"Dude, I just saw some really weird,"

[RoadClosed]

The Islamic world is much larger, and more diverse, than most Westerners realize.

We also tend to lump all Muslims into Arabs. Arabs are a minority.

[rlt]

We also tend to lump all Muslims into Arabs. Arabs are a minority.

A: I don't understand why caucasians in this country (yet alone the world) would bother calling others a minority.

And B: That was very random. What did it have to do with this thread?

[nihil]

A: I don't understand why caucasians in this country (yet alone the world) would bother calling others a minority.

The answer to that is very simple, it is because we believe in democracy. In a democratic society, government is by the majority but minority rights are preserved. If you don't identify minorities you cannot hope to achieve that.

And B: That was very random. What did it have to do with this thread?

No, it followed on from the post immediately prior to it. The thread is about America (Washington Post?) and the first three posters are American residents. They were discussing local attitudes.

In the UK we do not consider followers of Islam to be "arabs" as most of the ones we encounter come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. Some of us are also aware that the republic of Indonesia has more than twice the number of Muslims than there are arabs in the entire World.

brokencrow's comments were interesting, as he has obviously encountered the problem that a lot of Islamic people have in distinguishing between religion and politics. This is because they basically do not believe in a secular state.

[RoadClosed]

A: I don't understand why caucasians in this country (yet alone the world) would bother calling others a minority.
And B: That was very random. What did it have to do with this thread?

A: How The F you know I am Caucasian, you psychic? In my world, perhaps mostly white, perhaps mostly insignificant; minority means of being or related to a smaller number of two or more parts. For example the neocons have a minority position in congress with the leader of the party being referred to (appropriately) as the "minority" leader. Another example is that the Arabs make up a minority group within the Islamic or Muslim community as a whole. Which leads to B.

B: It is not random considering I quoted the post above mine with this:

"The Islamic world is much larger, and more diverse, than most Westerners realize."

Perhaps my short post didn't clarify. I tend to agree and I make an assumption that many Americans do not understand the diversity in the "Muslim world". We tend to associate Muslims and Islam with the Arabs of the Middle East when in FACT the middle east and the Arab population make up a MINORITY of the entire world's population of Muslims. I think that is an appropriate comment. Indonesia and Pakistan have more Muslims than the middle east. Are they Arabs? No. In fact even close to home many Iranians I have met consider themselves Persian vs. Arab. Same with Turkey. There are more Muslims in India and Bangladesh than there are Arabs by far. Yet it seems as if Americans picture or automatically accociate the Arab population and the middle east with Islam and nothing else. Thus affirmation to a percieved lack of world view. When they are in fact a minority, even though the birth of Islam is smack dab in the middle of it all. That's my point. Caucasian sarcasm and all.

[nihil]

Well RC~ that is pretty much how I understood you. The American public misconception is possibly explained by the association of early oilfield development in the region with the arab states?

As for a few figures, I dug these out for number of Muslims:

Indonesia 213M
Pakistan 161M
Bangladesh 130M (remember that used to be West Pakistan)
India 175M

Sudan 26M
Ethiopia 36M
Nigeria 64M
Turkey 69M
Afghanistan 31M

Iran 67M (but they are Persians)
Egypt 73M (arabs don't build pyramids )

Saudi Arabia 26M
Syria 16 M

Jordan and Libya only have 12M between them.

Actually, the whole concept of "arab" is pretty vague. Strictly speaking you should be a member of the Semitic ethnic grouping. However it seems to include Semitic people, arab speaking people and citizens of countries that belong to the political grouping called the Arab League.

There is a misconception amongst some folks in the UK that the nomadic tribes of the Middle East and North Africa are "arabs". This is not true, notable exceptions being the Berbers and the Kurds.