MUSLIMS MOST CIVILISED, YET NOT ENOUGH
Dr. Javed Jamil
Mission Publications, 214-K SaritaVihar, New Delhi-76
Price: INR 800/
Pages: 356
2013
Reviewed by MOHAMMAD NAUSHAD KHAN
The author has honestly made an attempt to present the image of Muslimsin its true spirit and has countered the myth and propaganda deliberately spread by the western world to denigrate Muslims on the lower strata of civilisation despite the figures available as well as mentioned in this book speaks otherwise. To him, although Muslims are most civilised if we compare the figures with thosein some other countries yet there is a long way to go for Muslims inall walks of life.
The myth and rumours have taken roots over the years because Muslims have failed to present their trueessence and image before the western thinkers were able to classify Muslims the way the former wanted to be through a systematic campaign using all powerful medium by their side to keep their self above others. They have used all the narratives which they thought can demean Muslims on all accounts. They have over the years projected the Muslims to be violent, aggressive with all kinds of social evils prefixed to them. But if we compare all the statistics presented by the learned author in his book then there can be hardly any doubt that Muslims are most civilised despite persistent vilifying campaign by the west to overshadow the true face of Islam and practising Muslims. In his book,Dr. JavedJamil has produced comprehensive statisticsculled from various sourcesto arguethat Muslim countries are more civilised than the western countries despite many shortcomings on the scale of civilised index.
The advocates of westernism argue that Muslims are uncivilised because they are the most violent people in the world; they are prone to violence because their religion promotes violence against non-believers; Muslims want to follow their traditional culture and are not ready to adopt modern civilization of the west; Muslims demonstrate mutual brotherhood, which endangers the very survival of the civilised world. The argument put forward by them that they are civilised for the fact they have a system where society has total freedom; they have ‘liberated’ their women; they are peace loving and generally hate violence and the lives of their people are healthier and happier with higher incomes, life expectancy and educational levels.
The author has therefore attempted to present the real picture of Muslims by statistically comparing with the west and has thereby categorised that Muslims are numerically more civilised than people in most of the western countries, who generally keep on boasting that they are more civilised and advanced. The author has taken up issues on the basis of which he has compounded who is more civilised than others interms of social indicators in various chapters of the book. The conclusion he has drawn is on the issues related to security, incidence of murders, sexual assault, abortions, wars,social peace,alcohol,gambling,prostitution,pornography,suicides,divorce,promiscuity,parenthood, child abuse, domestic violence, life expectancy, education and economic wellbeing. In order to put forward his case where he can justify that Muslims are more civilised than others, he has produced statistics of international standard and repute. What the author has concluded is based on the finding that except in one or two issues Muslims are far more civilised than others. Statistics provided on all such issues substantiates his claim.
If we take the incidence of murder, the top 50 countries in terms of murder are mostly western countries. The list provided in the book shows that the rate of murders in Muslim countries is far low as compared to that in other important countries like Russia, China, India and African countries. The rate in the USA is 10 times higher than that of major Muslim countries. Likewise, in terms of incidence of rape the US, South Africa, France, Germany and Australia figure among the top 10 out of top 50 countries.
Similarly, of the total 160 million dead more than 135 million people have been killed in the countries that consider to be the most powerful and developed and are among the five big powers of the world like China, the US, the UK, France and Russia. But the killing in the Muslim countries is of very small percentage of the total killings even though in terms of population Muslims are about one-fifth of the world population.
About 40.6 percent of children in America were born to unmarried (they love to call single) mothers in 2008. This figure is 5 percent in Greece, 9 percent in Cyprus, 58 percent in Estonia,64 percent in Iceland. In Europe, the average was one out of four in 1997 to one out of three children born to unmarried mothers. In Britain, the figure is alarming and has further increased to 46 percent in 2009 as against 44 percent in 2006. But in Muslim countries the possibility of unwed mothers seems to be almost negligible. Approximately, 50-70 million babies are aborted annually in the so-called western civilised world. In Muslim countries, the rate of abortion is very low. In the list of countries with highest rates of teenage pregnancies no Muslim country can be found.
In the US, approximately 325000 children below the age of 17 turn to be prostitutes or can be seen in pornographic videos or might have victim of sexual assaults. Muslim families are more civilised in the upbringing of their children and the possibility of children in Muslim countries pushed in this trade is very little. Homosexuality is very rampant in western countries and in most of them this heinous practice has been encouraged and in some cases even legalised but homosexuality is very rare in the Muslim community. There is no possibility of same-sex marriages in the Muslim society which is permissible in the so-called western civilised countries.
The number of people suffering from alcohol-related diseases around the world is about 140 million. In the US death due to such practice is around 1,00,000. If we compare it with that in Muslim countries, this problem is not very common. Of the total 30 countries that can be said to have consumed maximum alcohol only one Muslim country appears at the bottom of the table and it is Turkey. So here too, Muslims are more civilised as compared to others.
All the top 10 countries where gambling is practised are from the western world while this evil is much lower in Muslim countries. In terms of life expectancy, Muslims have taken the lead and the rate of life expectancy in Muslim countries is very high even though the health care facilities are not as advanced as compared to western countries. The Life Expectancy at birth is good in most western countries. In 19 Muslim countries, the life expectancy at birth is more than 70 and it is more than 75 in 5 countries.
Literacy rate in countries like Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan is 99 percent and is well placed above countries like the US andthe UK. Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei Darussalam, Kuwait, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Jordan, United Arab Emirates have all a literacy rate of more than 90 per cent;and Lebanon, Bahrain, Turkey, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran and Oman have the percentage of more than 80. As per a Canadian research firm report in 2010, Iran occupies top rank globally in terms of growth in scientific productivity followed by South Korea.
Two Muslim countries like Qatar and UAE are among the top 5 ranking countries in terms of per capita income and what is even more significant that their per capita income is far more superior to most advanced countries like the US, the UK,Australia and France. Notably, there are 8 Muslim countries in top 50 high per capita income countries list.
All 17 countries placed in terms of highest suicide rates are from western countries and this negative trend is almost negligible in Muslim countries. These figures are more than enough for us to believe that Muslims are far more civilised in terms of social indicators but certainly much more has to be achieved in every sphere in the days to come.