Arabic History

To gain an insight and understanding into the history of the Arab people, it is first necessary to define what is meant by 'Arab'. Common misconceptions among the general public have led to uncertain definitions of what constitutes an 'Arab'. The most common of these is that an Arab is an individual from one specific country or religious group. The reality is that the term Arab refers to a panethnicity, which is essentially the collective labelling of several independent, self-identifiable and self-sufficient ethnicities into one encompassing group.

 The grouping of a panethnicity may include various nationalities or ethnicities, yet generally each will share a common language, religion or set of physical characteristics, such as skin colour and facial features. A modern-day example would be the term 'Americans', as the USA is a nation consisting of a diverse number of ethnicities and nationalities, which when labelled as one encompassing group, form the panethnicity of America.

Arabic history is complex and involves much controversy and uncertainty. Early Arabic history traces the origins of three groups: The Ancient Arabs, the Pure Arabs and the Arabized Arabs. These groups, each of which is descended from various tribes and genetic backgrounds, eventually combined to give birth to the Arabic panethnicity. From the humble beginnings of nomadic tribes and settled Muslim populations, Arabic history traces the growth of this panethnicity on its journey to become one of the largest land empires the world has ever seen.

 To gain some insight into Arabic history and culture we have provided some useful resources to help get you started!

 <a href="http://www.al-bab.com/arab/history.htm" target="_blank">Al-Bab</a>

<a href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/Ref6.htm" target="_blank">Islamic City</a>