Cultural Muslims

Cultural Muslim is a general term used to define a group of people who are identified by association with a Muslim community rather than Islamic faith or rituals .

Cultural Muslims are religiously unobservant , secular or irreligious individuals who still identify with the Muslim culture due to family background, personal experiences, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up. Cultural Muslims are found across Europe , Central Asia , North America and parts of South and West Asia.

Cultural Muslims can be found across the world, but are especially numerous in the Middle East ( Arabic-speaking countries as well as in Israel , Turkey and Iran ), Europe , Central Asia , North America , and parts of South and Southeast Asia .

Non-practicing Muslims who still identify with Islam Not to be confused with Non-denominational Muslim . Cultural Muslims or nominal Muslims or non-practicing/observing Muslims are people who identify as Muslims but are not religious and do not practice the faith. They may be from a secular and not religious background but they still identify with Islam due to family backgrounds, personal experiences, ethnic and national heritage, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up. However, this concept is not always met with acceptance in conservative Islamic communities. Cultural Muslims can be found across the world, especially in the Balkans , Central Asia , Europe , Maghreb , the Middle East , Russia , Turkey , Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the United States . In several countries and regions, self-reported Muslims practice the religion at low levels, and for some their "Muslim" identity associated with cultural or ethnic or national heritage rather than merely religious faith. Islam: A Very Short Introduction . This diversity is usually ignored, and in particular, the existence of a large number of secular and laic persons of Muslim cultural background is completely overlooked. These secular Muslims, identified on the basis of cultural origin ... Islamic Counselling: An Introduction to theory and practice . The label 'Cultural Muslim' is used in the literature to describe those Muslims who are religiously unobservant, secular or irreligious individuals who still identify with the Muslim culture due to family background, personal experiences, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up... Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion . The nominal Muslim is someone who is born into a Muslim family and maybe raised Muslim, but who is not religious and identifies as a cultural or secular Muslim as opposed to a religious Muslim. Islam and Muslims in the West . Saeed identifies "secular Muslims" as another trend among contempo- rary Western Muslims. ... Arguably a sub-branch of this approach are Saeed terms "cultural nominalists" (Saeed 2007, 401), whose "Muslim" identity is framed through a cultural lens rather than religious. Islamic Finance in the Global Economy . The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration since 1965 . Muslim immigrants in Western Europe differ in terms of ethnic backgrounds, as well as in terms of religiosity. Research has shown that many religiously unobservant or even irreligious individuals nonetheless identify themselves as "Muslims" because of their family background, their personal attachments, their ethnic and group allegiance, or the social and cultural environment in which they were raised; they are categorized as "cultural" or "nominal" Muslims.