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There are about 2.15 billion Christians in our world and about 1.57 billion Muslims, according to a newly completed three year study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Up to the present, estimates of numbers have been no better than educated guesswork. Some facts may surprise. For instance, Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon, China has more Muslims than Syria, Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya combined, and Ethiopia has nearly as many Muslims as Afghanistan. The percentage split between Shiites and Sunnis is not as precise; the report estimates that Shiites represent between 10 and 13 percent of the Muslim population. As much as 80 percent of the world's Shiite population lives in four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq. More than 60 percent of the world's Muslims live in Asia. About 20 percent live in the Middle East and North Africa, 15 percent live in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2.4 percent are in Europe and 0.3 percent are in the Americas. About three-quarters of Muslims living as minorities are concentrated in five countries: India (161 million), Ethiopia (28 million), China (22 million), Russia (16 million) and Tanzania (13 million). Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any country, around 350 million. India is the third largest.
A remarkable fact is that both the Christian and Islamic religions, together adopted by half the world’s population, sprang from Middle Eastern roots. Both have a sacred book, the Bible and the Koran. Both have a central figure, Jesus and Mohammad. Both have believers supporting hundreds of different sects and denominations. Both exist in internally generated rivalries and disputes. Both contain elements based on Jewish traditions and practices dating back two thousand years. Both claim ancient forefathers like Abraham. Both are mono-theistic, believing that God is one.
From this summary, it is apparent that Christianity and Islam share many important basic features that, together, embrace half the world’s people. Significantly they share a common connection with Judaism, a small but indispensable religion. It is not difficult to see that the coming Kingdom of God on Earth will attract a great number from all three groups in the future age. In the beginning of Revelation 7 is a symbolic number of 12,000 Jews from each of twelve tribes of Israel in the Kingdom followed, in verses 9-11, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” No matter from where they come, all true converts and believers in Christ will be in the Kingdom.
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