# Brown أسمر، أسمراني



## Tisia

Hi every one. Can any one tell me what is  brown in arabic?

Thanks
Tizha


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## ayed

Tizha said:
			
		

> Hi every one. Can any one tell me what is brown in arabic?
> 
> Thanks
> Tizha


Welcome Tiza at Wordreference Foums.
Brown in Arabic means"Bonny"--بني"


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## Jana337

I was taught 'asmar - أسمر

Jana


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## elroy

Jana337 said:
			
		

> I was taught 'asmar - أسمر
> 
> Jana


 
No - that's black. 

(or dark, in reference to someone's skin)


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## Jana337

elroy said:
			
		

> No - that's black.
> 
> (or dark, in reference to someone's skin)



 What is 'aswad, then?

Jana


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## elroy

Jana337 said:
			
		

> What is 'aswad, then?
> 
> Jana


 
Also black.


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## Whodunit

Jana337 said:
			
		

> What is 'aswad, then?
> 
> Jana


 
You'll get "'asmar" after basking in the sun.  
You'll get "'aswad" after being born in Africa.  
You'll get "bonni" after pouring coffee on yourself.  

Natives, correct me.


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## Tisia

By the way is جوزي

another word for brown? I don't know if they write it that way?


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## amnesia

just a few corrections.

Asmar means tanned.
Brown is boon-ni, (in the older days it was called Zigany in the Gulf, Zigan meaning poo)

I'd assume Jozee would be a more tea brown not the real brown brown lol.


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## Whodunit

Tizha said:
			
		

> By the way is جوزي
> 
> another word for brown? I don't know if they write it that way?


 
If I read it "djauzi", it would mean "nutty brown", wouldn't it?


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## amnesia

i'd say so.


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## Tisia

Whodunit said:
			
		

> If I read it "djauzi", it would mean "nutty brown", wouldn't it?



I guess so as well, since* jauz* means *nut*, right?


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## Whodunit

Tizha said:
			
		

> I guess so as well, since* jauz* means *nut*, right?


 
Correct.


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## elroy

Whodunit said:
			
		

> You'll get "'asmar" after basking in the sun.
> You'll get "'aswad" after being born in Africa.
> You'll get "bonni" after pouring coffee on yourself.
> 
> Natives, correct me.


 
You are also "asmar" if you born in Africa.  That sounds better than "aswad."


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## Jana337

elroy said:
			
		

> You are also "asmar" if you born in Africa.  That sounds better than "aswad."


Political correctness or since time immemorial? 

Jana


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## elroy

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Political correctness or since time immemorial?
> 
> Jana


 
I would go with the latter..."aswad" evokes the image of literal blackness, like the night sky or a prestigious karate belt.

Not all Africans' skin is actually black, so "asmar" sounds more natural.


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## amnesia

i wouldn't say time immemorial.

Aswad or abd are for black people

asmar is for tanned or the general arabic people.
e.g. a tanned Saudi would be asmar.


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## elroy

amnesia said:
			
		

> i wouldn't say time immemorial.
> 
> Aswad or abd are for black people
> 
> asmar is for tanned or the general arabic people.
> e.g. a tanned Saudi would be asmar.


 
Does "aswad" sound better to you than "asmar" for black Africans?

"Abd" is not politically correct because it means slave!


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## amnesia

Ok, Abd does mean slave, but as time passed Abd is what a black person is known as.
E.g. in Bahrain I see black people calling each other Abd casually. (no the 'nigro' use is not the same as in English)

I would say Asmar for black Africans because as I believe, it means tanned. Most Arabs are considered Asmar. My father is Asmar. He's not black though.
I can go to the beach and end up Asmar.

Aswad is better to describe the people who have African heritage in my opinion.

You see, if someone makes a big deal over the term, then it singles out that term so that people take it into a negative or positive view.
But if everyone uses it, then it's just a nother word that does not affect someone.

I mean going back to the use of the word slave.
What about Arabic names? Abdulla, Abdulrahman, etc... in essence we are all slaves of God. (but lets not look at it in a religious point of view) Abd is just a way to describe the people (although I agree the use of that word in the past was bad)

I'm not targetting you, i just thought I'd explain.


