Islamicity Index: Malaysia leads other Islamic nations at 33

Malaysia beat other Islamic countries in an Islamicity Index study conducted by two academics from George Washington University, United States.

According to the Islamicity Index, Malaysia beat Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Muslim-majority countries, reported The Irish Times.

Professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University, Hossein Askari said, the Islamicity Index has ranked Ireland as the country most faithful to the values of the Koran.

According to the Iranian-born academic, the next countries which are most faithful to the values of the Koran are Denmark, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

The report also cited Prof. Hossein who was interviewed on BBC, explaining the study conducted by himself and colleague, Dr Scheherazde S. Rehman, also rates Israel as being more compliant with the ideals of the Koran, than other Muslim countries.

Not a single majority Muslim country made the top 25 and no Arab country is in the top 50.

He added that when their Islamicity index was applied, only two countries made it to the Top 50 which is Malaysia (33) and Kuwait (42) as compared to the United States and the Netherlands at 15 and France at 17.

Saudi Arabia rated 91st, Qatar 111st, while Israel was placed at 27th.

Prof Hossein and Scheherazde applied the ideals of Islam in the areas of a society’s economic achievements, governance, human and political rights, and international relations.

According to the index, “Muslim countries do very badly” accusing the countries as using religion as an instrument of power.

Last November Prof Hossein said, “we must emphasize that many countries that profess Islam and are called Islamic are unjust, corrupt, and underdeveloped, and are in fact not ‘Islamic’ by any stretch of the imagination.

“Looking at an index of Economic Islamicity, or how closely the policies and achievements of countries reflect Islamic economic teachings - Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore, Finland, Norway, and Belgium round up the first 10”.

In their ‘Overall Islamicity Index’, a measure that encompasses laws and governance, human and political rights, international relations, and economic factors, “the rankings are much the same: New Zealand, Luxembourg, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Netherlands; and again only Malaysia (38) and Kuwait (48) make it into the top 50 from Muslim countries,” he was quoted of saying.