Mashriq

Map depicting the area known as the Mashriq.^[1][2][3][4]

The Mashriq (مشرق, also Mashreq, Mashrek) is the region of Arab countries to the east of Egypt. This comprises the countries of Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria and Iraq.^[5][6][7] Poetically the "place of sunrise", the name is derived from the verb sharaqa (شرق "to shine, illuminate, radiate" and "to rise"), referring to the east, where the sun rises.^[8][9]

As it refers to countries bounded between the Mediterranean Sea and Iran, it is the companion term to Maghreb, the western part of North Africa. Egypt occupies an ambiguous position: while it has cultural, ethnic and linguistic ties to both the Mashriq and the Maghreb, it is different from both and is usually seen as being part of neither; however, when it is grouped with one or the other, it is generally considered part of the Mashriq due to its closer ties to the Levant. Egypt and the Levant were often ruled as a single unit, as under the ancient Egyptian New Kingdom, the Umayyad, Abbasid, the Fatimid caliphates, the Ayyubid dynasty, the Mamluks, and for a time under Muhammad Ali Pasha. There are also similarity between the Egyptian and the nearby Levantine dialects.

Similarly, Libya is finds itself bifurcated between Mashriq and Maghrib influences, with its eastern part linked more to Egypt and the rest of the Mashriq.^[10]

These geographical terms date from the early Islamic expansion. This region is similar to the Bilad al-Sham and Mesopotamia regions combined.^[11]

As the Mashriq is home to several pilgrimage sites, some Muslims elsewhere view it as the a source of religious legitimacy. Mashriqi learning is also esteemed by scholars from the Maghrib.

As of 2014, the Mashriq is home to 1.7% of the global population.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17]}

See also

• Fertile Crescent
• Cradle of civilization
• Greater Syria
• Levant
• Maghreb
• Mesopotamia

References

1. "About ANPGR". Arab Network of Plant Genetic Resources.
2. "Mashreq". Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East & North Africa.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
4. "لماذا يستثنى الأردن من التقسيم؟ الوضع الداخلي هو العنصر الحاسم*فهد الخيطان" [Why is Jordan exempted from the division? The internal situation is a critical component * Fahd strings] (in Arabic). Rasseen. 2014-07-13.
5. "European Neighbourhood Policy in the Mashreq Countries: Enhancing Prospects for Reform". Centre for European Policy Studies. 2005-09-01.
6. Introduction to Migration and the Mashreq Archived February 3, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
7. "Migrants from the Maghreb and Mashreq Countries" (PDF). IOM International Organization for Migration. July 2002.
8. Alvarez, Lourdes María (2009). Abu Al-Ḥasan Al-Shushtarī. Paulist Press. p. 157. ISBN 978-0-8091-0582-3.
9. Peek, Philip M.; Yankah, Kwesi (2003-12-12). African Folklore: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. p. 442. ISBN 978-1-135-94873-3.
10. Gall, Michel Le; Perkins, Kenneth (2010). The Maghrib in Question: Essays in History and Historiography. University of Texas Press. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-292-78838-1.
11. Clancy-Smith, Julia (2013-11-05). North Africa, Islam and the Mediterranean World. Routledge. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-135-31213-8.
12. Official estimate of the Population of Egypt Archived May 25, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
13. UN estimate for Lebanon
14. Official Jordanian population clock Archived January 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
15. "National Main Statistical Indicators". State of Palestine – Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
16. UN estimate for Syria
17. "Iraq". The World Bank.