Middle East and Muslims Essay

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document

Total Length: 1519 words ( 5 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 1+

Page 1 of 5

Acquaintances: Differences and Similarities

Middle East

The area of Western Asia and Northern Africa is called the Middle East. This name is coined in referral to Europe as the region is located within East Europe, West India and North Africa and is different from the Far East. The Middle East is one of the world's earliest regions and it has always been an important center of global activities. In fact, it has been proven that the Middle East boasts the earliest history records as that is where writing was invented. The Middle East was also where several present day monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and even Islam originated from. Of recent though, the Middle East have become a very unstable region due to increased European influence and a growing nationalist desire among its people which has led to several aggressive uprisings aimed at creating new independent nations. Due to this, the Middle Easterners today have been given a violent and bad stereotype. The Middle East is a dry region characterized by extremes of temperature. The popular landforms in the region include several hills and mountains as well as expansive deserts and flat grassy land areas. Due to its poor rainfall, the water bodies in the Middle East are crucial to the existence of its people. Politically, economically, culturally and religiously, the Middle East is a very important global location. (Atwater, 2011).

Common Languages

The Middle East doesn't boast a large land size, but the region is home to a wide variety of languages and cultures. Arabic is the Middle East's most widely spoken language and it is a Semitic dialect with close similarities to Hebrew with its earliest recorded use being the 8th century BC. Arabic is one of the few languages on Earth with several different forms and this causes problems for people from different Arabic-speaking Middle Eastern countries in communicating with each other (Doyle, 2012).

The second most widely spoken Middle Eastern language is called Persian or Farsi and its Iran's official language. Farsi has over 65 million speakers across the Middle East with Iranians having a large share of this number and a considerable part of Afghanistan and United Arab Emirates people make up the rest (Doyle, 2012).

Stuck Writing Your "Middle East and Muslims" Essay?

View All Our Example Middle East and Muslims Essay

Have A Custom Example Essay Written



Approximately 3.8 million Middle Easterners communicate in Hebrew, with most Hebrew speakers located in Israel and its close neighbors (Doyle, 2012). The official language of Turkey known as Turkish also has about 170,000 speakers in Cyprus as well as a small population located in the Fertile Crescent area. Another common language is Kurdish, the official language of the Kurds which occupy a large expanse of area located between Beirut and Afghanistan (Doyle, 2012).

There are several other less spoken languages in the Middle Eastern countries. An example is Berber popularly spoken by North Africans such as Egyptians. Azeri, spoken by a minority of the Turkish population is also spoken in some parts of Iran. Turkish populations living in the Zagros Mountains of Iran communicate in Qashqai, another minority language, while a population living in Southeastern and Eastern Iran known as Baluch and immigrants residing in the United Arab Emirates and Oman speak Baluchi. Wandering tribes living in the Zagros Mountains speak a language called Luri. Armenian is also commonly spoken by small populations in developed areas like Beirut, Aleppo, and Cairoetc. (Doyle, 2012).

Belief

The Middle East is mostly an Islamic region if the individual states are considered. Due to this, people tend to hastily generalize about the singularity of religion in the region without considering a number of marked differences. For example, Islam has several different divisions with each division having their beliefs. The Sunni division is the largest in the Middle East. The Shiite division aka Shia Islam is the major division in countries like Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain. Shiites are also present in small populations in Lebanon, Kuwait and Yemen. Apart from the major Sunni and Shiite groups, there also exist other smaller groups like the Alawites, the Druze, the Ibadis, the Ismailis, the Shafis and a number of different Sufi groups (COTF, 2002).

Apart from Islam, there are other religions practiced by Middle Easterners. An example is Judaism practiced mostly by Israeli Jews who make up over 80% of the entire Israeli population. Israel is the sole Middle Eastern country which doesn't….....

Show More ⇣

     Open the full completed essay and source list


OR

     Order a one-of-a-kind custom essay on this topic


sample essay writing service

Cite This Resource:

Latest APA Format (6th edition)

Copy Reference
"Middle East And Muslims" (2017, April 30) Retrieved June 29, 2025, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/middle-east-muslims-2164575

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

Copy Reference
"Middle East And Muslims" 30 April 2017. Web.29 June. 2025. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/middle-east-muslims-2164575>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Middle East And Muslims", 30 April 2017, Accessed.29 June. 2025,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/middle-east-muslims-2164575
   

Open, View, and/or
Download this Document
order custom essay example