There is certainly controversy about classifying the North Africa/Southwest Asia realm. In (Blijde et al), we see that there are several approaches to classifying it. First, it is defined as the “Dry World” due to its climate (230); however, the majority of people live in the territories where they have access to water. Second, the realm is classified as the “Middle East” (231). This name reflects the Western view on the geography of these regions; however, it can be applied only to a certain part of the territory.
The third definition is the “Islamic World.” Indeed, Islam is the dominating religion in this territory. However, certain controversy also exists. On the one hand, Israel fits the definition of the realm geographically, but hardly in terms of religion: the country is not Islamic. On the other hand, the borders of Islam prevalence are broader than the borders of the realm; a series of questions have awakened disagreement between the Muslim populations of different territories: for example, the question about the legitimate successor of Muhammad (236).
Works Cited
Blijde, Harm J., Peter O. Muller, and Antoinette Winklerprins. The World Today: Concepts and Regions in Geography. 4th ed. USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. Print.