What You need to Know about Arabs vs. Muslims - ADDtvChannel

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• published: 24 Mar 2012
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Do you know the difference between Arabs and Muslims? Didn't think so, that's why we're going to tell you. http://www.youtube.com/addtvchannel http://www.facebook.com/addtv http://www.twitter.com/addtvchannel The Arab world (Arabic: الوطن العربي‎ al-watan al-ʿarabī or Arabic: العالم العربي‎ al-ʿālam al-ʿarabī ) refers to Arabic-speaking states, territories and populations in North Africa, Western Asia and elsewhere.[1] The standard definition of the Arab world comprises the 22 states and territories of the Arab League stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast.[1] It has a combined population of around 340 million people, with over half under 25 years of age.[2] The sentiment of Arab nationalism arose in the second half of the 19th century along with other nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire. The Arab League was formed in 1945 to represent the interests of the Arabs, and especially to pursue the political unification of the Arab countries, a project known as Pan-Arabism.[3][4] The popular protests throughout the Arab world of late 2010 to early 2011 are directed against the governments and the associated political corruption, paired with the demand for more democratic rights. The term "Arab world" is usually rejected by those living in the region who do not consider themselves Arabs, like non-Semitic people such as the Kurds, and is resisted even more strongly by ethnic Berbers, because it implies that the entire region is Arab in its identity, population, and origin, whereas history stipulates that the original homeland of the Arabs is limited to the Arabian Peninsula in Asia. The term is also rejected by some minorities originating from old historical populations such as Chaldeans, Assyrians, and Syriacs, because they have been in the region for a long time and are thought to be the first peoples to settle in some regions, such as Iraq and Syria. A Muslim, also spelled Moslem,[1] is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the Qur'an—which Muslims consider the uncreated and verbatim word of God (Arabic: الله Allâh) as revealed to prophet Muhammad—and, with lesser authority than the Qur'an, the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts, called hadith. "Muslim" is an Arabic word meaning "one who submits to God". Muslims believe that God is eternal, transcendent, absolutely one (the doctrine of tawhid, or strict or simple monotheism), and incomparable; that he is self-sustaining, who begets not nor was begotten. Muslim beliefs regarding God are summed up in chapter 112 of the Qur'an, al-Ikhlas, "the chapter of purity".[2][3] Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed at many times and places before, including through the prophets Abraham, Moses and Jesus.[4] Muslims maintain that previous messages and revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time,[5] but consider the Qur'an to be both unaltered and the final revelation from God—Final Testament.[6] Most Muslims accept as a Muslim anyone who has publicly pronounced the Shahadah (declaration of faith) which states, "I testify that there is no god except for the God [Allah], and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of the God." Their basic religious practices are enumerated in the Five Pillars of Islam, which consist of daily prayers (salat), fasting during Ramadan (sawm), almsgiving (zakat), and the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) at least once in a lifetime.[7][8] Currently, the most up-to-date reports from an American think tank and PBS have estimated 1.2 to 1.57 billion Muslims populate the world, or about 20% of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion.