Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census

The Yearbook of International Religious Demography presents an annual snapshot of the state of religious statistics around the world. Every year large amounts of data are collected through censuses, surveys, polls, religious communities, scholars, and a host of other sources. These data are collated and analyzed by research centers and scholars around the world. Large amounts of data appear in analyzed form in the World Religion Database (Brill), aiming at a researcher’s audience. The Yearbook presents data in sets of tables and scholarly articles spanning social science, demography, history, and geography. Each issue offers findings, sources, methods, and implications surrounding international religious demography. Each year an assessment is made of new data made available since the previous issue of the yearbook.

Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2014

Religion is a fundamental characteristic of humankind. While it is possible to find commonalities in different religions across history, peoples, languages, and cultures, it is also true that "religion" encompasses a dizzying array of rituals, practices, doctrines, sacred spaces, and personalities. This diversity is found even within major religions. For the purposes of creating a taxonomy it is possible to refer to seven or eight major religions, and to approximately 10,000 total different religions. 1 At the same time, a significant minority of people claim no religion. Even in the past 100 years this "group" has waxed and waned as a percentage of the world's population. Any serious treatment of religious demography must take both religionists and non-religionists into account. Viewing the world's religions on a global scale reveals a striking demographic reality. 2 Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and even agnostics live side-by-side in many countries, often showing diversity within a province or state. 3 These huge blocs represent to some extent cultural realities (for example, Arabs as Muslims, South Asians as Hindus), but each of these religions also has enormous cultural diversity (for example, most Muslims are not Arabs). This clustering gives rise to other seeming contradictions as well. For example, the Muslim world is perceived as stronger at its core than on the periphery (e.g., Muslims constitute a higher percentage of the population in Saudi Arabia than in Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population). Yet, at the same time, the majority of Muslims live in Asia, not the Middle East or North Africa. Chinese folk-religionists are an absolute majority in no country or province, although they make up over 6% of the global population; most live in China (which is majority agnostic). Conversely, Sikhism and Judaism-although less than 0.3% of the global total each-have local majorities in the Indian state of Punjab and in Israel, respectively. India is also notable for having the highest number of different provincial majority religions (five) in a single country.

Maandeeq Publishing, 2023

This book is the result of years of prayers and consultations. As a Christian who comes from a Muslim background and has survived persecution, I have shared my testimony with fellow believers from various countries; they were deeply impacted by my story, seeing it as a modern-day version of the Acts of the Apostles. For them, the idea that someone could be killed or harmed for their faith in the 21st century seemed unreal. However, Christian converts from a Muslim background may struggle with doubts about the authenticity of their faith if they do not face persecution as described in 2 Timothy 3:12. With the knowledge I gained, I gathered the testimonies of twenty Muslim background believers from various countries to amplify the blessings of the Lord. The impact of having twenty testimonies from fellow brothers and sisters who used to be Muslims would be even greater than my own testimony. I collected these accounts starting in 2020 and submitted them to the press for publication by 2023. It was not an easy task, as I faced numerous challenges during the three-year period. It felt like I was in a spiritual war, with Satan trying to conceal the message you are reading now, but He failed.

2023

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

The Rowman & Littlefield Handbook of Christianity in the Middle East, 2020

This chapter provides an overview of the presence and development of Middle Eastern Christians outside of the region. It explores three distinct themes relating to Middle Eastern Christian diasporas – the role of the church, interactions with wider society and transnational ties. It is important to note that communal associations separate from the churches have also been created and play an important role in developing community life including preserving their culture. These will be explored in relation to interactions with new societies, the Middle East and other parts of the diaspora. However, given that the denominational churches play a central role in shaping the identity of faith-based migrant groups, the first section will primarily focus on church-led activities. The needs and interests of the first and second migrant generations will also be explored. The three themes are devised from research findings from a collaborative project exploring Middle Eastern Christian Communities in Europe with case studies of Coptic Orthodox, Assyrian/Syriac and Iraqi Christians in the UK, Denmark and Sweden. While the findings have relevance to other denominations and countries, indeed some examples are given from the United States, Canada and Australia; it is not possible for the chapter to explore all denominations or geographic areas. Thus, the chapter concentrates on the larger denominations, which combine a faith and ethnic identity.

Christianity in North Africa and West Asia, 2018

routledge handbook of islam in the west 2nd ed, 2022

This is a brief survey of conversion to Islam in Western Europe and the United States, published in 2022. This is the first study that I am aware of that gathers and discusses most of the available information for each Western European country and the United States. NOTE: This is a completely revamped and different essay than the one I wrote under the same title in 2015, published in the first edition of the Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West.