Why are Muslim countries becoming poor today? Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and from the 57 Islamic countries of the world, 45 countries are poor today. And the rest of the 12 countries are also majorly rich because of their oil. Why is that? Is there any connection between Islam and religion here? Why is that? If you look at the world map at a macro level, then the world’s most fought wars are taking place in the Middle East and North African regions, which are majorly Islamic regions.
Mosul, Damascus, Beirut, don’t know how many Muslim capital cities have been destroyed. Even if you look at the life map of countries suffering from hunger, then the most hungry are in these Islamic countries. Expenses and inflation are also the highest in these countries. In Somalia, for example, a dozen eggs cost 400 rupees, which means one egg costs about 40 rupees.
Even in Iran, the situation is similar. A packet of bread costs 8,500 riyals. And in Iraq, it costs 1,500. Almost 32,000 to 45,000 dinars. Well, seeing all this, you may feel that the major reason behind poverty is terrorism or wars. Well, this is also completely wrong. Terrorism is just a symptom of this deep problem.
Its root cause is not at all. So what is the root cause? Now, if you are a non-Muslim, a Hindu, maybe, then I am sure you will think that religious ideology is the problem in Islam. It teaches violence. Because ISIS and Al-Qaeda are the ones who spread terrorism by referring to it. And I don’t blame you.
It is not even the fault of non-Muslims to think like this. Because even Muslims will agree that because of these terrorist organizations, the image of Islam is getting worse. But if there is a root problem in Islam, then how did the golden age of Islam last for 500 years? In which Muslim civilization has been the most intelligent and modern civilization.
In those streets of Iraq and Iran, where today a Muslim roams with a gun, And Islam also came from an Abrahamic ideological sect. Which is considered to be monotheism, that is, one God. From that sect, Jews’ Judaism and Christians’ Christianity also came out. So, because of believing in one God, these religions did not face the problem of terrorism.
And Jews’ old Bible, in their Torahs, also promoted a lot of violent things. But today, not every Jew is holding a gun in his hand. Jews, that is, the population of Jews in the whole world is only 0.2%. But in the last 100 years, they have won 25% Nobel Prizes. Can you believe that? Einstein was also a Jew, and the rest you can understand.
This community also belongs to the Abrahamic lineage. From which Islam also came out. But today, Jews have no competition in terms of technology and development.
In 1967, a famous Arab-Israel war took place. Famous because in this war, these Islamic countries attacked Israel together. But despite this, Israel only attacked Israel in 6 days.
And instead, they started occupying their territories. Just like Jews, Europe and North America, where there is a majorly Christian population, are also economically and development-wise very stable. In fact, most superpowers are Christian-majority countries today. So, what is the reason that Jews and Christians, which came out of the same ideological father, the Abrahamic sect, are stable? But Islamic countries are failing. They are becoming poor.
Well, to understand this once and for all in depth, we need to know that with the Islamic empire, only one mistake will change the future of this entire empire into a stone. So, around the 8th century, the golden age of Islam had begun. A time when science, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, art, culture, everything was flourishing in the Islamic empire.
This was the time when Islamic scholars like Ibn Rushd were born, who are today called the founding fathers of modern secularism. Can you believe that? The idea of Western Secularism emerged from the Islamic empire. Between the 8th century and the 13th century,
Abbasid Khalif ruled this large area. During this time, he had built a grand library in Baghdad called the House of Wisdom, where scholars of different religions and cultures were called from all over the world, and their knowledge was translated into Arabic language and many manuscripts were written.
Just like how Nalanda University was in Bihar. Mathematics, Medicine, Rational Philosophies, and almost every field of scientific knowledge was translated into Arabic. And in this era, the polymaths like Ibn Rushd, i.e. the Muslim scholars who knew every field, were introduced to the world. They brought Aristotle’s philosophy to the world.
