Arab, North Iraqi

North Mesopotamian Arabic, called qeltu after its word for 'I said', is the old sedentary Arabic of upper Mesopotamia: Mosul and Tikrit on the Tigris, the Euphrates towns of Anah, Rawa, Haditha and Hit, Deir ez-Zor and Abu Kamal in Syria, and the Anatolian Arabic pockets of Mardin and Siirt in Turkiye. It descends from the medieval urban Arabic of the Abbasid era, before Bedouin migrations brought the gilit dialects now dominant in Baghdad and the south. In Iraq it was the speech of Mosul's Muslims, Christians and Jews alike; today its main Iraqi speakers are the Sunni Arab townspeople of Mosul (Maslawis), Tikrit and the upper Euphrates, while qeltu-speaking Christians are counted with the Chaldean and Assyrian peoples.

The group is defined by dialect: speakers identify as Maslawi, Tikriti or Anawi, as Sunni Arabs and by tribe, not as 'North Iraqi Arabs'. Mosul has a strong urban identity as an old merchant and scholarly city, proud of a dialect that keeps the q sound other Iraqis drop. Bedouin-type gilit speech is spreading into Mosul with rural migrants, and younger people mix in Baghdadi forms.

Mosul is known for kubba Maslawiya (large flat bulgur kubba), sweets such as man al-sama, alabaster (marmar) carving and Ottoman-era courtyard houses of carved stone. Families are close-knit and conservative, marriage often within old city families or the extended family, and weddings elaborate. The city has a long tradition of Quranic scholarship and supplied many officers of the Iraqi army. The Euphrates towns are known for palm groves, ancient waterwheels (na'ura) and family ties with Syria's Deir ez-Zor.

Sunni practice is mosque-centred and scholarly. Mosul's landmarks included the al-Nuri mosque with its leaning al-Hadba minaret and the shrines of the prophets Yunus (Jonah), Jirjis and Sheet, all destroyed by ISIS in 2014-2017; the reopening of al-Nuri in September 2025 after UNESCO's reconstruction was a civic and religious milestone. Sufi orders and visits to saints' tombs were part of popular piety; Salafi influence grew in the 2000s, and the ISIS years left a backlash against extremism among many younger people.

A New Testament in North Mesopotamian Arabic (Mardini variety, 2012), the JESUS Film in Mardini Arabic and GRN recordings ('Arabic, North Mesopotamian: Syria') exist, but nothing in the Mosul (Maslawi) or Euphrates dialects; most speakers read the Standard Arabic Bible and understand Iraqi (gilit) and Syrian Arabic media, including the JESUS Film in Baghdadi dialect and Sabeel Media resources. Arabic satellite TV and online ministries reach Mosul and the Euphrates towns.