Editing Arabs (section)

== Culture ==
{{main|Arab culture}}
[[File:Illustration by David Roberts, digitally enhanced by rawpixel-com 120.jpg|thumb|Dancing girls at Cairo]]
Arab culture is shaped by a long and rich history that spans thousands of years, from the [[Atlantic Ocean]] in the west to the [[Arabian Sea]] in the east, and from the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast. The various religions the Arabs have adopted throughout [[History of the Arabs|their history]] and the various empires and kingdoms that have ruled and took lead of the Arabic civilization have contributed to the [[ethnogenesis]] and formation of modern Arab culture. [[Language]], [[literature]], [[gastronomy]], [[art]], [[architecture]], [[music]], [[spirituality]], [[philosophy]] and [[mysticism]] are all part of the cultural heritage of the Arabs.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Doris|last=Behrens-Abouseif|title=Beauty in Arabic culture|date=1999|publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers|isbn=978-1558761995|oclc=40043536}}</ref>

=== Language ===
{{main|Arabic}}
[[File:Learning_Arabic_calligraphy.jpg|thumb|[[Arabic calligraphy]] is the artistic practice of writing Arabic script in a decorative and stylized manner.]]
[[Arabic]] is a [[Semitic language]] of the [[Afroasiatic languages|Afro-Asiatic family]].<ref>{{Cite news|title=Al-Jallad. The earliest stages of Arabic and its linguistic classification (Routledge Handbook of Arabic Linguistics, forthcoming)|via=Academia.edu|url=https://www.academia.edu/18470301|access-date=27 October 2016 |last1=Al-Jallad |first1=Ahmad }}</ref> The first evidence for the emergence of the language appears in military accounts from 853 BCE. Today it has developed widely used as a ''[[lingua franca]]'' for more than 500 million people. It is also a [[Liturgy#Islam|liturgical]] language for 1.7 billion [[Muslims]].<ref name="pewmuslim422">{{Cite web|date=27 January 2011|title=Executive Summary|url=http://www.pewforum.org/2011/01/27/the-future-of-the-global-muslim-population|access-date=22 December 2011|website=Future of the Global Muslim Population|publisher=Pew Research Center}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=27 January 2011|title=Table: Muslim Population by Country|work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|publisher=Features.pewforum.org|url=http://features.pewforum.org/muslim-population/?sort=Pop2030|access-date=18 May 2014}}</ref> Arabic is one of six [[official languages of the United Nations]],<ref>{{Cite news|title=UN official languages|publisher=United Nations|url=https://www.un.org/en/sections/about-un/official-languages/|access-date=18 October 2015}}</ref> and is revered in [[Islam]] as the language of the [[Quran]].<ref name="pewmuslim422" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=27 January 2011|title=Table: Muslim Population by Country &#124; Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|url=http://features.pewforum.org/muslim-population/?sort=Pop2030|access-date=18 May 2014|publisher=Features.pewforum.org}}</ref>

Arabic has two main registers. [[Classical Arabic]] is the form of the [[Arabic]] language used in literary texts from [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] and Abbasid times (7th to 9th centuries). It is based on the medieval dialects of [[Tribes of Arabia|Arab tribes]]. [[Modern Standard Arabic]] (MSA) is the direct descendant used today throughout the Arab world in writing and in formal speaking, for example, prepared speeches, some radio broadcasts, and non-entertainment content,{{sfn|Bin-Muqbil|2006|p=14}} while the [[Lexis (linguistics)|lexis]] and [[Stylistics (linguistics)|stylistics]] of [[Modern Standard Arabic]] are different from [[Classical Arabic]]. There are also various regional dialects of colloquial spoken Arabic that both vary greatly from both each other and from the formal written and spoken forms of Arabic.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabs facts, information, pictures – articles about Arabs|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/anthropology-and-archaeology/people/arabs|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref>

=== Mythology ===
{{Main|Arabian mythology}}
[[File:Illustration_of_Aladdin_Flying_Away_with_Two_People_from_the_Arabian_Nights.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Aladdin]] from the ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'']]
[[Arabic mythology]] comprises the ancient beliefs of the Arabs. Prior to Islam the Kaaba of Mecca was covered in symbols representing the myriad demons, djinn, demigods, or simply tribal gods and other assorted deities which represented the polytheistic culture of pre-Islamic. It has been inferred from this plurality an exceptionally broad context in which mythology could flourish.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Stetkevych|first=Jaroslav|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OVXC72Td6CsC|title=Muhammad and the Golden Bough: Reconstructing Arabian Myth|date=2000|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0253214133}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O02TygAACAAJ&q=Arabian+mythology|title=Arabian Mythology, Noah's Ark, Hafaza, Jesus, Khidr, Dhul-Qarnayn, Isra and Mi'raj, Luqman, Devil, Throne of God|date=2011|publisher=General Books|isbn=978-1233180516}}</ref>

The most popular beasts and demons of Arabian mythology are [[Bahamut]], [[Dandan]], [[Falak (Arabian legend)|Falak]], [[Ghoul]], [[Hinn (mythology)|Hinn]], [[Jinn]], [[Karkadann]], [[Marid]], [[Nasnas]], [[Qareen]], [[Roc (mythology)|Roc]], [[Shadhavar]], [[Werehyena]] and other assorted creatures which represented the profoundly [[polytheistic]] environment of pre-Islamic.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leeming|first=David|url=https://archive.org/details/jealousgodschose00leem_0|title=Jealous Gods and Chosen People: The Mythology of the Middle East|date=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0195348996|page=[https://archive.org/details/jealousgodschose00leem_0/page/119 119]|url-access=registration}}</ref>

The most prominent symbol of Arabian mythology is the [[Jinn]] or genie.<ref>{{Cite web|title=jinni|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/jinni|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=2 January 2024}}</ref> Jinns are supernatural beings that can be good or evil.<ref>Benjamin W. McCraw, ''Philosophical Approaches to Demonology'' Robert Arp Routledge 2017 {{ISBN|978-1315466750}}</ref><ref>[[Qur'ān 55:15]]</ref> They are not purely spiritual, but are also physical in nature, being able to interact in a tactile manner with people and objects and likewise be acted upon. The ''jinn'', humans, and [[Islamic view of angels|angels]] make up the known [[Sapience|sapient]] creations of [[God in Islam|God]].<ref>Amira El-Zein ''Islam, Arabs, and Intelligent World of the Jinn'' Syracuse University Press 2009 {{ISBN|978-0815650706}} p. 19</ref>

[[Ghoul]]s also feature in the mythology as a [[monster]] or [[evil spirit]] associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Story of Sidi-Nouman|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lang1k1/tale31.htm|access-date=5 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Ghoul Facts, information, pictures &#124; Encyclopedia.com articles about Ghoul|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-ghoul.html|access-date=23 March 2011}}</ref> In Arabic folklore, ghouls belonged to a diabolic class of jinn and were said to be the offspring of Iblīs, the prince of darkness in Islam. They were capable of constantly changing form, but always retained [[donkey]]'s hooves.<ref>{{Cite web|title=ghoul|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/ghoul|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=14 June 2024}}</ref>

=== Literature ===
{{main|Arabic literature}}
[[File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art MSS 0902-61b-62a.jpg|thumb|left|Manuscript from the ''Diwan'' of [[Al-Mutanabbi]]]]
The [[Quran]], the main [[Religious text|holy book]] of [[Islam]], had a significant influence on the Arabic language, and marked the beginning of Arabic literature. Muslims believe it was transcribed in the Arabic dialect of the [[Quraysh]], the tribe of [[Muhammad]].<ref name="Glen Van Brummelen-2013">{{Cite journal|first=Glen|last=Van Brummelen|date=2013|title=Seeking the Divine on Earth: The Direction of Prayer in Islam|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/mathhorizons.21.1.15|journal=Math Horizons|volume=21|issue=1|pages=15–17|doi=10.4169/mathhorizons.21.1.15|jstor=10.4169/mathhorizons.21.1.15|s2cid=218543141}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=8 September 2019|title=الوثائقية تفتح ملف "اللغة العربية"|url=https://doc.aljazeera.net/followup/الوثائقية-تفتح-ملف-اللغة-العربية/|access-date=18 June 2020|website=الجزيرة الوثائقية|language=ar}}</ref> As Islam spread, the Quran had the effect of unifying and standardizing Arabic.<ref name="Glen Van Brummelen-2013" />

Not only is the Quran the first work of any significant length written in the language, but it also has a far more complicated structure than the earlier literary works with its 114 ''[[Surah|suwar]]'' (chapters) which contain 6,236 ''[[ayat]]'' (verses). It contains [[injunction]]s, [[narrative]]s, [[homilies]], [[parable]]s, direct addresses from God, instructions and even comments on how the Quran will be received and understood. It is also admired for its layers of metaphor as well as its clarity, a feature which is mentioned in [[An-Nahl]], the 16th surah.

