Cultural Muslims
[3] They may be a non-observing, secular or irreligious[4] individuals who still identify with Islam due to family backgrounds, personal experiences, ethnic and national heritage, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up.
[4][5][6][7][8] Cultural Muslims can be found across the world, but especially in the Balkans,[9] Central Asia,[10] Europe,[11][12] the Maghreb,[13] the Middle East,[14] Russia,[15] Turkey,[16] Singapore,[17] Malaysia,[18] Indonesia[19] and the United States.
They were officially designated as Muslims by nationality to distinguish them from Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats under the former Yugoslav communist regime.
Cultural Muslims are diverse in terms of norms, values, political opinions, and religious views.
[31][32] In a Pew research center survey of Muslim Albanians in 2012, religion was important for only 15%, while 7% prayed, around 5% went to a mosque, 43% gave zakat (alms), 44% fasted during Ramadan and 72% expressed a belief in God and Muhammad.
[46][47][48] A 1998 survey estimated the proportion of ardent believers in Azerbaijan at close to 7 percent, slightly more than the number of declared atheists – almost 4 percent – with the largest numbers falling into the category of those who consider Islam above all as a way of life, without strict observance of prohibitions and requirements, or as a fundamental part of national identity.
[49] According to a 2009 Gallup Poll, Azerbaijan is one of the most irreligious countries in the Muslim world, with about 54% of respondents indicating the importance of religion in their life as little or none.
[20] Surveys conducted 1994 and 1996 observed a decrease in religiosity based on lowering mosque participation, less frequent prayer, dropping importance attached to a religious education, etc.
[63] According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, 33% of Bulgarian Muslims responded that religion is "very important" in their lives.
[67] Most of the Muslims in Central Asia do not practice their religion daily, and have only nominal or cultural affiliation to Islam.
[15] According to a 2012 survey by Pew Research Center, approximately 71% of Muslims in Uzbekistan, 64% Azerbaijan, 54% in Tajikistan, and 50% in Kyrgyzstan never went to a mosque.
[20] This was largely due to the religious restriction of Islam under communist rule, during that era all religions had only a nominal presence.
[75] Between November 17, 2019, and March 23, 2020, Pew Research Center completed 29,999 face-to-face interviews with non-institutionalized adults ages 18 and older living in 26 states and three union territories across India.
Abangan was considered an indigenous blend of native and Hindu-Buddhist beliefs with Islamic practices sometimes also called Javanism, kejawen, agama Jawa, or kebatinan.
[78][79] According to a study in 1999, 17.3% of the Muslims in Indonesia who took part in it identified themselves as secularists who never or rarely perform Islamic devotions.
[81] In Iraq, the Turkmen minority are mainly cultural Muslim and secular, having internalized the secularist interpretation of state–religion affairs practiced in the Republic of Turkey since its foundation in 1923.
13% of Kosovan Muslims who were asked said that they attend Friday prayer once a week and 40% say they never visit their local mosque, while 81% expressed a belief in God and Muhammad.
[90] According to the same 2004 survey, they found that the importance of Islam in the lives of Dutch Muslims, particularly of second-generation immigrants was decreasing.
[91]: 178 In Northern Cyprus, the Turkish Cypriots are generally very secular and seen as cultural Muslims, and only attend mosques on special occasions (such as for weddings, funerals, and community gatherings).
[96] Studies conducted for a TV channel in 2006 found that 18% of Norwegian Muslims reported visiting the mosque once a week.
[98] According to a 2007/2008 survey of students at upper secondary schools in Oslo, 25% of Muslims pray regularly while 12% attend religious services weekly.
[15] According to a 2012 survey by Pew Research Center, 12% of Russian Muslims who were asked say that they attend Friday prayer once a week and 33% say they never visit their local mosque, and 89% expressed a belief in God and Muhammad.
[101] Sander re-stated in 2004 that "we do not think it unreasonable to put the figure of religious Muslims in Sweden at the time of writing at close to 150,000".
[102] According to Göran Larsson a "great majority of people with a Muslim cultural background are as secular or irreligious".
[16] Many of the Turkish people only attend mosques on special occasions (such as for weddings, funerals, and community gatherings), according to a 2012 survey by Pew Research Center, 19% of Turkish Muslims say that they attend Friday prayer once a week and 23% say they never visit their local mosque.
