Do Persians (modern day Iranians) consider themselves "Arabs"?  If not, why not?

Hi! Thanks for the question.

It seems that modern day Iranians do not consider themselves as Arabs.
The reasons can be seen from the articles cited below.

 
“The easiest definition is to say that an Arab is simply someone who
speaks Arabic. But that's not satisfactory. Not all Arabic-speaking
peoples identify themselves as Arabs.”

“Lewis cites two broader definitions as more accurate. A group of Arab
leaders once stated that "whoever lives in our country, speaks our
language, is brought up in our culture and takes pride in our glory is
one of us. The scholar Sir Hamilton Gibb put it this way: "All those
are Arabs for whom the central fact of history is the mission of
Muhammad and the memory of the Arab Empire and who in addition cherish
the Arab tongue and its cultural heritage as their common
possession.""

“The Arab League includes Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt,
Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, the
Palestine Liberation Organization, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.”

“Note the absent country: Iran. Alone among the Middle Eastern peoples
conquered by the Arabs, the Iranians did not lose their language or
their identity. Ethnic Persians make up 60 percent of modern Iran, and
modern Persian is the official language. (Persian also has official
status in Afghanistan, where Dari, or Afghan Persian, is one of two
official languages.) In addition, the majority of Iranians are Shiite
Muslims while most Arabs are Sunni Muslims. So Iran fails most of the
four-part test of language, ancestry, religion, and culture.”

“Is Iran an Arab Country?”
http://slate.msn.com/id/1008394/ 


The Iranian ethnic profile also shows that Arabs are not the majority
in this country. Only 3% are considered Arabs.

“Persian 51%, Azeri 24%, Gilaki and Mazandarani 8%, Kurd 7%, Arab 3%,
Lur 2%, Baloch 2%, Turkmen 2%, other 1%”

Languages:

“Persian and Persian dialects 58%, Turkic and Turkic dialects 26%,
Kurdish 9%, Luri 2%, Balochi 1%, Arabic 1%, Turkish 1%, other 2%”

CIA World Fact Book: Iran
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html 


Our next two links provides additional discussions about the identity
of the people of Iran.

“Talk Persian Gulf”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Persian_Gulf 

“Iran’s Other Religion”
http://www.bostonreview.net/BR28.3/pocha.html 


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Easterangel-ga            
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Request for Answer Clarification by peh-ga on 20 Oct 2003 10:47 PDT

excellent answer, I will definitely give it five stars.  A tiny
clarfication: in your opinion, based on what you've read, would the
following scenario in a script be representative or how Iranians feel:

A Persian immigrant owns a convenince store in America. It has been
vandalized and racist graffit has been sprayed painted on the wall,
which says something like "arab scum".  The Persian immigrant, reading
it, says to her daughter: "They think we're arabs. When did Persians
become Arabs?"   (the last line being rhetorical).

Does that ring true?  

again, thanks for the prompt answer.

peh

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Clarification of Answer by easterangel-ga on 20 Oct 2003 15:55 PDT

Hi again!

First of all I think that scene will be very thought provoking indeed!

Yes I think that the scene will be representative of how Iranians
feel. It seems that from the things I read that this is the sentiment
and the correct analysis both in the aspect of history and culture of
Iran.

I hope that this clarification and opinion enriches my original
answer.

Thanks!

Best Regards,
Easterangel-ga

Thanks for the 5 stars and for the generous tip!