Are Arabs generally very religious?

Factual Questions
1

Recently, whenever I see a quote in the newspaper from a man on the street in an Arab country, it almost always includes several “Allah be praised!” or “God, the most merciful” -type statements. “I hope the Americans get crushed by the mighty armpit of Saddam, God be praised.” Some Americans are devout, but on a whole even the most evalgelical Christian doesn’t pepper every sentence with “Praise Christ Jesus!”

I’m under the impression that Arabs that practice Islam are far more devout in their faith than … well, your typical American (non-fundie) Christian or European Catholic. True? If so, why?

2

Are you asking strictly about Arabs who are still living in their native countries?

My experiences with Arab-born American muslims is that they are no more and no less devout than any other American is of any religion. I dated a man from Pakistan and the only remnant I ever saw was that the always asked for no bacon bits when he ordered a salad in a restaurant. My boss, who is from Pakistan also, and her Bangladeshi husband observe the major religious holidays and regularly go to “prayer hall” (I believe is how they refer to it) but other than that there would be no hint as to their religious preferences. I have never heard any of them say “Allah” in any context.

But, maybe that’s why they live here now.

3

This won’t answer the OP directly, but it’s probably worth pointing out sooner rather than later that neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh are Arab countries.

Personally I’ve met Muslims from both those countries, plus Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UAE, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Yemen (and non-Arab places such as India, Turkey, Cyprus, Morocco, Nigeria, Malaysia, France, the UK etc. etc.). I’ve encountered a wide variety of degrees of religious observance and the use of religious interjections in routine speech.

4

i’m sure there is just as wide a range of the devotion in the arabic culture as there is in any other.

just a thought… i’ve noticed that when local people from my hometown are interviewed by the news it tends to be some one that most closely resembles the stereotypical southerner. it doesn’t truely represent the people that live there. it could be possible that newspapers are only interviewing the stereotypical moslem… or those are the only people that are talking. i don’t really see it representing the people as a whole though.

5

I was in Pakistan for a few months several years ago. From my perspective as an American (and an atheist one at that), things were VERY religious, but in very slight undertones. God was called out often in newspaper articles, phrases in speech, and in casual conversation references would be made to religious events.

A couple of examples that come to mind:

  • One gentleman I knew there wrote letters to editors all the time, and one that he had just written while we were at his house eating dinner was discussed. It involved some law and how the koran applied to it.

  • One gentleman I knew was talking about “kids these days” (I’m sure every culture has these sorts of discussions). He was talking about one young man who had gone wayward in some minor ways, and then one day displayed some maturity. Part of this sign of maturity was that he wore his pants slightly short, which it turns out was something Mohammed did, and this was considered “extra points”.

  • I was talking business ideas with one gentleman, and he said that he’s thought there’s a lot of business that could be done as part of a ritual slaughtering that muslims participate in as part of their journey to Mecca. (I don’t recall the details, but you’re required to slaughter a particular type of animal, perhaps a goat. You typically pay someone else to do the slaughtering, and the meat is given to charity. There’s a lot of work done in raising, transport, etc., and this gentleman felt it could be a great business).

By the way each of the above conversations were with relatively senior people in the Pakistani society, things I’d be surprised to see from similar folks here. Specifically, one was a former General, one was a College Professor, and one was an Ambassador and a former Admiral.

These sorts of discussions weren’t in every sentence, in fact not all that often, but often enough that you were constantly aware that something was different here.

I should also mention that religion was never mentioned in the sense that I was proseletyzed to, or put down in any way for my religious thoughts. Although I was always careful to not throw out my own religious ideas.

6

My roommate is an unobservant Christian from Syria, (lived here 5 years) and he says that there is simply a lot more hypocrisy and peer pressure. The average shmo on the street has no problem grabbing a beer on the way home from the mosque. He may even be an atheist/agnostic, but he’ll go through the motions to save himself grief.

Moreover, he says, as BillH indicates, the nature of Islam is such that it is impossible to discuss politics, business, art or really anything without the Koran being brought up, it is so inextricably entwined in the culture.

7

I can’t recall ever hearing of an atheist Arab. Do any exist?

8

Not all Arabs are Islamic.

All generalisations are bad.

Some things people say are just expressions.

I doubt 99% of usual conversation merits an “Allah be praised”. But quotes in newspapers tend to be about bigger issues. Compare this with the amount of religious references in quotes from the man on the New York street on Sept 11th.

9

Pakistan is not an Arab country.

10

@trustno1

Of course. I’m looking for backup, but I’m fairly certain that Saddam Hussein is one :slight_smile: . I’m sure that ** Collounsbury** can correct me, but I think that there are elements of aethism inherent in the Ba’ath party, although it may be that it is just secular and I’m wrong.

