RE: Is Islam synonymous to Arab or Arabism?
March 2, 2011 at 1:06 pm
(This post was last modified: March 2, 2011 at 1:59 pm by Rokcet Scientist.)
(February 26, 2011 at 10:08 pm)Rev. Rye Wrote:(February 26, 2011 at 8:13 pm)Dotard Wrote: I learn sumthin' new everyday.
I didn't know that. I would have guessed 80 or so % of Islamics are Arabs.
But 99% are non-arabs? Is that an accurate number or 99% was just for dramatic effect?
Well, I heard the percentage of Muslims that are Arab is actually closer to 20% (Thank you Cracked, and the Pew report you linked to), much lower if you don't count the African countries as Middle East. That said, I'm pretty sure that the Middle East is the region with the highest number of Muslims per capita. I know that, however, a huge incidence (about 93%) of Islam within the Arab ethnicity.
For the record, the Pew Report is here, and the Cracked article (if you want something less dry) is here.
Indonesia is by far the largest muslim country in the world. 95% of its population is muslim. That's 226 million muslims.
From Wikipedia:
Quote:The majority of Muslims live in Asia and Africa. Approximately 62% of the world's Muslims live in Asia, with over 683 million adherents in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. In the Middle East, non-Arab countries such as Turkey and Iran are the largest Muslim-majority countries; in Africa, Egypt and Nigeria have the most populous Muslim communities.
Most estimates indicate that the People's Republic of China has approximately 20 to 30 million Muslims (1.5% to 2% of the population). However, data provided by the San Diego State University's International Population Center to U.S. News & World Report suggests that China has 65.3 million Muslims.
I.o.w. Arabs (a culture, not a race) are a minority in islam. Also: not all Arabs are muslim. E.g. 10% of Egyptians (8 million) are coptic christians. And have been for far longer than islam exists at all.
However, most of the rabidly aggressive fundamentalist/orthodox muslims (a.k.a. islamists) are currently Arab Salavists/Wahabis (the creed of the Saudi royal family..., so where the money comes from; and – get this – the Saudi royal family [5,600 'princes'] are thick with the US administration!!!). I.o.w. only a small single-digit percentage of all muslims are aggressive and dangerous to other believers and non-believers. SO DON'T CONDEMN ALL MUSLIMS! The great majority of them couldn't care less what you or I believe (or don't). They just want to be left alone and get on with their lives, which is difficult enough as it is.
