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| Arabs |
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Source:
Jerusalem, Bethany, and Bethlehem, p.
129. |
Taamirah Arabs |
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The population of Jerusalem may be estimated at about twenty-one thousand, of
which seven thousand are Moslems, nine thousand Jews, and five thousand
Christians. The Moslems belong for the most part to the same race as the
peasantry of Palestine, representatives it may be, though with a large
intermixture of foreign blood, of the Jebusite that dwelt in the land. The
higher classes, as a rule, pass most of their time in the bath, the mosque, or
the bazaar, smoking, praying, or gossiping. The Turks, who for the most part
belong to the official class, are very inferior to the Arabs in education and
capacity; whilst the fellahin are chiefly remarkable for their fine physique,
and that keenness in barter which seems to distinguish the descendants of the
ancient races that peopled the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p. 118.) |
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Arabs |
Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, p. 97. |
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The Arab will tell you that that is his
country wherever Arabic is spoken. This gives
a wide expanse of dominion. Your donkey-boy at
Cairo, for instance, will be indignant if you
call him an Egyptian, and will say at once,
"Me, Arab!" At Damascus the bazaars and
squares will be full of Arabs, come in
probably from the Haurán; then away to Palmyra
and on to the Great River you will scarce hear
of any other people. Not only the country
which we usually term Arabia Proper, but the
northern parts of Africa, between the Sahara
and the littoral of the Mediterranean, seem to
be given up to them. The truth is, we mix
together all the nomades of this part of the
world, and, losing sight of their differing
tribal characteristics and habits, believe
that the vast territory (larger than all
France and Spain together) lying between the
Red Sea and the Persian Gulf must, as the
cradle of the race, be inhabited by a like
people. Hardly do we care to realise what a
difference exists between the sheikh of some
district in Central Arabia and the Bedawin
chief of a desert tribe, who exhibits nature
almost at its lowest stage. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4, p. 43.) |
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Source:
Photographs of Charles Lee Feinberg. |
Arab Feeding Camel |
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The European public is deluged with accounts
of Arab customs, Arab ways, Arab qualities,
houses, dresses, women, warriors, and what
not; the most part from materials collected in
Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, 'Irāk, perhaps
Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, or at the best at Djiddah and on the Red Sea coast . . . .Such
narratives, however accurate they may be for
the localities and races they describe, have
not an equal claim to the title of correct
delineations of Arabs and of Arab customs. . .
. Syria and Egypt, Palmyra and Bagdad, even
less Mosoul and Algiers, are not Arabia, nor
are their inhabitants Arabs. The populations
alluded to are, instead, a mixture of Kurds,
Turcomans, Syrians, Phoenicians, Armenians,
Berbers, Greeks, Copts, Albanians, Chaldeans,
not to mention the remnants of other and older
races, with a little, a very little Arab
blood-one in twenty at most-and that little
re-diluted by local and territorial
influences! . . . In short, among these races,
town or Bedawín, we have no real authentic
Arabs. Arabia and Arabs begin south of Syria
and Palestine, west of Basrah and Zobeyr, east
of Kerak and the Red Sea. Draw a line across
from the top of the Red Sea to the top of the
Persian Gulf: what is below that line is alone
Arab. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 4,
p. 46-47.) |
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See
Bedouin,
Muslim Customs,
Muslim Religious Practices,
Mosques,
Jews,
or
Samaritans |
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