Are Muslims of Arab origin

Answer 1

No. Jews and Arabs are different peoples, although both are Semitic.

Muslims are followers of Islam, which is a religion; Muslims can be of any race, ethnicity, descent, etc.

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God and Allah are different names for the same deity. Jews originating from the Middle East are of the same semitic bloodline as Arabs. Jews too can be of different races as witness the Ethiopian Jews who migrated to modern Israel.

There are similarities betwen the two religions also. For example, the Halaal procedure of preparing and slaughtering animals is very like the Kosher method that is used by Jews. Also, neither Jews or Arabs eat pork as it is considered `unfit`.

Also, note that while "Jew" can refer to either the ethnic group or the religious affiliation (or both), "Muslim" is ONLY a religious affiliation, and NOT a racial or ethnic group. So, it is incorrect to say someone is of "Muslim descent" - that is, there is no "Muslim" race, so no one can be of "Muslim descent".

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Muslim faith teaches that everyone is born Muslim and that those who do not recognize affiliation and practice the faith have strayed.

Jewish Answer:

No, but they are not unrelated.

Tradition states that both Jews and Arabs are the descendants of Abraham; the Jews through Isaac and Arabs through Ishmael (see Genesis ch.21 and 25).

While it is true that converts have joined Judaism, DNA analysis has shown that Jewish communities the world over are all related. Remarkably closely.

Answer 2

Roughly 20% of Muslims today are Arabs and the remaining 80% are Non-Arab Muslims. The religion of Islam, as generally understood, was founded by Arabs.

Historically, there was a huge distinction between Arab Muslims and Non-Arab Muslims. Non-Arab Muslims are usually called Mawali (meaning those who are governed - in reference to the fact that Arabs were ruling over them initially). The Umayyad Caliphate was well-known for its disparaging treatment of Mawali. In fact, the success of the Abbassids in their revolt against the Umayyads had a lot to do with the fact that Abbassids claimed that they would institute equality between Arab Muslims and Mawali. (A "campaign promise" that they more-or-less fulfilled.)

The most numerous and important groups during the Rise of Islam Period of Mawali were the Persians in Iran, the Amazigh (Berbers) of North Africa, and the Muladies (Spaniards) of Islamic Spain. All three of these groups were responsible for numerous contributions to Math, Science, Philosophy, History, and Theology in the Islamic Empires. (For example, Averroes/Ibn-Rushd was Amazigh (he wrote on history), Al-Khwarzimi was Persian (he invented algebra), and Avicenna/Ibn-Sina was an Amazigh-Muladi (he perfected Islamic medical practices).)

Today, the largest populations of Muslims are the Mawali of South Asia (India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan) and Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Indonesia). The Amazigh, Persian, Turkish, and European Muslims are also sizeable communities. There remain large tensions between these communities and the Arab World. Mawali take issue with the Arab Muslim claim that they can still dictate the terms of a religion of which they are no longer the majority because they were the first recipients of the message. Arab Muslims counter that much of Mawali Islam is syncretic with indigenous traditions which are themselves not Islamic or counter-Islamic and so their voices are the truer voices of what Islam should represent.

Answer 3

Arab Muslims