From Political Blind Spot

When you think of “Islamic Nations”, if you are like the majority of people in the West (or even elsewhere, for that matter), the Middle East likely comes to mind. You might, alternatively think of nations like Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Indonesia and Malaysia. But one thing you likely do not envision as “Islamic” is the West.

A new study, however, has concluded that the Qur’an’s teachings are, in fact, better represented in Western societies than in predominantly Islamic countries. The reason, is that countries with significantly Muslim populations have overtly failed in embracing the values of their own faith in the spheres of politics, business, law and society, according to a leading academic at George Washington University.

The study produced an analysis of 208 countries and territories. It concluded that the top countries in both economic achievement and social values are in fact Ireland, Demark, Luxembourg and New Zealand.

We don’t find a predominantly Muslim nation is the running until we get to Malaysia, with a ranking of 33. The only other state to make it into the top 50 is Kuwait, coming in at 48.

Hossein Askari, an Iranian-born professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University, explained that Muslim countries simply use religion as an instrument of state control, but are not any more Islamic than anywhere less. If the study at hand is to be believed, they are certainly much less so.

Askari explained: “We must emphasize 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”.

“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 concluded.

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