[[Al-Jahiz]] (born 776, in [[Basra]] – December 868/January 869) was an Arab prose writer and author of works of literature, [[Mu'tazili]] theology, and politico-religious polemics. A leading scholar in the Abbasid Caliphate, his canon includes two hundred books on various subjects, including [[Arabic grammar]], [[zoology]], poetry, lexicography, and [[rhetoric]]. Of his writings, only thirty books survive. Al-Jāḥiẓ was also one of the first Arabian writers to suggest a complete overhaul of the language's grammatical system, though this would not be undertaken until his fellow linguist [[Ibn Maḍāʾ]] took up the matter two hundred years later.<ref>[[Shawqi Daif]], Introduction to Ibn Mada's ''Refutation of the Grammarians'', pg. 48. Cairo, 1947.</ref>

There is a small remnant of [[pre-Islamic poetry]], but Arabic literature predominantly emerges in the [[Middle Ages]], during the [[Golden Age of Islam]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabic literature|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Arabic-literature|website=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> [[Imru' al-Qais]] was a king and poet in the 6th century, he was the last king of [[Kingdom of Kinda|Kindite]]. He is among the finest Arabic poetry to date, as well sometimes considered the father of [[Arabic poetry]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Pendergast|first=Tom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OaURAQAAMAAJ|title=Reference Guide to World Literature|date=2003|publisher=St. James Press|isbn=978-1558624900|page=30}}</ref> ''[[Kitab al-Aghani]]'' by [[Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani|Abul-Faraj]] was called by the 14th-century historian [[Ibn Khaldun]] the register of the Arabs.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sawa|first1=George Dimitri|title=Erotica, Love and Humor in Arabia : Spicy Stories from The Book of Songs by al-Isfahani|date=2016|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|isbn=978-1476663654|page=2}}</ref> [[Modern Standard Arabic|Literary Arabic]] is derived from [[Classical Arabic]], based on the language of the Quran as it was analyzed by [[Arabic grammarians]] beginning in the 8th century.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Literature|url=https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/arablit.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102163724/https://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/arablit.htm|archive-date=2 January 2017|website=Library.cornell.edu}}</ref>
[[File:Khalil Gibran - Autorretrato con musa, c. 1911.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Khalil Gibran]] was a writer, poet and visual artist; he is best known as the author of ''[[The Prophet (book)|The Prophet]]'', has since become one of the [[List of best-selling books|best-selling books]] of all time, having been [[Translations of The Prophet|translated into more than 100 languages]]]]
A large portion of Arabic literature before the 20th century is in the form of [[Arabic poetry|poetry]], and even prose from this period is either filled with snippets of poetry or is in the form of ''[[Saj (literature)|saj]]'' or rhymed prose.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabic literature|url=http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/entertainment/arabic-literature.html|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Infoplease.com}}</ref> The ''[[ghazal]]'' or love poem had a long history being at times tender and chaste and at other times rather explicit.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Richards|first=D.S.|title=Arabic literature in the post-classical period|date=2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1139053990|editor-last=Allen|editor-first=Roger|edition=1st|location=Cambridge, UK}}</ref> In the [[Sufi]] tradition the love poem would take on a wider, [[Mysticism|mystical]] and [[Religion|religious]] importance.

[[Arabic epic literature]] was much less common than poetry, and presumably originates in oral tradition, written down from the 14th century or so. [[Maqama]] or [[rhymed prose]] is intermediate between poetry and [[prose]], and also between fiction and non-fiction.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Night and horses and the desert : an anthology of classical Arabic literature|date=2002|publisher=Anchor Books|isbn=978-0385721554|editor-last=Irwin|editor-first=Robert|edition=1st Anchor Books|location=New York}}</ref> [[Maqama]] was an incredibly popular form of Arabic literature, being one of the few forms which continued to be written during the decline of Arabic in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Islamic History in Arabia and Middle East|url=http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/ref5.htm|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Islamicity.com}}</ref>

Arabic literature and [[Arab culture|culture]] declined significantly after the 13th century, to the benefit of [[Ottoman Turkish language|Turkish]] and [[Persian literature|Persian]]. A modern revival took place beginning in the 19th century, alongside [[National awakenings under the Ottoman Empire|resistance against Ottoman rule]]. The literary revival is known as ''[[al-Nahda]]'' in Arabic, and was centered in [[Egypt]] and [[Lebanon]]. Two distinct trends can be found in the ''nahda'' period of revival.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabic Literature|url=http://www.indigenouspeople.net/arabiclit/|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Indigenouspeople.net}}</ref>

The first was a neo-classical movement which sought to rediscover the literary traditions of the past, and was influenced by traditional literary genres—such as the ''[[maqama]]''—and works like ''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]''. In contrast, a modernist movement began by translating Western modernist works—primarily novels—into Arabic.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gelder|first=Geert Jan Van|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/21087|title=Classical Arabic Literature|date=2012|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=978-0814745113}}</ref> A tradition of [[modern Arabic poetry]] was established by writers such as [[Francis Marrash]], [[Ahmad Shawqi]] and [[Hafiz Ibrahim]]. Iraqi poet [[Badr Shakir al-Sayyab]] is considered to be the originator of free verse in [[Arabic poetry]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=17 September 2013|title=Arabian literature|url=http://www.slideshare.net/JennyOh17/arabian-literature|website=Slideshare.net}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Modern Arabic literature|date=1992|publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press|isbn=978-0521331975|editor-last=Badawi|editor-first=M.M.|edition=1. publ.|location=Cambridge [u.a.]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cachia|first=Pierre|url=https://archive.org/details/arabicliterature0000cach|title=Arabic literature : an overview|date=2002|publisher=RoutledgeCurzon|isbn=978-0-7007-1725-5|edition=1. publ.|location=New York|url-access=registration}}</ref>

=== Cuisine ===
{{main|Arab cuisine}}
[[File:Petra metzes.jpg|thumb|Plate of [[Meze]]s in [[Petra]], [[Jordan]]]]
[[Arab cuisine]] is largely divided into [[Khaleeji cuisine]], [[Levantine cuisine]] and [[Maghrebi cuisine]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Food : a culinary history from Antiquity to the present|date=1999|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0231111546|editor-last=Flandrin|editor-first=Jean-Louis|location=New York|translator-last=Clarissa Botsford|editor-last2=Montanari|editor-first2=Massimo|editor-last3=Sonnenfeld|editor-first3=Albert}}</ref> Arab cuisine has influenced other cuisines various cultures, including [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]], [[Iranian peoples|Persian]], and [[Andalusian Spanish|Andalusian]].

It is characterized by a variety of herbs and spices, including [[cumin]], [[coriander]], [[cinnamon]], [[sumac]], [[za'atar]], [[cardamom]], [[Mentha|mint]], [[saffron]], [[sesame]], [[thyme]] [[turmeric]] and [[parsley]].<ref name="Food and recipes2">{{Cite web|title=Food and recipes|url=http://al-bab.com/special-topics/food-and-recipes|website=al-bab.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabic Cuisine|url=http://www.canadianarabcommunity.com/arabiccuisine.php|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Canadianarabcommunity.com|archive-date=25 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225000342/http://www.canadianarabcommunity.com/arabiccuisine.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> Arab cuisine is also known for its sweets and desserts, such as [[Knafeh]], [[Baklava]], [[Halva]], and [[Qatayef]]. [[Arabic coffee]], or qahwa, is a traditional drink that is served with dates.

