North African Arab/Berbers



North African Arab/Berbers

The People

Africans living north of the Sahara are a mixture of Arabs and indigenous peoples such as the Berbers. Arabs migrated into North Africa from the Arabian Peninsula in a number of waves, the first of which occurred in the 7th century AD. Because of this long history of contact with the Arabic Middle East, Egypt, Libya, and the Maghreb (Arabic for “west,” comprising Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco) have strong cultural and ethnic ties with that part of the world. In many ways they are more a part of the Middle East than of Africa south of the Sahara.

Arab influence is also strong in East Africa, where intermarriage of Arabs with the local Bantu produced the distinctive Swahili culture, and in western and central Africa just south of the Sahara. Most of the rest of the continent is dominated by black peoples of various ethnic groups. Anthropologists have identified almost 3,000 different ethnic groups or peoples in Africa, speaking approximately 1,000 different languages.

The indigenous inhabitants of North Africa are the Berbers. These are the people who speak, or are known to have spoken, a variety of the Berber language. The language is the only common element. Representatives of many physical types are found among them, and they are evidently of mixed ethnic origin, even though the mingling took place for the most part in pre-historic times. In historical times there have been several additions (Phoenician and Roman) to the Berber stock, though not until the 11th century were these substantial enough to modify the characteristic Berber physiognomy of the North African population.

The Arabs represent two successive groups. The first conquerors of the 7th century were few in number though of great prestige. They were soldiers and administrators living in the towns. The Hilali Bedouins of the 11th century, however, were numerous and vigorous, and by displacing or assimilating the Berbers they caused a profound modification in the ethnographic picture.

Four groups are still detectable, especially by linguistic criteria, in North African Muslim society. These are the aristocratic townsmen, proud of their descent from the early heroes of Islam; the Arab countrymen, nomad or settled; the Arabized peoples of Berber descent; and the Berbers who have retained their language.

Languages

As the Arabs came from the east, their influence is strongest in the east and feeblest in the west. In Tunisia and Libya, Berber is spoken only in insignificant pockets. In Algeria it is a minority tongue, though used by the energetic Kabyle group. In Morocco rather less than half of the population still uses Berber as their ordinary speech. In no country is Berber written; the literary languages are French and Arabic.

The use of literary Arabic, which is quite different from spoken Arabic and is the only form that is written, is in a state of flux. Though the states of North Africa, particularly Algeria and Tunisia, are largely secularized, their citizens are not immune to the prestige that Arabic has acquired as the language in which God sent down his revelation to the Prophet; consequently Arabic is the official language in all the states.

Religion

Islam, a monotheistic religion related to the Jewish and Christian traditions, originated in Arabia in the 7th century AD when Muhammad proclaimed himself as the prophet of Allah, the one god. After the death of Muhammad in AD 632, it swept across North Africa in the wake of conquering Arab armies. Like Christianity, Islam is making many African converts. Today, Muslims, the followers of Islam, number about 330 million in all of Africa and probably constitute more than 40 percent of the population. The largest Muslim populations are found in Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Sudan, and Morocco, but there are Muslims as far south as Malawi, Zambia, and Mozambique. Most African Muslims belong to the Sunni branch of Islam.

The Arabs and Berbers are orthodox Muslims of the Maliki rite. A very few are Ibadis. North African Islam is exceptional for its veneration of saints and for the prosperity of religious brotherhoods, though the latter is declining. In general it may be said that the North African Muslims, rather more than Muslims located nearer to the heart of the Islamic world, are given to superstitions and unorthodox practices.

Demography

Muslim Africans.

The Muslims, too, are not free from social division. There is a great gulf between the townsman and countryman, rich and poor, nomad and sedentary. The Kabyles form a closely knit and more or less closed society, as do the Berber-speaking and heterodox Mozabites. Tribal feeling is still strong in the countryside.

A notable feature of certain Muslim communities is the tradition of temporary emigration. The Mozabites, for example, are found in very small numbers in every town and village in Algeria, where they keep small general stores. The Sousis play a corresponding role in Morocco. The Kabyles and others go even farther afield, principally to France, where they work as laborers. This traditional form of emigration is distinct from the general drift to the towns. The latter is not confined to the Muslims nor to North Africa. Due to rural overpopulation, it is associated with much abject poverty and very serious urban housing problems.

Art & Music

As Islam spread, a distinctive style of Islamic art gradually developed. It was used mainly for religious architecture, book illustrations, and the decoration of pottery, metalware, and other useful objects. Islamic art was influenced by the artistic styles of the conquered regions. These styles included late Roman, Byzantine, and Persian art.

