Arabs and Muslims...

Sometimes we forget that there is a difference between the two!

Arabs are an ethnic group, whereas Muslims are a religious group.

The Middle East is an Islamic region (with major exceptions like Israel), but not necessarily an Arab region. Other ethnic groups such as the Kurds and Turks live in the Middle East as well, and they are definitely not Arab.

Wait. What?

I'm taking the World Regions course this semester, and lately that class and Honors English have strangely coincided very well! I'm doing my community project on Islam, and for this past week or so, John Boyer (our professor) has been focusing on the Middle East. Here are some things from his text book that are good to remember:

"Virtually all Arabs are Muslims, but most Muslims in the world are not Arab. Does that make sense? Islam is a worldwide phenomenon now, and places like Indonesia actually have more followers of the faith than any single country in the Middle East. The reason this is confusing for outsiders is because Islam started in Arab lands [Saudi Arabia to be exact], and the original and only Koran is written in Arabic. So no matter where you go in the world, from Morocco to Malaysia, Muslims will be reading the Arabic Koran and praying in Arabic tongue...but that don't make them Arab."
-The Plaid Avenger's World

Some more super helpful information is available on this blog/vlog, in the Middle East section:
http://www.plaidavenger.com/category/middle-east/
Be warned...it's the Plaid Avenger we're talking about.