Ajam (Arabic: عجم, romanized: ʿajam) is an Arabic word meaning mute. It generally refers to someone whose mother tongue is not Arabic,[1] as well as non-Arabs.[2]

After Muhammad's death, this institution was adapted by the Umayyad dynasty to incorporate new converts to Islam into Arab-Muslim society and the word mawali gained currency as an appellation for converted non-Arab Muslims in the early Islamic caliphates.

Shu'ubiyya (Arabic: الشعوبية) was a literary-political movement which opposed the privileged status of Arabs within the Muslim community and the Arabization campaigns particularly by the Ummayads.[1] The vast majority of the Shu'ubis were Persian.[2][3]