Majority Muslim Countries Quiz

All such prosperous and progressive countries...

Where's your reason to be rude.

What was rude about it?

lol let's just agree The UAE is a Muslim country and is prosperous, Mauritania is a Muslim country and is not prosperous, The USA is a Western country and is prosperous and Greece is a Western country and is not prosperous. I'm just trying to show that being Muslim or not makes no difference on a countries' prosperity. Also women's' rights and gay rights have nothing to do with being Muslim, they are the countries ideas (Sharia Law).

I've been reading it as "preposterous" and thought this whole thread was a little silly until I realized I was reading it wrong.

Cookies... you know Shariah comes straight from the Qur'an, right? I mean, sure, anyone can call themselves Muslim and it doesn't necessarily mean that they all believe in the same thing, same with Christians, most religious people are complete hypocrites anyway and pick and choose and adapt their beliefs as they see fit, but you can't say beliefs have *nothing* to do with religion if there is a clear and direct basis for them in the core documents of a faith. Also, while you can pull up isolated examples to provide anecdotal evidence, and I conceded that, look at averages and the differences become stark.

I agree with you, kalbahamut.

I'd say there's no correlation between (lack of) prosperity and islam (or any other religions). Counterargument: Some christian countries also belong to the poorest, worst countries too. Example: Central African Republic; Democratic Republic Congo. And don't forget North Korea, which is definitely neigther progressive nor prosperous and completely atheist.

Points well taken. However, there actually is a pretty strong correlation, even if it is certainly not a perfect correlation. If you took statistics you should know what that means. Basically a few odd examples do not make a big impact on the overall picture. Also, while you can cherry pick two countries to stand up next to each other, like Congo or North Korea vs. the United Arab Emirates, in the above list there's not a single country here where it's good to be female or Jewish or homosexual. And while you can find a couple examples of countries not on this list that are doing poorly, it's really hard to find any examples on the list that are doing well. And impossible to find any that are truly liberal or progressive.

“It seems to me a certainty that the fatalistic teachings of Mohammed and the utter degradation of the Arab women are the outstanding causes for the arrested development of the Arab. He is exactly as he was around the year 700, while we have been developing.” -General George S. Patton, 1943 The difference between those Islamic countries and those Christian countries is the strength of the religion. Countries founded on Judeo-Christian values, such as the United States, Canada, the UK, etc. are strong, stable countries. Countries in which sharia law is present are countries with obviously strong Muslim influence. Many of those countries are on this list, including Iran, Pakistan, etc. While the Central African Republic is also Christian, it was brought by colonizers.

The United States was founded on the values of the Enlightenment and Age of Reason. This was not a religious movement. Ethiopia was one of the first Christian kingdoms in the world. Armenia was another. Had nothing to do with colonization. How are they doing?

I'd argue (in the politest possible way, of course) that the USA is not that progressive when it comes to religion. The conservative Christian right has way too much power, quite at odds with the intentions of the founding fathers who saw that it was crucial that religion and the state were kept separate. I read just the other day of a survey which found that the respondents would prefer a Jewish or homosexual president to an atheist one. Great that people would go for a Jewish or gay pres. at all, but given the antipathy towards especially the second group, it's disturbing that so much importance is attached to religious belief, or lack thereof. Anyway, great quiz :o)

Wombat: that's really a recent phenomenon in US politics. And as you say, it goes against the founding principles of the nation. I personally believe things will swing back eventually... just the movements of a pendulum. It only came so far over to the religious fundamentalism side as a response to the very liberal and irreligious period of the 60s and 70s when many said that religion in the USA was finished. I think we're starting to see a correction now with the growing irrelevance of the GOP, in large part due to the crazies that have been taking over the party in recent years. These people and their politics will likely be increasingly marginalized, and perhaps they will be forced out of politics eventually for the same reason that they were invited in during the 1980s- a calculation made to win elections. We'll see.
All that said, in terms of written law and culture (if not in terms of the prevailing political climate) the US is still extremely progressive on religion.

Just for an example. I live in Saudi Arabia. Non-Muslim non-Sunni houses of worship may not be built here. Any public observance of any non-Muslim holiday (the two officially sanctioned by the state) is strictly prohibited. Religion is printed on most forms of identification, and it is very common for people here to ask about your religion (it is not considered a private and personal matter like in the US). Non-Muslims are not allowed to enter certain places and even two entire cities are off-limits. Five times a day every business is required to shut down and kick out patrons so that people will go pray. Those caught not praying, unless they are non-Muslim Westerners, face harassment and beatings. "Blasphemy" can be a ticket to imprisonment, torture, deportation and even death. Newspapers are not allowed to print anything critical of Islam. Websites are blocked for the same reason.

