@Mona

I think you forgot to close comments for this post.

They believe that the Arabs had a complexion
no darker than that of a well-tanned
Mediterranean person, for example. They also
believe that they had lank hair and prominent,
hooked noses.

This misconception becomes apparent when
you see films that are supposed to depict the
Arabs of the past. The pure Arabs in these
films are invariably shown with fair skin and
lank hair. Anyone shown as dark-skinned is an
“African” or a slave!

This misconception also becomes apparent
when you observe the fact that when most
people today see an Arab who is dark-
Skinned, they automatically assume that
he/she is of mixed origin.

Because of the prevalence of this fallacy,
many dark Arabs themselves now believe that
they are dark as a result of intermixture with
“Africans”.

I’ve interviewed many dark-skinned Arabs
who expressed this belief to me. I once
interviewed an Arab from the Shurafa
(descendants of the Prophet (PBUH)) of
Egypt who said that he didn’t believe that
he is an Arab because he doesn’t look like the
Arabs that he sees on television!

The Reasons For This Misconception

One might ask why it is that people have this
false idea of what an Arab looks like. In fact,
there are many reasons for this misconception
that has permeated the minds of most people
today. What I will do now is mention some of
these reasons.

The Misunderstanding of Arabic Terms
One reason most people have the wrong
impression of what the original Arabs looked
like is because of the decline in knowledge of
the Arabic language that has afflicted the
Arab/Islamic world for many centuries. Many
terms that were used to describe the Arabs
of the past are totally misunderstood today.

They are misunderstood today because they
either are no longer used or have different
meanings today. Examples of some of these
terms are: Green, Adam, Shadeed el-Udma
(Very Adam), Yellow, White, Red, Brown, etc.

Films
Another cause of this misconception is the
films, Arabic and non-Arabic, that are shown
today and that are supposed to portray
‘historical events which took place in the
Arab world in the past. These films always
portray the pure Arabs as very light-skinned
people with lank hair.

Take the film The Messenger, for example,
in this film, all of the pure Arabs are shown as
European-looking while Bilal is shown as very
dark-skinned, in fact, he and anyone playing
the part of a slave are the only ones who are
portrayed as dark-skinned.

Since the film producers’ aim is, apparently,
to portray characters in their true colours, i
think that it would be correct for me to
assume that what these producers want to
say is that the pure Arabs were very lightskinned
and that anyone who producers did
not do any research to discover the true
appearance of the characters they had
portrayed in their films notwithstanding the
fact that they feel that it is important to
show the true complexions of these
characters.

If they had done their research before
making these films, they would know that
many of the pure Arabs that they portrayed
as light-complexioned in their films were, in
reality, the same complexion as Bilal, who they
always portray as dark-skinned. Most people
are greatly influenced by what they see in
these films.

Because the pure Arabs are shown as
European-looking and only the slaves and socalled
“Africans” are portrayed as darkskinned,
people truly believe “that this is the
way that it was. They have been bombarded
with this false information so intensely that it
is difficult for them to accept the fact that
their impression is totally wrong.

I have interviewed many people who told me
that the reason they believe that the Arabs
were originally light-complexioned is because
that is how they are shown in movies that are
supposed to depict the Arabs of the past.

History Books

Another reason for the misconception of the
appearance of the original Arabs is because of
the false information found in the history
books that the European colonists used in the
school systems in the Arab/Islamic world that
they colonized.

After these colonists gained control of
these Arab/Islamic countries, they naturally
gained control of the school systems in these
countries and the books used in these school
systems, both Arabic and non- Arabic books.
That’s why you will find this same inaccurate
description of the Arabs; i.e., lightcomplexioned,
hook nosed, and lank hair, in
the history books found in the school systems
of the Arab/Islamic world today.
T

hings did not change after these countries
gained their independence. After these countries
became independent, they continued to teach this
false information in their school systems. Because
of their lack of knowledge of the history of their
own

Diana :
I was like oh hell no. I do not want a guy like that in my life. It’s so damn annoying, and I stay away from Arabs that think that way. It creeps me out.

:up: good for you!

And when we are 6 feet underground the skin won’t maintain its colour for long!

That’s right I have noticed that in London too!