No. Only about one in five Muslims is Arab. The largest Muslim populations are in Indonesia, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and there are Muslims of every race, from West Africa to China and from Bosnia to Brazil.
The Quran addresses all people and states that the best of them before God are the most mindful of Him. In his last sermon, the Prophet ﷺ said that an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab, except by piety. Many of his closest companions were not Arab: Bilal from Ethiopia, Salman from Persia and Suhayb from Byzantium.
Not all Arabs are Muslim either: there are millions of Arab Christians, and Arab Jews and others. Arabic is the language of the Quran and prayer, but Muslims speak thousands of languages.
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍۢ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَٰكُمْ شُعُوبًۭا وَقَبَآئِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتْقَىٰكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌۭ ﴿١٣﴾
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted.
وَمِنْ ءَايَٰتِهِۦ خَلْقُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱخْتِلَٰفُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَٰنِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَءَايَٰتٍۢ لِّلْعَٰلِمِينَ ﴿٢٢﴾
And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge.
This answer follows the mainstream Sunni understanding and is general learning, not a fatwa. Where Muslims differ, the answer says so. Have a question of your own? Write to us.