Not really the same thing as we have in the US.

I always sense a tone of 'anti-islam' in your words kalba. You need to be more inclusive and less divisive and learn about respect.

I spent 7 years living amongst people who use the word respect all the time without really understanding what it means. Sounds like you might need to look it up, too.

Oh, I'm not comparing the USA with Saudi Arabia, Kal. That would be doing the USA an enormous disservice. Nor am I saying it's any worse in the USA than it is in one of my countries (Australia) - we have our fair share of religious crazies there as well. The current Prime Minister for one. I was more comparing the USA to other democracies, like the Scandiwegians, which have a more sensible approach to religion.

The "Scandiwegains" :) are a pretty unique bunch, even compared to other democracies.

The truth hurts I know and you definitely do not know about respect.

I'm sure you know well about truth hurting. You seem to have an acute allergy to it.

I guess the enlightenment values was stealing land and the age of reason was slavery. As well as the most extremist government in the world, Saudi Arabia is America's sweetheart. It must be more of the age of reason still lingering.

HAHAHA... So true. Yeah they're also very peaceful and friendly.

Progressive, yeah. COMPLETE GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF EVERYTHING! Bwahaha

Right because absolute monarchs really didn't control anything. All of these Muslim countries used to be great bastions of freedom and equality up until they adopted liberal values.

Faux News is lying to you, friend. Pick up a history book sometime.

then the Devil said "Let there be Religion" then BOOM people above and below me are fighting..and the Devil wins!

*yawn*

it does not matter, does it?

That was quite the catfight I just read lol

Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and the gulf states are all quite prosperous and growing. Indonesia has some of the best gender equality in the world. When you compare the Islamic countries in Africa to the Christian ones, the former is far more developed. Let us not forget that in the dark ages it was Western Europe destroying the sensible culture and using ridiculous medical cures while the Islamic states preserved the Roman ideas and developed them, then brought them back into Europe. Later on the Christians decided to use their effort on producing armies and weapons, so went and killed all the muslims and took their lands. End of story.

That awkward moment when Qatar is one of the richest countries in the world.

uh huh... tell that to the slave laborers who built and are currently building the country. Also, stealing the infrastructure and profiting off the technology, expertise, and know-how of the more developed countries that came to develop the single industry in your country that is worth anything doesn't make you progressive, even if it does make the elites prosperous.

Their governments haven't started any illegal wars in recent times, if memory serves me.

Interesting quiz, but it has to be said that Islam in these countries isn't the same. I recently saw a documentary about Kyrgyzstan and their culture - the people didn't even mention the Islam at all, they have their own culture which is probably older, stronger and rooted deeper than any (historically) new religion.

All of the former USSR stans are pretty secular in comparison to most Islamic countries

Yes. Just as with any "religious" country; the US is considered to be a Christian country, but it differs vastly from, say, Brazil, Vatican City or Ireland --- and those countries from one another. To say that a country is majority Muslim is to say exactly that and nothing more.

Absolutely What! The nature of Islam in these countries is as varied as Christianity is in Christian countries. And btw... there are a WAY load of poor, insular Christian countries.

Of course many of these communities were completely isolated from each other for centuries... the people living up in the mountains of central Asia and in the archipelagos of SouthEast Asia most of all, so naturally their cultures diverged. These days with the internet and television, though, we can see a growing conformity all over the Muslim umma. From Kazakhs who never heard a word of spoken Arabic before to Indonesians who previously were more Buddhist than Muslim are all now being influenced by fundamentalists and Wahabists from other corners of the Islamic world.

Don't feel the need to respond to people who obviously have no idea what they're talking about

Thanks for the advice.

What about Ethiopia? I hear that now there are living more than 50% muslims, christianity is in minority.

I don't think this is accurate, Dudi. According to Wikipedia most Ethiopians are Christians. I've been there before and believe this to be accurate. I met many Orthodox Christians there and several Rastafarians but few Muslims, even though they are supposedly a large minority.

I feel sorry for Isreal. They are Jews completey surrounded by people who hate them.

Yes.

Now now they have christian minority and largely neutral lebanon to the north... oh wait... israel bombed them... well there goes that ally

Lebanon has never been neutral. They're actually among the most hostile and antagonistic of all of Israel's neighbors. It's true they have Maronite Christian, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, and Druze minorities that give the country a unique character; but politics there are still dominated by Hizbollah and has been for quite a while.

whoops I forgot Africa

So did history.

so did their allah

If I may, I live in Malaysia, a country included on your list. Malaysia, despite having very strict drug laws(messes with me getting my medications), is a wonderful place. Now, I am an expatriate from the United States and, consequently, have very high standards. I was very surprised when I came to Malaysia. It is a very liberal place with one of the best economic track records in southeast Asia. Any comments, Kal?

