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Estimations of the total number of Muslims range from 0.8 to 1.3 billion worldwide and from 1.1 to 7 million in the United States. About 70 percent of Muslims live in Asia, and most of the rest live in Africa. Only 10 percent of Muslims are Arabic, and only a quarter of them live in the Middle East. Muslims represent the majority in 56 countries around the world, including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and Nigeria.

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There are about 44 Islamic nations, and Muslims constitute a substantial minority in countries such as France, the United States, and India. It is already the second-largest faith in Canada and Europe; it will soon be the second-largest in the United States as well. In fact, since 1971, the Muslim population of the United States has increased sixfold. Its growth rate in the United States has been estimated at 6 percent a year—compared to the national average of 0.9 percent. And it’s a young religion: about two-thirds of Muslims in the United States are under 40 years old, whereas in the rest of the population, two-thirds are over 40 years old.

How much does the Muslim growth rate in United States in each year?

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Islam, Judaism, and Christianity are Sister Religions. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share many beliefs and claim a common sacred history. All claim to be monotheistic religions that worship the same God. All claim physical or spiritual descent from Abraham. All believe in prophets and share the same ethical system. All maintain belief in angels, the Day of Judgment, and the Afterlife. All believe God works through history to achieve his ends.

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Throughout its history, Islam has been the source or conduit for many cultural, artistic, scientific, and technological advances. Islamic scholars were instrumental in transmitting lost classical, particularly Hellenistic, philosophical and literary works to Europe, especially via Islamic Spain and, to a lesser extent, Islamic Sicily.

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Islam did not spring into the world fully formed, like Athena from Zeus’s skull. Although its appearance on the world stage seems sudden, it is the product of long tradition, which it adopted and then transformed. To understand where Islam is today, it is important to know where it came from. Islam has its roots in pre-Arabic culture. For Westerners wishing to comprehend this vast and complex faith, we have to start at the beginning—before Muhammad. The roots of Islam lie in the land that gave it birth: harsh, beautiful, and unforgiving Arabia. It was a land that made its people tough and resourceful, enduring and passionate.

Which of the following is NOT the personality of Arabians (people of Arabia)?

Islam was born in a matrix that nourished ancient values as well as the constant flow of new ideas that poured in along the trade routes. The original inhabitants of the area, the Arabs, belong to a larger group of people collectively known as Semites, who speak a variety of related languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic, Ethiopic, and Syriac. The word “Semite” derives from the biblical Shem, one of Noah’s sons. All Arabs, both Bedouin nomads and town-dwellers, were organized into tribes.

According to the text, the Arabs belong to a larger group of people called ...

Relations between Christians and Muslims sank to their lowest level during the Crusades (1095–1453), where blood was spilled on both sides. However, it is a mistake to think that the entire period of the Crusades was a holy war or that all or even most crusaders were fired by a religious zeal. Of the thousands of Christians who participated in the Crusades, only some were driven by a compulsion to kill the “heretics” or reclaim the Holy Land. Some went as a penance ordered by the Inquisition, some went to sightsee, and some went for gold. Some were on a personal pilgrimage, and some were simply anxious to get out of a bad situation at home.

What event that marked the lowest level of Christians and Muslims relations?

Until the Middle Ages, Islam’s main point of contact with the Christian world was Byzantium, not Rome, Paris, or London. These early contacts were military or commercial; no substantial theological dialogue occurred between the two faiths until the 12th century. The earliest Muslims showed little interest in traveling to Europe or in learning its languages; indeed, later Muslims felt that European civilization was debased, inferior, and not worth bothering with.

According to the text, where did the point of contact between Islam and Christian in the Middle Ages take place?

By the 16th century, Muslims became increasingly fascinated by European architecture, technology, and especially weaponry. Admiration turned quickly to resentment, however, as the West used its superior armaments to establish hegemonies in Islamic countries. Napoleon’s “visit” to Egypt sparked Muslim interest, but the French fiscal policy was so destructive to the Egyptian economy that the Muslims revolted (unsuccessfully) for four and a half months after the invasion. In 1952 the Egyptians mounted a more successful revolt, this time against the British, who had taken over from the French.

From the text, when did the Egyptians successfully revolt to British?