidden to look into the harem."
In addition to the old proven slaves, eunuchs followed the concubines. Translated from Greek, "eunuch" means "guardian of the bed." They got into the harem exclusively in the form of guards, so to speak, to maintain order.
