Editing Arabs (section)

== Religion ==
{{Main|Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Arab Muslims|Arab Christians|Druze|Arab Jews|Baháʼí Faith}}
Arabs are mostly Muslims with a [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] majority and a [[Shia Islam|Shia]] minority, one exception being the [[Ibadi]]s, who predominate in [[Oman]].<ref name="ahmadi2">See, for example:
* {{Cite book|first=Ori|last=Stendel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t7Ao8dYsCskC&pg=PA45|title=The Arabs in Israel|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|year=1996|isbn=978-1898723240|page=45|access-date=4 March 2014}}
* {{cite book|author=Mohammad Hassan Khalil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmgkD3Hel5IC&pg=PA297|title=Between Heaven and Hell: Islam, Salvation, and the Fate of Others|date=2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199945412|page=297|access-date=1 March 2014}}</ref> [[Arab Christians]] generally follow [[Eastern Churches]] such as the [[Greek Orthodox]] and [[Greek Catholic]] churches, though a minority of [[Protestant Church]] followers also exists.<ref name="Christi2">{{Cite web|title=Christians (in the Arab world)|url=http://www.medea.be/index.html?page=2&lang=en&doc=38|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611202018/http://www.medea.be/index.html?page=2&lang=en&doc=38|archive-date=11 June 2010|access-date=13 April 2010|publisher=Medea.be}}</ref> There are also Arab communities consisting of [[Druze]] and [[Baháʼí Faith|Baháʼís]].<ref>{{Citation|title=The Bahá'í World Centre: Focal Point for a Global Community|url=http://info.bahai.org/article-1-6-0-5.html|access-date=2 July 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070629171538/http://info.bahai.org/article-1-6-0-5.html|url-status=dead|publisher=The Baháʼí International Community|archive-date=29 June 2007}}</ref><ref>"[http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/Joshua_Landis_Druze_and_Shishakli.htm Shishakli and the Druzes: Integration and Intransigence]"</ref> Historically, there were also sizeable populations of [[Arab Jews]] around the Arab World.

[[Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia|Before the coming of Islam]], most Arabs followed a pagan religion with a number of deities, including [[Hubal]],<ref name="Hubal2">{{Cite web|title=Is Hubal The Same As Allah?|url=http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/Allah/hubal.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100325235432/http://www.islamic-awareness.org/Quran/Sources/Allah/hubal.html|archive-date=25 March 2010|access-date=13 April 2010|publisher=Islamic-awareness.org}}</ref> [[Wadd]], [[Al-lāt|Allāt]],<ref name="autogenerated12">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jEcpkWjYOZQC&q=Allat&pg=PA34|title=Dictionary of Ancient Deities|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0195145045}}</ref> [[Manāt|Manat]], and [[Al-Uzza|Uzza]]. A few individuals, the ''[[hanif]]s'', had apparently rejected [[polytheism]] in favor of [[monotheism]] unaffiliated with any particular religion. Some tribes had converted to Christianity or Judaism. The most prominent Arab Christian kingdoms were the [[Ghassanid]] and [[Lakhmid]] kingdoms.<ref name="Marib2">{{Cite web|title=From Marib The Sabean Capital To Carantania|url=http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/1-29-2005-64989.asp|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051227165349/http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/1-29-2005-64989.asp|archive-date=27 December 2005|access-date=13 April 2010|publisher=Buzzle.com}}</ref> When the [[Himyarite]] king converted to [[Judaism]] in the late 4th century,<ref name="Hima2">{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Msn Encarta entry on Himyarites|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570797/himyarites.html|access-date=10 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040704090616/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761570797/Himyarites.html|archive-date=4 July 2004|url-status=dead}}</ref> the elites of the other prominent Arab kingdom, the [[Kindites]], being Himyirite vassals, apparently also converted (at least partly). With the expansion of Islam, polytheistic Arabs were rapidly [[Islamization|Islamized]], and polytheistic traditions gradually disappeared.<ref name="MSNU2">{{Cite web|date=6 January 2009|title=History of Islam|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/islam/history.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100531045659/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/religion/islam/history.html|archive-date=31 May 2010|access-date=13 April 2010|publisher=Mnsu.edu}}</ref><ref name="EncyRe2">{{Cite web|title=Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion|url=http://www.cqpress.com/context/articles/epr_islam.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100428065818/http://www.cqpress.com/context/articles/epr_islam.html|archive-date=28 April 2010|access-date=13 April 2010|publisher=Cqpress.com}}</ref>
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| image1            = The Ka'ba, Great Mosque of Mecca, Saudi Arabia (4).jpg
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| caption1          = [[Kaaba]] is the holiest place in Islam, [[Masjid al-Haram]] in [[Mecca]]
| image2            = Church of the Nativity (7703592746).jpg
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| caption2          = The [[Church of the Nativity]] in [[Bethlehem]], State of Palestine
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Today, Sunni Islam dominates in most areas, vastly so in Levant, North Africa, West Africa and the Horn of Africa. Shia Islam is dominant in [[Bahrain]] and southern [[Iraq]] while northern Iraq is mostly Sunni. Substantial Shia populations exist in [[Lebanon]], [[Yemen]], [[Kuwait]], [[Saudi Arabia]],<ref name="Shia2">{{Cite web|first=Lionel|last=Beehner|title=Shia Muslims in the Mideast|url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/10903/shiite_muslims_in_the_middle_east.html#2|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100411123648/http://www.cfr.org/publication/10903/shiite_muslims_in_the_middle_east.html|archive-date=11 April 2010|access-date=13 April 2010|publisher=Cfr.org}}</ref> northern [[Syria]] and Al-Batinah Region in [[Oman]]. There are small numbers of [[Ibadi]] and [[non-denominational Muslims]] too.<ref name="ahmadi2" /> The [[Druze]] community is concentrated in Levant.<ref>{{cite book|title=Middle East Patterns: Places, People, and Politics|first=Colbert|last=C. Held|year=2008|isbn=978-0429962004|page=109|publisher=Routledge|quote=Worldwide, they number 1 million or so, with about 45 to 50 percent in Syria, 35 to 40 percent in Lebanon, and less than 10 percent in Israel. Recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.}}</ref>

