There are 1.57 billion Muslims according to a new study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. That's 23% of the world population. 87-90% are Sunni and the remaining 10-13% of them are Shia.
There are a lot of interesting facts from the 62-page study. One example is that Russia has more Muslims than Jordon and Libya combined. Another is that the Pew Forum estimates the United States Muslim population to be only 2.5 million. That's 4.5 million less than President Obama stated in his speech to the Muslim world at Cairo University this past June.
It will also be interesting to see the study they publish next year that will estimate growth rates of Muslims worldwide.
Alan, I've heard that some of the more extreme Muslims throughout the world inflate their statistics as an intimidation tool in their desire to spread Sharia law throughout the world. Interesting post.
In a completely different line of thought, thanks for the reminder this morning to not overlook the Muslim population in this world, as we consider evangelizing our communities and the spread of the gospel worldwide.
Posted by: Dave Marriott | October 08, 2009 at 06:24 AM
I suspect the numbers are inflated by those who live in Muslim countries and call themselves Muslims for the fear of the sword.
Posted by: kpolo | October 08, 2009 at 08:19 AM
I saw this article on Wikipedia about claims to be the fastest growing religion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claims_to_be_the_fastest_growing_religion
After reading the article, I've started taking such claims with a grain of salt.
Posted by: Sam | October 08, 2009 at 11:40 AM
I don't know that the numbers matter too much. After all, does forcing people to convert under penalty of death actually count as a sincere conversion?
What matters more is what Islam teaches and what its followers do.
Posted by: Mo | October 12, 2009 at 01:10 PM
Considering the fact that countries such as Turkey, where people are freely allowed to leave Islam without punishment for the past 90 years yet have not or opted to become secular or just non-religious no matter the preaching to Muslims there shows you that ChristINSANITY is a failure. Moreover, majority of muslim immigrants in Europe and Western countries remain muslim, even though they are free to leave their religion, so maybe if apostasy wasn't punishable by death, muslim population would barely go down, so your arguments don't have any evidence behind it MO AND KPOLO
Posted by: Ronald | October 17, 2009 at 01:29 AM
"ChristINSANITY"...Now, I have to admit, I have not heard that one before.
Posted by: Amy | October 19, 2009 at 12:15 PM