Page 110 - Bible Geography and Near East Studies - Textbook w videos short

Study Section 15: Islam in the Near East

15.1 Connect.

Did you know that Islam is the second largest religious group in the world? There are over 1.8
billion people who worship Allah or about 25 percent of the world’s population. 91% of those
people who live in the Middle East and North Africa are Muslims.

15.2 Objectives:

1. The student should be able to recognize the countries of the near or Middle East.

2. The student should be able to identify the countries that impose the death penalty for apostasy.

3. The student should be able to describe and compare the beliefs of Islam with that of Christianity.

15.3 Islam in the Near East

The term, Near East is a geographical term that roughly encompasses most of Western Asia.
The term originally applied to the maximum extent of the Ottoman Empire. It has been
replaced by the terms “Middle East” or “West Asia.” It particularly refers to Turkey, Lebanon,
Syria, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other nations of the Arabia Peninsula. Picture below (By
Esemono - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6607814
Other countries included in this study of the Near East
are Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran,
*Kuwait, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan,
Qatar, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The only countries that are not under governments
which impose Islamic rule are Cyprus and Israel.

Some of these countries impose the death penalty for
blasphemy or apostasy (changing your religion from
Islam). They are Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives,
Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. All of
these countries, except Pakistan, allow for capital
punishment against apostasy, while Pakistan imposes the
death penalty for blasphemy – including a disbelief in
God.

109