Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Arabs of Malaysia

The Arabs of Malaysia, numbering approximately 18,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a diverse ethnolinguistic group whose identity is shaped by a combination of language, culture, history, and geography. Arabs are native to the Arabian Peninsula, Levant, North Africa, and parts of the Horn of Africa. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Standard Arabic is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Arab

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Arab Peoples
Country: Malaysia
People Cluster: Arab, Arabian
Primary Language(s): Standard Arabic (arb)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 18,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG018465
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Pray for the Arabs of Malaysia

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Standard Arabic
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Arabic, Standard Speakers

Media Resources in Standard Arabic:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film
The SaviorView Film

6 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Standard Arabic:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Easy to Read Version✓✓
Good News Version✓
Sharif (Iraqi) Version✓✓✓
Sharif Version✓✓✓
Standard Arabic (Gulf)✓
Van Dyke Version - multi voice✓✓✓
Van Dyke Version - single voice✓✓✓

7 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Standard Arabic bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Arabs:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Arabs of Malaysia

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
read1 Chronicles 16:26

Pray that those among them who are lost and seeking after worthless idols will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news, seeing that Jesus is better than any idol.

And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
readZechariah 2:11

Pray that many will take refuge in the Lord and be His people who share the good news of salvation in Jesus with others.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
readEphesians 2:4-5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember God's mercy and grace and experience joy as they walk in new life with Christ.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
read2 Peter 3:9

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will patiently endure hardships as they share the gospel, knowing that the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise.

Arab Across Countries (ROP3 - 100425) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

23 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ArabsPG017321ArabsArgentina1,580,000Engaged yet UnreachedSpanishSunni Islam
ArabsPG014900ArabsTanzania508,000Engaged yet UnreachedSwahili (individual language)Sunni Islam
ArabsPG016532ArabsBrazil491,000Engaged yet UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG006321ArabsPakistan248,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG007830ArabsAustralia161,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG000004ArabsAustria101,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG000078ArabsDenmark96,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG000580ArabsSwitzerland75,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG041734ArabsIndia62,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG014761ArabsKenya57,000Engaged yet UnreachedSwahili (individual language)Sunni Islam
ArabsPG047072ArabsGreece34,500Engaged yet UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG014477ArabsCongo, Democratic Republic of the32,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG018465ArabsMalaysia18,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG015486ArabsSouth Africa16,000No Longer UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG011545ArabsEthiopia13,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG000374ArabsMalta10,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG018478ArabsNew Zealand10,000No Longer UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG014463ArabsBurundi3,800Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG013266ArabsGhana3,300Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG016383ArabsJamaica2,100Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG015270ArabsComoros900Engaged yet UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG042248ArabsMaldives750Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsPG016194ArabsBarbados150Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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