Differences and similarities

Morocco is an arab country, but it is also an islamic country. One term is not synonymous with the other. Nor should they be interchanged, even tough they are historically linked.


When the character Jade - or Latiffa, both from the novela The Clone - in front of strangers cover their hair and their face with a veil (hijab), or when their uncle, the patriarch Ali, takes off his shoes and kneels down for, five times a day , a prayer facing Mecca - the holy city of Islam, located in Saudi Arabia, in the Middle East -, these costumes reveal the everyday life of a moslem community.

When you hear the moroccan population - including the berbers of the desert - speaking the arab language and not only during prayers, these are clear clues that this is an arab country.


The difference between the terms arab and muslim is that the first usually refers to the official language and race of the inhabitants of a country, whereas the second is a religious concept.


To confound arabs and muslims, thus, is a mistake. Even more because there are arabs who are not muslims and muslims who are not arabs. Two examples: catholic arabs in Lebanon and Siria and the muslims of Indonesia, the group of islands located in the Indian Ocean, in southeast

Asia, where the largest non-arab islamic community lives, with around 225 million people.

Historical origin

The confusion between arabs and muslims is connected to the arising of Islam: all because an arab, the prophet Muhammad (Mohamed), founded the religion in the 7th century and also because the Koran, the sacred book of muslims, is entirely written in arab.


Wherever a muslim lives and whatever language he speaks it is in arab that he should recite his daily koranic prayers. This is exactly what is done in real live by moroccans, egyptians , iranians and indonesians. And in the novela The Clone that is true for patriarch Ali, Abdul and the brothers Mohamed and Said.

The expansion of Islam, who was born in the Arab Peninsula, conquered part of Asia and Europe and all of north Africa - including Morocco - , uniting around 1.2 billion followers in various parts of the world, many in non-arab countries, is a phenomenon that has 1,400 years of history. And it owes a lot to the mixing of cultures and races between conquerors and conquerees.

Further reading:  Symphony of colors "Directing The Clone was like conducting an orchestra", says Jayme Monjardim

One God, one community and one family Islam gave a cultural identity to the arabs and unified them in the name of Allah