A philosophy that says that logic and rationality are the most important things in the world, and blind belief is the biggest weakness. Some of the other polymath scholars of this era were Ibn Musa, who was a scholar of Al-Khwarizmi, who also invented the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. Medical science had also developed a lot during this era.
You can understand this from this picture, in which an Islamic medical scholar named Hunayn ibn Ishaq had made an encyclopedia of human eyes in detail. Now, after this golden age, a revolution could have taken place in the Islamic world, because Baghdad had become a knowledge hub for the whole world. But, unfortunately, due to a single politically motivated system change, the whole region was left behind in such a way that today Baghdad has become a terrorist organization hub like ISIS, which exports terrorism to the world.
And this very system change is the root cause of the decline of the Islamic empire. So, how did a knowledge hub become an export house for terrorism? How did the house of wisdom get destroyed? Why did Islamic countries reach their golden age? And despite reaching their golden age, today they are poor? Well, let’s understand this whole story rationally.
And many times, some people have found the truth bitter, but the scientific perspective has taught me that bitter truth is much better than sweet lies. And then if the question is about the better future of our world, which Hindus and Muslims have to make together, then we have to move away from divisive politics and find the uniting truth ourselves.
We have to bring Muslim’s golden age together, which can only be achieved through Muslim cooperation. And my entire team and I, through our websites, through personal empowerment and national empowerment, are committed to contributing. We have to always keep the country before religion, because if there is a country, then there will be religion.
And if there is no country, then is religion really giving a good life in Syria, Iraq or Pakistan? Religion is being used by the leaders for their own benefit. So why Islamic countries are getting poorer? Before understanding its root cause, we have to know three major factors, and by understanding them, you will be able to understand the root cause better.
So among these three major factors, the first major factor is war. War, which has spread throughout the Islamic world only because of two leaders.
One Saudi, who is a propagator of Sunni Islam, and one Iran, who is a propagator of Shia Islam. Basically, out of the 57 Islamic countries in the world, half are Sunni Muslims and the other half are Shia Muslims.
But Saudi wants all Islamic countries to follow Sunni Islam, and Iran wants all Islamic countries to follow Shia Islam, so that they get geopolitical control. This ideological war is something like the one that happened between America and the Soviet Union for global control in the Cold War. America was spreading democracy, and the USSR was spreading socialist ideology.
And in the Muslim world, this same ideological war is for the control of the Muslim world. Now, what happens is that whenever Saudi funds the king of a Sunni country, then the rebels of that country, or the Sunni, i.e. the Shia groups who raise their voice against the government, start supporting Iran. So that the Sunni government changes and becomes the Shia government.
Again, when Iran funds the king of a Shia country, then Saudi comes to support the rebel groups there. And because of this, there has been a war in them for centuries, as to who will become the leader of the entire Islamic world. For example, let me refer you to Yemen. In Yemen, in 1982, Ali Abdullah Saleh was the Sunni government.
At that time, he received support from Saudi. To increase their ideological influence, they turned Yemen into a battlefield. 20 lakh people lost their homes, starved to death, people were suffering due to lack of medical help, and 85,000 children lost their lives. The same case is with Lebanon. Here too, there was a Sunni vs Shia war, during which the food supply chain was cut down.
People were not even able to eat for a single meal, all public schools were shut down, Lebanon’s currency Lira, whose value was $1,500 compared to a dollar, was shot down to $80,000. And 82% of the population there became poor. There has been a war in Syria for 12 years, due to which 90% of its population has gone below the poverty line.
And this is not just a coincidence of a few countries. If you look at this map, then more than half of the countries in MENA are having wars due to Islamic conflicts. Which is fundamentally, just one The benefits of countries that have the ambitions of the Saudi and Iran, and the loss of other Muslim countries and poverty there.
But as I said earlier, war is just a symptom, a major factor. Historically, it has been seen that to get rid of poverty, to make themselves stable, most of the countrymen adopt democracy by removing the Tana Shahi. But in the case of Islamic countries, this demand for democracy has become a major reason for them to become poorer.
