V monografii obobshchayutsya nauchnye dannye po etnografii (etnologii) arabov - krupnoy metaetnicheskoy obshchnosti; soderzhatsya svedeniya ob ikh proiskhozhdenii, etnicheskoy istorii, rasovoy prinadlezhnosti, yazyke i ego dialektakh, religii, pis'mennosti, kalendare, traditsionnykh zanyatiyakh, poseleniyakh, zhilishche, odezhde, pishche, byte, semeynykh traditsiyakh, o dukhovnoy kul'ture (kul'turno-religioznye traditsii, obryady, prazdniki). Rassmotreny osobennosti arabskoy antroponimii, obychnoe (adat) i musul'manskoe (shariat) pravo, etiket, etnicheskie protsessy, problemy arabskoy emigratsii, tendentsii natsional'nogo i kul'turnogo razvitiya. Dayutsya kratkie istoricheskie svedeniya obo vsekh arabskikh stranakh. Adresuetsya studentam fakul'tetov vostokovedeniya, istoricheskikh fa-kul'tetov vuzov i pedinstitutov, a takzhe shirokomu krugu chitateley.