How Islamic are Muslim Countries?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldn ... s-lag.html
Ireland 'leads the world in Islamic values as Muslim states lag'
Ireland best embodies the Islamic values of opportunity and justice, according to a survey by a leading US academic
Ireland embodies Islamic beliefs, according to survey
Ireland best embodies Islamic beliefs, according to survey Photo: Rex (file photo: County Kerry, Ireland)
Damien McElroy
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
1:16PM BST 10 Jun 2014
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The Koran's teachings are better represented in Western societies than in Islamic countries, which have failed to embrace the values of their own faith in politics, business, law and society, a leading academic at George Washington University has said.
A study of 208 countries and territories has found that the top countries in both economic achievement and social values are Ireland, Demark, Luxembourg and New Zealand. Britain also ranks in the top ten.
The first Muslim-majority nation is Malaysia ranking at 33, while the only other state in the top 50 is Kuwait at 48.
Hossein Askari, an Iranian-born professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University, said Muslim countries used religion as an instrument of state control. He said: “We must emphasise that many countries that profess Islam and are called Islamic are unjust, corrupt, and underdeveloped and are in fact not ‘Islamic’ by any stretch of the imagination.
“Looking at an index of Economic Islamicity, or how closely the policies and achievements of countries reflect Islamic economic teachings - Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, Finland, Norway, and Belgium round up the first 10”.
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“If a country, society, or community displays characteristics such as unelected, corrupt, oppressive, and unjust rulers, inequality before the law, unequal opportunities for human development, absence of freedom of choice (including that of religion), opulence alongside poverty, force, and aggression as the instruments of conflict resolution as opposed to dialogue and reconciliation, and, above all, the prevalence of injustice of any kind, it is prima facie evidence that it is not an Islamic community,” he said.
An Overall Islamicity Index analysing social rules and human rights measures found that similar rankings were generated in 2010.
"New Zealand, Luxembourg, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands; and again only Malaysia (38) and Kuwait (48) make it into the top 50 from Muslim countries,” he said. “Islam is, and has been for centuries, the articulation of the universal love of Allah for his creation and for its unity, and all that this implies for all-encompassing human and economic development."
How Islamic are Muslim Countries?
https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2018/04/new- ... countries/
http://islamicity-index.org/wp/latest-indices/
New Zealand reflects “Islamic values much more than Muslim countries”
by SB on April 12, 2018 at 12:30pm
went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims;
I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but no Islam.
Mohammad Abduh End of quote:
A reader sent me a link to a website called Islamicity-index.org that makes an extraordinary claim about New Zealand: Quote:
The indices show that Western countries, especially those of Northern Europe, Canada and New Zealand, reflect Islamic values much more than do Muslim countries. End of quote.
The Islamicity Indices were launched in 2007 and have received publicity in many Muslim countries. According to them, New Zealand has the highest ranking in the entire world for reflecting what they refer to as Islamic values. This may mean that New Zealand is now being promoted throughout the Islamic world as the best western country in the world for Muslims to immigrate to.
The indices work out the score they allocate to each country by assigning a value to:
economy
legal and governance
human and political rights and
international relations.
Latest Indices: 2016 (2017 Indices Available by May 31)
It is not clear which Islamic sect is behind the indices. Quote:
These indices are based on the teachings of the Qur’an and the life and practice of the Prophet Mohammad and serve as an indication of the degree of compliance with Islamic teachings as reflected in the Islamic landscape of a community. End of quote.
In a video, they mention some of the Islamic values they are referring to. Their concern is that inside actual Muslim countries there is a disconnect between these so-called Islamic values and what the Muslims there are actually experiencing.
The Islamic values mentioned are not moral values but are, instead, the cultural values of justice, sharing and equality, freedom, freedom of religion and, finally, economic prosperity.
These are some of the values that the indices are referring to when they state that Muslims in New Zealand are complying with them better than Muslims anywhere else in the world. Perhaps it is a recognition that there is more justice under the western legal system than there is under Islamic sharia law and that western countries have better economies and better personal and religious freedom than Islamic countries.
We certainly have strong values of equality in New Zealand apart from the sexual segregation inside some of our public swimming pools and the sexual segregation already enforced inside Islamic schools and mosques.
