Military Priority Index of Selected Countries

Serial No.	Country Name	Population (2002 estimate)	Total number of military personnel (2001)	People per soldier	GDP per capita (U.S.$) (2000)	Annual expenditure per soldier in US$	Annual expenditure per soldier as multiple of per capita GDP (MPI)
1	Nigeria	129,934,910	78,500	1,655	320	23,561	73.63
2	China	1,284,303,700	2,310,000	556	860	24,779	28.81
3	Yemen	18,701,257	54000	346	490	12,278	25.06
4	India	1,045,845,200	1,263,000	828	450	11,217	24.93
5	Zimbabwe	11,376,676	39000	292	590	11,574	19.62
6	Bangladesh	133,376,680	137,000	974	360	6,188	17.19
7	Sudan	37,090,298	117,000	317	370	6,256	16.91
8	Luxembourg	448,569	900	498	43,090	719,111	16.69
9	Brazil	176,029,560	287,600	612	3,490	57,976	16.61
10	Saudi Arabia	23,513,330	126,500	186	8,360	138,366	16.55
11	Philippines	84,525,639	107,000	790	990	13,264	13.40
12	Pakistan	147,663,430	620,000	238	450	5,800	12.89
13	Kuwait	2,111,561	15,500	136	19,040	238,994	12.55
14	South Africa	43,647,658	61,500	710	2,940	32,754	11.14
15	Uganda	24,699,073	60,000	412	280	3,100	11.07
16	Yugoslavia	11,206,039	105,500	106	790	7,962	10.08
17	Iran	66,622,704	513,000	130	1,650	15,336	9.29
18	Argentina	37,812,817	70,100	539	7,690	69,116	8.99
19	Sri Lanka	19,576,783	123,000	159	840	7,024	8.36
20	Russia	144,978,570	977,100	148	1,730	12,849	7.43
21	Australia	19,546,792	50,700	386	20,340	146,191	7.19
22	Malaysia	22,662,365	100,500	225	3,850	27,669	7.19
23	Indonesia	232,073,070	297,000	781	730	5,162	7.07
24	UK	59,778,002	211,430	283	23,680	158,918	6.71
25	Turkey	67,308,928	515,100	131	3,060	20,190	6.60
26	Canada	31,902,268	56,800	562	22,370	145,352	6.50
27	USA	280,562,490	1,367,700	205	34,940	214,959	6.15
28	Venezuela	24,287,670	59,300	410	4,980	30,354	6.10
29	Netherlands	16,067,754	50,430	319	22,910	137,442	6.00
30	Sweden	8,876,744	33,900	262	25,630	147,510	5.76
31	France	59,765,983	273,740	218	21,980	123,475	5.62
32	Qatar	793,341	12,330	64	24,740	137,591	5.56
33	Oman	2,713,462	43,400	63	6500	34,562	5.32
34	Japan	126,974,630	239,800	530	38,160	200,167	5.25
35	Mexico	103,400,170	192,770	536	5,860	29,802	5.09
36	Vietnam	81,098,416	484,000	168	400	1,940	4.85
37	Egypt	70,712,345	443,000	160	1,540	7,151	4.64
38	Germany	83,251,851	308,400	270	22,800	98,573	4.32
39	Thailand	62,354,402	306,000	204	2,010	7,987	3.97
40	Poland	38,625,478	206,045	187	4,080	15,307	3.75
41	Spain	40,077,100	143,450	279	14,150	50,659	3.58
42	Israel	6,029,529	163,500	37	17,710	60,095	3.39
43	Jordan	5,307,470	100,240	53	1,710	5,713	3.34
44	Syria	17,155,814	321,000	53	1,050	2,966	2.82
45	U. A. E.	2,445,989	65000	38	17,060	41,754	2.45
46	Lebanon	3,677,780	71,830	51	3,810	7,810	2.05
47	South Korea	48,324,000	683,000	71	9,670	18,743	1.94
48	North Korea	22,224,195	1,082,000	21	1,700

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.

