Most of the world’s Muslims are not Arab, yet media conflate the categories.

Evidence

It is commonly assumed that Iranians and Pakistanis are Arab and that all Arabs are Muslim and all Muslims Arab, despite the fact that there are 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide and that approximately 15 to 20 percent of them are Arab. The majority of the world’s Muslim population is concentrated in Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India, with sizable populations in Senegal, Uzbekistan, China, and Malaysia. Why are these categories interchangeable when most Muslims are not Arab and when none of the most populous countries are Arab? This conflation enables a particular racial Othering that would not operate in the same way through another conflation, such as, for example, Arab/Christian, Arab/Jew, or Indonesian/Muslim. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 81 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Elamin’s story and those of other black Muslims were perpetually eclipsed by coverage of Arab and Iranian Muslims. Even the media’s well-intentioned and spirited efforts to bring to light Muslim victimhood perpetuated the private Islamophobic tenet that conflates Muslim identity with Arab or South Asian identity, evidencing just how entrenched and pervasive this tenet is. As we have seen, this erasure is rooted in American law, starting with enslaved African Muslims who worshipped while in bondage and continuing with the ignored and overlooked experiences of black Muslims detained and handcuffed. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 458 (#expands, via linked claim)

Despite this ambiguity, the racialized Muslim is mobilized as a unitary figure. To frame my analysis, I evoke ”the Muslim” as a category that encompasses many nationalities, social and cultural practices, religious a≈liations (from Muslim Sunni and Shia to Christian, Sikh, and Hindu), and social realities that, through the process of state and popular racialization, is generalized.Ω The system of policing that targets Arab, Muslim, and South Asian immigrants for detention and deportation, as exemplified by the placement of ”the Muslim” in the U.S. racial formation under the Bush administration’s War on Terror, is crafted through a broad logic of antiimmigrant racism. What is particularly telling is the disproportionately high number of Pakistanis deported either through forced or voluntary means in the sweeps that followed 9/11.∞≠ Not only does Pakistan as a country represent terror, danger, and Islamic militancy, but Pakistanis in the U.S. are cast as perilous racial figures of indeterminate standing. — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 45 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: 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; Muslims are demographically dispersed and diverse, not a monolithic Arab bloc (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Most of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims are not Arab #corroborates (0.97) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 81
• Even sympathetic media coverage perpetuates the Muslim-equals-Arab conflation. #expands (0.92) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 458
• The Muslim is a unitary racial category despite enormous internal diversity. #complicates (0.78) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 45