ABSTRACT
Look at a map of the world and imagine yourself travelling eastwards from Morocco to Indonesia. The majority of the population in most of the countries which you pass through will be Muslims. This imaginary journey should make you aware that Islam is not simply the religion of the Arabs; in fact there are some 200 million Muslims in Indonesia alone, which is more than the total in all twenty-three Arab countries put together. It should also lead you to expect a good deal of variety in the beliefs and practices of Muslims. Were you to visit some of the countries too far north or south to be on your imaginary itinerary, you would encounter even more variety. Think for example of Turkey; or of Gambia, Guinea, Senegal and Mali in sub-Saharan Africa. Nor should the existence of all these Muslim countries blind you to the presence of substantial Muslim minorities elsewhere in the world. There are, for instance, over 100 million Muslims in India; at least 20 million in China; 6 million in the USA; 3 million in France; and 1 million in the UK.