===Art===
{{main|Arabic art|Nabataean art|Arabic miniature|Arabesque}}
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Umayyad fresco of Prince (future caliph) Walid bin Yazid.jpg
| image2            = Arabischer Maler um 730 001.jpg
| image3            = Jordan Qusair Amra 2013 0449.jpg
| image4            = Stucco wall painting of a man from Samarra, Iraq, 9th century CE. Pergamon Museum.jpg
| image5            = British Museum Harem wall painting fragments 1.jpg
| image6            = Stucco frieze of a camel from Samarra, Iraq, 9th century CE. Pergamon Museum.jpg
| image7            = Bowl with hare, Egypt, Fatimid period, 11th century AD, earthenware with overglaze luster painting - Cincinnati Art Museum - DSC04163.JPG
| image8            = Seated drinker, Fatimid art.jpg
| image9            = Luster bowl, Fatimid, 11th cent.; Museum of Islamic Art, Cairo (2).jpg
| footer            = (1st row) Various examples of early Umayyad paintings in Qusayr 'Amra. (2nd row) Examples of Abbasid Figural paintings from Samarra.
(3rd row) Examples of Fatimid art.
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[[Arabic art]] has taken various forms, including, among other things, [[jewelry]], [[textile]]s and [[architecture]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=d'Avennes|first=Prisse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B3MWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1|title=Arabic Art in Color|date=1 January 1978|publisher=Courier Corporation|isbn=978-0486236582}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Arabic art : after monuments in Cairo|date=1 January 2007|publisher=L'Aventurine|isbn=978-2914199605|oclc=216662541}}</ref> Arabic script has also traditionally been heavily embellished with often colorful [[Arabic calligraphy]], with one notable and widely used example being [[Kufic script]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=25 April 2011|title=A Brief History on Arabic Art: Different Forms of Arabic Artworks Outlined|url=http://www.brighthubeducation.com/history-homework-help/115127-arabic-art-and-architecture-brief-history/|website=Bright Hub Education}}</ref> Arabic miniatures ([[Arabic]]: الْمُنَمْنَمَات الْعَرَبِيَّة, ''Al-Munamnamāt al-ʿArabīyah'') are small [[painting]]s on [[paper]], usually book or manuscript illustrations but also sometimes separate artworks that occupy entire pages. The earliest example dates from around 690 CE, with a flourishing of the art from between 1000 and 1200 CE in the Abbasid caliphate. The art form went through several stages of evolution while witnessing the fall and rise of several [[Caliphate|Arab caliphates]].
{{multiple image
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Arab miniaturists got totally assimilated and subsequently disappeared due to the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] occupation of the Arab world. Nearly all forms of Islamic miniatures ([[Persian miniature]]s, [[Ottoman miniature]]s and [[Mughal miniature]]s) owe their existences to Arabic miniatures, as Arab patrons were the first to demand the production of illuminated manuscripts in the Caliphate, it was not until the 14th century that the artistic skill reached the non-Arab regions of the Caliphate.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mihram|first=Danielle|title=Research Guides: Medieval Studies and Research: Manuscripts: Art & Techniques|url=https://libguides.usc.edu/MedRenMSSandRareMatStudies/artandtechniques|access-date=27 May 2022|website=libguides.usc.edu}}</ref><ref name="DavidCollection2">{{Cite web|title=Miniature Painting|url=https://www.davidmus.dk/en/collections/islamic/materials/miniatures|access-date=30 December 2017|publisher=The David Collection}}</ref><ref name="MMA19332">{{Cite journal|date=October 1933|title=Islamic Miniature Painting and Book Illumination|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/bulletins/1/pdf/3255467.pdf.bannered.pdf|url-status=dead|journal=Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art|volume=28|issue=10|pages=166–171|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406001359/https://www.metmuseum.org/pubs/bulletins/1/pdf/3255467.pdf.bannered.pdf|archive-date=6 April 2012|access-date=28 June 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dutton|first=Yasin|date=2016|title=Review of Qur'ans of the Umayyads: A First Overview (Leiden Studies in Islam & Society), François Déroche|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44031130|journal=Journal of Qur'anic Studies|volume=18|issue=1|pages=153–157|doi=10.3366/jqs.2016.0227|issn=1465-3591|jstor=44031130}}</ref><ref>''La Peinture arabe''</ref>

Despite the considerable changes in Arabic miniature style and technique, even during their last decades, the early [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] Arab influence could still be noticed. Arabic miniature artists include [[Ismail al-Jazari]], who illustrated his own ''Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices.''<ref name="Jazari2">al-Jazari, ''The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices: Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya'', transl. & anno. [[Donald Hill|Donald R. Hill]]. (1973), [[Springer Science+Business Media]].</ref>

The Abbasid artist, [[Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti|Yahya Al-Wasiti]], who probably lived in [[Baghdad]] in the late Abbasid era (12th to 13th-centuries), was one of the pre-eminent exponents of the Baghdad school. In the period 1236–1237, he transcribed and illustrated the book ''Maqamat'' (also known as the ''Assemblies'' or the ''Sessions''), a series of anecdotes of social satire written by [[Al-Hariri of Basra]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Baghdad school – Islamic art|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Baghdad-school|access-date=23 May 2022}}</ref> The narrative concerns the travels of a middle-aged man as he uses his charm and eloquence to swindle his way across the Arabic world.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315121970|title=Art, Awakening, and Modernity in the Middle East|date=2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1315121970|editor-last=Esanu|editor-first=Octavian|doi=10.4324/9781315121970}}</ref>[[File:Egitto,_cairo,_placca_decorativa_in_avorio,_XI_sec_-_Louvre_-_OA_6265-1.jpg|thumb|Arabesque pattern behind hunters on [[Ivory carving|ivory plaque]], 11th–12th century, Egypt]]
With most surviving Arabic [[manuscript]]s in western museums,<ref>{{Cite web|date=30 August 2017|title=الكنوز الضائعة.. هكذا انتقلت أشهر المخطوطات العربية إلى مكتبات العالم المختلفة|url=https://www.sasapost.com/arabic-manuscripts-in-foreign-libraries/|access-date=27 May 2022|website=ساسة بوست|archive-date=5 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221005024423/https://www.sasapost.com/arabic-manuscripts-in-foreign-libraries/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Arabic miniatures occupy very little space in modern Arab culture.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Thābit|first1=Mahmūd|last2=Albin|first2=Michael W.|date=1977|title=The Tragedy of Arabic Manuscripts, (1)|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29785032|journal=MELA Notes|issue=12|pages=16–19|issn=0364-2410|jstor=29785032}}</ref> [[Arabesque]] is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Fleming|first1=John|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofdeco00john|title=Dictionary of the Decorative Arts|last2=Honour|first2=Hugh|publisher=Penguin|year=1977|isbn=978-0670820474}}</ref> often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foliate ornament, typically using leaves, derived from stylised [[half-palmette]]s, which were combined with spiralling stems".<ref>Rawson, 236</ref> It usually consists of a single design which can be 'tiled' or seamlessly repeated as many times as desired.<ref name="RobinsonIllustrated2">{{Cite book|last=Robinson|first=Francis|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780521435109|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0521669931|url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Arts of the Islamic World (article)|url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-islam/beginners-guide-islamic-world-art/beginners-guide-islamic-art/a/arts-of-the-islamic-world|website=Khan Academy}}</ref>

