Today if we analyze the reading habits and education among Muslims, following are some facts:
- Muslims cannot read because over 70% of the 1.2 billion – we boast about are illiterate.
- Muslims who know how to read, do not read! We do not educate ourselves.
- There are 57 member-countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), and all of them put together have around 500 universities; one university for every three million Muslims. The United States has 5,758 universities and India has 8,407. In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an ‘Academic Ranking of World Universities’, and not one university from Muslim-majority states was in the top 500.
- Some 98 per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Christian world had completed primary school, while less than 50 per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Muslim world did the same. Around 40 per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Christian world attended university while no more than two per cent of the ‘literates’ in the Muslim world did the same.
- Muslim-majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims. The US has 4,000 scientists per million and Japan has 5,000 per million. In the entire Arab world, the total number of full-time researchers is 35,000 and there are only 50 technicians per one million Arabs (in the Christian world there are up to 1,000 technicians per one million). Furthermore, the Muslim world spends 0.2 per cent of its GDP on research and development, while the Christian world spends around five per cent of its GDP.
- Oil rich Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $500 billion; Spain alone produces goods and services worth over $1 trillion, Catholic Poland $489 billion and Buddhist Thailand $545 billion (Muslim GDP as a percentage of world GDP is fast declining).
- The average number of books published per million in the Arab world is approximately 30 (0.7%), compared to about 212 in the US and 584 in Europe.
- The average number of copies printed of a “best seller book” – outside the Holy Quran is, 7000 to 10,000 copies compared to almost 225,000 copies sold in one week for Mrs. Clinton Book and over 2.5 million of Harry Potter sold in one night.
- Daily newspapers per 1,000 people and number of book titles per million are two indicators of whether knowledge is being diffused in a society. In Pakistan, there are 23 daily newspapers per 1,000 Pakistanis while the same ratio in Singapore is 360. In the UK, the number of book titles per million stands at 2,000 while the same in Egypt is 20.
- As for the Arab world: the average Arab reads 1/2 hour per year or the equivalent of 1/2 page per year as compared to the average American at 11 books per year and the average British at 7 books per year!
In conclusion, the Muslim world urgently needs to increase its capacity to produce, diffuse, and apply knowledge.
Even though the above statistics show a bleak picture, there are several initiatives in progress that give me hope: “Muslims are gradually rediscovering the importance of education. I am sincerely optimistic about the future because what is being done today and was done in the past 40 years is yielding positive results that, God-willing, will change not only the fortunes of the Muslims in America but all of humanity.”
In the end I would like to remind my self, my family and each one of us – especially the mothers – let us PLEASE put our children in the habit of reading from the youngest age possible.
Adapted from a Friday sermon delivered by Dr. Yahia Abdul Rahman at the Culver City Mosque in California.
Also read and Watch more Islamic Articles and Videos
Salah in middle of the ocean (Video)
Security men who lost their lives in the Madinah suicide bombing (Video)
1500 Year old Bible (Video)
Miracle of Zam Zam Water (Video)
Umrah step by step explanations (Video)
New Mecca Saudi Arabia (Video)
Future look of Makkah Saudi Arabia (Video)
What a creation of God (Video)
Tamil doubts-Times if death of a person who betrayed Allah's command (Video)
20 Biggest Mosque in the World (Video)
நபி வழி தொழுகை முறை (Video)
Subhanallah what a creature under the water (Video)
නිවැරදි ඉස්ලාම් (Video)
A Buddhist monk reciting Surah Fathiha and Attayat By Heart (Video)
Mathematical Miracle of the Holy Quran (Video)
மண்ணறை (Video)
Taj Mahal Mosque Agra,India (Video)
Jama Mosque , Delhi India (Video)
Masjid Qiblatain Mosque of the Two Qiblas (Video)
A Small Tamil Bayan on Why Allah is Testing good and Bad People (Video)
ඉස්ලාමයේ ඓතිහාසික සාධකයන් සමහරක් -පළමු කොටස (Video)
Prophet Muhammad SAWS love for orphan's (Video)
சிறிய பெரிய பாவங்களை செய்ய வேண்டாம் (Video)
Beautiful Islamic Song on Death - ഡെത്ത് മനോഹരമായ ഇസ്ലാമിക ഗാനം (Video)
Another Beauty of Madina (Video)(Video)
நசுறுதீன் பாபாவின் பாடல் - My3 Winning song (Video)
Firoun (Video)
Amazing Voice of Islamic Song (Video)
Beautiful Islamic Songs in Arabic (Video)
இது காலி புகையிரரத நிலையத்தில் எடுக்கப்பட்ட காணொளி (Video)
Holy Kabah in Makkah at its best (Video)
20 Stunning Ceilings from Various Mosques (Video)
Hassan II Masjid Morroco (Video)
The Shaikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi (Video)
No comments:
Post a Comment