Tuesday, August 23, 2005

WORLD MUSLIMS PRESENT AND FUTURE

Based on the actual data for the years 1994 and 2002 and assuming that the trend will continue unchanged, the following projections can be made about the future of the Muslim world.
YEAR POPULATION IN BILLIONS OF PEOPLE GROSS DOMESTTIC PRODUCT IN BILLION US$ PURCHASING POWER PARITY PER CAPITA GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT US$
C.E. WORLD MUSLIMS % WORLD MUSLIMS % WORLD MUSLIMS WORLD MUSLIMS %
1994 5.660 1.033 18.25 25,267 1,084 4.29 100 8.98 4,464 1,049 23.51
2002 6.106 1.253 20.52 32,067 1,465 4.57 100 8.97 5,252 1,169 22.26
2004 6.223 1.315 21.13 34,036 1,580 4.64 100 8.97 5,469 1,201 21.96
2050 9.625 3.991 41.46 133,994 8,927 6.66 100 8.94 13,922 2,237 16.07
2063 10.887 5.462 50.16 197,370 14,563 7.38 100 8.93 18,128 2,666 14.71
2100 15.462 13.339 86.27 594,279 58,646 9.87 100 8.91 38,434 4,397 11.44

ISLAM AND THE MODERN WORLD

In the year 2002 there were nearly 6,2 billion people in the world. Of these 1.25 billion were Muslims, 90 percent Sunnis and 10 percent Shi’as. About 80 percent of all Muslims in the world lived in 57 countries who were members of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC). Detailed statistics about these countries can be found in the Appendices. On average 80 % of the population of the OIC countries was Muslim. Thus there were as many nonmuslims in the Muslim countries as there were Muslims in the rest of the world. The following table gives the basic statistics:


World

OIC Members

OIC total as World %





Area sq km

130,295,148

31,209,703

23.95

Population

6,106,267,299

1,334,608,993

21.86

No of Muslims

1,252,754,259

1,047,815,624

83.64

Total GDP in billion US dollars

32,067.115

1,465

4.57

Purchasing Power Parity

100

9

8.97

Per Capita GDP in US dollars

5,251.51

1,097

20.90

Economic Growth rate percent

2.09

4

212.65

Inflation Rate percent

2.55

10

395.74

Population density, people per sq km

47

43

91.49





The 57 OIC countries include: AFGHANISTAN, ALBANIA, ALGERIA, AZERBAIJAN, BAHRAIN, BANGLADESH, BENIN, BRUNEI DARESSALAM, BURKINA FASO, CAMEROON, CHAD, COMOROS, COTE D IVOIRE, DJIBOUTI, EGYPT, GABON, GAMBIA THE, GUINEA, GUINEA-BISSAU, GUYANA, INDONESIA, IRAN I.R. OF, IRAQ, JORDAN, KAZAKHSTAN, KUWAIT, KYRGYZ REPUBLIC, LEBANON, LIBYA, MALAYSIA, MALDIVES, MALI, MAURITANIA, MOROCCO, MOZAMBIQUE, NIGER, NIGERIA, OMAN, PAKISTAN, PALESTINE, QATAR, SAUDI ARABIA, SENEGAL, SIERRA LEONE, SOMALIA, SUDAN, SURINAME, SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC, TAJIKISTAN, TOGO, TUNISIA, TURKEY, TURKMENISTAN, UGANDA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, UZBEKISTAN, YEMEN REPUBLIC OF.

Economic Power

As can be seen in the table above the 57 Muslim countries that are home to nearly 22 % of the world population contribute less than 5 % of the World’s Gross Domestic Product in US dollar terms. The under-valuation of their currencies and their trading disadvantage can be judged by the fact that although their Purchasing Power Parity is nearly 9 % of the World, the GDP is only half that value. This means that their currencies are on average valued against the US dollar at nearly half the rate they deserve. Although there is much publicity about the economic power and affluence of the Oil exporting Muslim countries of the Middle East, they hardly play a significant role in the overall economic or trading scenario of the world. The reasons are simple. These countries are literally defenseless and have to depend on others for the exploitation of their natural wealth. The following Table compares the combined economic performance of the Muslim countries with other significant groups. Detailed statistics of the groups can be found in the appendices.