===Architecture===
{{Further|Nabataean architecture|Islamic architecture}}
The Arab world is home to around 8%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/stat/|title=Number of World Heritage Properties by region|author=<!--Not stated-->|website=World Heritage Convention|publisher=UNESCO|access-date=21 November 2023}}</ref> of [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]s ([[List of World Heritage Sites in the Arab states]]). The oldest examples of architecture include those of [[pre-Islamic Arabia]],<ref name=":05222">{{Cite book|last=Finster|first=Barbara|title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three|publisher=Brill|year=2009|isbn=978-9004161658|editor-last=Fleet|editor-first=Kate|chapter=Arabian Peninsula, art and architecture|editor-last2=Krämer|editor-first2=Gudrun|editor-last3=Matringe|editor-first3=Denis|editor-last4=Nawas|editor-first4=John|editor-last5=Rowson|editor-first5=Everett}}</ref> as well as [[Nabataean architecture]] that developed in the ancient [[Nabataean Kingdom|kingdom of the Nabataeans]], a nomadic Arab tribe that controlled a significant portion of the [[Middle East]] from the 4th century BCE to the 2nd century CE.<ref>[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259265552_Nabataean_Architectural_Identity_and_its_Impact_on_Contemporary_Architecture_in_Jordan "Nabataean Architectural Identity and its Impact on Contemporary Architecture in Jordan"], ''Dirasat, Engineering Sciences''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/naba/hd_naba.htm|title=Nabataean Kingdom and Petra &#124; Essay &#124; the Metropolitan Museum of Art &#124; Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History|date=October 2000 }}</ref> The Nabataeans were known for their skill in carving out elaborate buildings, tombs, and other structures from the sandstone cliffs of the region. One of the most famous examples of Nabataean architecture is the city of [[Petra]], which is located in modern-day [[Jordan]], was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom and is renowned for its impressive rock-cut architecture.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Bloom|first1=Jonathan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=un4WcfEASZwC&pg=PA79|title=Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture: Three-Volume Set|last2=Blair|first2=Sheila S.|date=2009|publisher=OUP US|isbn=978-0195309911}}</ref>

Prior to the start of the [[Early Muslim conquests|Arab conquests]], Arab tribal client states, the [[Lakhmid kingdom|Lakhmids]] and [[Ghassanids]], were located on the borders of the Sassanid and Byzantine empires and were exposed to the cultural and architectural influences of both.{{Sfn|Shahîd|1995a|pp=401–403}}{{Sfn|Flood|Necipoğlu|2017|p=58}} They most likely played a significant role in transmitting and adapting the architectural traditions of these two empires to the later Arab Islamic dynasties.{{Sfn|Shahîd|1995a|pp=391, 402}}{{sfn|Ettinghausen|Grabar|Jenkins-Madina|2001|pp=4–5}}
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The Arab empire expanded rapidly, and with it, came a diverse range of architectural influences. One of the most notable architectural achievements of the Arab Empire is the [[Umayyad Mosque|Great Mosque of Damascus]] in Syria, which was built in the early 8th century, was constructed on the site of a Christian basilica and incorporated elements of Byzantine and Roman architecture, such as arches, columns, and intricate mosaics. Another important architectural is the [[Al-Aqsa Mosque]] in [[Jerusalem]], which was built in the late 7th century. The mosque features an impressive dome and a large prayer hall, as well as intricate geometric patterns and calligraphy on the walls.<ref>Fletcher, Banister [https://books.google.com/books?id=ULcsAAAAYAAJ&q=islam A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method] 4th Edition, London, p. 476.</ref><ref name="Krautheimer2">Krautheimer, Richard. [https://books.google.com/books?id=WXwX7fQ2DkUC&q=islam Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture] Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, Penguin Books Ltd., 1965, p. 285.</ref>

=== Music ===
{{main|Arabic music}}
[[File:Umm_Kulthum4.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Umm Kulthum]] was an Arab singer, [[songwriter]], and film actress (1920s–1970s). She has been named among the "200 Greatest Singers of All Time".<ref>{{citation|title=Rolling Stone Magazine named iconic singer Umm Kulthum among the greatest 200 singers of all time.|date=8 January 2023|url=https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/121771/Rolling-Stone-Magazine-named-iconic-singer-Umm-Kulthum-among-the}}</ref>]]
[[Arabic music]], while independent and flourishing in the 2010s, has a long history of interaction with many other regional musical styles and genres. It is an amalgam of the music of the Arab people in the Arabian Peninsula and the music of all the peoples that make up the Arab world today.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Touma|first=Habib Hassan|date=1972|title=[Review of ''Das arabische Tonsystem im Mittelalter'' by Liberty Manik]|department=Book Reviews|journal=Ethnomusicology|volume=16|issue=1|pages=140–144|doi=10.2307/850449|jstor=850449}}</ref> Pre-Islamic Arab music was similar to that of Ancient Middle Eastern music. Most historians agree that there existed distinct forms of music in the [[Arabian peninsula]] in the pre-Islamic period between the 5th and 7th century CE. [[Arabic poetry|Arab poets]] of that "Jahili poets", meaning "the poets of the period of ignorance"—used to recite poems with a high notes.<ref name="Jahili2">{{Cite web|date=16 December 2004|title=الغناء في العصر الجاهلي|url=https://www.khaledtrm.net/?p=74}}</ref> It was believed that [[Genie|Jinns]] revealed poems to poets and music to musicians.<ref name="Jahili2" /> By the 11th century, Islamic Iberia had become a center for the manufacture of instruments. These goods spread gradually throughout [[France]], influencing French [[troubadour]]s, and eventually reaching the rest of [[Europe]]. The English words [[lute]], [[rebec]], and [[Naqareh|naker]] are derived from Arabic [[oud]], [[Rebab|rabab]], and [[naqareh]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Douglas Alton|title=A History of the Lute from Antiquity to the Renaissance|year=2002|publisher=Lute Society of America|isbn=978-0971407107}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=20 December 2008|title=Asian Music Tribal Music of India, 32, 1, Fall, 2000/ Winter, 2001|url=http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/journals/archive/am/00449202_ap030061.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220100655/http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/journals/archive/am/00449202_ap030061.html|archive-date=20 December 2008|access-date=18 December 2017}}</ref>

A number of [[musical instrument]]s used in [[classical music]] are believed to have been derived from Arabic musical instruments: the [[lute]] was derived from the ''[[Oud]]'', the [[rebec]] (ancestor of [[violin]]) from the ''[[Maghreb rebab]]'', the [[guitar]] from ''qitara'', which in turn was derived from the Persian [[Tar (lute)|Tar]], [[Naqareh|naker]] from ''[[naqareh]]'', [[adufe]] from ''[[Daf|al-duff]]'', [[alboka]] from ''al-buq'', ''anafil'' from ''[[Nafir (trumpet)|al-nafir]]'', exabeba from ''al-shabbaba'' ([[flute]]), atabal ([[bass drum]]) from ''al-tabl'', atambal from ''al-tinbal'',<ref>{{Citation|last=Farmer|first=Henry George|title=Historical facts for the Arabian Musical Influence|year=1988|publisher=Ayer Publishing|isbn=040508496X|oclc=220811631|author-link=Henry George Farmer|page=137}}</ref> the [[Balaban (instrument)|balaban]], the [[castanet]] from ''kasatan'', [[Tuna (music)|sonajas de azófar]] from ''sunuj al-sufr'', the [[Bore (wind instruments)|conical bore]] [[wind instrument]]s,<ref>{{Harvnb|Farmer|1988|p=140}}</ref> the xelami from the ''sulami'' or ''[[fistula]]'' (flute or [[Organ pipe|musical pipe]]),<ref>{{Harvnb|Farmer|1988|pp=140–41}}</ref> the [[shawm]] and [[dulzaina]] from the [[Reed (instrument)|reed instruments]] ''zamr'' and ''[[Zurna|al-zurna]]'',<ref>{{Harvnb|Farmer|1988|p=141}}</ref> the [[Galician gaita|gaita]] from the ''[[Rhaita|ghaita]]'', [[rackett]] from ''iraqya'' or ''iraqiyya'',<ref>{{Harvnb|Farmer|1988|p=142}}</ref> [[Violin|geige]] (violin) from ''ghichak'',<ref>{{Harvnb|Farmer|1988|p=143}}</ref> and the [[theorbo]] from the ''tarab''.<ref>{{Harvnb|Farmer|1988|p=144}}</ref>

