Editing Arabization (section)

===Southern Arabia===
{{Further|Southern Arabia}}

South Arabia is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it also included Najran, Jizan, and 'Asir, which are presently in Saudi Arabia, and the Dhofar of present-day Oman.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

[[Old South Arabian]] was driven to extinction by the Islamic expansion, being replaced by [[Classical Arabic]] which is written with the [[Arabic script]].{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} The [[South Arabian alphabet]] which was used to write it also fell out of use.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}} A separate branch of [[South Semitic languages|South Semitic]], the [[Modern South Arabian languages]] still survive today as spoken languages in southern of present-day Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Dhofar in present-day Oman.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Although [[Yemen]] is traditionally held to be the homeland of the [[Qahtanite|Qahtanite Arabs]] who, according to some Arab traditions, are "pure" Arabs; however, most<ref>Nebes, Norbert, "Epigraphic South Arabian," in Uhlig, Siegbert, ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), p. 335</ref><ref>Leonid Kogan and [[Andrey Korotayev]]: Sayhadic Languages (Epigraphic South Arabian) // Semitic Languages. London: Routledge, 1997, pp. 157-183.</ref> of the sedentary Yemeni population did not speak [[Old Arabic]] prior to the spread of [[Islam]], and spoke the extinct [[Old South Arabian|Old South Arabian languages]] instead.<ref>Nebes, Norbert, "Epigraphic South Arabian," in Uhlig, Siegbert, ed. ''Encyclopaedia Aethiopica'' (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), p. 335</ref><ref>Leonid Kogan and [[Andrey Korotayev]]: Sayhadic Languages (Epigraphic South Arabian) // Semitic Languages. London: Routledge, 1997, p[. 157-183.</ref>