Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sykes-Picot regime is falling down By Zafarul-Islam Khan, The Milli Gazette, New Delhi, India

http://www.milligazette.com/news/514-sykes-picot-regime-is-falling-down-tunisia-egypt-libya


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Sykes-Picot regime is falling down

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By Zafarul-Islam Khan, The Milli Gazette
Published Online: Feb 27, 2011
Print Issue: 1-15 March 2011
The upheaval in the Arab World these days is the second attempt within half a century to bring down the treacherous Sykes-Picot regime imposed on the region after the First World War. It was a secret Anglo-French treaty to usurp, divide and rule the region. During the same period Britain had promised freedom to the Arabs, through the Sharif of Mecca, if they joined its war effort against the Ottoman State. The same power had promised Arab Palestine to the Jews if they too helped it out during that war.

As a result of that war, not only was the Ottoman Empire dismantled, caliphate finally extinguished, Arabs betrayed and enslaved, and Jews rewarded, but also a cruel dependency regime was imposed on the divided Arab World where ruthless local satraps presided over police states with full support of London and Paris. After the Second World War, the masters changed. Now Washington was the qibla of these local nawabs. Russians too enjoyed a small period in the sun during the 1950s and 1960s. The Arab defeat in 1967 slowly drove away the Russians and Washington became the sole beneficiary and benefactor of these regimes especially after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

West had in 1948 succeeded in implanting “Israel” at the meeting point of the eastern and western flanks of the Arab World, thereby cutting it into two disjointed parts. A clear Western policy was devised to keep the tiny Israel more powerful than all the Arab countries together. Denial of arms and nuclear power to the Arabs was a basic constituent of this western policy while Israel was allowed to acquire an arsenal of unprecedented proportions complete with nuclear power and nuclear warheads pointed towards all major Arab countries.

Israel afraid of democracy coming the Middle East

When Egypt tried in the mid-1950s to rebel against this arms embargo, it was threatened, humiliated and finally taught a lesson in June 1967. Slowly, Arab satraps accepted Israel too which had all-along dreamt of emerging as the major power of the Middle East and tried this most disastrously in 1982 when it invaded Lebanon. That fiasco may have put paid to the power of Fateh but it also led to the emergence of new powers like Hamas and Hizbullah which emerged and evolved firmly outside the satrap-master equation prevailing in the region.

Arab people had earlier, during the 1950s, tried to change this equation. “Revolutions” erupted in Egypt, Syria, Algeria, Iraq, Yemen and Sudan etc., but somehow the local armies were able to replace the old satraps.

The current revolution which started in Tunisia and soon spread to Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Libya, Iraq, Algeria, Bahrain and Mauritania etc., is the second popular attempt to dislodge and break free of the Sykes-Picot shackles. Apart from Washington (and West), the only big loser today is a trembling Israel whose long labour to become the sole imperial power of the Middle East suddenly has come to a naught. The revolution is still unfinished. Washington seems to be maneuvering to replace the old faces with new ones. But a lot of water has flowed down the Nile and Euphrates these past decades. Arabs are no longer an illiterate and innocent lot. Once the current upheaval settles down, the Middle East will not be the same again.
 
This article appeared in The Milli Gazette print issue of 1-15 March 2011 on page no. 1

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Jamaate-e-Islami-e Hind tests waters to launch its own party - By Seema Chishti - The Indian Express, Mumbai

Seema Chishti, an Indian Express correspondent with a Muslim name, is not necessarily enamored of either any religion in general and Islam in particular. Belonging to Muslim community, she is awarded the job by editors, to carry out their official policy ( a hatchet job?) on how to report on Muslim affairs in India. The usual reporting is always colored by Left Liberal disdain for religion and Islam. In her following report, she is openly critical of the audacity of a 'Muslim' group to come forward with its ideological baggage and still trying to fit into the pseudo-secular Indian political arena, which is increasingly turning to be dominated by an aggressive Hindutva Right that wants a Hindu Rashtra, denying any space for others. By her reporting, she is directly helping the Hindutva to claim the entire field for itself. The bogey of Islam is a very convenient instrument for India's English media, to inject hate and derision for any Muslim initiative to join the Indian mainstream, to ensure Brahmin monopoly on the levers of power, that had kept the lopsided development of India, always favoring the oligarchs and higher castes.

Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

-----------------------
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/jamaat-tests-waters-to-launch-its-own-party/754013/0

Thu, 24 Feb 2011



Jamaat tests waters to launch its own party

[The Mumbai print edition has the full name of Jamaat as ' Jamaat-e-Islami-e Hind' in the headline spread out across the entire 7-column page report.GM]


Seema Chishti

Tags : percentage of Muslims, Jamaat-e-Islami-e Hind, Islam in the subcontinent in 1941


Posted: Thu Feb 24 2011, 00:17 hrs

New Delhi:
In three of the five states going to the polls in weeks — Assam, Kerala and West Bengal — the percentage of Muslims, after Jammu and Kashmir, is the highest in the country. To tap this political space, the Jamaat-e-Islami-e Hind, the organisation established for the propagation and “reform” of Islam in the subcontinent in 1941, is planning to launch its political party.
Tentatively called the “Welfare Party,” it is learnt that senior Jamaat members have been touring not just the poll-bound states but UP, Bihar and Maharashtra, too, to test the waters. While discussions about the need for a party have been on for two years, the formal launch is expected soon — some say even as early as next month.