Christianity had a prominent presence In [[pre-Islamic Arabia]] among several Arab communities, including the [[Bahrani people]] of [[Eastern Arabia]], the [[Christian community of Najran]], in parts of [[Yemen#Ancient history|Yemen]], and among certain northern Arabian tribes such as the [[Ghassanids]], [[Lakhmids]], [[Taghlib]], [[Banu Amela]], [[Banu Judham]], [[Tanukhids]] and [[Tayy]]. In the early Christian centuries, Arabia was sometimes known as ''Arabia heretica'', due to its being "well known as a breeding-ground for heterodox interpretations of Christianity."<ref>{{cite book|title=A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered|date=2003|publisher=I.B. Tauris|isbn=978-1860649127|edition=ill., reprint, rev.|page=88|author1=Kamal S. Salibi}}</ref>
Christians make up 5.5% of the population of Western Asia and North Africa.<ref name="Pacini2">{{Cite book|title=Christian Communities in the Middle East|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|isbn=978-0198293880|editor-last=Andrea Pacini}}</ref> In Lebanon, Christians number about 40.5% of the population.<ref name="CIA World Factbook: Lebanon2">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Lebanon}}</ref> In Syria, Christians make up 10% of the population.<ref name="CIA World Factbook: Syria2">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Syria}}</ref> [[Palestinian Christians|Christians in Palestine]] make up 8% and 0.7% of the populations, respectively.<ref name="FactbookGazaStrip2">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Gaza Strip}}</ref><ref name="FactbookWestBank2">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=West Bank}}</ref> In Egypt, Christians number about 10% of the population. In Iraq, Christians constitute 0.1% of the population.<ref>[http://www.arabicbible.com/christian/arab_christians_who_are_they.htm Arab Christians&nbsp;– Who are they?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206024540/http://www.arabicbible.com/christian/arab_christians_who_are_they.htm|date=6 December 2010}}. Arabicbible.com. Retrieved on 3 January 2011.</ref>

In Israel, Arab Christians constitute 2.1% (roughly 9% of the Arab population).<ref name="WFIS2">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Israel|access-date=18 July 2011|year=2011}}</ref> Arab Christians make up 8% of the population of [[Jordan]].<ref name="WFJord2">{{Cite CIA World Factbook|country=Jordan|access-date=18 July 2011|year=2011}}</ref> Most [[North America|North]] and [[South America]]n Arabs are Christian,<ref name="AAIUSA2">{{Cite web|title=The Arab American Institute &#124; Arab Americans|url=http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403085410/http://www.aaiusa.org/arab-americans/22/demographics|archive-date=3 April 2010|access-date=10 March 2010|publisher=Aaiusa.org}}</ref> so are about half of the Arabs in Australia who come particularly from Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. One well known member of this religious and ethnic community is [[Abo of Tiflis|Saint Abo]], martyr and the patron saint of [[Tbilisi]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mgaloblishvili|first=Tamila|title=Ancient Christianity in the Caucasus|publisher=Routledge|year=1998|isbn=978-0700706334|page=272}}</ref> Arab Christians also live in holy Christian cities such as [[Nazareth]], [[Bethlehem]] and the [[Christian Quarter]] of the [[Old City of Jerusalem]] and many other villages with holy Christian sites.