Arab ethnic identity is linguistic and cultural, distinct from Muslim religious identity.

Evidence

Much of the current Islamophobic rhetoric seeks to demonize Arabs in particular. As we saw in the example at the start of this chapter, Obama was “accused” of being an Arab, which is shorthand for “Muslim” in some quarters. Let us note, therefore, a simple point: all Muslims are not Arabs, and all Arabs are not Muslims. Arabs are people who speak Arabic, share certain common cultural traditions, and claim a common Arab ethnic identity. Geographically, the Arab world has traditionally been divided into two parts: the Maghreb or the West, which includes Morocco, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, and other countries west of the Nile, and the Mashreq or the East, which includes Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and all the countries to the east of the Nile up to, but not including, Iran. Because of linguistic and cultural differences, Iranians and Turks are not considered Arabs. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 161 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

That he was misidentified by once friendly customers and neighbors as an “Afghani” or a “Pakistani” reveals how Arab and South Asian identities have become conflated with Islam. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 173 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Thus, millets were formally recognized as constituting religious groups that differed from the Islamic identity of the Ottomans, but they did in fact also represent a variety of ethnic (religious) collectivities with no claim to any territory as such. This is highlighted by Kemal Karpat, who notes ”… that the sense of identity and solidarity in all Middle Eastern ‘national’ states derives to a large extent from their sense of religious identity and communality instead of from feelings of ethnic and/or linguistic group solidarity” (Karpat 1988:37). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3470 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Arab ethnicity is defined by language and culture, not religion; Arab and Muslim identities are distinct categories, not interchangeable; Arabian and Muslim identities are distinct categories defined by language, not religion — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 292 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Arab and Muslim identities are distinct and overlap only partially. #corroborates (0.90) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 161
• Middle Eastern national identity derives from religious communality rather than ethnicity #contradicts (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3470
• Arab and South Asian identities have been conflated with Islam #contradicts (0.80) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 173
• Arabic-speaking peoples defined themselves by Islamic loyalty rather than ethnicity #contradicts (0.75) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 828
• Religion rather than nationality has been the primary basis of identity in Islam #contradicts (0.70)