A six-page note prepared by the Jamaat and accessed by The Indian Express details the objectives and the remit of the proposed party.

Jamaat, which already has a well-developed network of front organizations like a women’s wing and a students’ wing, is anxious not to be seen as a purely Muslim party but one which keeps the welfare of marginalized groups besides Muslims, such as the poor, backwards and SC/STs central to its proposed political face.


The party’s concept paper makes scathing remarks about the state of the polity, especially the unequal distribution of new wealth in the new “happening” India. Underlining a social-democrat, religious and value-based “formula,” it calls for a “paradigm shift.” The party envisages strong participation by the middle-class and from individuals “having a record of flawless public service”, committed to “ideals” and “values” and the ability to break the connection “between political power and wealth creation.”

Said a senior Jamaat member: “This won’t be Jamaat’s party but our members would be fully with it. People feel left out from the way political parties work these days. We want to keep welfare as the central element of it. We believe in public funding, in the way Kanshi Ram set out asking for one vote and one rupee, we can do that.”

Members said that they will forge ties with “like-minded” parties and although they aren’t prepared to take on established political forces this time, they hope to make a statement by putting up a few candidates.

There was a divide in the Jamaat over this political course of action but the party’s Majlis-e-Shoora made a decisive push for it. When contacted, Qasim Rasool Ilyas, a prominent member of the Jamaat-e-Islami, declined to comment.

The Jamaat-e-Islami claims to have at least 29,000 workers, and more than 300,000 “well-wishers” across the country. But Jamaat watchers warn about the group being at odds with its own ideology. They say that for a group whose constitution states its objective as “iqaamat-e-din” or the single-minded pursuit of religion, forming a political party may confuse those who flock to the Jamaat as a centre for mainly Islamic revival or refreshing the Islamic way of life.

The Jamaat, split with its most influential founder, Maulana Maududi, who was a staunch advocate of the creation of Pakistan, and later, a Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind and a separate one for Jammu and Kashmir was set up.

*However, its literature has had no real substitute for Maududi’s philosophy and old stereotypes remain. The parallels drawn with the RSS have often resulted in simultaneous bans, like in 1975, during the Emergency, when both the RSS and the Jamaat were banned.

*Observers like Irfan Waheed say that political opponents, especially the Hindutva parties, will invoke Jamaat-e-Islami’s past and present in Bangladesh and Pakistan. “After the partition, when Maulana Maududi was asked about the fate of the Muslims left in a Hindu majority India, he had said that he did not bother if the Hindus treat the Muslims of India worse than malechhas. He was only bothered about making Pakistan an Islamic state at any cost,” said Waheed.
 
* The last two paras were dropped from the print edition report.


Monday, February 21, 2011

Google Alerts on ISLAM - February 22, 2011

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News14 new results for Islam
 
