I'm confused why they kept calling him "the Arab". Didn't they say he was from Bukhara? That city is in current Uzbekistan which is far far away from the Arab peninsula. Even back then the inhabitants were mostly Turkish and Persian. So was this a goof by the Mongols who considered all Muslims to be Arabs or the writers, who got confused by the geography of the region?
shareSorry, meant to reply to the next post.
shareIt's kind of confusing but the character is supposed to be Persian. In the first season he is referred to as Persian in a few instances and the real life figure he portrays was considered Persian and like you said hailed from modern day Uzbekistan.
It's confusing for a few reasons. This season he has been called "arab" a few times. Also the actor portraying him seems be of Indian ethnicity and looks far more Indian than Persian or Arab (he's not really ethnically ambiguous like some actors can be).
Yusuf was supposed to be Arab (and is portrayed by Egyptian actor Amr Wakad so ethnically he might be) but looked far more Persian in appearance than Mahesh Jadu does. Which kind of confused me in the first season for sure.
This is exactly what I thought as well.
I thought Ahmad was a Muslim Indian and Yusuf was an Arab/ Middle Eastern man.
I'm super late to this thread and I am still in season 1 but I am shocked to hear that he was referred to as Arab in the show. I was certain he was Indian/Pakistani type ethnicity and that Yusuf was Arab
shareThere is even a small Muslim minority in the south of China that was there during Polo's time. Most of western China is still Muslim. Arabs were the main traders on the silk road and Bukhara was frequented by them. Pull yourself together.
share