"The Sheik of Araby" is a song that was written in 1921 by Harry B. Smith and Francis Wheeler, with music by Ted Snyder.

In 1926, Fleischer Studios released a cartoon with this song, recorded in Phonofilm, as part of their Song Car-Tunes series,[1] and a live action short with this title was filmed in Phonofilm in the UK, directed by Miles Mander.

[2] In 1925, composer Ted Snyder said that the song's original title was "The Rose of Araby".

The Indianapolis Star reported, "A friend of Mr. Snyder's, hearing the oriental melody and recalling the popularity of the book The Sheik, held out for the masculine title, but Mr. Snyder said that a sheik meant but little or nothing in the lives of most people, whereas "The Rose of Araby" – ah, there you had romance, and everything.

"[3] In 1926, to go with the film The Son of the Sheik, Ted Snyder worked parts of the melody into "That Night in Araby", a related song with words by Billy Rose.