The fifth major religion in Asia is Islam. Arab traders and explorers left the Middle East and brought Islam to a number of Asian countries starting shortly after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. Both the Sunni and the Shiite branches are represented. Islam suffers from internal conflicts between the Shiites and the Sunnis as well as between secular Muslims and Islamic fundamentalists.
Islam is dominant in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Other Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines, and China have Islamic groups within their borders. As a monotheistic religion, Islam is decidedly different from Confucianism in China, Hinduism in India, or the various Buddhist subsections in Southeast Asia. Islamic fundamentalism is not only at war with other Muslim groups but also has a proselytizing dimension, bringing it into conflict with Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity.
Indonesia is a multinational state with a wide variety of ethnic groups controlled by an Islamic majority on the island of Java. Indonesia has a well-known conflict with East Timor, but other conflicts rage on individual islands within the chain.
Even comparably small island nations such as the Philippines have conflicts between the Christian Catholic majority and the Muslim and Chinese minorities that exist within their nation. One of the longest lasting conflicts in the Philippines has been between Christians and Muslims. Even after the government of the Philippines managed to bring communist guerrilla forces under control, in the late 1990's, insurgent Muslim groups continued to pose a major problem for the country. Historically, the Philippines was the only Christian country in Asia as the result of its conquest by the Spanish. Even in the southern islands, where Muslims have historically predominated, Roman Catholics are a majority of the Filipino population, and most people in the Philippines continue to identify strongly with Catholicism. However in the late twentieth century, new denominations, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Iglesia Ni Kristo (Church of Christ), and the Church of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) began spreading rapidly throughout the country.
Missionary efforts have been successful in making Christianity the most rapidly expanding religion within South Korea. South Korea has the largest number of Christian converts and a higher percentage of Christians than in any other Asian country besides the Philippines.
World History