During the 1950s and the 1960s, Arabic music began to take on a more Western tone – artists [[Umm Kulthum]], [[Abdel Halim Hafez]], and [[Shadia]] along with composers [[Mohammed Abdel Wahab|Mohamed Abd al-Wahab]] and [[Baligh Hamdi]] pioneered the use of western instruments in Egyptian music. By the 1970s several other singers had followed suit and a strand of [[Arabic pop]] was born. Arabic pop usually consists of Western styled songs with Arabic instruments and lyrics. Melodies are often a mix between Eastern and Western. Beginning in the mid-1980s, [[Lydia Canaan]], musical [[Innovator|pioneer]] widely regarded as the first rock star of the [[Middle East]]<ref name="Daily Star Rock Hall2">O'Connor, Tom. [https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2016/Apr-27/349450-lydia-canaan-one-step-closer-to-rocknroll-hall-of-fame.ashx "Lydia Canaan One Step Closer to Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429000832/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2016/Apr-27/349450-lydia-canaan-one-step-closer-to-rocknroll-hall-of-fame.ashx|date=29 April 2016}}, ''[[The Daily Star (Lebanon)|The Daily Star]]'', Beirut, 27 April 2016.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Lydia Canaan: The Mideast's first rock star|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Nov-17/277842-lydia-canaan-the-mideasts-first-rock-star.ashx?|website=dailystar.com.lb|access-date=8 May 2015|archive-date=5 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505080129/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2014/Nov-17/277842-lydia-canaan-the-mideasts-first-rock-star.ashx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Spirituality ===
[[File:Nemesis_Allat_and_dedicater-MBA_Lyon-IMG_0557.JPG|alt=|thumb|Bas-relief: [[Nemesis]], [[al-Lat]] and the dedicator. [[Palmyra|Palmyrene]], 2nd–3rd century CE.]]
[[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Arab polytheism]] was the dominant religion in [[pre-Islamic Arabia]]. [[Deity|Gods]] and [[goddess]]es, including [[Hubal]] and the goddesses [[Al-Lat|al-Lāt]], [[Al-'Uzzá]] and [[Manāt]], were worshipped at local shrines, such as the [[Kaaba]] in [[Mecca]], whilst Arabs in the south, in what is today's Yemen, worshipped various gods, some of which represented the Sun or Moon. Different theories [[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia#Mecca|have been proposed]] regarding the role of [[Allah]] in Meccan religion.<ref name="Robinson2">{{Cite book|first=Neal|last=Robinson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2UL8AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA75|title=Islam: A Concise Introduction|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1136817731|page=75}}</ref><ref name="Peters2">{{Cite book|first=Francis E.|last=Peters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OrCo4VyvGkC&pg=PA110|title=Muhammad and the Origins of Islam|publisher=SUNY Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0791418758|page=110}}</ref><ref name="Peterson20072">{{Cite book|first=Daniel C.|last=Peterson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9zpbEj0xA_sC&pg=PA21|title=Muhammad, Prophet of God|date=2007|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0802807540|page=21}}</ref> Many of the physical descriptions of the pre-Islamic gods are traced to [[Cult image|idols]], especially near the Kaaba, which is said to have contained up to 360 of them.<ref name="armstrong2">{{Cite book|first=Karen|last=Armstrong|url=https://archive.org/details/islamshorthistor00arms_354|title=Islam: A Short History|date=2000|isbn=978-0-8129-6618-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/islamshorthistor00arms_354/page/n50 11]|publisher=Random House Publishing|url-access=limited}}</ref> Until about the fourth century, almost all Arabs practised polytheistic religions.{{sfn|Hoyland|2002|p=139}} Although significant [[Judaism|Jewish]] and Christian minorities developed, [[polytheism]] remained the dominant belief system in pre-Islamic Arabia.<ref name="Nicolle2">{{Cite book|first=David|last=Nicolle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3PgFtHzLVEC&pg=PA19|title=The Great Islamic Conquests AD 632–750|date=2012|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=978-1780969985|page=19|author-link=David Nicolle}}</ref>

The religious beliefs and practices of the nomadic [[bedouin]] were distinct from those of the settled tribes of towns such as [[Mecca]].<ref name="Aslan62">{{Cite book|first=Reza|last=Aslan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HP1zoWqpqg4C&pg=PA6|title=No God But God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam|date=2008|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1407009285|page=6}}</ref> Nomadic religious belief systems and practices are believed to have included [[fetishism]], [[totemism]] and [[veneration of the dead]] but were connected principally with immediate concerns and problems and did not consider larger [[Philosophy|philosophical]] questions such as the afterlife.<ref name="Aslan62" /> Settled urban Arabs, on the other hand, are thought to have believed in a more complex [[Pantheon (religion)|pantheon]] of deities.<ref name="Aslan62" /> While the Meccans and the other settled inhabitants of the [[Hejaz]] worshipped their gods at permanent shrines in towns and oases, the bedouin practised their religion on the move.<ref name="Peters1052">{{Cite book|first=Francis E.|last=Peters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0OrCo4VyvGkC&pg=PA105|title=Muhammad and the Origins of Islam|publisher=SUNY Press|year=1994|isbn=978-0791418758|page=105}}</ref>

Most notable Arab gods and goddesses: [['Amm]], [[A'ra]], [[Abgal (god)|Abgal]], [[Allah#Pre-Islamic Arabians|Allah]], [[Al-Lat]], [[Al-Qaum]], [[Almaqah]], [[Anbay]], [[ʿAṯtar]], [[Basamum]], [[Demolition of Dhul Khalasa|Dhu l-Khalasa]], [[Dushara]], [[Haukim]], [[Hubal]], [[Isāf and Nā'ila]], [[Manaf (deity)|Manaf]], [[Manāt]], [[Nasr (deity)|Nasr]], [[Nuha (deity)|Nuha]], [[Quzah]], [[Ruda (deity)|Ruda]], [[Sa'd (deity)|Sa'd]], [[Shams (goddess)|Shams, Samas]], [[Sin (mythology)|Syn]], [[Suwa']], [[Ta'lab]], [[Theandrios]], [[al-'Uzzá]], [[Wadd]], [[Ya'uq]], [[Yaghūth]], [[Yatha]], [[Aglibol]], [[Astarte]], [[Atargatis]], [[Baalshamin]], [[Bel (mythology)|Bēl]], [[Bes]], [[El (deity)|Ēl, Ilāh]], [[Inanna|Inanna/Ishtar]], [[Malakbel]], [[Nabu|Nabū, Nebo]], [[Nergal]], [[Yarhibol]].

=== Philosophy ===
{{main|Arabic philosophy}}
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| footer            = Ibn Rushd (left), known in the west as [[Averroes]], was a philosopher that influenced the rise of secular thought in Western Europe, while [[Ibn Khaldun]] (right) was a sociologist, philosopher, and historian widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages.
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The philosophical thought in the Arab world is heavily influenced by Arabic Philosophy. Schools of Arabic/Islamic thought include [[Avicennism]] and [[Averroism]]. The first great Arab thinker in the Islamic tradition is widely regarded to be [[al-Kindi]] (801–873 A.D.), a [[Neo-Platonic]] philosopher, [[mathematician]] and [[scientist]] who lived in [[Kufa]] and [[Baghdad]] (modern day [[Iraq]]). After being appointed by the [[Abbasid Caliphs]] to translate [[Greeks|Greek]] scientific and [[philosophical]] texts into [[Arabic]], he wrote a number of original treatises of his own on a range of subjects, from [[metaphysics]] and [[ethic]]s to [[mathematic]]s and [[pharmacology]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabic philosophy|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arabic-philosophy|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=28 January 2024}}</ref>

Much of his [[Philosophy|philosophical]] output focuses on [[Theology|theological]] subjects such as the nature of [[God]], the [[soul]] and [[Prophecy|prophetic]] knowledge. Doctrines of the Arabic philosophers of the 9th–12th century who influenced medieval [[Scholasticism]] in Europe. The Arabic tradition combines [[Aristotelianism]] and [[Neoplatonism]] with other ideas introduced through [[Islam]]. Influential thinkers include the non-Arabs [[al-Farabi]] and [[Avicenna]]. The Arabic philosophic literature was translated into [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Latin]], this contributed to the development of modern European philosophy. The Arabic tradition was developed by [[Moses Maimonides]] and [[Ibn Khaldun]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|last=Street|first=Tony|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-language/|title=Arabic and Islamic Philosophy of Language and Logic|date=1 January 2015|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Arabic and Islamic Philosophy – Bibliography – PhilPapers|url=https://philpapers.org/browse/arabic-and-islamic-philosophy|website=philpapers.org}}</ref>