Now poverty from democracy sounds very weird, right?
Well, look at this graph. Whenever there is a demand for democracy in Islamic countries, immediately Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, almost every Arab country has seen a drastic downfall. But if democracy can work for a country with a large population like India, then why not for Islamic countries? The story of democracy begins on 17 December 2010, when a revolutionary named Mohamed Bouazizi stood in front of a government building and burned himself to death.
Now, the suicide of 26-year-old Mohamed became a revolution in the revolt of Tunisia’s government’s politics, corruption, and atrocities, which opened the eyes of the entire Arab world. People were scared that they might not become their own Mohamed. And that’s why from Tunisia to Yemen, Syria, Libya, Egypt, every Muslim country, they raised their voices against the king of the Arab world.
And slowly, in Islamic countries, there began to be protests in the pockets. Which became a big revolution in just a few days. Which was named in 2010, the Arab Spring. In this protest, people only had one demand. They wanted a democratic government. By which they could choose the ruling party. And they got basic human rights, by which they could live their lives in peace and happiness.
People believed that the Arab Spring would secure their future. But, as you can clearly see in the graph, apart from Tunisia, the demand for democracy, has made the condition of the people of every country even worse. Basically, in the demand for democracy, these countries have spent many centuries in war.
But even then, instead of getting rid of the dictatorship in those countries, it has become even stronger. For example, in Yemen, after the Arab Spring, the government changed and Saleh was elected. But in the end, the Houthis killed the democratically elected Saleh and started a war in Yemen again. And similarly, in some countries, the government also came.
But that government was just a government of name. For example, Libya. In 2011, after the demand for democracy, the government of Muammar Gaddafi came. But the government was just a government of name. Just like North Korea. Where, despite having democratic elections every year, the government becomes Kim Jong Un’s.
Now, there were also some countries where the government could not be formed. For example, Syria. There, democracy was demanded in the Arab Spring. But because of civil wars and constant extremism, the government could not be formed there. Basically, instead of democracy, in these countries, the rule of taan was stronger.
Whoever had the hard power, became the ruler. It was kind of like the rule of Genghis Khan. Whoever had the power, he had the power. Whereas the world has changed a lot today. Now, let’s come to the third main factor, which financially and intellectually crippled the Islamic countries. So, religion is a means of giving people the rights and laws to do good.
Now, can a Hindu say that the rule of manusmriti should be introduced in India today? Well, no. Because it will not suit the requirements of today. And that’s why it is extremely necessary to have a progressive interpretation of religion. So that religion keeps people united and also shows the path to progress.
But unfortunately, in Islamic countries, this right interpretation of Islam ended after the Golden Age. If we talk about the banking system and scientific development, there are two major pillars. But the radical personal laws of Islamic countries are against these pillars. So, let’s talk about the banking system, which is the financial backbone of any country.
So, today, there are almost no banks in Islamic countries. Look at this. 4 in Saudi Arabia, 10 in Bahrain and 7 in UAE. And in Tunisia, Syria, Yemen, there are only one or two total banks. Comparatively, India alone has more than 91 banks in the Islamic world. And the reason behind this is their personal law.
It is written in Surah Al-Imran, verse 13 to 132 of Sharia law, that taking and giving interest on money is both a sin. Now, what do banks do? They give loans to an individual or a company. In return, that company gives interest to the bank. And with this, that company can do business, which creates jobs, keeps people productive and busy, and contributes to the economy and makes the country grow.
Bank also benefits from the profits obtained from interest. And then, it pumps more money into the business ecosystem. And this development cycle continues. Now, it is very important for banks to benefit from this entire ecosystem. Remember this. But because of Sharia’s prohibition, banks operate in a different concept in Islamic countries.
On an equity basis. In this, basically, whenever a company takes a loan from an Islamic bank, it gives a small portion of its company to the bank. That is, only if that company makes profits, then only the banks will make profits. But if the same company fails to make profits, or if the business defaults, then the bank will also go into loss.
