Why are Muslims so backward and powerless?
Dr Farrukh Saleem
The writer is the Pakistani Executive Director of the Centre for
Research and Security Studies, a think tank established
in 2007 and an Islamabad-based freelance columnist.
We Muslims must wonder why is that only Muslim States like Iraq,
Afghanistan and Libya are being attacked by the Christian West.
Why do we get pushed around by them with the former President of
the US George Bush calling it a crusade! Why is that Muslim States
often depend on the West for survival, even Saudi Arabia,
the epicentre for Islamic fundamentalism is dependent on
American largesse for their survival. While they preach Wahhabi Islam
all over the world, they allow American bases within a few hundred kilometres
from the Holiest Shrines of Islam.
There are an estimated 1,476,233,470 Muslims on the face
of the planet: one billion in Asia, 400 million in Africa, 44 million in
Europe and six million in the Americas . Every fifth human being is
a Muslim; for every single Hindu there are two Muslims, for every
Buddhist there are two Muslims and for every Jew there are one hundred Muslims.
Ever wondered why Muslims are so powerless?
Here is why: There are 57 member-countries of the
Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together
have around 500 universities; one university for every three million Muslims.
The United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407.
In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an
'Academic Ranking of World Universities' , and intriguingly,
not one university from Muslim-majority states was in the top-500.
As per data collected by the UNDP, literacy in the
Christian world stands at nearly 90 per cent and 15 Christian-majority states
have a literacy rate of 100 per cent.
A Muslim-majority state, as a sharp contrast, has an average literacy
rate of around 40 per cent and there is no Muslim-majority state
with a literacy rate of 100 per cent.
Some 98 per cent of the 'literates' in the Christian world had completed
primary school, while less than 50 per cent of the 'literates'
in the Muslim world did the same.
Around 40 per cent of the 'literates' in the Christian world attended
university while no more than two per cent of the 'literates' in
the Muslim world did the same.
Muslim-majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims.
The US has 4,000 scientists per million and Japan has 5,000 per million.
In the entire Arab world, the total number of full-time researchers is
35,000 and there are only 50 technicians per one million Arabs.
(in the Christian world there are up to 1,000 technicians per one million).
Furthermore, the Muslim world spends 0.2 per cent of its GDP on
research and development, while the Christian world spends
around five per cent of its GDP.
Conclusion: The Muslim world lacks the capacity to produce knowledge!
Daily newspapers per 1,000 people and number of book titles
per million are two indicators of whether knowledge is being
diffused in a society.
In Pakistan, there are 23 daily newspapers per 1,000 Pakistanis
while the same ratio in Singapore is 360. In the UK , the number
of book titles per million stands at 2,000 while the same
in Egypt is 20.
Conclusion: The Muslim world is failing to diffuse knowledge.
Exports of high technology products as a percentage of total exports
are an important indicator of knowledge application. Pakistan's export
of high technology products as a percentage of total exports stands
at one per cent. The same for Saudi Arabia is 0.3 per cent;
Kuwait , Morocco , and Algeria are all at 0.3 per cent,
while Singapore is at 58 per cent.
Conclusion:
The Muslim world is failing to apply knowledge.
Why are Muslims powerless?
.....Because we aren't producing knowledge,
.....Because we aren't diffusing knowledge.,
.....Because we aren't applying knowledge.
And, the future belongs to knowledge-based societies.
Interestingly, the combined annual GDP of 57 OIC-countries is under $2 trillion.
America , just by herself, produces goods and services worth $12 trillion;
China $8 trillion,
Japan $3.8 trillion and
Germany $2.4 trillion (purchasing power parity basis).
Oil rich Saudi Arabia , UAE, Kuwait and Qatar collectively
produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $500 billion;
Spain alone produces goods and services worth over $1 trillion,
Catholic Poland $489 billion and Buddhist Thailand $545 billion.
..... ( Muslim GDP as a percentage of world GDP is fast declining ).
So, why are Muslims so powerless?
Answer: Lack of education.
All we do is shout to Allah the whole day and blame everyone else
for our multiple failures!
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