=== Science ===
{{main|Science in the medieval Islamic world}}
{{see also|Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe}}
[[File:Houghton_Typ_620.47.452_-_Selenographia,_title.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Hevelius]]'s ''[[Selenographia]]'', showing [[Alhazen]] {{sic}} representing reason, and [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]] representing the senses.]]
Arabic science underwent considerable development during the [[Middle Ages]] (8th to 13th centuries CE), a [[Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe|source of knowledge that later spread throughout Medieval Europe]] and greatly influenced both medical practice and education. The language of recorded science was [[Arabic]]. Scientific treatises were composed by thinkers originating from across the [[Muslim world]]. These accomplishments occurred after [[Muhammad]] united the Arab tribes and the spread of Islam beyond the Arabian peninsula.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Falagas|first1=Matthew E.|last2=Zarkadoulia|first2=Effie A.|last3=Samonis|first3=George|date=1 August 2006|title=Arab science in the golden age (750–1258 CE) and today|journal=The FASEB Journal|volume=20|issue=10|pages=1581–1586|doi=10.1096/fj.06-0803ufm|doi-access=free|issn=0892-6638|pmid=16873881|s2cid=40960150}}</ref>

Within a century after Muhammed's death (632 CE), an empire ruled by Arabs was established. It encompassed a large part of the planet, stretching from southern Europe to [[North Africa]] to [[Central Asia]] and on to India. In 711 CE, Arab Muslims invaded southern Spain; [[al-Andalus]] was a center of Arabic scientific accomplishment. Soon after, Sicily too joined the greater Islamic world. Another center emerged in [[Baghdad]] from the Abbasids, who ruled part of the [[Muslim world|Islamic world]] during a historic period later characterized as the "[[Islamic Golden Age|Golden Age]]" (~750 to 1258 CE).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rediscovering Arabic Science|url=http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/rediscovering-arabic-science|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220185540/http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/rediscovering-arabic-science|archive-date=20 December 2016|access-date=18 December 2016|website=Muslimheritage.com}}</ref>

This era can be identified as the years between 692 and 945,<ref name="World Civilization Vol 1 1974, pg. 2342">[[Marshall Hodgson]], ''The Venture of Islam; Conscience and History in a World Civilisation Vol 1''. [[The University of Chicago]], 1974, p. 234.</ref> and ended when the caliphate was marginalized by local Muslim rulers in Baghdad&nbsp;– its traditional seat of power. From 945 onward until the [[Sack of Baghdad|sacking of Baghdad]] by the [[Mongol invasions|Mongols]] in 1258, the Caliph continued on as a figurehead, with power devolving more to local subordinates.<ref name="World Civilization Vol 1 1974, pg. 2332">[[Marshall Hodgson]], ''The Venture of Islam; Conscience and History in a World Civilisation Vol 1''. [[The University of Chicago]], 1974, p. 233.</ref> The pious scholars of Islam, men and women collectively known as the [[ulama]], were the most influential element of society in the fields of [[Sharia]] law, speculative thought and theology.<ref>[[Marshall Hodgson]], ''The Venture of Islam; Conscience and History in a World Civilisation Vol 1''. [[The University of Chicago]], 1974, p. 238.</ref> Arabic scientific achievement is not as yet fully understood, but is very large.<ref name="RobinsonCambridge2">{{Cite book|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1996|editor-last=Robinson|editor-first=Francis|pages=228–229}}</ref> These achievements encompass a wide range of subject areas, especially [[Mathematics in medieval Islam|mathematics]], [[Astronomy in medieval Islam|astronomy]], and [[Medicine in medieval Islam|medicine]].<ref name="RobinsonCambridge2" /> Other subjects of scientific inquiry included [[Physics in medieval Islam|physics]], [[Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam|alchemy and chemistry]], [[Cosmology in medieval Islam|cosmology]], [[Medieval Islamic ophthalmology|ophthalmology]], [[Geography and cartography in medieval Islam|geography and cartography]], [[Sociology in medieval Islam|sociology]], and [[Psychology in medieval Islam|psychology]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Origins of Islamic Science|url=http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/origins-islamic-science|access-date=18 December 2016|website=Muslimheritage.com|date=30 August 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Maqamat hariri.jpg|thumb|Illustration of scholars dating from the Abbasid period by [[Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti]] from the ''[[Maqamat of Al-Hariri (manuscript)|Maqamat of Al-Hariri]]'' manuscript.]]
[[Al-Battani]] was an astronomer, astrologer and mathematician of the [[Islamic Golden Age]]. His work is considered instrumental in the development of science and astronomy. One of Al-Battani's best-known achievements in astronomy was the determination of the solar year as being 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds which is only 2 minutes and 22 seconds off.<ref name="MacTutor2">{{MacTutor Biography|id=Al-Battani|title=Abu Abdallah Mohammad ibn Jabir Al-Battani}}</ref> In [[Islamic mathematics|mathematics]], al-Battānī produced a number of [[Trigonometry|trigonometrical]] relationships.<ref name="MacTutor2" /> [[Al-Zahrawi]], regarded by many as the greatest surgeon of the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Weinberg|first=Steven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rZvBQAAQBAJ&q=alhazen+greatest&pg=PT116|title=To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science|date=2015|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-0241196656}}</ref> His surgical treatise "[[Al-Tasrif|De chirurgia]]" is the first illustrated surgical guide ever written. It remained the primary source for surgical procedures and instruments in Europe for the next 500 years.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Krebs|first=Robert E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTXdplfiz-cC&q=texts+for+next+500+years+al-zahrawi&pg=PA95|title=Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance|date=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0313324338}}</ref> The book helped lay the foundation to establish [[surgery]] as a scientific discipline independent from [[medicine]], earning al-Zahrawi his name as one of the founders of this field.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Krebs|first=Robert E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MTXdplfiz-cC&q=%22father+of+surgery%22+al-zahrawi&pg=PA95|title=Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance|date=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0313324338}}</ref>