The Islamicity Foundation has a detailed plan to develop their organisation in order to: Quote:
Disseminate the ongoing results of Islamicity Indices (policy successes and failures of each Muslim country and their institutional shortcomings) through existing and to-be-formed organizations in all Muslim countries. In the process, the foundation will build a vast global community of Muslims who internalize the teachings of the Qur’an and support peaceful reforms and effective institutions. As a result, rulers and clerics would no longer be in a position to dismiss the participation of such an informed global community of Muslims who have the moral support of millions of Muslims and non-Muslims around the world.End of quote.
http://islamicity-index.org/wp/latest-indices/
New Zealand reflects “Islamic values much more than Muslim countries”
by SB on April 12, 2018 at 12:30pm
went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims;
I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but no Islam.
Mohammad Abduh End of quote:
A reader sent me a link to a website called Islamicity-index.org that makes an extraordinary claim about New Zealand: Quote:
The indices show that Western countries, especially those of Northern Europe, Canada and New Zealand, reflect Islamic values much more than do Muslim countries. End of quote.
The Islamicity Indices were launched in 2007 and have received publicity in many Muslim countries. According to them, New Zealand has the highest ranking in the entire world for reflecting what they refer to as Islamic values. This may mean that New Zealand is now being promoted throughout the Islamic world as the best western country in the world for Muslims to immigrate to.
The indices work out the score they allocate to each country by assigning a value to:
economy
legal and governance
human and political rights and
international relations.
Latest Indices: 2016 (2017 Indices Available by May 31)
It is not clear which Islamic sect is behind the indices. Quote:
These indices are based on the teachings of the Qur’an and the life and practice of the Prophet Mohammad and serve as an indication of the degree of compliance with Islamic teachings as reflected in the Islamic landscape of a community. End of quote.
In a video, they mention some of the Islamic values they are referring to. Their concern is that inside actual Muslim countries there is a disconnect between these so-called Islamic values and what the Muslims there are actually experiencing.
The Islamic values mentioned are not moral values but are, instead, the cultural values of justice, sharing and equality, freedom, freedom of religion and, finally, economic prosperity.
These are some of the values that the indices are referring to when they state that Muslims in New Zealand are complying with them better than Muslims anywhere else in the world. Perhaps it is a recognition that there is more justice under the western legal system than there is under Islamic sharia law and that western countries have better economies and better personal and religious freedom than Islamic countries.
We certainly have strong values of equality in New Zealand apart from the sexual segregation inside some of our public swimming pools and the sexual segregation already enforced inside Islamic schools and mosques.
The Islamicity Foundation has a detailed plan to develop their organisation in order to: Quote:
Disseminate the ongoing results of Islamicity Indices (policy successes and failures of each Muslim country and their institutional shortcomings) through existing and to-be-formed organizations in all Muslim countries. In the process, the foundation will build a vast global community of Muslims who internalize the teachings of the Qur’an and support peaceful reforms and effective institutions. As a result, rulers and clerics would no longer be in a position to dismiss the participation of such an informed global community of Muslims who have the moral support of millions of Muslims and non-Muslims around the world.End of quote.
OIC APPROACH
Organization of Islamic Cooperation
DECEMBER 24, 2020
Muhammad Ali Siddiqi Updated 22 Dec 2020
NOTWITHSANDING the positive outcome of the two-day conference of Islamic foreign ministers in Niger’s capital last month, Pakistan need not be euphoric nor forget some of the fundamental differences between our pan-Islamic sentiments and those of the other members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation which are a little less zealous about it. At the same time, let us not confuse the ummah with the OIC. The two are not synonyms.
The ummah comprises world Muslims linked through an unshakable bond of belief and emotions peculiar to Muslims; the OIC consists mostly of unelected governments of 50-plus member states which may or may not share common interests because of differences in geography, ethnography and historical experience. Even the 22 members of the Arab League do not have a common perception of geopolitical issues and are sometimes at loggerheads, as can be seen in their policies on the slaughter in Syria, Yemen and Libya.
One point should, however, be grasped at the outset. The Arab world is the pivot on which the ummah turns. Without the Arabs and their language there is no ummah. This is a harsh geopolitical and historical reality, and if one finds Arab governments indifferent to non-Arab issues — even tragedies like Kashmir and Rohingya — then one can only pray.
