A common misconception about Muslims. In fact, although the modern form of Islam was started in the Arabian Peninsula (Muslims feel that Islam is a much older religion that all prophets preached, the core of which is absolute monotheism), Arabs only represent approximately 20 per cent of the world's Muslim population. Depending on which estimate you believe, there are approximately 1 billion to 1.2 billion Muslims (or at least nominal Muslims).

The world's largest Muslim country is Indonesia, with a Muslim population of around 200 million. Bangladesh and Pakistan also have larger populations than any Arab country. Even China has a Muslim population of 50 million or so.