Introduction

Abstract

To most of the Western world, the Middle East represents mysterious and exotic cultures, the heart of the world’s petroleum production, the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and the center of today’s political and religious turmoil and anti-American sentiments. Although the Middle East is thought to be home to the majority of the world’s Muslims, actually, most Muslims live outside of the Middle East and North African (MENA) region. Over a billion Muslims live in about forty-five Muslim-majority and some twenty Muslim- minority countries. The Muslim world spreads from Senegal to the Philippines with the largest number on the South Asian subcontinent; Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world. The mass media of the West portrays the region encompassing the Middle East and North Africa as the heart of the Muslim world, the land of Muslims par excellence, and yet the MENA region contains fewer than twenty Muslim countries and only 20 percent of the world’s Muslim population. As table 1.1 indicates, most of countries that have populations of 90 percent or more Muslim are located in Asia and Africa.