I actually quite like SouthEast Asia, and am very much at home there, but you really find Malaysia to be liberal? Granted, the blasphemy laws there do not carry a death sentence, only 3 years imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. I guess that's something. Pretty liberal for a Muslim country, but still pretty sad in my view. Malaysia was ranked 141st in the Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (not so great). They censor or ban hundreds of movies and news reports every year. And sure, their economy is doing well by SE Asia's standards, and some of that is due to their willingness to embrace economic reform and think forward.

I still wouldn't call Malaysia liberal or progressive. I don't particularly dislike the country, I just would not attach either of those labels to it. Even considering that it's one of the least Muslim of all these Muslim countries. Also, in recent years they have been moving in the wrong direction, as has much of the Muslim ummah.

Maybe I used the wrong words... Malaysia is very strict, and the government controls most news outlets. The country has a sort of unofficial racial placement system, with the Malays controlling the government, the Chinese controlling the economy, and the Indians doing everything else. Malaysia has the right to free worship, so I'm not quite sure what you mean by blasphemy. I have seen the Reporters without Borders listings, though I have my doubts as to whether they actually are completely accurate. Malaysia, to me, is definitely the most progressive and liberal country on this list.

Just google Malaysia blasphemy laws and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Also worth looking up on Wikipedia: Hamza Kashgari. A story that hits closer to home for me, as I live in Saudi Arabia- Hamza is a young Saudi blogger who sent out 3 vanilla tweets stating, in poetry, that he would like to shake the hand of Muhammad and that he didn't like the deification of the figure that he saw. When the tweets became news in Saudi Arabia Hamza tried to flee to New Zealand for asylum, but he was arrested en route in Malaysia and deported back to Saudi Arabia where many were calling for the death penalty. He spent two years in prison there and was only just released. He's been forbidden from working and now lives in fear for his life, thanks to Malaysian authorities.

Oh my... I don't really know what to say. You win that argument Kal.

I'd pick living in Malaysia over Buddhist Myanmar any day. South-East Asia is almost the perfect region to prove that religion alone, without analysis of other factors, is not the basis of "backwardness". Malaysia is one of the most well off, Myanmar is easily the most repressive and backwards countries in South-East Asia. Another example. Look at Albania and Kosovo compared to Serbia. Where would you rather live? Senegal or Nigeria? See my point?

You'd rather live in Pristina or Tirana than Belgrade?

Well, If he is muslim then most certainly he'd rather live in Tirana or Pristina. Serbians are not fond of them lately (cannot blame them for that). :) Nevertheless, why didn't you choose to compare Italy and Morocco or Japan and Bangladesh? It is completely pointless to pick two random countries (one muslim, one not) and make one choose which one they'd prefer to live in.

Also... out of this entire list of countries I would say Malaysia is probably the most liberal/progressive of all of them. The UAE might come in 2nd place. That sort of proves my point, though. If the MOST liberal country on the entire list is a place where it's still illegal to commit blasphemy and there is no concept of free speech, with international rankings on gender and income equality that are middling at best... then that's a pretty sad statement about the rest of the list.

kalbahamut, what do you think of Turkey as the most progressive of them? They're a secular republic, after all (and economically thriving), even if Erdogan slowly destroys its liberal qualities.

I just spent three months in Turkey. It's an interesting place. I met many people there who still believed in Ataturk's vision of a secular Turkey, but this is a very contentious view. Many believe that Islamist Erdogan is still close to becoming dictator, despite his party's slightly disappointing performance in the last election. I'm not sure if they are overall more secular or liberal than Malaysia. They're both near the top of the list. Other contestants would be the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Albania, Jordan, Tunisia, maybe the Maldives and Comoros...

Apparently Kalbahamut had a lot to say about this quiz.

and there's more where that came from. :) I've spent a lot of time in some of these places.