Now, most of the businesses fail. So, why did the bank take a loss? This will end the bank’s own capital, and it will not be able to loan to the right businesses in the future. In short, the bank will be bankrupt and shut down. Because of this flawed system, in 1997, 1998, and 2009, three major banks have failed.
And no matter how many bankrupted banks, the data has never come out. So, unfortunately, the banking system is failing in these countries. But still, personal law is not being updated. With this, the majority of Islamic countries are not only against the banking system, but also against women empowerment, which is stopping women from doing professional work.
That is, these countries are wasting the potential of half of their human resources. And finally, the last lacking factor of Islamic countries that is making these countries poor is their anti-science approach in today’s modern age.
According to the Scroll.in report, in some Islamic countries, when children are taught science, they threaten to bite and kill the teachers.
For example, Indian colleges have cultural groups. By the way, there are anti-science student groups in Pakistan, which are totally against science. But they don’t understand that they are the only ones who are suffering. Now, let’s look at some of these countries. How many of these countries are lacking in their development? Despite having a 27% population in the world, their contribution to the R&D of science is only 0.5%.
And as a result, a small country like Israel alone in 2020 makes 22,743 scientific publications. And all these Islamic countries together make 10,000 scientific publications.
Look at the official data of this Nobel Prize Committee. In comparison to the Jews, the Muslim population is 120 times more in the world.
But the Jews have won 47 times, not 47 numbers, 47 times more Nobel Prizes in just the last 100 years. But why are children of Islamic countries so against science that promotes rational and critical thinking? Well, there are three main reasons for this. First, according to the World Economic Forum, the majority of Muslims believe that modern science is an atheist practice and western propaganda.
Second, in the majority of Muslim countries, Madrasah education is the primary education, which focuses only on the educational values of Islamic culture, and not on giving students academically intelligent or practical knowledge. And the third reason is that the religious leaders of these Islamic countries are the first to blame children for science.
If the golden age of Islam had ever come, then it had come only because the right Islamic leaders had given the right inspiration of religion to increase science and education.
Not because of the fear of being snatched away from their kingdom, they kept people in the darkness of ignorance.
On this same issue, a retired Lieutenant General of the Pakistan Army shared his experience in the Tribune, that corrupt Islamic leaders are afraid of closing their shops, and that’s why they keep the youth away from science and technology.
Because once the children’s aspirations increase after studying science, and their intellect opens up, then they will question everything. And if this happens, then it will be very difficult for corrupt leaders to stay in power by controlling people through propaganda. So now friends, finally let’s come to the root cause, the system in which religion is being run, which is made by humans, has a problem.
On this whole issue, a researcher from Massachusetts University, Khalid Khan, published a research paper, that why did Muslim countries go away from science and become poor? So what happened after the Islamic golden age? Let’s go back to the 8th century. In the beginning of the Islamic golden age, Abbasid Khalif was following Sunni Islam.
But by the 9th century, two more dynasties were established in Islamic states. Fatimid dynasty and Buid dynasty, which were both Shia-based dynasties. Gradually, the power of these dynasties increased. And by the 10th and 11th centuries, their Shia ideology had spread majorly in Islamic states. Now, the Islam of Sunni Abbasids and their authority remained limited only to a small state in Baghdad, which did not have much power.
They remained only as religious gurus, who were not able to promote their ideology. Now, Abbasids wanted support from a Sunni dynasty. And then, they saw the Sunni Seljuk Turks, who were ruling Turkey at that time. And then, Abbasids attacked Baghdad with the help of Seljuks. Because of the power of Seljuks, Baghdad fell under the control of Abbasids and Seljuks.