Groups*

Total Area as % of World

Total Population as % of World

Average per capita Gross Domestic Product US$

Combined Purchasing Power Parity World %

Total Gross Domestic Product World %

Ratio of World % GDP to PPP

Average Annual Inflation Rate %

Average Population density per sq km

Average Annual GDP growth rate %

G-7

16

12

30,112

44.02

66.5

1.45

1.63

22

1.47

22 Richest per capita

24

13

29,665

50

75

1.5

1.32

26

1.52

20 Largest GDP

54

60

7,556

77

86

1.12

1.73

51

2.05

20 Highest PPP

56

66

6,714

79

84

1.06

2.12

55

2.18

11 Oil Exporters

9

9

1,571

6.00

4.0

0.67

6.73

41

1.08

57 Muslim Countries

24

22

1,097

8.97

4.57

0.51

10.09

43

4.44

22 Deprived Countries

40

66

919

32

11

0.36

6.86

77

5.37

20 Poorest Countries

7

6

175

0.18

0.20

1.11

11.52

42

5.33

World Average

100

100

5,251

100

100

1.00

2.55

47

2.09

* For lists of countries in each group, refer to Appendix-1.

American World Empire

There is perception among many Muslims that there exists in the USA a clandestine organization of very rich and influential individuals that manipulates American policies. It gets presidents and politicians who get out of its line murdered, and creates scares, scandals and even catastrophes both within and out side the USA to mould public opinion to its liking. In the absence of an official name we shall call this so far hypothetical organization the American World Empire and abbreviate it as AWE.

Most Americans believe that the Diversity Visa program is an attempt to justly share the American affluence with all ethnic communities of the world, but many Muslims look upon it as an attempt to create an electoral college proportionately representing all nationalities of the world that would make the American president the rightful ruler of the World.

The Anthrax scare was timed to influence the public and the elected representatives of USA to pass the Homeland security Bill in violation of the US Constitution. The investigation to find its perpetrators was hushed up. It stands out as one of the most recent achievements of AWE.

The leaders of AWE seem to be aware that the spirit of freedom inherent in Islam will be the biggest obstacle to their megalomaniac aims and are keen to find ways to either crush it or to put it in a straight jacket.

The AWE considers any other entity having similar ambitions of world domination as its natural enemy. For this simple reason, the AWE fought against Nazism and Communism, and is now fighting against Islamic Revivalism.

Iran

George W. Bush in his State of the Union speech in January 2002 named three countries, Iran, Iraq and North Korea as the “axis of evil” for indulging in the development of weapons of mass destruction. The claim about Iraq has been proven false beyond all doubt. Iran and North Korea have been found to have legitimate nuclear technology development plans that can be used in more than one ways.

The only thing really common among the three so-called axis of evil countries was that they had single party totalitarian ideological governments. Iraq and North Korea had communist connections and Iran’s theocratic administration was very similar to the communist system.

Iran’s religious (and by default polirical) leaders who proudly call themselves Ayatulla and Ruhullah meaning ‘God’s word’ and ‘God’s spirit’ (terms used for Jesus in the Qur’an). They claim to be the direct descendants of Ali bin Abu Talib and hence a special breed. They are regarded as demigods by their followers. Shi’as belonging to the Iranian sect anywhere in the world have undivided loyalty to the Ayatullahs irrespective of their nationalities. Democratic Western nations can not discriminate against their citizens of Iranian origin, so they are trying to solve the problem at source.

The occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq on fraudulent pretexts was meant to surround Iran before the planned military invasion. If Afghanistan and Iraq had not been secured first, it could become another Vietnam. The irony is that it will inspite of everything!

Iraq

The 12 year aerial and naval siege of Iraq by the US and British forces was the longest in history. Saddam and the siege survived three changes of president and prime minister and military chiefs in US and UK.

If Saddam was able to deter the Americans and British for twelve years with a hoax of weapons of mass destruction, he will go down in history as the greatest military strategist ever.

The Americans and the British leaders attacked Iraq only after they were convinced by UN inspectors’ reports that there were no WMDs in Iraq. They used Saddam’s secondhand hoax of WMDs to fool their own people and the world and create an excuse for the land invasion.

General Tommy Franks, the front man in the run-up to the Iraq invasion and its execution mysteriously disappeared from the scene soon after the fall of Baghdad. The media did not take any notice, or was told not to.

It is also widely conjectured in the Muslim world that the plan for the invasion and control of Iraq had been prepared long before and during the 12 year siege, a team of Iraqi immigrants had been brainwashed and prepared to form the puppet government after the fall of Baghdad. It explains the opposition of the patriotic Iraqis to the interim regime put in place in Iraq by the Americans. It is commonly understood in the Muslim world that the Americans and the British are going to stay in Iraq until they have recovered all the expenditure of the siege, the war and the occupation with a hefty interest. The frequent attacks damaging the oil pipeline to Basra is meant to prevent the British occupation forces from stealing and shipping Iraqi oil to Britain.