International Branches
Muslim World - Overview

The term Muslim world has two basic meanings.

In a cultural sense it is a term given to the world-wide community of those who adhere to the religion of Islam. This community, whose members are known as Muslims, number approximately 1.4 - 1.6 billion people. This community does not constitute a distinct race, but are spread across every race; the world's Muslims are connected by the heritage of adhering to a common set of values and principles.

Working For The Unity Of Mankind

 

In a geographical and political sense the terms Muslim World and Islamic world refer to geographical and political entities with domination of Islam.

The diaspora of Muslims worldwide are also known collectively as the ummah. The faith emphasizes unity and defense of fellow Muslims, so it should be common for Muslim nations to co-operate; however, nationalist currents have tended to divide rather than unite the Islamic world, particularly in the second half of the 20th century.

Nearly one in five people in the world today claims the faith of Islam. A diverse community of believers spans the globe.  Over fifty countries have Muslim-majority populations, while other groups of believers are clustered in minority communities on nearly every continent.

Although Islam is often associated with the Arab world and the Middle East, fewer than 15% of Muslims are Arab.

Distribution of Muslims

• Africa - 308,660,000 (27.4%)
• Asia - 778,362,000 (69.1%)
• Europe - 32,032,000 (2.8%)
• Latin America - 1,356,000 (0.1%)
• North America - 5,530,000 (0.5%)
• Oceania - 385,000 (0.0%)

Demographics
One fifth of the world population share Islam as an ethical tradition. Muslims are the majority in 52 nations. They speak about 60 languages and come from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

• 3-11 million Muslims in the Americas (estimates vary greatly) 
• 2.5-8 million Muslims in Canada and the United States 
  • <1-3 million Muslims in Latin and Central America 
• 84 million Muslims in Europe (including Turkey) 
  • 10 million Muslims in Western Europe, mostly in the UK, France, Germany 
  • 7 million Muslims in the Balkans, mostly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania and Republic of Macedonia 
• 67 million Muslims in Turkey 
• 284 million Muslims in the Arab League including Iraq (with about 15 million Shia, 60% of the population in Iraq) 
• 254 million Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa 
• 67 million Muslims (90% of them Shia) in Iran 
• 103 million Muslims in Central Asia 
• 49 million Muslims in the former republics of the Soviet Union: Central Asia - in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan 
• 26 million Muslims in Russia 
• 28 million Muslims in Afghanistan 
• 420 million Muslims in South Asia 
• 156 million Muslims in Pakistan 
• 127 million Muslims in Bangladesh 
• 137 million Muslims in India 
• 289 million Muslims in East Asia 
• 50 million Muslims in China 
• 209 million Muslims in Indonesia (the largest National Muslim community in the world) 
• 30 million Muslims in the rest of South-East Asia, especially Malaysia and Brunei. 
• Small populations in Japan, Mongolia, North Korea or the South Pacific 
• close to 1.5 billion in total

Main Denominations of Islam
The two main denominations of Islam are the Sunni and Shia sects. The difference between them is primarily in terms of how the life of the ummah ("faithful") should be governed, and the role of the imam.
The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the world are Sunni.
The Shi'a are a majority in Iraq (60%) and in Iran (89%), and Azerbaijan (75%).

Islam in Law and Ethics
The Islamic law exists in many variations, but the main forms are the five (four Sunni and one Shia) schools of jurisprudence (fiqh):

• The Hanafi school in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, West Africa, Egypt, 
• The Maliki in North Africa and West Africa, 
• The Shafi'i in Malaysia, Indonesia, and East Africa 
• The Hanbali in Arabia, and 
• Jaferi in Iran and Iraq - where the majority is Shia.