Ajam

"Ajami" redirects here. For other uses, see Ajami (disambiguation).

Ajam (عجم) in Arabic literally means "one who is illiterate in a language" or "dumb", and is in reference to non-Arabs, or more precisely non-Arabic-speakers. It is considered a highly derogatory term by Persians. [1] [2] According to The Political Language of Islam, Ajam was originally used as a reference to denote those whom Arabs in the Arabian peninsula viewed as 'alien' or outsiders.[3] The early application of the term included all of the peoples with whom the Arabs had contact including Persians, Greeks, Ethiopians, and the somewhat related Nabataeans. Over time the term became specialized and referred to Persians almost exclusively as an ethnic term, but varied in its usage from place to place as the early Muslim conquests led to a much wider proliferation of Arabic-speakers.

During the early age of the Caliphates, Ajam was often synonymous for stranger. In some cases it was considered a derogatory word. In the eastern portions of the Middle East, it was generally applied to the Persians, while in al-Andalus it referred to speakers of Romance languages - becoming "Aljamiado" in Spanish in reference to Arabic-script writing of those languages - and in West Africa, Ajami similarly refers to the writing of local languages such as Hausa and Fulani in the Arabic alphabet.

Other different usage

• Among Kurds, the term Ajam (Ecem in Kurdish, Pron: عجم) is used to refer to Persians and Azeris [4], [5],[6],[7], [8].
• Adjam, Hajjam, Ajaim, Ajami, Akham (as Axam in Spain for ajam), Ayam in eastern Europe.
• In Turkish, the usage of the term is not applied to any ethnic group, but instead appears to have evolved from the original Arabic usage for outsiders in-general and shifted into a different meaning as the term ajemi (in modern Turkish acemi) literally means clumsy, inept or novice.
• In Iraq Ajam is primarly used to refer to Shias, especially to those of Iranian origin.