Many Arab Muslim students come to predominantly Muslim countries to pursue their education because they are drawn to these nations for their Islamic identity, in which they can share the same religious beliefs and practices. Nevertheless, these students still need to adapt to the differing cultural and religious aspects of the host country. This study aims to delve into the dynamics of intercultural communication among groups with similar religious identities but originating from distinct cultures. By utilizing data collected from Yemeni postgraduate students in four public universities in Malaysia, this article explores how these students manifest their religious identity through religious practices and how they establish both in-group and out-group mentalities to navigate the challenges of living in a foreign country. The findings reveal that Yemeni postgraduate students in Malaysia maintain a strong connection to their religious and cultural practices, suggesting minimal shifts in their overall religious identity. The analysis also indicates that the students who are more devout and frequent religious centers tend to assimilate more fully into Malay Muslim society.

One of the reasons that drive Yemeni students coming to Malaysia to further their study is the perceived social and religious closeness between Yemen and Malaysia. This study, therefore, investigates the social and cultural experiences of Yemeni post graduate students in Malaysian public universities from the religious perspective. Yemeni students remain one of the biggest groups of international students in Malaysia. However, there have been reports of drop in Yemeni students’ enrolment in Malaysia in recent years especially in public universities. Overall, the issue of Yemeni students’ social and cultural experiences in Malaysia remains underrepresented in the literature and there seems to be limited resources that investigate the issue of Yemeni students in Malaysia. Thus, this study aims at contributing to the literature concerning Yemeni students and their social experiences in the Malaysian society. Based on Social Identity Theory, the study explores Yemeni students and their social integration into the Malaysian society and highlight the social identity expression of Yemeni post graduate students in Malaysian. Research enquiry includes three research questions which are: how do Yemeni students express their religious identity based on the process of categorization, identification and comparison? How do Yemeni students address their similarities and differences in their religious identity with Muslims in Malaysia and how that resulted creating the in group and out group mentality? And how do religious experiences of Yemeni students in Malaysia affect their intercultural communication with Malaysian. This study is conducted in four public Malaysian universities namely, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), University Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), University Malaya (UM), and University Putra Malaysia (UPM). Two qualitative approaches are used in collecting data for this study. The first is participant observation and the second is semi structured interviews. Findings reveal there is less interaction among Yemenis with Muslims in Malaysia. Many Yemenis perceive Muslims in Malaysia as the others and Yemeni identification still prevalent among most Yemenis who were observed and interviewed. Whereby, there are less Yemenis appear to perceive themselves as in group with other Muslims. Three groups of identities are prevalent among Yemenis which are "Clear", "Ambivalent" and "Transit". Findings reveal that the majority of respondents appear to be more allegiant to Yemeni culture. However, there are few Yemenis who have shown social integration with Malays. Findings also shows that many Yemenis especially women developed more openness towards the mainstream culture in Malaysia. This study suggests that religious closeness cannot necessarily guarantee integration in intracultural communication among people who confess the same religion particularly for those who come from different ethnic and cultural background.