Israel and Palestine

A magnificent Palestinian Empire already existed when Moses led the tribes of Israel from Egypt into Sinai. The subsequent Jewish Empires of David and Solomon (regarded by the Muslims as Islamic Empires) were always at loggerheads with the Palestinians who have maintained their national identity over the millennia, although many of them converted to Christianity and Islam. The Palestinians are a freedom loving people who have become aliens and refugees in their own homeland, thanks to the torch bearers of freedom and democracy such as USA and UK.

The thorn in the Israeli psyche is their refusal to accept a minority status. They became unpopular all over the world because wherever they settled, they formed Jewish enclaves and tried to become a local majority imposing their own customs and ideology on others. They also led the money lending trade with all its attendant corruption. However, all Jews are not Israelis. There are still many good Jews living in all parts of the world who would not even dream of forcibly occupying the property of others.

Whereas the Jewish faith has all the paraphernalia of a religion, it contradicts its universality by insisting on its racial uniqueness. Ideologies always transcend racial, cultural and geographical boundaries. The bitter truth is that Israelism is just a fad like Nazism and Fascism. How long it will last depends on how well it can serve the purposes of others. European and specially Eastern European nations can change the course of history to a better direction by offering incentives to Jews trapped in Israel to return to their original homelands.

When the sympathizers of Palestinians see Israelis firing rockets on unarmed Palestinians from an American built helicopter, they hold everyone who was involved in the production of that helicopter, its components, the rockets and the explosives as a party to the gruesome murders. They see traces of Palestinian blood on the hands of every American and most other Westerners. So they attack them wherever they find them vulnerable. The war on terror will never end as it has created an unending vendetta.

Islamic Revivalism

During the past few years there has developed a significant Islamic revivalist movement across the globe. It is not the result of any conspiracy, but the obvious reaction to world events of the near past. The Muslims of the world have observed the failure of Muslim politicians, scholars and statesmen to forge unity among the many Muslim nations with their own cultures and traditions. At the same time, the nonmuslim nations appear to have connived together to deny freedom to a number of sizeable Muslim nations such as Palestinians, Kashmiris and Chechens who have age old distinct national identities. To the more sensitive and less sectarian Muslims the only way to unite the Muslims and pool their resources so that they may stand at equal footing with other religious nationalities is to create an Islamic order based on the traditions of a time before the divisions among Muslims started. This means the institution of the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad himself and the early Caliphs.

Unfortunately, the political model of the early Caliphates does not bode well with the democratic perceptions of modern times. In modern secular jargon the Caliphs were absolute autocrats. They had no ministers and no parliaments. There was no police and not even a regular army. The lack of public security in those days can be judged by the fact that the second, third and fourth Caliphs were all murdered in the public. The great conquests that created one of the world’s greatest Empires of all times were achieved by purely volunteer armies.

There was no economic policy in the Islamic State of Madinah, which most revivalists look up to as the model. Conquests were producing a constant flow of spoils of war that were distributed justly among the people of Madinah making their lives quite easy and comfortable. The only indigenous source of income for the state was charitable donations during the time of Prophet Muhammad and Zakat (2.5 % of accumulated surplus wealth and stock in trade) during the reign of the 4 earliest Caliphs. A certain amount of earning came from the blood money (mistakenly called ransom) paid by the relatives of prisoners of war taken in the battle field. Since there were no prisons in the Islamic state, prisoners of war who were unable to pay blood money were given as slaves in the custody of the relatives of the Muslim soldiers who were killed in the battles. Those conditions simply can not be recreated in the modern world.

Cruelty in the name of the Merciful

Most of the gangsters like the Philippine Muslim guerillas derive their inspiration from literature published by the opponents of Islam which maliciously depicts the Prophet and his companions as bandits who robbed trading caravans and abducted people for ransom. Quite contrary to Islamic principles of universal justice and protection of all citizens, some illiterate Muslims still believe that heathens have no right to life, property or honor. Such people can only be regarded as enemies of Islam, as they are in league with those enemies of Islam who published libel about Islam centuries ago. It is the responsibility of every good Muslim to find ways to teach such perverted Muslims the true values of Islam.