Certainly, a recent biography that I saw on Saddam on the History channel stated that when he first went on TV praying, people were saying that he prayed like a Shiite. This tends to indicate that he wasn’t very well practiced for someone who should pray five times a day.

@FG

InshAllah, God willing, is a phrase used routinely even by non-Muslim Arabic speakers in place of “hopefully”, “if all goes well”, etc. So it might not be 99%, but certainly a significant number of conversations will include it. As you say, in some cases it may be used just as an expression, rather than a fatalism.

11

No, it’s more the latter. Ba’athism is inherently secular, but it did not borrow the semi-official Marxist doctrine of atheism.

Saddam may well be a full-on atheist, it wouldn’t surprise me. And Ba’athists ( if there are any old-school true believers left - I suspect many of the political idealists have long since been purged ), being secularists by nature, are certainly more likely to be atheist than the average schmo. But one doesn’t presuppose the other.

Atheism in an adult, former Muslim, equals aspotasy. That is a very big no-no in Islam. So folks in more theologically repressive countries might not be as quick to be very public about such beliefs. But I’m sure it is not exceptionally uncommon - Skepticism is as inherent to the human condition as is faith.

  • Tamerlane
12

I’m sure regular guys in Arab countries think Islam is mostly bullshit just like regular guys in Christian countries think Christianity is mostly bullshit. Just another thing you go through the motions with to save yourself grief.

13

First, please note the conjunction AND.

While I should not want to be excessively peevish, let me note Pakistan is not and Arab country in any way shape or form and so can not go to answering the question re Arabs.

Even as Muslims it is rather distinguishable from the Arab world, so generalizations there are a bit off to start.

Now, first to those posting “I am sure the average X is just like me” let me point you to my thread in the Great Debates. I hope it will be instructive. On a certain human level that is very true, but the customs and the like are far, far different.

Now, as to religiousity. First, Arabs, Muslim and Xian tend to be rather more religious than Westerners, although when one brings Americans into the mix this becomes a bit of a closer call.

Many expressions, such as incha’allah and the like are pure custom and do not in any way denote religiousity. I pepper my speech, even in English now, with incha’allah, although I do not believe that any god intervenes in a daily sort of way in life. Habit. Similarly other expressions that when translated sound quite religious do not necessarily maintain a very religious connotation. This is more true in the Arab world than in the Muslim world ex-Arab territories where one can have recourse to the native idiom sometimes instead of an Arabic expression.

I will further add that if one knows the origins of any number of Latin lang. polite expressions, one would recieve a similar impression of religiousity - I do not believe that Islamic society is all that unique as some commentators would have it. Certainly plenty of people do plenty of things without recourse to the Quran per se.

The best answer I can give in the end is then (a) I would venture that on average the Arab world (and the developing world, Xian or Muslim) is more religiously observant than the developed world. Easily understood if you think of what people put up with. (b) it is easy to recieve an exagerated idea on the degree due to cultural habits.

I’ll add I have know many agnostics but no athiests in my time in the region. Copping to being a doubter on religion and its tenants is not that bad, eccentric but not that bad; copping to not believing in a God is apostasy in the view of BOTH Xians and Muslims.

There you have it.

14

Blanket statements on a subject like this are always of dubious value. I merely offer this observation: a generation or two ago, the Arabs of Palestine seemed to be fairly secular. Yes, they were overwhelmingly (but not exclusively) Moslems, but they generally weren’t strict or scrupulously observant.

That seems to have changed, and that’s largely a reflection of anger and hopelessness.

15

Actually a cogent observation. Secularism was quite in the vogue from around 1955 thorugh to the late 1970s or better early to mid-1980s, depending on the country (ex-Saudi Arabia, Yemen).

There is a drastic difference to be seen between films, just to take an easy example, made in the 1960s and those made today.

While the roots of religiousity are deep, the method of expression and fervor has very much changed.

16

God forbid Americans and Western Europeans ever do that. I mean, good Lord, that would be silly. Doing something like that makes the baby Jesus cry.

17

Cap’n Amazing, you sarcastic bastid you, I bow in your general direction.

18

I pretty much agree. I went to school in Dearborn, MI, which has the highest population of Arabic Muslims in the world, outside the Middle East.

Just like many Christians will tell you that there are very few sincere and true Christians, most devout Muslims feel the same way about Islam. The difference is that many Arabs who are not devout still have a strong tie to Islam and feel very defensive of it and its culture. This is natural, living in a country that is very non-Islamic.

This is also why a vast majority of Arab students at the University I attended are against the war in the Middle East. They think and feel that the President is trying to wipe out Islam in the world.

They feel betrayed. Muslim leaders in Michigan(and for the most part, America) threw their support behind Bush in the last election, for many of the same reasons conservative Christians did.

19

[Texan]Yeah, I like verde sauce on my enchiladas…[/Texan]

20

Point of clarification, Iran is not an Arab country.