There is another bitter observation: the average Arab cannot understand how people — eg those millions of Indonesians, South Asians, Kazakhs or Bosnians — can be Muslim if they do not speak the language of the Holy Quran.
What is this lame-duck organisation good for?
The Arabs are a proud people. Their belief in the superiority of their language and their consciousness of Arabs’ cultural achievements in history shape their lackadaisical attitude towards all non-Arab Muslims. Toward Turks and Iranians — the only two ethnic groups they have interacted with for more than a millennium — their approach is more complex. ‘Turks’ here doesn’t mean Ottomans alone; it also means the variety of Turco-Mongols who ruled the Middle East for nearly 1,000 years — the Seljuks, Mamluks, Il-Khans, White Sheep and Black Sheep, Circassians, Timurids and Turco-Albanians. One reason for Arab indifference to the Turkic people is their bitter memory of the way the Timurids and some Mamluks dealt with them.
In the case of Iran, they draw satisfaction from the fact that it was the Arabs who ruled Iran and changed its culture. However, the fact that Shia Islam became Iran’s state religion from the early 16th century onwards has made no difference to Shia Arabs. Note that Iraq is a Shia-majority country and Saddam Hussein’s army which attacked Iran was largely Shia.
Getting down to brass tacks, it was the UAE which gave two blows to Pakistan last year. In March, it hosted at Abu Dhabi the 46th OIC foreign ministers’ conference, which the late Indian foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, attended as an honoured guest. Later that year, it could have come up with a stronger denunciation of the Indian move to abolish India-held Kashmir’s special status and amendment to the nationality law. The entire Arab world was indifferent.
Must we be so OIC-oriented? What is this lame-duck organisation good for? It doesn’t even have non-political achievements to its credit. No country in the world attaches so much importance to it as Pakistan does for reasons which are visceral and not grounded in geopolitical realities. India, too, watches the OIC carefully and derives sadistic pleasure from Pakistan’s discomfiture. (India enjoys observer status at the Arab League.)
Let Pakistan shirk any attempt at creating a non-Arab bloc. In the first place this will only widen the gulf between Arab and non-Arab governments without advancing any cause. Secondly, the fate of the abortive non-Arab mini summit at Kuala Lumpur last December is before us. Whether or not the Saudis threatened Pakistan, the way Recep Tayyip Erdogan is reported to have put it is immaterial. Arabs are too powerful to be ignored, centrally placed geographically and endowed historically with leadership heritage. The realistic course for Pakistan is to ignore the OIC and treat it as a debating forum.
The Arabs are basically a secular people. A native of Damascus or Cairo is first a Syrian or Egyptian, then an Arab and lastly a Muslim. He is impervious to non-Arab overtures on a religious basis. In fact, he is suspicious as to the motive. Islam is in his blood, and unlike us Pakistanis he doesn’t flaunt it.
Let’s accept it. Our ‘we Muslims’ obsession, which is a continuation of our pre-Partition anguish about Muslims in other countries, has largely remained unreciprocated. If we want respect from the OIC and the world, let Pakistanis first give some respect to each other. Let Pakistanis hate each other a little less. Let us develop the ‘Pakistan comes first’ narrative, eclipsed unfortunately by elements that have terrorized Pakistan into becoming a base for an international jihadist movement.
The writer is Dawn’s external ombudsman and an author.
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2020
https://www.dawn.com/news/1597160/oics-approach
Note: In my view the OIC is a puppet organization. When an urgent issue pop up in Islamic world or Islamic Ummah, the OIC organization says 'Oh I See" and then goes into deep sleep.
Organization of Islamic Cooperation
DECEMBER 24, 2020
Muhammad Ali Siddiqi Updated 22 Dec 2020
NOTWITHSANDING the positive outcome of the two-day conference of Islamic foreign ministers in Niger’s capital last month, Pakistan need not be euphoric nor forget some of the fundamental differences between our pan-Islamic sentiments and those of the other members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation which are a little less zealous about it. At the same time, let us not confuse the ummah with the OIC. The two are not synonyms.
