Take Egypt, for example. Its official name is the Arab Republic of Egypt, a product of 20th-century pan-Arab ideology ironically, created by two Arabized Syrians, one Christian and one Muslim. But Egypt itself is not an Arabian land. Egyptians shouldn’t get to represent Arabs. Like many other arabized regions, Egypt was only briefly colonized by Arabs, just as it was by numerous other empires.
Think of it this way: Mexicans speak Spanish because of colonization, but they have their own history, traditions, civilizations, and ethnic makeup completely distinct from Spaniards. Spain doesn’t let Mexicans represent it. Similarly, most Lebanese people speak French due to colonial influence, but nobody calls them French or let them represent France. And this logic applies in countless other cases 😅
Yet somehow, the Arabian identity keeps getting stolen and misrepresented. Arabized peoples vastly outnumber actual Arabians, which means they often overshadow us, and represent us whether positively or negatively. And there’s really no excuse for this. The Arab empires that once ruled them are long long gone. Languages like Coptic and Aramaic still exist and spoken and could be taught, so there’s no reason for this. Speaking Arabic as your national language is fine, but claiming the Arabian identity is definitely not.
Ask most people to name Arabic foods, and they immediately think of foods like falafel. But falafel originated in Egypt, created by Copts long before the Arab conquest, so it has nothing to do with us Arabs. Meanwhile, dishes like thareed or jareesh which are actually authentically Arabian are unknown. Hummus and falafel are actually as new to Saudi Arabia as they are to Europe, introduced mainly in the 1900s through globalization and urbanization.
What I’m saying is simple…..Arabs are an ethnic group with a distinct culture, DNA, and identity, and this identity is unfortunately being overshadowed and misrepresented by the Arabized . True Arabians know one another through tribal ancestry and customs. Distinguishing an Arabized person from an Arabian is mostly easy, but many Arabized people particularly influenced by the Ba’ath movement in the 1970s react negatively when I point simple facts out ….
This is the Arabian Peninsula the only region and people that can truly represent the Arabs:
There are Arabs elsewhere, especially in parts like southern Jordan, but these tend to be pockets.
I’m not saying this out of arrogance and I have respect for these other lands and their histories . But As a Saudi Arabian and also deeply rooted in the Arabian peninsula from an Arabian tribe, I am simply tired of seeing my culture and identity misrepresented all the time.
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I get what you're saying, and fully agree, however it's not so much cultural appropriation as much as colonialism. Trust me, Amazighen aren't too happy at being marginalized.
This is what I’m saying. The whole idea of an “Arab world” is 20th century nonsense.
It’s actually really harmful to all parties . It hurts the indigenous ethnic groups who are resisting Arabisation, it hurts the Arabized who end up with an identity crisis and end up damaging their own history and tourism sector , and it hurts the real Arabs because our culture and history get altered and misrepresented by the Arabized.
I’m not saying the region should stop speaking Arabic altogether. What I’m saying is don’t claim my ethnic group.
You might think it’s not a big deal, but it is. I did an experiment where I went around asking people to name Arabic foods. Not a single dish they mentioned was Arab.
Some people argue that it’s not just about language, that we also share the same history, and that’s what makes us all “arab” .
Umm not really. The Middle East including the Arabian Peninsula was only united for about 30 years under the Rashidun Caliphate. After that, during the Arab Umayyads and Abbasids caliphates , the Arabian Peninsula was pretty much self-governed by different tribes. It was a totally different situation compared to the Levant, Iraq, and North Africa, which were directly ruled by those arab empires.
Then when the Abbasids fell in 1200s , Arab expansion and Arabisation in the MENA region ended. Turks and others took over and the Arabian Peninsula went back to full scale self-rule, divided into different regions and mini states and tribal confederations .
Soooo we don’t even share the same history.
That’s why I find it funny when people say “ the Ottomans ruled over Arabs.”
They didn’t. They ruled over the Arabized, not the real Arabs. The Ottomans barely touched the Arabian Peninsula. The only part they influenced was the west coast, and even then it wasn’t direct it was the Hashemites in power, using Ottoman protection to keep other tribes away.
So again, the Arabized even rewrite our history and portray our history in a misleading manner.
We don’t share the same history, let alone the same DNA or culture.
That’s why I laugh when someone from the Levant calls for “Arab unity.” I tell them we already achieved it. Saudi Arabia coveres about 80% of the Arabian Peninsula, and the rest like Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and the others are our allies. We have strong economic and military ties. Isn’t that Arab unity in practice? The only exception is Yemen, and even there it’s mainly the Houthi problem in the north.
So the irony is that Arabs actually have achieved unity in the modern era, and we’re in our prime right now in terms of unity and prosperity. But noooooo it’s all portrayed differently because the arabized have seized not only our identity but the Arab narrative as a whole.
