In the readings and the class discussion we touched upon the difficulty of identifying the or distinguishing what is considered the Islamic Middle East. There are many factors that seem to make this difficult, historical context, cultural context, and political context.
When looking at the historical view of what the Islamic Middle East is I think this is the most easily defined as the boundaries would consist of land east of the Red Sea and the Bosporus Strait, anything west of the Hindu Kush Mountains and anything south of the Caucasus Mountains I think when we look at the historical concept of the Middle East it is more geographically defined.
When I look at the cultural context of the Islamic Middle East though the area gets much larger, this is in part due to the conquests of the Arabian Empire, the influence of the Moors in North Africa and the expansion of the Persian Empire throughout the region. The area of land influenced culturally by the early Arab or Islamic empires stretches a vast area encompassing a far larger population than the more sparsely populated regions of the Geographic Middle East. I think culturally this is what the rest of the world would consider the Islamic or Arab region due to language, cultural and religious similarities.
However, what the world seems to understand or focus on as the Islamic Middle East in modern times is purely based upon modern politics (Post WWII to present). The borders of the region were drawn after WWII and many nations gained independence in the years to follow. Many of the regions conflicts can be attributed to the unnatural borders that were drawn by the French and British. Religious sects split between nations (Sunni, Shia Christian, Jewish), Ethnic groups left with no borders (Kurds, Palestinians, Assyrians) and a western military presence in the region that may have influenced the worlds geographical understanding of where the Middle East begins and ends.
Some would argue that Iran and anything west is Persia not the Middle East but the political and military involvement in the area has weakened the cultural and language divide of the region and focused on the similarity in religious beliefs.
It is not an easy topic to understand and and the debate on where the regions land actually belongs on a map is kind of telling of the constant conflict we have seen in the region for a long time.