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## elroy

amnesia said:
			
		

> Ok, Abd does mean slave, but as time passed Abd is what a black person is known as.
> E.g. in Bahrain I see black people calling each other Abd casually. (no the 'nigro' use is not the same as in English)
> 
> I would say Asmar for black Africans because as I believe, it means tanned. Most Arabs are considered Asmar. My father is Asmar. He's not black though.
> I can go to the beach and end up Asmar.
> 
> Aswad is better to describe the people who have African heritage in my opinion.
> 
> You see, if someone makes a big deal over the term, then it singles out that term so that people take it into a negative or positive view.
> But if everyone uses it, then it's just a nother word that does not affect someone.
> 
> I mean going back to the use of the word slave.
> What about Arabic names? Abdulla, Abdulrahman, etc... in essence we are all slaves of God. (but lets not look at it in a religious point of view) Abd is just a way to describe the people (although I agree the use of that word in the past was bad)
> 
> I'm not targetting you, i just thought I'd explain.


 
I know that you're not targeting me - no worries.  We're all here to learn.

"Aswad" still sounds odd to me to refer to black people.

About "abd": I understand completely.  In fact, that's the term I use.  I just said that it's not politically correct for those who are interested in those things (I personally don't go out of my way to sound "politically incorrect.")

Also, in "Abdallah" etc. it has a different connotation.  Calling somebody a slave of God is not nearly as condescending as calling him a slave of another man.

By the way, I'm not "asmar" but I'm "asmarani."   Actually, I'm more like "2am7i."


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## amnesia

lol you're right 
asmarani is even more correct.


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## Jana337

amnesia said:
			
		

> lol you're right
> asmarani is even more correct.


But totally unclear.  Same for 2am7i.

Jana


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## elroy

Jana337 said:
			
		

> But totally unclear.  Same for 2am7i.
> 
> Jana


 
Lol. Sorry.

"Asmarani" is like dark-ish, so not totally dark (or tanned).  It's very colloquial.

"2am7i" comes from "2ame7" (formal Arabic qam7) which means wheat, so it's like wheat-colored.


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## amnesia

wait you use 2 for q?

We use 2 for hamza.

Or did you mean it to be hamza?


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## elroy

amnesia said:
			
		

> wait you use 2 for q?
> 
> We use 2 for hamza.
> 
> Or did you mean it to be hamza?


 
I meant it to be a hamza because in my dialect we usually replace q with 2. Sorry about that.


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## amnesia

ooooh yes I see


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## Ibn_Sultan

What does Asmarani mean.

And whats the difference between Asmar and Asmarani.

Asmar Asmarani, in a song about I think a brown girl. but I want to be sure, and what's the difference between the two and is it for female only?


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## Talib

Perhaps somebody from Asmara (capital of Eritrea)?


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## cherine

As Elroy explained, أسمراني is somehow a lighter shade of brown than أسمر .

The origin of the word is not related to Asmara, it's a perfectly Arabic word formed from two words: أسود-أحمر because it originally referred to the red shade of black. Speaking of the color "asmar" in general, many people use it as a synonym of أسود specially when referring to things. Like: لابسة أسمر = she's wearing black.
But for people, it's the skin color of North Africans, Egyptians or Mediterraneans in general (not the white-skin Mediterraneans, but the darker ones).

The word in the song refers to a woman, because Arabic songs often use the masculine to refer to women. But the words أسمر، أسمراني are masculine. The feminine is samraa2 سمراء (in Egypt, we pronounce it Samra سمرا ). And -as far as I know- there's no feminine equivalent for "asmarani".


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## Talib

I didn't know about أسمر. This is how I use the words:

أسود: the colour black, black people.
بني: the colour brown, coffee
عبد: neutral in a religious context but offensive when applied to black people

Any insights on this? Is it preferable to refer to black people as أسمر or is أسود suitable?


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## xebonyx

Talib said:


> I didn't know about أسمر. This is how I use the words:
> 
> أسود: the colour black, black people.
> بني: the colour brown, coffee
> عبد: neutral in a religious context but offensive when applied to black people
> 
> Any insights on this? Is it preferable to refer to black people as أسمر or is أسود suitable?


Here's an old thread with more info on it here, (the subtle difference is it has more like a reddish brown shade to it). Also if you search for "asmar", I'm sure you'll get more answers.


