Posted at Oct 11/2007 12:36PM:
Audrey von Maluski: The Arab World is anywhere with resident ethnic Arabs, especially where Arabic is the predominantly spoken language. It does is more of an ethnic term than a religious term. Thus the category generally does not include Iran, Turkey, or Israel, even though those areas contain significant Muslim populations.

Posted at Oct 15/2007 09:23AM:
Ian: even despite its emphasis on ehtnicity the contemproary nation states that comprise this region have very diverse ethnic backgrounds. Berbers in north Africa, Copts in Egypt as well as populations derived from various Turkic immigrants that came as part of the various armies since the 9th century. Even those of European Slavic descent or those such as the Greek and Italian merchants. But it is most significant as a marker of the settlement parterns of the Arab groups that initiated the transformation of this region in forging the Islamic world and its political boundaries.

Posted at Oct 16/2007 05:53PM:
Karl Su: One other key consideration would be religion. In certain contexts the Arab world could be synonymous with the Muslim World- places where there are significant populations of Muslims like Indonesia, Pakistan and India, Western parts of China. One might argue that not all Arabs are Muslims but certainly there must have been some engagement with Arabs in the past in order for Islam to be preached and established.