And then, Seljuks made Abbasids the religion head of Baghdad. After that, all the orders were passed by Abbasids. In short, Abbasids had become the caliph of Baghdad. But, here, apart from Baghdad, the Shia ideology was spreading in the rest of Islamic countries. And to stop this, Abbasids and Seljuks together appointed Nizam-al-Mulk, who was the minister of Seljuk.
Now, remember Nizam-al-Mulk. He will be the main character of this story. He is the one who made a system in the future, which will backfire and sow seeds of extremism. Now, Nizam-al-Mulk was the system which gave birth to Madrassas’ culture. Now, this Madrassas started spreading in all Islamic countries.
Which started to increase radical Sunni ideology to increase its power. Meanwhile, another ideology got a big shock. Which was Asharite ideology. This ideology was totally against science. For example, if we understand, they said that if we put cotton in front of fire, then that cotton doesn’t burn because of heat, but because of Allah’s will.
Meaning, there is no science behind the burning of that cotton, but rather, there is Allah’s will. Basically, this Asharite ideology converted faith in Allah into blind devotion. And, their faith totally went against science and education. Now, the major problem here was that this Asharite ideology also got the support of Abbasid Khalif.
And, from here, their scientific Islamic ideology got a full stop. Now, Abbasid Khalif was promoting rational thinking. Now, all the rational scholars started putting pressure on them. Whoever supported this scientific ideology, they would have put them in jail or even killed them. In short, the walls of the house of wisdom had become loose.
But, even then, this philosophy has been going on for so many years. It was difficult for Abbasids to get it out of the minds of common people. And, that’s why, Abbasids announced that whoever would be educated from Nizamiya Madrasas, they would be given government jobs. Meaning, top positions of the government, like judiciary or administrative posts, would be given to them.
They were completely incentivized so that they could study in this new Nizamiya system. And, because of this strategic change, this policy shift, the common people shifted from rational thinking to radical thinking. And, the remaining house of wisdom was also destroyed by the Mongols’ invasion in the 12th century.
But, on the other hand, the states of Europe translated the books of this house of wisdom into Latin Greek and started focusing on development. And, they took the path of progress which led to the future of the Nizamiya system. They had more civilizational knowledge and the knowledge was fully followed. And, that’s why I said that religion is not their problem.
Their problem is the Nizamiya system derived from similar Madrasa systems which unites politics and religion. It integrates them. The constitution of a developed country like the US is trying to keep it separate from all other countries. In fact, every developed country keeps politics and religion separate.
Now, why is this a problem? Well, because if a Muslim child goes to Madrasa from his childhood instead of schools, then the influence of religious clerics and leaders will increase in them. And, by the time they become young, they will believe everything that their leaders say to be true and the real influential power will come to the religious clerics.
The government of that country will want anything but the public will want what religious clerics will want. There should never be complete integration of religion and politics.
Today, the case of Saudi Arabia shows the best of this system’s flaws. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is looking at the oil demand and wants to bring new democratic reforms for the safety of Saudi Arabia in the future. He is reducing poverty and is modernizing his country like the UAE to develop the tourism sector.
But he has to face the opposition of Muslim clerics in every action. For example, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince has decided to open a university where both males and females can do research together. But the religious clerics who have actual power and actual influence have ordered the prince not to do so.
Now Saudi is fighting this problem in every step. And Muslim clerics are taking sympathy by calling these reforms anti-Islamic and making them violent. But friends, if the reforms don’t come with changing times and if culture is not able to survive because of that, then will religion survive? Where did the Egyptian, Aztec, or Mayan Gods go today? And that’s exactly my point.
We have always promoted scientific temperament through our Blog posts. But along with that, culture too. Because culture will unite us. We need balance, not fragility. And this is my personal message to my Hindu and Muslim brothers. Every leader and religious cleric is not bad.
You just have to question yourself and them wherever you have a question. You should never close your eyes and trust anyone. You should ask about the logic behind it. Trust but verify. Because you can’t keep the key of your thoughts and future in anyone’s hands. And I hope that Muslim brothers will come up with a solution to these problems.
