Demographic Islamization: Non-Muslim Minorities in Muslim Countries
In: SAIS Review, Band 21, Heft 2, S. 103-116
Examines the situation of non-Muslims living in Muslim countries of the Middle East & North Africa during the current period of rapid Islamization. It is argued that the decrease in the proportion of non-Muslims is largely the result of intermarriage & international migration, indicating a receptive attitude within non-Muslim communities to the Muslim environment, as well as openness to the outside world within these nations. The history of religious minorities living in Muslim countries of the Middle East & North Africa is traced from pre-Islamic & colonial times to the present, noting various stages of Islamization, factors that interrupted them, & ways in which nation-states provided an institutional & ideological framework that allowed Islamization to resume. Key reasons for emigration to other countries by members of religious minorities are discussed, along with the impact of intermarriage, & the positive but "silent" forces of differing birth/death rates on the religious composition of populations. Future demographic prospects for non-Muslim minorities in Muslim countries of the Middle East & North Africa are assessed. 1 Table. J. Lindroth