Other notable Arabic contributions include among other things: the pioneering of [[organic chemistry]] by [[Jābir ibn Hayyān]],<ref>{{cite journal <!-- Citation bot bypass--> |last1=Stapleton |first1=Henry E. |author1-link=Henry Ernest Stapleton |last2=Azo |first2=R.F. |last3=Hidayat Husain |first3=M. |year=1927 |title=Chemistry in Iraq and Persia in the Tenth Century A.D. |url=http://www.southasiaarchive.com/Content/sarf.100203/231270 |journal=Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal |volume=VIII |issue=6 |pages=317–418 |oclc=706947607}} pp. 338–340; {{Cite book|last=Kraus|first=Paul|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque|publisher=Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale|year=1942–1943|isbn=978-3487091150|location=Cairo|oclc=468740510|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)}} vol. II, pp. 41–42. Note that Jabir ibn Hayyan, if he ever existed at all, may also have been a non-Arab client of the Arab [[Azd]] tribe: see {{harvnb|Kraus|1942–1943|loc=vol. I, p. xli, note 1}}, and further [[Jabir ibn Hayyan#Biography]].</ref> establishing the science of [[cryptology]] and [[cryptanalysis]] by [[al-Kindi]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kahn|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3S8rhOEmDIIC&q=David+Kahn+The+Codebreakers|title=The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet|date=1996|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1439103555|quote=Cryptology was born among the Arabs. They were the first to discover and write down the methods of cryptoanalysis.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Borda|first=Monica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lyte2yl1SPAC&q=cryptography+arabs&pg=PA122|title=Fundamentals in Information Theory and Coding|date=2011|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3642203473|page=122|quote=Al Kindi, an Arab scientist from 9th century is considered the father of cryptology, his book on this subject being, at this moment, the oldest available.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Arab Code Breakers|url=https://simonsingh.net/media/articles/maths-and-science/arab-code-breakers/|website=simonsingh.net}}</ref> the development of [[analytic geometry]] by [[Ibn al-Haytham]],<ref>Glick, Thomas F.; Livesey, Steven; Wallis, Faith (2014). Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 237.</ref><ref>Kalin, Ibrahim (2014). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 321.</ref> who has been described as the "world's first true scientist",<ref>{{Cite news|last=Al-Khalili|first=Jim|date=4 January 2009|title=BBC News|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7810846.stm|access-date=11 April 2014}}</ref> the discovery of the [[pulmonary circulation]] by [[Ibn al-Nafis]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Kidder|first1=David S.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hpzb_yA42TAC&q=Ibn+al-Nafis+circulation&pg=PA122|title=The Intellectual Devotional Biographies: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Acquaint Yourself with the World's Greatest Personalities|last2=Oppenheim|first2=Noah D.|date=2010|publisher=Rodale|isbn=978-1605290881}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Ibn an-Nafīs|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-an-Nafis|website=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=14 March 2024}}</ref> the discovery of the [[itch mite]] parasite by [[Ibn Zuhr]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Glick|first1=Thomas F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=77y2AgAAQBAJ&q=%22Ibn+Zuhr%22&pg=PA259|title=Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia|last2=Livesey|first2=Steven|last3=Wallis|first3=Faith|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1135459321}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=June 2024}} the first use of [[irrational numbers]] as an algebraic objects by [[Abū Kāmil]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Akyeampong|first1=Emmanuel Kwaku|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=39JMAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Abu+kamil%22+%22the+first%22&pg=PA62|title=Dictionary of African Biography. 1St- Ed.; 1970|last2=Niven|first2=Mr. Steven J|date=1970|publisher=OUP US|isbn=978-0195382075}}</ref> the first use of the positional [[decimal fractions]] by [[Abu'l-Hasan al-Uqlidisi|al-Uqlidisi]],<ref>{{Cite web|title=Al-Uqlidisi biography|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Uqlidisi.html|website=www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Selin|first=Helaine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzjpCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA69|title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|date=2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-9401714167|page=69|quote=Historian J.L. Berggren, for example, concludes that while the Hindus were the first to use a "cipherized, decimal positional system", the Arabs pioneered in extending this system to "represent parts of the unit by decimal fractions".}}</ref> the development of the [[Arabic numerals]] and an early [[History of mathematical notation|algebraic symbolism]] in the [[Maghreb]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Selin|first=Helaine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GzjpCAAAQBAJ&q=%22algebraic+symbolism%22+maghreb&pg=PA831|title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|date=2013|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-9401714167}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Al-Qalasadi biography|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Qalasadi.html|website=www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk}}</ref> the [[Thabit number]] and [[Amicable numbers#Thābit ibn Qurra theorem|Thābit theorem]] by [[Thābit ibn Qurra]],<ref name="Rashed2">{{cite book|last=Rashed|first=Roshdi|title=The development of Arabic mathematics: between arithmetic and algebra.|publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers|year=1994|isbn=978-0792325659|volume=156|location=Dordrecht, Boston & London|pages=278, 279}}</ref> the discovery of several new [[List of trigonometric identities|trigonometric identities]] by [[Ibn Yunus]] and [[al-Battani]],<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Tonias|first1=Elias C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I0QWDAAAQBAJ&q=Al-Battani+%22trigonometric+identities&pg=PA15|title=Geometric Procedures for Civil Engineers|last2=Tonias|first2=Constantine N.|date=2016|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3319242958}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ben-Menahem|first=Ari|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9tUrarQYhKMC&q=%22ibn+yunus%22+%22trigonometric++formula%22&pg=PA565|title=Historical Encyclopedia of Natural and Mathematical Sciences|date=2009|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3540688310}}</ref> the [[mathematical proof]] for [[Ceva's theorem]] by [[Yusuf al-Mu'taman ibn Hud|Ibn Hűd]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Holme|first=Audun|url=https://archive.org/details/geometryourcultr0000holm_2nded/page/193/mode/1up?q=ibn|title=Geometry: Our Cultural Heritage|publisher=Springer|year=2010|isbn=978-3642144400|page=[https://archive.org/details/geometryourcultr0000holm_2nded/page/193/mode/1up?q=ibn 194]|url-access=limited}}</ref> the invention of the [[equatorium]] by [[al-Zarqali]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=May|first=Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=blsqDwAAQBAJ&q=al-Zarqali+Equatorium&pg=PA115|title=The Telescopic Tourist's Guide to the Moon|date=2017|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-3319607412}}</ref> the discovery of the [[Reaction (physics)|physical reaction]] by [[Avempace]],<ref>Franco, Abel B.. "Avempace, Projectile Motion, and Impetus Theory". ''Journal of the History of Ideas''. Vol. 64(4): 543.</ref> the identification of more than 200 new [[plants]] by [[Ibn al-Baitar]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ibn al-Baitar – Dictionary definition of Ibn al-Baitar|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ibn-al-baitar|website=encyclopedia.com}}</ref> the [[Arab Agricultural Revolution]], and the [[Tabula Rogeriana]], which was the most accurate world map in pre-modern times by [[al-Idrisi]].<ref name="bacharach2">Bacharach, 2006, p. 140.</ref>
{{multiple image
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| footer            = Diagram of a hydro-powered perpetual flute from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by [[Ismail al-Jazari]], 1206. (left) The eye according to [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]], c.1200 (right)
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Several universities and educational institutions of the Arab world such as the [[University of Al Quaraouiyine]], [[Al Azhar University]], and [[University of Ez-Zitouna|Al Zaytuna University]] are considered to be the oldest in the world. Founded by [[Fatima al-Fihri|Fatima al Fihri]] in 859 as a mosque, the University of Al Quaraouiyine in [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]] is the oldest existing, continually operating and the first [[Academic degree|degree]] awarding educational institution in the world according to [[UNESCO]] and [[Guinness World Records]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Oldest university|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/3000/oldest-university|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Guinnessworldrecords.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Medina of Fez|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/170|access-date=7 April 2016|publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}</ref> and is sometimes referred to as the oldest university.<ref>Verger, Jacques: "Patterns", in: Ridder-Symoens, Hilde de (ed.): ''A History of the University in Europe. Vol. I: Universities in the Middle Ages'', Cambridge University Press, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0521541138}}, pp.&nbsp;35–76 (35)</ref>

There are many scientific [[Influence of Arabic on other languages|Arabic loanwords]] in Western European languages, including [[wikt:Category:English terms derived from Arabic|English]], mostly via Old French.<ref>Lebedel, p.113</ref> This includes [[List of Arabic star names|traditional star names]] such as [[Aldebaran]], scientific terms like ''[[wikt:alchemy|alchemy]]'' (whence also ''[[wikt:chemistry|chemistry]]''), ''[[wikt:algebra|algebra]]'', ''[[wikt:algorithm|algorithm]]'', ''[[wikt:alcohol|alcohol]]'', ''[[wikt:alkali|alkali]]'', ''[[wikt:cipher|cipher]]'', ''[[wikt:zenith|zenith]]'', etc.

Under [[Ottoman rule]], cultural life and science in the Arab world declined. In the 20th and 21st centuries, Arabs who have won important science prizes include [[Ahmed Zewail]] and [[Elias Corey]] ([[Nobel Prize]]), [[Michael DeBakey]] and [[Alim Louis Benabid|Alim Benabid]] ([[Lasker Award]]), [[Omar M. Yaghi]] ([[Wolf Prize]]), [[Huda Zoghbi]] ([[Shaw Prize]]), [[Zaha Hadid]] ([[Pritzker Prize]]), and [[Michael Atiyah]] (both [[Fields Medal]] and [[Abel Prize]]). [[Rachid Yazami]] was one of the co-inventors of the [[lithium-ion battery]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=6 January 2014|title=UT Austin's John B. Goodenough Wins Engineering's Highest Honor for Pioneering Lithium-Ion Battery|url=https://news.utexas.edu/2014/01/06/goodenough-wins-highest-engineering-honor|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514211211/http://news.utexas.edu/2014/01/06/goodenough-wins-highest-engineering-honor|archive-date=14 May 2016|access-date=18 December 2018|website=UT News}}</ref> and [[Tony Fadell]] was important in the development of the [[iPod]] and the [[iPhone]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Salter|first=Jessica|date=14 November 2014|title=Tony Fadell, father of the iPod, iPhone and Nest, on why he is worth $3.2bn to Google|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/people-in-technology/10892436/Tony-Fadell-father-of-the-iPod-iPhone-and-Nest-on-why-he-is-worth-3.2bn-to-Google.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140614091359/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/people-in-technology/10892436/Tony-Fadell-father-of-the-iPod-iPhone-and-Nest-on-why-he-is-worth-3.2bn-to-Google.html|archive-date=14 June 2014}}</ref>

