This listing is of those countries that are part of the Arab League (or League of Arab States, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and often the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). All those listed here have a Muslim-majority.

The population of Arabic-speaking people is over 1.5 billion people. 

There are two listings here -- by population and by gross domestic income.  This listing is part of our global initiative to identify the finest business owners within our global village.

This introduction discusses the goals in greater depth.   More...

The List of 1000 businesses in each country

For every 4 million people, anywhere in the world, there are anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 businesses.  Most are very small.  The majority are less than ten years old.  This television series will be looking to identify the very best businesses. 

Listings:  In each country up to 10% of the private and public businesses will be compiled.  The goal is to identify the best 1% of these businesses within each country.  The listing, most often will be of over 1000 businesses.  Once on that list, a sorting will be done by people within each country as to which business should be profiled on their national television and then lifted up for consideration to be broadcast within global television.

The goal is to identify the finest business owners within our global village.

Each country will have its own show.

The show will be known in each country as the Best Businesses of (Country Name).  The highlighted countries are those visited in the summer of 2007.

1. Indonesia 222,000,000 people  Muslim majority (88%)

2. Pakistan 163,630,000 people   Muslim majority (96%)

3. Bangladesh 150,446,000 people  Muslim majority (88%)

   Under 100 Million People

4. Egypt 75,498,000  Arab League

5. Turkey 71,158,000  Muslim majority (98%)

6. Iran   65,397,000  Muslim majority (98%)

7. Sudan 38,560,000   Arab League, Muslim majority (70%)

8. Algeria 33,858,000  Arab League

9. Morocco 31,224,000  Arab League

10. Iraq  28,993,000  Muslim majority (97%)

11. Afghanistan 31,571,000  Muslim majority (99%)
    
    Under 25 Million People

12. Saudi Arabia 24,735,000  Arab League, GCC

13. Uzbekistan 23,897,000 Muslim majority (89%)

14. Malaysia 23,600,000 Muslim majority

15. Yemen 22,389,000  Arab League

16. Syria 19,929,000  Arab League

17. Senegal 12,379,000  Muslim majority

18. Mali 12,337,000  Muslim majority  (90%)

19. Niger 14,853,000  Muslim majority  (90%)

20. Chad 10,781,000  Muslim majority (51%)

21. Tunisia 10,327,000  Arab League
    
    Under 10 Million People

22. Guinea   9,947,000   Muslim majority (85%)

23. Somalia 8,699,000   Arab League  Muslim majority (99%)

24. Burkina Faso  7,449,000  Muslim majority (52%)

25. Tajikistan  6,05,000 Muslim majority (95%)

26. Azerbaijan 7,584,000 Muslim majority (94%)

27. Libya 6,160,000  Arab League

28. Jordan 6,053,000  Muslim majority (95%)

29. Eritrea 4,851,000  Muslim (48-60%)

30. Turkmenistan   4,407,000  Muslim majority (89%)

31. United Arab Emirates 4,380,000   Arab League, GCC

32. Kyrgyzstan 4,117,000 Muslim majority (80%)

33. Lebanon 4,099,000  Arab League

34. Palestinian territories 4,017,000  Muslim majority (84%)
    
    
    Under 4 million people*

35. Albania 3.845,000  Muslim majority  (70%)

36. Mauritania 3,124,000  Arab League

37. Kuwait 2,851,000   Arab League,  GCC

38. Oman 2,595,000  Arab League, GCC

39. Albania 2,508,000  Muslim majority (70%)

40. Kosovo 2,126,000  Muslim majority (90%)

41. Gambia 1,433,000  Muslim majority (95%)

    Under 1 Million People

42. Qatar 841,000  Arab League, GCC

43. Djibouti 833,000  Arab League  Muslim majority (94%)

44. Bahrain 750,000   Arab League,  GCC

45. Comoros 682,000  Arab League

46. Maldives 348,000  Muslim majority (99%)

47. Western Sahara 272,000 Muslim majority (99%)

More Background

Shia Muslims, less than a third of the Muslim world, constitute the majority of the population in Iran, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Lebanon, and Iraq. There are a significant minority of Shia in Syria, Kuwait, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, Oman and Yemen.

Sunni Muslims:  There are four major schools within the Sunnis --  Hanfi, Al-Shafi'i, Maliki  and Hanbali.

Hanafi Muslims of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Muslim areas of Southern Russia, The Caucasus, parts of The Balkans, Iraq and Turkey follow the  Hanafi school. 

Al-Shafi'  Muslims in Indonesia, Lower Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore, Somalia, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Kerala, India, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Yemen and Kurds in the Kurdish regions follow the  Al-Shafi'i school.

Maliki  Muslim areas include all of Africa, except Egypt and the Horn of Africa.

Hanbali Muslims are found primarily throughout the Arabian peninsula.

Please note:  At one time there were many pages on this website that had been translated into Arabic.