Editing Spear (section)

===Middle East===
====Modern era====
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2022}}
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 400
| image1            = Dervish, 1913.jpg
| caption1          = An Arab Sufi ascetic carrying a short [[assegai]] in 1913.
| image2            = Bedouin warrior.jpg
| caption2          = A [[Bedouin]] Arab warrior carrying a long hunting [[Assegai|az-zaġāyah]] {{circa|1914}}.
}}

Muslim warriors used a spear that was called an ''[[Assegai|az-zaġāyah]]''. [[Berbers]] pronounced it ''zaġāya'', but the English term, derived from the [[Old French]] via [[Berber languages|Berber]], is "[[assegai]]". It is a polearm used for throwing or hurling, usually a light spear or javelin made of hard wood and pointed with a forged iron tip. The ''az-zaġāyah'' played an important role during the [[Early Muslim conquests|Islamic conquest]] as well as during later periods, well into the 20th century. A longer pole ''az-zaġāyah'' was being used as a hunting weapon from horseback. The ''az-zaġāyah'' was widely used. It existed in various forms in areas stretching from [[Southern Africa]] to the [[Indian subcontinent]], although these places already had their own variants of the spear. This javelin was the weapon of choice during the ''[[Fulani jihad]]'' as well as during the [[Mahdist War]] in Sudan. It is still being used by certain wandering Sufi ascetics ''([[Derwish]]es)''.