As the two words, Muslim and Arabs, are constantly used when talking about the Muslim world, it is very valuable to understand the difference between Muslim and Arabs. The two words Muslim and Arabs are often understood to be interchangeable, but they are not so. They, Muslim and Arabs, have some important differences between them. Arabs are mostly Muslims, but Muslims are not always Arabs. The main difference between Muslim and Arabs is that Arab is a race and Muslim is a follower of the religion of Islam. In other words, a Muslim is a person or an individual that embraced the religion of Islam. An Arab is a person or an individual that occupies the Arabian region for dwelling purposes.
Who are Muslims?
A Muslim is a follower of the religion of Islam. Islam is one of the major religions in the world. Muslims live their lives according to this religion. They pray five times a day. Muslims believe the Quran, their religious book, to be the word of God as it was revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Who are Arabs?
The definition of Arab as given by the Oxford dictionary is as follows.
“A member of a Semitic people, originally from the Arabian peninsula and neighbouring territories, inhabiting much of the Middle East and North Africa.”
Arab is a name given according to the place where people come from. It is not connected to a religion. Therefore, an Arab is not necessarily a Muslim.
What is the difference between Muslim and Arabs?
The word Muslim is religion based, whereas the word Arab is region based or ethnicity based. It is very important to note that different languages are used by Muslims because they reside in different parts of the world. Arabs speak Arabic language, which is also spoken by other nationals too.
Muslims hail from many parts of the world whereas Arabs are necessarily from the Middle East regions. Since the Muslims come from different parts of the world, they are in large numbers in terms of population. Compared to the number of Muslims in the world, the Arab population is less. This is again because the Arabs hail from only a particular region of the world.
It is interesting to note that though most Arab citizens follow some sect of Islam there are people who belong to other religions such as Christianity and Jewish. Thus, you come across Muslim Arabs and Christian Arabs. The same is applicable even to those that practice the religion of Islam. You can come across an American Muslim and an Arab Muslim too for that matter. Finally, it can be said that Arab is a race and Muslim is a follower of the religion of Islam.
Summary:
Muslim vs Arabs
• A Muslim is an individual that embraces the religion of Islam, whereas an Arab is a person that lives in the Arabian region.
• Muslim is a word that is religion based in usage, whereas Arab is a word that is region based in usage.
• Muslims speak different languages, whereas an Arab uses only the Arabian language.
• Muslims are from different parts of the world whereas Arabs are from the Arab region.