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
View on Joshua Project

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.

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

Bible Resources in Standard Arabic:

Or check out the Standard Arabic bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
readPsalm 130:4

Pray that God will bring those who have hard hearts to repentance and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts!
readPsalm 96:8

Pray for people here to humbly give God the glory due His name.

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
readDeuteronomy 6:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, and might, as they strive to live lives that honor and glorify Him.

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readLuke 10:2

Ask God to send out laborers into His harvest field, raising up believers from around the world to go and proclaim the kingdom of God with those who need to hear it.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

23 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ArabsArabsTanzania509,000Engaged yet UnreachedSwahili (individual language)Sunni Islam
ArabsArabsGreece34,500Engaged yet UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsMaldives750Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsIndia62,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsNew Zealand10,000No Longer UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsMalaysia18,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsArgentina1,580,000Engaged yet UnreachedSpanishSunni Islam
ArabsArabsBrazil492,000Engaged yet UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsJamaica2,100Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsBarbados150Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsSouth Africa16,000No Longer UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsComoros900Engaged yet UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsAustria101,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsKenya57,000Engaged yet UnreachedSwahili (individual language)Sunni Islam
ArabsArabsCongo, Democratic Republic of the32,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsBurundi3,800Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsGhana3,300Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsEthiopia13,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsAustralia161,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsPakistan248,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsSwitzerland75,500Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsMalta10,000Unengaged and UnreachedStandard ArabicSunni Islam
ArabsArabsDenmark96,000Unengaged 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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