ʿAdī ibn Thābit related—through an elder of the Anṣār, from Abū Hurayrah (may God be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), conveying the same purport—that he said: “Whoever keeps close to the ruler is put to trial,” and he added, “No servant ever draws near to a ruler without becoming farther from God, Mighty and Majestic.”

For this reason they would say to someone they found harsh, “You are a coarse Bedouin, an uncouth boor,” pointing to the roughness of his mind and manners.

The term al-Aʿrāb originally denotes the desert-dwelling Arabs, for every nation has its town folk and its Bedouins. The Bedouins of the Arabs are called al-Aʿrāb. It is said that the Bedouins of the Byzantines are the Armenians and their like, those of the Persians are the Kurds and their like, and those of the Turks are the Tatars. This, and God knows best, is the basic meaning, even though usage may expand or contract.