Muslims
Muslims are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraham as it was revealed to Muhammad, the last Islamic prophet. Alongside the Quran, Muslims also believe in previous revelations, such as the Tawrat, the Zabur, and the Injeel. These earlier revelations are associated with Judaism and Christianity, which are regarded by Muslims as earlier versions of Islam. The majority of Muslims also follow the teachings and practices attributed to Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts.
With an estimated population of almost 2 billion followers, Muslims comprise around 26% of the world's total population. In descending order, the percentage of people who identify as Muslims on each continental landmass stands at: 45% of Africa, 25% of Asia and Oceania collectively, 6% of Europe, and 1% of the Americas. Additionally, in subdivided geographical regions, the figure stands at: 91% of the Middle East–North Africa, 90% of Central Asia, 65% of the Caucasus, 42% of Southeast Asia, 32% of South Asia, and 42% of sub-Saharan Africa.
While there are several Islamic schools and branches, as well as non-denominational Muslims, the two largest denominations are Sunni Islam and Shia Islam. By sheer numbers, South Asia accounts for the largest portion of the global Muslim population. By country, Indonesia is the largest in the Muslim world, holding around 12% of all Muslims worldwide; with Pakistan having the second largest number of Muslims in the world after Indonesia. Outside the Muslim-majority countries, India and China are home to the largest and second-largest Muslim populations, respectively. Due to high Muslim population growth, Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world. Muslims have experienced persecution of varying severity, especially in China, India, some parts of Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Etymology
The word muslim or moslem is the active participle of the same verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M "to be whole, intact". A female adherent is a muslima. The plural form in Arabic is muslimūn or muslimīn, and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt.The ordinary word in English is "Muslim". For most of the 20th century, the preferred spelling in English was "Moslem", but this has now fallen into disuse. That spelling and its pronunciation were opposed by many Muslims in English-speaking countries because the "s" was often pronounced with a z sound. This made the word more closely match the Arabic triliteral ẓ-l-m, which has negative meanings and includes the Arabic word for "the oppressor". In the United States, the Associated Press instructed news outlets to switch to the spelling "Muslim" in 1991, making it the most common spelling thereafter. The last major newspaper in the United Kingdom to use the spelling "Moslem" was the Daily Mail, which switched to "Muslim" in 2004.
The word Mosalman, Mussulman or Musulman is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central and South Asia. In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage; however, cognates of this word remain the standard term for "Muslim" in various other European languages. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans. Although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist. In medieval Europe, Muslims were commonly called Saracens.
The Muslim philologist Ibn al-Anbari said:
In several places in the Quran, the word muslim conveys a universal meaning, beyond the description of the followers of Muhammad, for example:
Quranic studies scholar Mohsen Goudarzi has argued that in the Quran the word dīn means "worship", the islām means "monotheism" and the muslim means "monotheist".
Until the 8th century, the term muslim was more inclusive, including anyone who was considered to be submitting to God, and the term mu'min was instead used to refer to believers in Islam as a distinct religion.
Qualifier
To become a Muslim and to convert to Islam, it is essential to utter the Shahada in front of Muslim witnesses, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, a declaration of faith and trust that professes that there is only one God and that Muhammad is God's messenger. It is a set statement normally recited in Arabic: ašhadu ʾan-lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāhu wa ʾašhadu ʾanna muħammadan rasūlu-llāh "I testify that there is no god except Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."In Sunni Islam, the shahada has two parts: la ilaha illa'llah, and Muhammadun rasul Allah, which are sometimes referred to as the first shahada and the second shahada. The first statement of the shahada is also known as the tahlīl.
In Shia Islam, the shahada also has a third part, a phrase concerning Ali, the first Shia Imam and the fourth Rashid caliph of Sunni Islam: وعليٌّ وليُّ الله, which translates to "Ali is the wali of God".
In Quranist Islam, the shahada is the testimony that there is no god but Allah.
The religious practices of Muslims are enumerated in the Five Pillars of Islam: the declaration of faith, daily prayers, almsgiving, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.
In Islamic theology
The majority of theological traditions of Islam accept that works do not determine if someone is a Muslim or not. God alone would know about the belief of a person. Fellow Muslims can only accept the personal declaration of faith. Only the Khawārij developed an understanding of Muslim identity based mainly on the adherence to liturgical and legal norms.When asked about one's beliefs, it is recommended to say the Istit̲h̲nāʾ, for example, "in-sha'allah I am Muslim a believer", since only God knows the future of a person. Among Asharites, it is also seen as a sign of humility and the individual's longing to improve, because the creature has no assurance of their own state until the end of life.
The Qur'an describes many prophets and messengers within Judaism and Christianity, and their respective followers, as Muslim. Some of those that were mentioned are: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus and his apostles are all considered to be Muslims in the Qur'an. The Qur'an states that these men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values, which included praying, charity, fasting and pilgrimage. Thus, in Surah 3:52 of the Qur'an, Jesus' disciples tell him, "We believe in God; and you be our witness that we are Muslims." In Islamic belief, before the Qur'an, God had given the Tawrat to the prophets and messengers among the Children of Israel, the Zabur to David and the Injil to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets.
Demographics
According to Pew estimates, as of 2020, Muslims made up about 25.6% of the global population, or roughly 2 billion people. The growth is mainly due to Muslims having a younger average age and higher birth rates—two key drivers of natural population increase. The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12.7% of the world's Muslims, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Egypt. About 20% of the world's Muslims live in the Middle East and North Africa. Non-majority India contains 10.9% of the world's Muslims. Arab Muslims form the largest ethnic group among Muslims in the world, followed by Bengalis, and Punjabis.Over 87–90% of Muslims are Sunni. The second largest sect, Shia, make up 10–13%, whereas other movements such as the Ahmadiyya, Quranism, Ibadism, collectively count for 1% per cent. While the majority of the population in the Middle East identify as either Sunni or Shia, a significant number of Muslims identify as non-denominational.
With about 1.8 billion followers, almost a quarter of earth's population, Islam is the second-largest and the fastest-growing religion in the world, primarily due to the young age and high fertility rate of Muslims, with Muslims having a rate of 3.1 compared to the world average of 2.5. According to the same study, religious switching has no impact on the Muslim population, since the number of people who embrace Islam and those who leave Islam are roughly equal. According to a 2020 Pew study, about 1% of adults raised Muslim leave the faith, while a similar share convert to Islam, resulting in low levels of religious switching both into and out of Islam.
As of 2010, 49 countries in the world had Muslim majorities, in which Muslims comprised more than 50% of the population. In 2010, 74.1% of the world's Muslim population lived in countries where Muslims are in the majority, while 25.9% of the world's Muslim population lived in countries where Muslims are in the minority. A Pew Center study in 2010 found that 3% of the world's Muslim population lives in non-Muslim-majority developed countries. India's Muslim population is the world's largest Muslim-minority population in the world. Followed by Ethiopia, China, Russia and Tanzania. Sizeable minorities are also found in the Americas, Australia and parts of Europe. According to a 2020 Pew study, 79% of the world's Muslim population live in Muslim-majority countries, while 21% reside in countries where Muslims are a minority.
A Pew Center study in 2016 found that Muslims have the highest number of adherents under the age of 15 of any major religion, while only 7% are aged 60+. According to the same study, Muslims have the highest fertility rates of any major religious group. The study also found that Muslims have the lowest average levels of education with an average of 5.6 years of schooling, though both groups have made the largest gains in educational attainment in recent decades among major religions. About 36% of all Muslims have no formal schooling, and Muslims have the lowest average levels of higher education of any major religious group, with only 8% having graduate and post-graduate degrees.