Essay On Arab Culture

The most sudden and dramatic movements of people in history is the expansion of the Arabs in the 7th century. The love of warfare and natural ferocity of Muslim armies, combined with the sense of moral principles provided by their new religion, formed an irresistible blend.

When Prophet Muhammad PBUH died in 632 AD, the western half of Arabia was Muslim. Two years later the entire peninsula was brought to faith. It was in the Arab land that man first organized into a settled form of society, raising livestock and cultivating grain, promoting diverse skills and occupations and also establishing cities.

The homeland of Arabs today is a rich combination of many diverse influences. Various linguistic, ethnic and religious groups live in the region.

Arab culture stresses the need to ‘share the breath’ of one’s companion, and conversations are conducted between individuals of the same sex at a distance which in western societies would be considered invasive or highly intimate. Similarly, it is common for Arabs of the same sex to touch each other repeatedly while talking to emphasize particular points, and in some countries, they may sometimes hold each other’s hands when walking together. Arabs also maintain prolonged eye contact when talking to each other, to break-off eye contact when holding a conversation with an individual of the same sex is regarded as disrespectful. However, for men to deliberately maintain eye contact with women is considered offensive in all social contexts. Interaction between individuals of the opposite sex is a very different matter, and public displays of intimacy between men and women, even when they are married, are strictly taboo in virtually all Arab countries. Even holding hands, particularly between young people, is considered embarrassing and offensive. In Saudi Arabia, the westerners and locals are subject to the same punishments. For example, in one reported case an American woman who happened to have been observed kissing her male colleague on the cheek in public was deported and her colleague was sent to