Persian Arab
Encyclopedia
Persian Arab generally refers to people who are of both Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 and Persian
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...

 ethnic, cultural or cultural background.

History and current situation

In pre-Islamic times, there were many Arabs who lived in the cultural sphere of Persia and who use Persian as their written language. These are referred to as Persian Arabs (in Arabic العرب الفرس al-?arab al-furas).

Persians also traded with the Arabs in Arabia and there were Persians living in Arabia, who also spoke Arabic.
One of Muhammed's early followers, Salman Al-Farsi, was Persian.

After the rise of Islam and the Arab conquest of Persia, Persians in turn began to use Arabic as their written language.
Many famous Arabic writers were ethnic Persians and others (e.g. Harun Al-Rashid
Harun al-Rashid
Hārūn al-Rashīd was the fifth Arab Abbasid Caliph in Iraq. He was born in Rey, Iran, close to modern Tehran. His birth date remains a point of discussion, though, as various sources give the dates from 763 to 766)....

) were of mixed ancestry.

During the various Islamic kingdoms and empires, there was much intermixture between Persian and Arabs.

Arabs and Persians acted together in spreading Islam to new grounds and members of Muslim communities in e.g. China (see Hui Chinese, Uyghur people
Uyghur people
The Uyghur are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia. Today, Uyghurs live primarily in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China...

), India (see Ashraaf
Ashraaf
Ashraaf comes from Arabic and is the plural form of Sharif or Shareef , which literally means "noble" or "privileged". In some countries it used as a term to denote descendants of Muhammed . Among South Asian Muslims it used as a term for the Muslim gentry in South Asia, usually claiming Arab or...

, Iraqi Biradri
Iraqi biradri
The word Birâdrî means Brotherhood originating from the word Birâdar meaning "Brother" in Persian. In Pakistan and India it is used to denote a number of social strata among Muslims....

, Bihari Muslims
Bihari Muslims
Bihari Muslims are people originating and tracing descent from the Indian State of Bihar, who practice Islam as their religion. Bihari Muslims mainly practice Sunni Islam of the Hanafi creed , though a small Shia minority exists.-Origin:...

, Indian Muslims)consider themselves to be descendants of Arabs or Persians or both (of traders, soldiers or religious figures). In other words, they have Persian Arab roots.

Among Muslims in South Asia, especially in Pakistan (see languages of Pakistan), both Arabic and Persian are considered as cultural languages and are appreciated and studied, even by those who do not considered themselves to be of Persian or Arab descent.

Self-identification

The term Persian Arab is rarely used as a self-appellation. Most tend to identify more strongly as either Persian or Arab and consider themselves to be members primarily of one ethnic group, but at the same time being aware of their mixed background. For many the most important factor determining their identity is the sovereign state in which they live or from which their recent ancestors came from.

In Arab countries

Many Arabs in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...

, Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

, UAE
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

 and the other Gulf states
Arab states of the Persian Gulf
"Arab states of the Persian Gulf" or "Arab Persian Gulf states" or "Persian Gulf Arab states" or "Arabic Persian Gulf states" or "Arab States of The Gulf", are terms that refer to the six Arab states of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, bordering the Persian Gulf....

 are of Persian descent. Most tend to consider themselves as Arabs, while at the same time being aware of their Persian roots.
In Iraq, Shi'ite Arabs tend to sympathise with Iran more than Sunnis, because Iran is a Shi'te state and because the Shi'ite areas in Iraq have come more under Iranian influence (see Greater Iran
Greater Iran
Greater Iran refers to the regions that have significant Iranian cultural influence. It roughly corresponds to the territory on the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains, stretching from Iraq, the Caucasus, and Turkey in the west to the Indus River in the east...

, headline Iraq).
However, Persian speakers in the above countries often consider themselves to be Persians or Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ians.
There are 227,000 Persian speakers in Iraq, 80,000 in UAE, 72,000 in Qatar, 43, 000 in Bahrain and 25 000 in Oman

In Iran

Conversely, ethnic Arabs and Arabic speakers living primarily in the Khuzestan province of Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. Most of them self-identify as Iranian Arabs, or Ahvazis,(see Ahvaz
Ahvaz
-History:For a more comprehensive historical treatment of the area, see the history section of Khūzestān Province.-Ancient history:Ahvaz is the anagram of "Avaz" and "Avaja" which appear in Darius's epigraph...

) and consider their mother tongue to be Arabic, though almost all are bilingual in Persian and many may have a better command of written Persian than written Arabic, since the medium of education at schools in Iran is Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

. Some Arabs (e.g. those of the Khamseh clans) even use Persian as first language.

Outside the Arab world and Iran

According to survey made in India in 2001, 51,728 Indians spoke Arabic as their mother tongue and 12,000 spoke Persian. In addition, there are many more who consider themselves to be of Persian/Arab descent.
Some prefer ethnic labels that highlight Arab or Persian ancestry (see Iraqi Biradri
Iraqi biradri
The word Birâdrî means Brotherhood originating from the word Birâdar meaning "Brother" in Persian. In Pakistan and India it is used to denote a number of social strata among Muslims....

, Muslim Mapilla).
In Pakistan, there are estimated to be as many as 1,000 000 Persian speakers and 123 000 Arabic speakers.
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