Many Muslim-majority countries were not originally Muslim ; they became Muslim over centuries through conquest, trade, migration, and conversion. A concise list includes Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and much of Central Asia.

What “not originally Muslim” means

Before Islam spread, these regions had other dominant religions or mixed religious traditions, such as Christianity, Zoroastrianism, polytheism, Judaism, or local indigenous beliefs. In other words, their current Muslim identity is historical and developed over time, not something that existed from the beginning.

Common examples

  • Middle East and North Africa: Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco.
  • Iran and nearby regions: Iran, Afghanistan, parts of Central Asia such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan.
  • South and Southeast Asia: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia.
  • Other examples: Sudan, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, and Azerbaijan are often included, though some are only partially or regionally described that way.

Important nuance

This question is about countries that are Muslim-majority today , not countries where Islam was always the original religion. Most modern Muslim- majority states have deep pre-Islamic histories with very different religious landscapes.

For example, Egypt was once strongly Christian in large parts, and Iran was associated with Zoroastrian traditions before Islam became dominant.

Best short answer

If you want the shortest possible answer: almost all Muslim-majority countries today were originally non-Muslim in their pre-Islamic history.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.

TL;DR: Countries like Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Morocco, Algeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Malaysia were not originally Muslim; they became Muslim over time.