Well I've lived in Kuwait for about 17 years. I was born there but I'm an Indian citizen. It really isn't as bad as a lot of you think. In fact people living in Kuwait (non arabs) have it great. They don't pay taxes, no water bills, no electricity bills, medical is free etc etc. The only thing you have to pay for is your rent and your food. Sure if you mess with the laws of the land you could get into hot water but then why would you want to do that anyway? You can live in peace very very comfortably and enjoy some of the finest facilities and some of the best food around and dress however you want. No one really bothers anyone else. The Kuwaitis/Arabs keep to themselves, the Indian do their own thing, the Filipinos do their own thing as well and so does everyone else. I live in India now and let me tell you, the only thing that India has over Kuwait is that I can go out and have a drink since alcohol is forbidden in Kuwait. Everything else in India absolutely pales in comparison.

Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE are all comfortable places to live if you are a wealthy or educated expat. They still have rather backward and barbaric laws concerning certain things but as you said if you don't egregiously break any of them you'll be alright. However, I find it hard to sing the praises of countries that are presently thriving on the backs of slave laborers, as all of these rich Gulf countries are. If you lived a comfortable life as an Indian you were one of the rare lucky ones. India has it's own problems, sure, though most of those stem from poverty and really the *only* reason that these Arabian nations are not just as poor today is that they found oil.

Yeah...Countries like Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE, Malaysia.... are really good...some are even better than India...they aren't intolerant countries and are progressive and even with bordering nation who are under some war or terrorism, these nations are peaceful. Yeah for many 'Islamophobic' humans, even just knowing that majority is Muslim population, they picture either Jihadi or terrorist...But really these countries are beautiful as well as rich...

Alternate name for quiz, "Countries in the world in which you would never, ever want to live."

I could imagine very good to live on the Maledives!!

that's rude but I agree.

In spite of my comments above, Saudi Arabia is a good place to save money, Bahrain's not so bad. The UAE is okay. Lebanon is nice. Turkey is nice. The Maldives are beautiful. Malaysia and Indonesia both have their charms. Morocco I've heard great things about. Tunisia I think wouldn't be so bad. Yemen, if they get the security situation under control, I think would be cool. Jordan's not so bad. Azerbaijan is a pretty happening up-and-comer. Egypt aside from the traffic isn't terrible. Kuwait is tolerable. and every one of my many friends who have ever lived in or visited Oman loved it there.
I would personally consider living in Oman, Morocco, Lebanon, or Malaysia. I've been living in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain for six years. Saudi sucks but I've saved a large amount of money. Enough that I'll be able to take a four year vacation pretty soon. So I guess it was worth it.

I can't go to some of those places because I am an atheist.

Do you have it stamped on your forehead somewhere? If not, you're fine. I survived the better half a decade in Saudi. Even visited Mecca. Atheist to the core.

Really?! You visited Mecca? How did you swing that, Kal?

I officially converted to Islam at one of the Islamic centers in Riyadh. I did it ironically, but they gave me a small laminate anyway saying that I was a bonafide Muslim. This was good enough to gain entry to Mecca. I also used it to access the Dome of the Rock and AlAqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Damn, Kal! Way to go! Even if I officially converted to Islam to gain entry I'd still feel like a stoner that's high in public: paranoid that everyone around me knows the truth ;)

I guess you have never been to any of those countries

He was just trying to insult me.

Lebanon's not too bad and I've been to Indonesia. It's a nice place.

UAE is the best country in the world

It's just a quizz so play it without judging others!

We are humans, it is almost impossible not to judge each other

Unfortunately so true :/

Gets Comoros and Maldives, misses Pakistan -.-

Dammit. Missed Albania, The Gambia and Kosovo.

Where is Palestine (97.5% majority muslim)?

It is not recognized as a sovereign nation by many countries.

It is recognised as a sovereign nation by most countries (135 out of 196, or 69%), and has observer status at the UN similar to Vatican City and (until 1992) Switzerland.

That's why I wonder why kosovo is considered a country on Jetpunk while Palestine is not (All political conflicts aside). I mean Kosovo has less recognition in the UN and Russia is still excercising veto power against it.

Cool quiz. Hope you make some about other religions as well.

There are a bunch already. Search the site for words like "Orthodox," "Jewish," "Muslim," "Christian," "Catholic," "Buddhist" etc and you should find them.

Forgot Afghanistan, Libya, Djibouti, Kosovo, Guinea and Mali.

Indonesia and Turkey are the most progressive and secular with nearly zero blasphemy law (Except Aceh)

I tried France but it wasn't accepted. I'll try back in the year 2030 or so.

I didn't see a single country there that hasn't been responsible for deaths of other religions.

Because, realistically, about 80% of countries of the world would fall into that category, regardless of what the religion in question was. I don't think the recently independant Gulf countries ever declared holy war, while former European Powers all did at some point. It's a function of time.

Wow. Senegal is at 96%! Did not know that. And I thought Bosnia might have been in there.