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## djamal 2008

بني is black after the coffee wich is بن.

Hazel is قصطالي

Brownish is سمراني

عبد means slave, nothing to do with colour. Also, we use the word زنج.


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## elroy

cherine said:


> And -as far as I know- there's no feminine equivalent for "asmarani".


 In Palestinian Arabic, we say أسمرنية ("asmaraniyye").





Talib said:


> Any insights on this? Is it preferable to refer to black people as أسمر or is أسود suitable?


 In Palestinian Arabic, most people say أسمر or عبد - not أسود.  I think that in fus7a أسود is more common (in my previous posts, from more than 3 years ago, my perceptions were most likely colored  by my dialect.)


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## djamal 2008

But we say of Africa = القارة السمراء


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## Haroon

djamal 2008 said:


> But we say of Africa = القارة السمراء


 
( Black vs Brown), or (أسمر- أسود), is a problematic issue, as it is evident. It is greatly subjected by the personal preferences of every one. Some White people ( as white as snow, or as wax in Arabic context) consider every one who is slightly tanned , even by 0.1 percent is (BLACK أسود ), while others may think that this word is rather harsh and use the word (أسمر), usually with a collocation ( ودمه خفيف), also  the expression  (القارة السمراء) is a way of elevating the typical colour (black) with an attributive quality, they even refer to black objects with the same word; باب اسمر , for example.


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## Ibn_Sultan

I dont agree, I've been living for a long time in Arab countries and I think I know the difference.

Asmar is usually used for people who are brownish, for example: people from Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Mali. For examply, calling the Sudani president Asmar. I know this because I myself am from one of these countries and have been called Asmar in the Aswaq (I dont see it as insulting). 

Aswad is usually used for people who are darker (and have more negroid features) like the ones from West Africa.

My opinion is that 'Abd is an insulting word, but I think you mean 'Abduh, meaning His Slave (of God)..? No?

But I dont think its something clear as they even call Obama Aswad on time on Al-Jazeera and Asmar on another channel.


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## Faylasoof

I was also taught that brown in fus7a was:
أسْمَر (masc. sing.)
سَمْراء (fem. sing.)
سُمْر (plural)

or

بُنّيّ  (masc. sing.)
 بُنّيّة (fem. sing.)
 بُنّ (plural)  – is this correct????

… and black:

  أسْوَد(masc. sing.) 
سَوداء  (fem. sing.)
سُود (plural) 


Al-Mawrid has this for <brown>:
أسْمَر أو بُنّيّ  و بخاصة أسمر البشرة

BTW,  Steingass also gives  أسْمَر as: brown, tawny. 

Whether we refer to someone or someone’s complexion as black or brown may depend on a number of factors, including features – not just skin colour.

I would never use _3abd_ عبد for anyone, no matter what their complexion.


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> Lol. Sorry.
> 
> "Asmarani" is like dark-ish, so not totally dark (or tanned). It's very colloquial.
> 
> "2am7i" comes from "2ame7" (formal Arabic qam7) which means wheat, so it's like wheat-colored.


 
I never really distinguished between asmaraani and asmar; but I do distinguish between tanned and black; I'm also rather surprised by your (as well as Cherine and Djamal's) descriptions of what asmar is. For the purpose of eliminating misunderstanding, what I would call Asmar is this, this, this, this and this, as you can see, the second on is rather dark, but still within the range.

I would call this and this 2am7i or 7inTi. This and this is what I would call abyadh (although it may still be debatable by some standards); while this is what I would call aswad, I would not call him asmar except if I am speaking to his face - for the purpose of being polite.

My own complexsion is something like Salma Hayek's but nobody ever called me 2am7iyye or 7inTiyya; everone I ever came accross called me samra.


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## elroy

I pretty much agree with you, except that I usually say "3abed" (and not "aswad") for "black."

What exactly do you disagree with?


