Summary: Islam arose out of the Arabian Desert ndash; its most holy places are Medina and Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia and the original practitioners were, indeed, Arabs. So there may have been a time centuries ago when you could say all Muslims were Arabs. Thatrsquo;s no longer the case. Since its founding Islam has become the fastest growing religion in the world ndash; believers can be found in places like China, India, the Caribbean and even the United States. In fact, the largest Muslim countries arenrsquo;t even found on the Arabian Peninsula or in the Middle East at all. The CIA Factbook lists Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, in that order, as the largest Muslim countries. Arabs make up a little less than 20% of the worldrsquo;s Muslim population.
