Iranian Arabs
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Iranian Arabs (Persian: عربان ايران) are the Arabic-speaking citizens of Iran. Most Iranian Arabs live in the coastal regions of southern Iran by the Persian Gulf. Pockets of Iranian Arab communities are also found in Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates.
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[edit] Overview
The CIA World Factbook estimates that approximately 3% of Iran's 68,017,860 citizens are Arabic-speakers, of whom the majority live in Khuzestan, with 1% speaking Arabic as their native or primary language. [1]
A 1998 report by UNCHR reported 2 million Arabs residing in Khuzestan Province, most of whom are Shi'a. Sunni Muslim Arabs live along the Persian Gulf coastline. [2]
According to Jane's Information Group, "Most Iranian Arabs seek their constitutionally guaranteed rights and do not have a separatist agenda ... While it may be true that some Arab activists are separatists, most see themselves as Iranians first and declare their commitment to the state's territorial integrity." [3]
According to the Minorities at Risk Project 2001, about 40 per cent of Arabs live in urban areas, with most of whom being unskilled workers. The Arabs in the rural areas are primarily farmers and fishermen. The Arabs living along the Persian Gulf coastal plains are mostly pastoral nomads. Tribal loyalties are strong among rural Arabs, but also have an influence in urban areas. These have an impact on Arab socialisation and politicisation. [4]
[edit] Regional groups
[edit] Khuzestan
Most Iranian Arabs in Khūzestān Province are bilingual, speaking Arabic as their mother tongue, and Persian as a second language. The variety of Arabic spoken in the province is Khuzestani Arabic, which is a Mesopotamian dialect shared by Arabs across the border in Iraq and has significant Persian influence and is not understood by most other Arabic-speakers. [5]
Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, which differ to a degree from Khuzestani Arabic dialect, are taught across Iran to students in secondary schools, regardless of their ethnic or linguistic background. In fact the constitution of the Islamic republic requires this particular subject to be taught after primary school.
They are majority Shi'a, with Sunni minority and small numbers of Christians and Jews.
See also: Khūzestān Province, History of Khūzestān Province, and Politics of Khūzestān Province
[edit] Hormozgan
In Hormozgan Province the Iranian Arab population speak various local dialects of Gulf Arabic that like the Mesopotamian dialects has significant Persian influence.
The Arab women of the province wear a distinct type of face mask (photo one, photo two) that is not religious in character, but is said to have been adopted during the era of Portugese administration of Hormozgan, when the women desired to walk about without revealing their faces or perhaps to protect themselves from the intense heat of the sun. They are said to be reflective of the facial armour worn by ancient Greek soldiers. [2]
[edit] Bushehr
[edit] Demographics
Elton Daniel in The History of Iran (Greenwood Press, 2001), states that the Arabs of Iran "are concentrated in the province of Khuzistan and number about half a million" (pg. 14). The Historical Dictionary of Iran puts the number at 1 million. (J. Lorentz, 1995, p172)
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "More than half the population are Arabs who live in the plains; the rest are Bakhtyaris and other Lurs (peoples of West Persia), with many Persians in the cities. Some of the Bakhtyaris and Lurs are still nomads." [3]
According to Human Rights Watch, "precise figures on the ethnic composition of Iran's population are impossible to obtain. The last census in which such data was compiled was carried out in 1956." [4] HRW, in a report from 1997, further states that "Arabs make up 70 percent of the three million inhabitants of Khuzestan Province". [5]
In its 2006 human rights report on Iran, the US State Department stated that the number of Khuzestani Arabs "could range from two to four million or higher"[6]
