UNDERSTANDING THE MIDDLE EAST:
History, Religion, and the Clash of Cultures
400 pages
Copyright © 2007 by Beechmont Crest Publishing
First edition, 2007
0-9748330-6-1
C H A P T E R 4:
The Basics of Islam
Islam's place in the world
Islam is one of the world’s three major monotheistic religions, along with Judaism and Christianity. A little more than twenty percent of the world’s population is Muslim.
Islam is sometimes called “the world’s fastest growing religion.” At the turn of the last century, Muslims accounted for only about ten percent of the earth’s inhabitants. It is therefore true to say that the Muslim percentage of the global population has more or less doubled since 1900. But conversions are only a small factor behind these numbers. While Islam does continue to win converts, most of Islam’s “growth” since the beginning of the twentieth century can be attributed to population trends. Muslim countries generally have higher fertility rates than the predominantly Christian countries of North America and Western Europe:
Sample World Fertility Rates:
Some Predominantly Muslim Countries:
Country
Population in 2005
Fertility Rate (births per woman)
Afghanistan
31 million
6.69 children born/woman
Pakistan
166 million
4 children born/per woman
Indonesia
245 million
2.4 children born/per woman
Saudi Arabia
27 million
4 children born/woman
Bangladesh
147 million
3.11 children born/woman
Some Predominantly Christian Countries:
Country
Population in 2005
Fertility Rate (births per woman)
Spain
40.4 million
1.28 children born/woman
Germany
82.4 million
1.39 children born/woman
Italy
58 million
1.28 children born/woman
Canada
33 million
1.61 children born/woman
Russia
142.8 million
1.28 children born/woman
Among the Christian countries, only the Latin American nations have fertility rates that rival those in the Muslim world. But notice that even comparatively fertile Latin America lags behind the Muslim nations:
Country
Population in 2005
Fertility Rate (births per woman)
Brazil
188 million
1.91 children born/woman
Mexico
107 million
2.42 children born/woman
Argentina
39.9 million
2.16 children born/woman
Costa Rica
4 million
2.24 children born/woman
Venezuela
25.7 million
2.23 children born/woman
Why are birth rates so much higher in the Muslim world? The first answer might seem to be poverty. Poverty is rampant in much of the Muslim world---especially in the war-torn countries. Fifty-three percent of Afghanistan’s population lives below the poverty line.
Saudi Arabia, however, has a per capita GDP of $13,100---higher than almost any country in Eastern Europe or Latin America. If poverty alone were a determinant of high birth rates, then Saudi Arabia would have a fertility rate under 2 children per women. The reason behind the Muslim world’s high birth rates is not primarily poverty----but traditional attitudes surrounding the societal role of women. As we will see later, women in the Islamic world are subject to legal and social restrictions that are virtually unheard of in the West. (There is no Saudi Arabian version of Sex and the City or Ally McBeal.)
Religion and population:
Over half of the world is either Muslim (1.2 billion) or Christian (2 billion). The other major religions (from a population perspective) are Hinduism (880 million) and Buddhism (360 million).
And what about Judaism? Although Judaism is one of the great monotheistic faiths, there are not many Jews in the world today, comparatively speaking. The total Jewish population is only 14 million---about 0.5 percent of the earth’s total population.
(end of chapter excerpt)
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