=== Theatre ===
{{main|Experimental theatre in the Arab world}}
[[File:Yousef_wahby.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Youssef Wahbi]], (1898–1982) was a prominent Arab playwright, actor, and director who played a major role in shaping modern Arab theatre.]]
Arab theatre is a rich and diverse cultural form that encompasses a wide range of styles, genres, and historical influences. Its roots in the pre-Islamic era, when poetry, storytelling, and musical performances were the main forms of artistic expressionIt refers to theatrical performances that are created by Arab playwrights, actors, and directors. The roots of Arab theatre can be traced back to ancient [[Arabic poetry]] and storytelling, which often incorporated music and dance. In the [[Historiography of early Islam|early Arabic period]], storytelling evolved into a more formalized art form that was performed in public gatherings and festivals.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arab theatre|url=https://al-bab.com/arts-and-culture/arab-theatre|access-date=19 March 2023|website=al-bab.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ḥamdān|first=Masʻūd|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/60697132|title=Poetics, politics and protest in Arab theatre : the bitter cup and the holy rain|date=2006|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|isbn=1845191064|location=Brighton [England]|oclc=60697132}}</ref>

During the [[Islamic Golden Age]] in the 8th and 9th centuries, the city of [[Baghdad]] emerged as a hub of intellectual and artistic activity, including theatre. The court of the Abbasid Caliphate was home to many influential playwrights and performers, who helped to develop and popularize theatre throughout the Islamic world. Arab theatre has a long tradition of incorporating comedy and satire into its performances, often using humor to address social and political issues.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Guo|first=Li|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1157810700|title=Arabic shadow theatre, 1300–1900 : a handbook|date=2020|isbn=978-9004436152|location=Leiden|oclc=1157810700}}</ref>

Arab theatre encompasses a wide range of dramatic genres, including tragedy, melodrama, and historical plays. Many Arab playwrights have used drama to address contemporary issues, the role of [[Women in the Arab world|women in Arab society]], and the challenges facing young people in the modern world. In recent decades, many Arab theatre artists have pushed the boundaries of the form, experimenting with new styles and techniques. This has led to the emergence of a vibrant contemporary theatre scene in many Arab countries, with innovative productions and performances that challenge traditional notions of Arab identity and culture.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109545|title=The Birth of modern Arab theatre|last=Maleh|first=Ghassan|magazine=The UNESCO Courier|year=1997|access-date=31 March 2023}}</ref>

=== Fashion ===
{{main|Arab Fashion Council}}
[[File:Six_cushions_from_Palestine.jpg|thumb|Modern [[cross-stitch]] cushions. From top left, clockwise: [[Gaza City|Gaza]], [[Ramallah]], Ramallah, [[Nablus]], [[Beit Jalla]], [[Bethlehem]].]]
Arab fashion and design have a rich history and cultural significance that spans centuries, each with its unique fashion and design traditions. One of the most notable aspects of Arab fashion is the use of luxurious [[Textile|fabrics]] and intricate [[embroidery]]. Traditional garments, such as the [[Abaya]] and [[Thawb|Thobe]], are often made from high-quality fabrics like [[silk]], [[satin]], [[brocade]], and are embellished with intricate embroidery and beading.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Foreman|first=Liza|title=The visionaries modernising Arab fashion|date=26 October 2017 |url=https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20171026-the-visionaries-contemporising-arab-fashion|access-date=19 March 2023|publisher=BBC}}</ref> In recent years, Arab fashion has gained global recognition, with designers like [[Elie Saab]], [[Zuhair Murad]], and [[Reem Acra]] showcasing their designs on international runways.<ref>{{Cite web|date=9 February 2022|title=The evolution of Arab Fashion|url=https://thechicicon.com/2022/02/09/the-evolution-of-arab-fashion/|access-date=19 March 2023|website=The Chic Icon}}</ref>

These designers incorporate traditional Arab design elements into their collections, such as ornate patterns, luxurious fabrics, and intricate embellishments. In addition to fashion, Arab design is also characterized by its intricate geometric [[pattern]]s, [[Arab calligraphy|calligraphy]], and use of vibrant colors. Arabic art and architecture, with their intricate geometric patterns and motifs, have influenced Arab design for centuries.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Arab Fashion Week|url=https://europaregina.eu/fashion-weeks/fashion-weeks-middle-east/arab-fashion-week/|access-date=19 March 2023|website=Europa Regina}}</ref> Arab designers also incorporate traditional motifs, such as the paisley and the [[arabesque]], into their work. Overall, Arab fashion elements are rooted in the rich cultural heritage of the Arab world and continue to inspire designers today.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Textile Trades, Consumer Cultures, and the Material Worlds of the Indian Ocean : an Ocean of Cloth|date=2018|editor1=Pedro Machado|editor2=Sarah Fee|editor3=Gwyn Campbell|isbn=978-3319582658|location=Cham|oclc=1029071537}}</ref>

=== Wedding and marriage ===
{{main|Arabic wedding}}
[[File:Tatouage_au_Henné,_Maroc.jpg|thumb|[[Henna]] tattoo in [[Morocco]]]]
[[Arabic wedding]]s have changed greatly in the past 100 years. Original traditional Arabic weddings are supposed to be very similar to modern-day [[Bedouin]] weddings and rural weddings, and they are in some cases unique from one region to another, even within the same country. The practice of [[Marriage|marrying]] of relatives is a common feature of [[Arab culture]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jehad|first=Al-Omari|title=Understanding the Arab culture : a practical cross-cultural guide to working in the Arab world|date=2008|publisher=How To Books|isbn=978-1848036468|oclc=408662262}}</ref>

In the Arab world today between 40% and 50% of all marriages are [[consanguineous]] or between close family members, though these figures may vary among Arab nations.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Middle East Health Magazine|url=http://www.middleeasthealthmag.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?http://www.middleeasthealthmag.com/may2012/feature2.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010101037/http://www.middleeasthealthmag.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi?http%3A%2F%2Fwww.middleeasthealthmag.com%2Fmay2012%2Ffeature2.htm|archive-date=10 October 2017|access-date=18 December 2017|website=Middleeasthealthmag.com}}</ref><ref name="pmid242942992">{{Cite journal|vauthors=Bener A, Dafeeah EE, Samson N|year=2012|title=Does consanguinity increase the risk of schizophrenia? Study based on primary health care centre visits|journal=Ment Health Fam Med|volume=9|issue=4|pages=241–8|pmc=3721918|pmid=24294299}}</ref> In [[Egypt]], around 40% of the population [[Cousin marriage|marry a cousin]]. A 1992 survey in [[Jordan]] found that 32% were married to a first cousin; a further 17.3% were married to more distant relatives.<ref>[https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21693632-marriage-between-close-relatives-much-too-common-keeping-it-family Consanguineous marriage: Keeping it in the family]. ''Economist'', 27 February 2016</ref> 67% of marriages in [[Saudi Arabia]] are between close relatives as are 54% of all marriages in [[Kuwait]], whereas 18% of all [[Lebanon|Lebanese]] were between [[blood relatives]].<ref name="Inbreeding2">{{Cite web|title=Inbreeding|url=http://www.as.wvu.edu/~kgarbutt/QuantGen/Gen535Papers2/Inbreeding.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220105324/http://www.as.wvu.edu/~kgarbutt/QuantGen/Gen535Papers2/Inbreeding.htm|archive-date=20 December 2017|access-date=18 December 2017|website=As.wvu.edu}}</ref> Due to the actions of [[Muhammad]] and the [[Rightly Guided Caliphs]], marriage between cousins is explicitly allowed in [[Islam]] and the [[Quran]] itself does not discourage or forbid the practice.<ref>[[Surah|Surah chapter]] 4, verse 23</ref> Nevertheless, opinions vary on whether the [[phenomenon]] should be seen as exclusively based on Islamic practices as a 1992 study among Arabs in Jordan did not show significant differences between [[Arab Christians|Christian Arabs]] or [[Arab Muslims|Muslim Arabs]] when comparing the occurrence of [[consanguinity]].<ref name="Inbreeding2" />