Perhaps some will consider Arabs white (which I doubt), but still many will see them as "other", which is the same thing, especially if they are muslim.
I'm an Australian from a Catholic family of British and Irish descent. My aunt married a Muslim man of ethnic Albanian descent (not actually from Albania, his family come from the Albanian minority in North Macedonia). I've met members of his family on a number of occasions over the years. I never thought of them as "other". I've never really thought about the question of whether he is "white", but his skin has always been paler than my own
Australia and US are historically a mix of immigrants from all the world so things are much different there than in "solid culture" countries where xenofobia is a part of life as a result.
He's probably not super religious or you're super progressive. While I respect and appreciate what you said, many many people still think in terms of us and them.
Most Albanian Muslims are not "super religious". His family is about as Muslim as my own family is Catholic (i.e. not very devoutly), but I believe his family's degree of religiosity is pretty much the norm for Albanian Muslims both in Australia and in Europe.