Arab or Muslim?

The term Arab is generally used to refer to people that live throughout North Africa, the Levant region, and the Gulf States. The Arabic language is spoken throughout these countries, albeit in highly divergent varieties. Modern Standard Arabic, which is used in official communication and publications, is a unifying force among them, and thus Arab countries can usually be distinguished from their non-Arab neighbors linguistically. Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan, for example, are often mistaken for being Arab countries. While the majority of Arabs are Muslim, there are minorities of Arab Jews and Arab Christians. In Damascus, for example, approximately 10% of the population is Christian.

The term Muslim refers to religious affiliation, specifically it denotes a follower of Islam, the third Abrahamic religion. Muslims constitute a much larger percentage of the world’s population than do Arabs. Many non-Arab countries are Muslim majority including: Turkey, Niger, and Pakistan. Indonesia is, in fact, the world’s most populous Muslim country. Muslim minorities exist in countries throughout the world.

It is important to recognize that these terms are not interchangeable. Not all Arabs are Muslim and not all Muslims are Arab. However, it may at times seems as though they are being used interchangeably on this website. This is a result of the considerable overlap that exists between the two, primarily the fact that all Arab countries are predominantly Muslim. Furthermore, all of the interview participants are both Arabs and Muslims. When Mowad discusses the invasion of Iraq, he traces his anger in part to the fact that Iraq is a neighboring Arab and Muslim country. When Rawan and Khulood discuss the aftermath of September 11, they both focus on the detrimental effects it has had on the international reputation of Islam. Other interviewees focus on the repercussions it has had for Arabs in general and most specifically Palestinians and Iraqis. It appears that when people speak about these issues, they tend to focus on whatever part of their identity is most important to them. Thus, very religious people are more sensitive to its impact on Islam, whereas people like Ziad, who thinks of himself first and foremost as a Palestinian, are more likely to focus on its impact on national communities.