1.3 The Islamic world

• Aardrijkskunde
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 2

1.3 The Islamic world

Learning objectives

After studying this section, you will be able to:

• Describe how Islam has diff used across the Middle East and Northern Africa;
• Describe the most important cultural elements of the Islamic world.

Islamic world

What percentage of the Dutch population is muslim?

Talking point
Do you think it should be allowed to transform
an empty church into a mosque? Why, or why not?

In the word ‘submission’, the English translation of ‘Islam’, the prefix ‘sub’ originates from Latin. It literally means ‘under’. The word submission here is about accepting your place as a human being, ‘under’ the guidance of a God. In Dutch, this would be translated to ‘onderwerping’.

Sunnis and Shi’as: two different Muslim groups

Cultural differences within the Islamic world

Cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi have become multicultural cities. 

• The existence of many different cultures in an area or society.

Big differences in income lead to big differences in daily life.

Arabic is the fifth most widelyused language in the world. 

It is the lingua franca (most commons spoken language) in the Islamic world.

Religion of peace

Unfortunately, the Islamic world is often linked to terrorist attacks. However, it needs to be stressed that the vast majority of Muslims reject these terrorist attacks. They see these acts as being in conflict with the true meaning of the Qur’an. The groups behind these terrorist attacks have an extreme and violent interpretation of the Qur’an. These extremists make up a very small part of the Islamic world.

Generally, Muslims have an overwhelmingly negative view of the terrorist group with no more than 15 percent of people in countries with significant Muslim populations (besides Syria) holding a favourable view of the group.

Essence

The Islamic world shares a common religion: Islam. Trading relationships and military campaigns during the 7th and 8th centuries were especially important in the spread of Islam through this cultural region. Most cultural elements in the Islamic world are derived from the Qur’an, the holy book of Muslims. Arabic functions as the lingua franca, making communication possible throughout this large region. Differences within the Islamic world occur because of different religious interpretations and differences in economic development.

What have you learned?

Go to the planner in Teams to see what task(s) you can choose from for paragraph 1.3