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## Abu Rashid

> But we say of Africa = القارة السمراء



Isn't بلاد السودان named as such because Africans are considered أسود rather than أسمر؟


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## xebonyx

Ibn_Sultan said:


> I dont agree, I've been living for a long time in Arab countries and I think I know the difference.
> 
> Asmar is usually used for people who are brownish, for example: people from Somalia, Sudan, Eritrea, Mali. For examply, calling the Sudani president Asmar. I know this because I myself am from one of these countries and have been called Asmar in the Aswaq (I dont see it as insulting).
> 
> Aswad is usually used for people who are darker (and have more negroid features) like the ones from West Africa.
> 
> My opinion is that 'Abd is an insulting word, but I think you mean 'Abduh, meaning His Slave (of God)..? No?
> 
> But I dont think its something clear as they even call Obama Aswad on time on Al-Jazeera and Asmar on another channel.


 
Thanks for your opinions on this, you should come onto the forums more... I remember I posted a thread awhile back about "3abd" in reference to skin color. The terms "aswad" and "asmar" are also discussed, I believe.


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> What exactly do you disagree with?


 
I understood that you would refer to a black person as asmar and an asmar person as 2am7i. I guess I just misunderstood.
 



elroy said:


> In Palestinian Arabic, most people say





elroy said:


> أسمر or عبد - not أسود. I think that in fus7a أسود is more common



 



cherine said:


> The origin of the word is not related to Asmara, it's a perfectly Arabic word formed from two words:





cherine said:


> أسود-أحمر because it originally referred to the red shade of black. Speaking of the color "asmar" in general, many people use it as a synonym of أسود specially when referring to things. Like: لابسة أسمر = she's wearing black.



 
These posts are what confused me.
 



Ibn_Sultan said:


> My opinion is that 'Abd is an insulting word, but I think you mean 'Abduh, meaning His Slave (of God)..? No?


 
I agree with you in that it's insulting and I don't really use it, I also agree that people should avoid it; but you also have to understand that in colloquial it has been used to simply refer to a black person with African features and those who use it do not really mean to be offensive.
 



Ibn_Sultan said:


> But I dont think its something clear as they even call Obama Aswad on time on Al-Jazeera and Asmar on another channel.


 
I think that the confusion comes from the fact that he is not excessively dark, but he is of African decent.


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## Ibn_Sultan

no, I mean even Omar al-Basheer is Asmar if you ask me, I've never heard Egyptians calling themselves Asmar, one of them said even Abyad.

I have been called Asmar, while when speaking about Africans (like the pic you posted) are Zunooj.


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## A-class-act

Asmarany,is that a spoil term ??


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## The NorthStar of Hope

Jana337 said:


> What is 'aswad, then?
> 
> Jana



Aswad is black

Bonni is brown .. 

Asmar is more like Brunette 

You call people's skin Asmar.

However, we call things' color Bonni...


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## The NorthStar of Hope

A-class-act said:


> Asmarany,is that a spoil term ??



Kinda like Brownie ..


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## Long_Tall_Texan

The NorthStar of Hope said:


> Kinda like Brownie ..


  I've never heard that word used to describe someone with dark skin, but if it does occur it would probably be between people who are very, very familiar with each other.  In other situations _never, ever_ call someone who has darker skin who you do not know, or don't know well, that.  It would be offensive.


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## psxws

Faylasoof said:


> بُنّيّ  (masc. sing.)
> بُنّيّة (fem. sing.)
> بُنّ (plural)  – is this correct????


 
I think that بن was coffee in Classical and currently means coffee bean, but its plural is not like that because it does not share the same form as احمر or اسود, rather I think it's a nisba adjective, so I think the plural would be بنيات for the feminine, and maybe بنيون/بنيين for the masculine? (that one I'm less sure of)


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## The NorthStar of Hope

Long_Tall_Texan said:


> I've never heard that word used to describe someone with dark skin, but if it does occur it would probably be between people who are very, very familiar with each other.  In other situations _never, ever_ call someone who has darker skin who you do not know, or don't know well, that.  It would be offensive.



Yes.. And I think the same is applied in using it here..


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## Faylasoof

psxws said:


> I think that بن was coffee in Classical and currently means coffee bean, but its plural is not like that because it does not share the same form as احمر or اسود, rather I think it's a nisba adjective, so I think the plural would be بنيات for the feminine, and maybe بنيون/بنيين for the masculine? (that one I'm less sure of)



Yes, I know in the Classical language بن is a coffee bean and بُنّيّ is both the colour brown as well as the seller of coffee beans! On the other hand البُنِّيّات can also be coffee drinks!

