Languages of Muslim countries
Muslims believe that God revealed the Qur'an to the Muhammad literally, word-for-word, in the Arabic language. Thus, Arabic is regarded as the holy language of Islam.
However, there is no single "Muslim language" per se, as Islam, the faith of Muslims, is shared by people of many different ethnicities and languages:
Majority Muslim countries
- Iranians speak Template:Ll.
- Afghanistan has three major languages, Template:Ll, Template:Ll and Template:Ll, each belonging to ethnic groups (tribes) with the same names.
- The most populous "Muslim country" in the world is Indonesia. The CIA World Factbook 2000 lists languages as: Bahasa Indonesia, Template:Ll, Template:Ll, local dialects, the most widely spoken of which is Template:Ll.
- Turkish people speak Template:Ll, a language in a very different language group from Arabic.
- Morocco: Besides the official Classical Arabic being used by official bodies, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries, Moroccan Arabic also known as Darija is the colloquial language. It is grammatically simpler, and has a less voluminous vocabulary than Classical Arabic. As in Algeria, most Moroccan-Arabs live in the north of the country. Other Moroccans speak Berber languages such as Template:Ll and Template:Ll
- Berber languages can also be heard in Algeria, notably including Template:Ll, spoken by the Kabyle Berbers in the north-east of Algeria. Another Algerian language is Template:Ll, spoken by the Chaoui, south-west of the Kabyle region. See Languages of Algeria.
- Nigeria: primarily Template:Ll, but some Template:Ll and Template:Ll speakers are also Muslim.
- Pakistan: Template:Ll
- Bangladesh: Template:Ll
- Malaysia: Template:Ll
- Albania: Template:Ll
- Bosnia (at least the Muslim component of federation; Bosniak population is almost exactly half of total population): Template:Ll
- Sudan: primarily a Sudanese dialect of Template:Ll
- Somalia: Template:Ll
- Libya: Template:Ll
- Tunisia: Template:Ll
- Mauritania: The official language of the country is Template:Ll, but common people of Arab-Berber origin use a distinct variety known as Template:Ll. Many people in the south of the country speak one of the national languages, such as Pulaar, Template:Ll or Template:Ll. These are also spoken in Senegal.
- Yemen: Template:Ll
- Iraq: Template:Ll
- Syria: Template:Ll
- Al-Andalus: the former Islamic part of the Iberian peninsula had substantial population of Muladis and Catholics, that spoke the Romance Mozarabic language. The Islamic conquerors spoke Arabic and Berber. Christians and Jews used Template:Ll and Template:Ll as their religious language, but Arabic became the language of culture for all the population.
Countries with significant Muslim minorities
- China: A variety of languages are spoken by Chinese Muslims. Uighurs in Xinjiang speak Template:Ll while the Hui minority generally speak Mandarin Chinese.
- Canada: Template:Ll
- Philippines: primarily Template:Ll, Template:Ll and other languages in Mindanao. Some Template:Ll speakers are Muslims.
Variations in Arabic
The Arabic language has many different 'branches'. Whether these are to be considered mere dialects or separate languages is a question of debate. The fact is, that it is not self-evident that all Arabic-speaking people understand each other when they speak. Each Arab country has developed its own variant of Arabic.
The Arabic spoken in Egypt is very well understood by most Arabic-speaking people. One of the reasons for this is the flourishing Egyptian film industry. Their films are watched by millions of people in the Arabic-speaking world. Another reason may be the leading rôle of the Al-Azhar University in Cairo in theological issues and in the intellectual world. However, this does not mean an Egyptian will easily understand for instance someone speaking Moroccan Arabic. There are many differences, not only in idioms, but in pronunciation and spelling as well. Egyptian Arabic more closely resembles Classical Arabic than does Moroccan-Arabic.