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Terminology Explained: Islam, Arabs, and Muslims

 

The Middle East is a very important area in terms of trade, population, and international relations.  Before you can understand the economic and political implications of the region however, you need to be able to speak about the people in the region intelligently, and to a large degree that involves learning the difference between three words: Islam, Arab, and Muslim. 

 

Islam is one of the main monotheistic (belief in a single God) religions in the world, and followers of Islam are called Muslims.  Where most people go wrong is in thinking they can insert “Arab” as a synonym for Muslims.  The majority of Arabs are in fact Muslims, but the majority of Muslims are not Arab.  The term “Arab” describes the common cultural and linguistic background (Arabic) of people who live in the Middle East and North Africa (the Maghreb).  People from Turkey and Iran are not “Arabs” because they speak Turkish and Farsi respectively instead of Arabic.

 

Arab Countries:

 

Algeria	Kuwait	Saudi Arabia
Bahrain	Lebanon	Somalia
Comoros Islands	Libya	Sudan
Djibouti	Mauritania	Syria
Egypt	Morocco	Tunisia
Iraq	Oman	The United Arab Emirates
Jordan	Qatar	Yemen

 

Approximately 3 million Arab Americans live in the United States, of which, approximately one third live in California, Michigan, and New York, with another one third living in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia. 

 

Muslims are a far larger set of people, accounting for one in five people worldwide.  The largest Muslim population can be found in Indonesia, which is also the fourth largest country in the world by population.  

 

The terminology may seem a bit pedantic, but now that you know the difference between the three terms, you can apply your new knowledge to discussing the ways in which Arabs and Muslims influence our everyday lives including trade, arts and culture, politics, and the myriad fields you care about.