The development of Islamic art was also influenced by two religious restrictions. Mohammed warned artists not to imitate God, the creator of all life, by making images of living things. Most religious art therefore consisted of ornamental designs that did not represent people or animals. The second restriction discouraged the use of costly materials. Islamic artists, therefore, worked mainly with brass, clay, and wood. They learned to decorate objects made of these less expensive materials so skillfully that they looked as beautiful as silver or gold.

The restriction on making images led to the development of one of the most outstanding features of Islamic art. Artists avoided depicting likelike forms. Instead, they developed a special kind of decoration, called arabesque. An arabesque is a very complicated design. It can consist of twisting patterns of vines, leaves, and flowers. It can be made up of geometric shapes and patterns of straight lines, or it can have curving lines that twist and turn over each other. Sometimes animal shapes were used, but they were always highly stylized and not lifelike.

Another important characteristic of Islamic art is the use of calligraphy, or beautiful handwriting. Arabic, the language of most Islamic texts, can be beautifully written in several different kinds of script. These include the straight, geometric Kufic script and the rounded, flowing Naskhi. Islamic artists used Arabic script (which is read from right to left) as part of their designs for religious books, wall decorations, and art objects. Especially beautiful calligraphy and decoration were used for copies of the Koran, the holy book of the Islamic faith.

Arab Society

The family is the basic unit of Arab society, and Arabs tend to be known by the family to which they belong. Family life, like all of Arab society, is both patrilineal and patriarchal. This means that not only are kinship and inheritance patterns tracked through the father's line (patrilineal), but also that the father or eldest male has absolute authority over the family. Most marriages are monogamous—one husband and one wife—but in Saudi Arabia and some African countries a man may legally have as many as four wives. In earlier times marriages were often arranged by parents for their children. This practice is rare today, though the opinion of the parents—particularly the father—remains important in matters such as marriage, which is viewed as a family decision.

In many regions, Arabs still distinguish among themselves on the basis of descent, tribal affiliation, and social status. A tribe is a collection of families headed by a sheikh, or sheik. In earlier times the sheikh had an obligation to protect the tribe's weak and poor. When disputes arose within or between tribes, the matter was put before an arbiter familiar with tribal customs. Although these practices still live on in a few regions unaffected by central government, in most parts of the Arab world tribal life has given way to political structures similar to those found in most areas of Europe and the Americas.

The members of nomadic tribes are called Bedouins. These tribes once made up about one fifth of the Arab population in the Middle East and North Africa. Today, the traditional Bedouin culture is found among a very small number of people. Those who continue to follow this lifestyle live on the coarse grasslands and deserts that make up much of the terrain in that part of the world. Most Bedouin today are animal herders who move their families, belongings, and animal stock from region to region depending upon the season and grazing areas.

Most Arabs are farmers or city dwellers. Those who live in towns and cities engage in businesses and commerce. In parts of the Persian Gulf and North Africa, many work for the petroleum industry, which has become a major factor in the economy of those regions.

One of the most powerful factors in the Arab world is Islam. More than 90 percent of Arabs are Muslims, and Islam was the driving force behind the Arab conquests of the 7th century. This religion shapes many social attitudes and customs, and it influences the system of justice in most of the countries in which it is the dominant or official religion. Toward the end of the 20th century, new and more conservative interpretations of Islam led to the return of highly traditional and modest forms of dress and behavior for men and, especially, women. This was true even in urban areas where dress codes and lifestyles had become much freer. In the smaller towns and desert areas, however, social attitudes remained traditional.

Both men and women in Arab society tend toward modesty in their clothing, though there is considerable diversity from both a regional and individual perspective. In most parts of the Arab world, rural women wear a dark robe and a shawl or veil called a hijab to cover their hair. Very conservative women may also wear a niqab, a veil that covers part of the face. Some women in urban areas who maintain a conservative lifestyle may also dress this way. It is also not unusual to find urban women who combine modern and traditional garb and wear contemporary, westernized dresses or jeans but still cover their heads with a hijab. Men's clothing also ranges from highly traditional to contemporary. They may wear a long robe called a jallabiyah, or perhaps ample trousers with the long shirt known as a thawb. In the cities, some men opt for wearing westernized clothing ranging from blue jeans to business suits and ties. Like women, men tend to keep their heads covered, and they traditionally wear a cap called a thagiyah covered by a kaffiyeh, which is held in place with a thick cord known as an 'iqal. The kaffiyeh is a cloth that usually is shoulder-length, protecting the head and neck from the hot sun. This scarf-like head covering is seen on men throughout the eastern Arab world in both rural and urban areas.

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