The ummah comprises world Muslims linked through an unshakable bond of belief and emotions peculiar to Muslims; the OIC consists mostly of unelected governments of 50-plus member states which may or may not share common interests because of differences in geography, ethnography and historical experience. Even the 22 members of the Arab League do not have a common perception of geopolitical issues and are sometimes at loggerheads, as can be seen in their policies on the slaughter in Syria, Yemen and Libya.
One point should, however, be grasped at the outset. The Arab world is the pivot on which the ummah turns. Without the Arabs and their language there is no ummah. This is a harsh geopolitical and historical reality, and if one finds Arab governments indifferent to non-Arab issues — even tragedies like Kashmir and Rohingya — then one can only pray.
There is another bitter observation: the average Arab cannot understand how people — eg those millions of Indonesians, South Asians, Kazakhs or Bosnians — can be Muslim if they do not speak the language of the Holy Quran.
What is this lame-duck organisation good for?
The Arabs are a proud people. Their belief in the superiority of their language and their consciousness of Arabs’ cultural achievements in history shape their lackadaisical attitude towards all non-Arab Muslims. Toward Turks and Iranians — the only two ethnic groups they have interacted with for more than a millennium — their approach is more complex. ‘Turks’ here doesn’t mean Ottomans alone; it also means the variety of Turco-Mongols who ruled the Middle East for nearly 1,000 years — the Seljuks, Mamluks, Il-Khans, White Sheep and Black Sheep, Circassians, Timurids and Turco-Albanians. One reason for Arab indifference to the Turkic people is their bitter memory of the way the Timurids and some Mamluks dealt with them.
In the case of Iran, they draw satisfaction from the fact that it was the Arabs who ruled Iran and changed its culture. However, the fact that Shia Islam became Iran’s state religion from the early 16th century onwards has made no difference to Shia Arabs. Note that Iraq is a Shia-majority country and Saddam Hussein’s army which attacked Iran was largely Shia.
Getting down to brass tacks, it was the UAE which gave two blows to Pakistan last year. In March, it hosted at Abu Dhabi the 46th OIC foreign ministers’ conference, which the late Indian foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, attended as an honoured guest. Later that year, it could have come up with a stronger denunciation of the Indian move to abolish India-held Kashmir’s special status and amendment to the nationality law. The entire Arab world was indifferent.
Must we be so OIC-oriented? What is this lame-duck organisation good for? It doesn’t even have non-political achievements to its credit. No country in the world attaches so much importance to it as Pakistan does for reasons which are visceral and not grounded in geopolitical realities. India, too, watches the OIC carefully and derives sadistic pleasure from Pakistan’s discomfiture. (India enjoys observer status at the Arab League.)
Let Pakistan shirk any attempt at creating a non-Arab bloc. In the first place this will only widen the gulf between Arab and non-Arab governments without advancing any cause. Secondly, the fate of the abortive non-Arab mini summit at Kuala Lumpur last December is before us. Whether or not the Saudis threatened Pakistan, the way Recep Tayyip Erdogan is reported to have put it is immaterial. Arabs are too powerful to be ignored, centrally placed geographically and endowed historically with leadership heritage. The realistic course for Pakistan is to ignore the OIC and treat it as a debating forum.
The Arabs are basically a secular people. A native of Damascus or Cairo is first a Syrian or Egyptian, then an Arab and lastly a Muslim. He is impervious to non-Arab overtures on a religious basis. In fact, he is suspicious as to the motive. Islam is in his blood, and unlike us Pakistanis he doesn’t flaunt it.
Let’s accept it. Our ‘we Muslims’ obsession, which is a continuation of our pre-Partition anguish about Muslims in other countries, has largely remained unreciprocated. If we want respect from the OIC and the world, let Pakistanis first give some respect to each other. Let Pakistanis hate each other a little less. Let us develop the ‘Pakistan comes first’ narrative, eclipsed unfortunately by elements that have terrorized Pakistan into becoming a base for an international jihadist movement.
The writer is Dawn’s external ombudsman and an author.
Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2020
https://www.dawn.com/news/1597160/oics-approach
Note: In my view the OIC is a puppet organization. When an urgent issue pop up in Islamic world or Islamic Ummah, the OIC organization says 'Oh I See" and then goes into deep sleep.