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		Arabs
The term Arab is used to refer to the a group of Semitic peoples originally from the area of and around the Arabian Peninsula, also referred to as Arabia. Their primary language is usually, but not always, Arabic. Predominately, Arabs are Muslim, but significant populations of Christian Arabs exist in the Middle East and North Africa. Very early in Muslim history, there were also significant numbers of Jewish Arabs. The term is commonly used in crusading literature, both modern scholarly and popular works as well as medieval sources, to sometimes refer to the opponants of the crusaders. For medieval sources, the main term was "Saracen", but Arab was sometimes used as well. Saracen was the more accurate term for medieval writers as not all Muslims were ethnically Arabs, such as the Turks, Kurds, and Persians. In fact the Turks were the primary opponants of the crusaders and it was the Turkish Ottonman Empire that became the most powerful and influencial Muslim empire in history. Additionally, the most popular Muslim warrior of the crusading era for many modern Muslims is Saladin, who was not an Arab but a Kurd. Arabic, the language of the Arabs, is the only acceptable language for a Koran to be considered a true Koran, as translations of the Koran are not considered genuine Korans. As a result, it is necessary that all pious Muslims wishing to study the Koran in depth must learn Arabic first. This association of Arabic with Islam may have led, and continues to lead, to occasional confusion over the ethnicity of non-Arab Middle Eastern Muslims. Some early choniclers made the distinction, such as the twelfth-century chronicler Fulcher of Chartres, who noted that Pope Urban II made a distinction during his speech at Clermont calling for the First Crusade when he cited "Turks and Arabs" as causing Byzantine suffering. Yet Fulcher later makes the mistake of referring to Muslim armies and defenders of cities as simply "Arabs" and makes no distinction for the Turks who likely led most armies and controlled many of the cities attacked by the crusaders. Additionally, during the early period of what is commonly referred to as the Arab Conquests, which lasted from the seventh through ninth centuries, there developed considerable debate within the Arab community over whether non-Arabs could become Muslims. Islam was viewed by some as a religion specifically created for the Arab people. The early Islamic movement in some ways resembled a military caste system in which successful conquest after conquest resulted in numerous non Muslims living under Muslim rule. The non-Muslims paid a special tax which entriched their new Arab-Muslim rulers. After some time of living in these communities conversion to Islam was desired by many non-Arabs. The Arab and Muslim overlords were generally not happy about losing the revenues of the higher taxation of non-Arabs, but it did not take long for the conversion of non-Arabs to Islam to become acceptable. Arabia- Crusades-Encyclopedia Arab Conquests- Crusades-Encyclopedia Pope Urban II- Crusades-Encyclopedia Ottoman Empire- Crusades-Encyclopedia Saracen- Crusades-Encyclopedia Turks- Crusades-Encyclopedia Persians- Crusades-Encyclopedia Kurds- Crusades-Encyclopedia Saladin- Crusades-Encyclopedia Crusader Maps- Crusades-Encyclopedia Koran- Crusades-Encyclopedia (c) Andrew Holt, May 2005- Permission is granted for copying in electronic form and distribution in print for educational and personal use. No permission is granted for commercial use.