Can a Jew be Arab

Answer 1

In Saudi Arabia, they would have to convert to Islam; there are no Jewish communities in most Arab country anymore. Saudi Arabia, is home to a Muslim population.

There are roughly 2.8 million Hebrews living in Saudi Arabia, the descendants of the Jews. There are plenty of "Jews" living in Arabia, roughly 5.6 million in Saudi Arabia alone primarily in western Arabia.

In other words, Jews living in Arab countries are genetically Jewish and ethnically Jewish, but they do not practice the Jewish religion, because they have converted to the Islamic religion.

Hint:

From the Islamic Perspective, a Jew or whatever religion can live in any Muslim country, obeying the rules of that country, and having the rights stated by its laws. But actually, there are no Jews in Saudi Arabia, though there are some in other Arab countries, due to political reasons.

Answer 2

Answer 1

Mostly No, but technically Yes.

Unlike the Christians and Muslims who began to consider themselves Arab quite early during the Rise of Islam period (even if they were not genetically Arab), Judaism had an ethnic component as well as a religious component. This sense of nationhood and identity prevented them from being identified (both by themselves and by non-Jews) as Arabs. During the Rise of Arab Nationalism in the late colonial period, there were a number of Jews who supported the Arab Nationalist Project saying that they considered themselves to be part of the Arab World and Arab peoples. Due to independence of the State of Israel in 1948, such a position became untenable.

Most Jews from the Arab World identify themselves either as "Mizrahim" (Jews of the East) or "Jews from the Arab World". The term Arab Jew is seen by both Arabs and Jews to be quite problematic, but can be used as it makes "Arab" the physical descriptor of the type of Jew. The reverse (Jewish Arab) is not even historically acceptable, whereas this type of identification is how Muslims and Christians identify (Muslim Arabs and Christian Arabs) because their religion describes what type of Arab they are.

It is also curious to note that during the Rise of Islam period, there were Jewish Arab tribes that Mohammed and Nascent Islam allied themselves with and others that he fought against and massacred. The descendants of the surviving tribes most likely converted to Islam in the following centuries.

Further Discussion

The primary issue here is that the term "Jew" can refer to both an ethnic identity AND a religious identity. "Arab" is solely an ethnic identity. Thus, in the context of discussions, if the term "Jew" is being used solely to talk about the religious affiliation of people, then it is entirely appropriate to speak of "Jewish Arabs". However, as noted above, particularly in the Middle East the term "Jew" also includes the ethnic component and thus, in that region, generally precludes the term "Jewish Arab" from being meaningful.

Western discussions tend to assume Jew is, by default, only a religious identity unless otherwise specifically indicated by context. For instance, "American Jews" encompasses all those who follow Judaism in the United States, regardless of ethnicity or race. However, "New York's Hasidic Jews" would generally be construed to refer not to those following Hasidic Judaism, but also to include the Hasidic culture and ethnic makeup which define that specific set of people in that location.

Answer 3

There are still significant Jewish populations in some Arab countries, but not in Saudi Arabia. After Israel became an independent country, life for Jews in Arab countries became difficult. wherever possible (mainly in the 1950s) Jews emigrated from those countries to Israel in massive numbers. But there there are still pockets of Jew in some countries.

Arab countries with Jewish populations include:

1. Morocco, 6000
   
2. Tunisia, 900
   
3. Lebanon, 200
4. United Arab Emirates, 100
5. Yemen, 40
6. Bahrain, 36
7. Egypt, 18

There are also Jews in Iran and Turkey, which are a Muslim countries but not Arab countries.

Answer 4

Christian is a religion. Arab is an ethnicity. There is no contradiction to being a Christian Arab or an Arab Christian and there are millions of Christian Arabs around the world.