Islam, Muslim, and Arab

I think it is important to take a minute to define what the difference between Arabs and Muslims, as well as other common misconceived ideals about a region we are so intimately involved with.  Many westerners often misconstrued or misuse terms about ethnic groupings, and religion when talking about people from the Middle East, and South West Asia.

Webster’s Dictionary defines Arab as “a member of a Semitic people originally from the Arabian peninsula and surrounding territories who speaks Arabic and who inhabits much of the Middle East and northern Africa”.

·         Therefore it is important to understand that being Arab only pertains to the area in which the person lives.

·         It is also important to understand that not all Arabs are Muslim.  There are many religions in the Arab region including a somewhat high number of Christians in some areas.

·         According to Geography.com the complete list of Arab nations is as follows:

List of Arab Countries:

• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Iraq
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Oman
• Palestine
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Sudan
• Syria
• Tunisia
• United Arab Emirates
• Western Sahara
• Yemen
• It is important to note that Afghanistan and Iran are not listed as Arab nations.  (This seems to be a very common misconception among people I know, including myself.)

So, now what is Muslim?

According to Denny a Muslim is one who “Surrenders to Islam”(404).  Islam means “submission [or] the name of the religion of the Qur’an”(404).  Thus, a Muslim is one who surrenders to the religion of Islam. 

Knowing this, I feel it is important to make sure that it is understood that not all Arabs are Muslim because many of the religions of the Arab region are not Islam.  Furthermore, not all Muslims are Arab.  Islam is a religion that has been defused around the world, making it a universalizing religion stretching across every country. 

 

Works Cited:

Denny, Frederick M. An Introduction to Islam. Fourth Edition. Upper Saddle river, NJ. 2011.

 

Rubenstein, James M. Contemporary Human Geography. 2^nd Ed. Glenview IL. 2013.

 

Geography.com. List of Arab Countries. Jan. 30, 2011. http://geography.about.com/od/lists/a/arab-countries.htm