 Whether البُنِّيّات is used as a feminine plural, I’m unaware but would make sense if the word follows the normal <sound feminine plurals>. Similarly, the rules of <sound masculine plurals> would dictate that it should be البنيّون. But if it is a <broken plural> then it would of course be different. For example:

 الّتُركي at-turkee (masc. singular)  --> الّتُرك  at-turk / لأتراك al-atraak (masc. broken plural) and _NOT_ التُّركيّون  at-turkiyyoon!

I haven't seen / heard البنيّون either.


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## borhane

Hi 
  In the southern part of Algeria live some black tribes, but we call them 'the blue men' rather than black, and for me it sounds perfect.


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## Ibn_Sultan

lol @ blue men.

I think I have found some kind of proof; we all know the Henry (football player for France % Barcalona).

His nickname in Arabic is: الغزال الأسمر or the Brown Gazelle, which makes sense looking at the color of his skin.


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## Ayazid

Mahaodeh said:


> I think that the confusion comes from the fact that he is not excessively dark, but he is of African decent.



I think that the confusion might also come from a mixing of North American and Arab racial "taxonomies" which are wildly different. In the USA if you have any visible traces of black African origin it's enough for being called simply black, maybe a "light skinned" one but still black, since the interracial mixing has never been that common in the North of America (at least compared to the situation in Latin America or Arab world). From this point of view, Obama is the "first black president of the USA".

On the other hand, if Obama were let's say Egyptian, the color of his skin would be called almost certainly "asmar", since "aswad" would be reserved just for truly black people, and neither his rather "African" features would be a decisive reason for calling him black, since the Arab system seems to put more emphasis on color than facial features. Hence the insecurity of the journalists if they should use rather the Western or traditional Arab nomenclature. Of course, both of them are quite imprecise and subjective


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## إسكندراني

I think there is also a large variation in the lexicon used by different dialects here. Personally, in order of light- to dark- skinned, I would say:
أشقر
أبيض
قمحي
أسمر
أسود
زنجي
We never use عبد to describe complexion in Egypt. Also I consider أسمراني & أبيضاني to be just plays on the original words.


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## Zaytoon

amnesia said:


> just a few corrections.
> 
> Asmar means tanned.
> Brown is boon-ni, (in the older days it was called Zigany in the Gulf, Zigan meaning poo)
> 
> I'd assume Jozee would be a more tea brown not the real brown brown lol.


 
asmar does not mean tanned....it means dark skinned.....you can check it out for yourselves in classical arabic dictionaries such as Lisan al Arab....the majority of the people whom you refer to as black are in fact not black at all...they are asmar....and those people who live in the Gulf who refer to themselves as asmar ARE NOT asmar at all...they are infact humr ( red )...when the Arabs referred to someone as black...they meant that he was really dark skinned...it was not a generic term to describe people in what is now known as Africa...as a matter of fact many of the classical Arabs were jet black skinned themselves as well as being asmar only very few of them being 'red'( humr )


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## Awlaadberry

Tisia said:


> Hi every one. Can any one tell me what is  brown in arabic?
> 
> Thanks
> Tizha




http://en.allexperts.com/e/b/ba/banu_tamim.htmBrown in Arabic means dark-skinned. Proof of this is the story of eighth century poet Miskeen Al-Darimi. Miskeen  Al Darimi was from the famous pure Arab tribe of Darim. The tribe of  Darim is a tribe descended from the well-known Adnani tribe of Tamim. Miskeen  once proposed to a woman, but she rejected him because of his poorness  and his blackness. The woman married another man instead who was richer  than Miskeen, but who was from a tribe not as noble and pure as  Miskeen's tribe. Miskeen once saw the woman and man together and he  stopped and said to them: I am Miskeen-for those who know me! My color  is أسمر (dark) - the color of the Arabs!

عن الأصمعي قال: خطب مسكينٌ بن  		خلف فتاةً من قومه فكرهته لسواد لونه وقلة ماله، وتزوجت بعده رجلاً من قومه  		ذا يسار ليس له مثل نسب مسكين، فمر بهما مسكين ذات يوم، وتلك المرأة جالسة  		مع زوجها، فقال

​ أنا  					مسكين لمن يعـرفـنـي​  ​ لوني السمرة ألوان العـرب​​


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