Muslim world
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
The term Muslim world, also known as Islamic world, has different meanings. In a religious sense, the Islamic Ummah refers to those who adhere to the teachings of Islam, referred to as Muslims. In a cultural sense, the Muslim Ummah refers to Islamic civilization, exclusive of non-Muslims living in that civilization. In a modern geopolitical sense, the term "Islamic Nation" usually refers collectively to Muslim-majority countries, states, districts, or towns.
Although Islamic lifestyles emphasize unity and defense of fellow Muslims, schools and branches (see Shia–Sunni relations, for example) exist. In the past, both Pan-Islamism and nationalist currents have influenced the status of the Greater Middle East.
As of 2015, over 1.7 billion or about 23.4% of the world population are Muslims. By the percentage of the total population in a region considering themselves Muslim, 24.8% in Asia-Oceania do, 91.2% in the Middle East-North Africa, 29.6% in Sub-Saharan Africa, around 6.0% in Europe, and 0.6% in the Americas.
See also
- Spread of Islam
- Islam by country
- Islamic studies
- Islam and other religions
- Religious nationalism
- Liberalism and progressivism in the Muslim world