Shafiul Islam daunted by Sehwag pasting
Times of India
DHAKA: Bangladesh pacer Shafiul Islam, who was supposed to give his team an early breakthrough, or two, against India but failed to deliver on the big occasion, is not disheartened by the pasting he received at the hands of Virender Sehwag in ...
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Libya: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's defiant speech
Telegraph.co.uk
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's defiant speech could have been a last-ditch attempt to put forward his own claims to leadership, which has been long-touted in the West. But as a leading voice for reform in Libya, Saif al-Islam needed his father to remain in ...
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Telegraph.co.uk
Misconception about Muslims and Islam
The Hindu
A WORLD WITHOUT ISLAM: Graham E Fuller; Little Brown, New York. Hachette India, 612-614, 6th Floor, Time Tower, MG Road, Sector 28, Gurgaon-122001. Rs. 595. To those who are convinced that such titles are suggestive of Islamophobia, A world without ...
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The Hindu
Muslim countries must get out of the orbit of the US: Leader
Tehran Times
The status of the Islamic ummah should be improved, he said, and predicted this would happen in the near future. Ayatollah Khamenei also stated that if Muslims promulgate Islam properly, people's inclination toward Islam will increase across the globe.
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Huckabee draws heat for anti-Islam remarks
Associated Baptist Press
By Bob Allen WASHINGTON (ABP) -- Baptist preacher and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has landed in hot water for comments critical of Islam. The former Arkansas governor and potential 2012 presidential hopeful criticized two Protestant ...
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Winds of change
Times of India
Though strongman Muammar Gadaffi's son and heir Seif al-Islam Gadaffi vowed that the government would fight - its own people - to the last bullet and the last man, uncertainty reigns in Tripoli. In Bahrain, the royal family has loosed mercenaries on ...
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Ali Fadlallah at International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran: to adopt ...
iloubnan.info
The 24th International Islamic Unity Conference began its work in Tehran on Saturday, on the occasion of the Islamic Unity Week that was initiated by the Islamic Revolution leader, Imam Khomeini, who invited the Muslim Ummah to unity and resistance in ...
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Europe's grave failure
Ynetnews
Partly because of European xenophobia and partly because of the many problems which a certain percentage of the Muslim immigrant population has caused in Western societies, Islam, its value systems and customs are often attacked. ...
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US embassy cables: 'Internecine warfare' in the Gaddafi family
The Guardian
Much of the tension appears to stem from resentment of Saif al-Islam's high-profile as the public face of the regime; however, deeper tension about contradictions between Saif al-Islam's proposed political-economic reforms, XXXXXXXXXXXX and ...
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Buffalo's Muslims Battle Stereotype After Murder
NPR
So when Mo Hassan, the man who was supposed to be Buffalo's friendly face of Islam, murdered his wife, it stunned a community. "It's not only that he killed his wife — it was the way he killed her that was so despicable," said Dr. Khalid Qasi, ...
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Islam and the PLO
Journeyman Pictures
December 1991 - Under military occupation since 1976, people in the Gaza Strip live as virtual prisoners. Two thirds are refugees. Increasingly frustrated, many Gazans have now lost faith in the secular policies of the PLO, and are looking to more ...
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European Free Speech Under Attack
Wall Street Journal
Defending the right to say that Islam is primarily a totalitarian ideology aiming for world domination. By GEERT WILDERS "The lights are going out all over Europe," British Foreign Secretary Edward Grey famously remarked on the eve of World War I. I am ...
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Two pro-India parties floated in J&K with Army, MHA help
Times of India
While one outfit, with the backing of the home ministry, will be headed by former Ikhwans and ex-militant commanders Zubair-ul-Islam and Imran Rahi, the other is being launched by former militant commander from Anantnag, Liaquat Ali. ...
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Threat of clerical tsunami in
Express Buzz
With Partition, its founding 'ideology' was defined in terms of a wholly negative identity as a bulwark against a malign Hindu India that had deceitfully seized Kashmir to leave behind a “moth-eaten” Pakistan committed to defending Islam within the ...
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American who sparked diplomatic crisis over Lahore shooting was CIA spy - Guardian.co.uk

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/20/us-raymond-davis-lahore-cia/print

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American who sparked diplomatic crisis over Lahore shooting was CIA spy

• Raymond Davis employed by CIA 'beyond shadow of doubt'
• Former soldier charged with murder over deaths of two men
• Davis accused of shooting one man twice in the back as he fled


 

• Special report: A CIA spy and a diplomatic whirlwind
  • Declan Walsh in Lahore and Ewen MacAskill in Washington
  • guardian.co.uk, Sunday 20 February 2011 19.38 GMT
  •   In Karachi, scores of demonstrators call for the execution of Raymond Davis, the US consulate employee who has been jailed in Lahore for killing two Pakistanis Link to this video   The American who shot dead two men in Lahore, triggering a diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and the US, is a CIA agent who was on assignment at the time.   Raymond Davis has been the subject of widespread speculation since he opened fire with a semi-automatic Glock pistol on the two men who had pulled up in front of his car at a red light on 25 January.   Pakistani authorities charged him with murder, but the Obama administration has insisted he is an "administrative and technical official" attached to its Lahore consulate and has diplomatic immunity.   Based on interviews in the US and Pakistan, the Guardian can confirm that the 36-year-old former special forces soldier is employed by the CIA. "It's beyond a shadow of a doubt," said a senior Pakistani intelligence official.  The revelation may complicate American efforts to free Davis, who insists he was acting in self-defence against a pair of suspected robbers, who were both carrying guns.   Pakistani prosecutors accuse the spy of excessive force, saying he fired 10 shots and got out of his car to shoot one man twice in the back as he fled. The man's body was found 30 feet from his motorbike.   "It went way beyond what we define as self-defence. It was not commensurate with the threat," a senior police official involved in the case told the Guardian.   The Pakistani government is aware of Davis's CIA status yet has kept quiet in the face of immense American pressure to free him under the Vienna convention.  Last week President Barack Obama described Davis as "our diplomat" and dispatched his chief diplomatic troubleshooter, Senator John Kerry, to Islamabad. Kerry returned home empty-handed.   Many Pakistanis are outraged at the idea of an armed American rampaging through their second-largest city. Analysts have warned of Egyptian-style protests if Davis is released.  The government, fearful of a backlash, says it needs until 14 March to decide whether Davis enjoys immunity. A third man was crushed by an American vehicle as it rushed to Davis's aid.  Pakistani officials believe its occupants were CIA because they came from the house where Davis lived and were armed.   The US refused Pakistani demands to interrogate the two men and on Sunday a senior Pakistani intelligence official said they had left the country.  "They have flown the coop, they are already in America," he said.   ABC News reported that the men had the same diplomatic visas as Davis. It is not unusual for US intelligence officers, like their counterparts round the world, to carry diplomatic passports.   The US has accused Pakistan of illegally detaining him and riding roughshod over international treaties. Angry politicians have proposed slashing Islamabad's $1.5bn (£900m) annual aid.   But Washington's case is hobbled by its resounding silence on Davis's role.  He served in the US special forces for 10 years before leaving in 2003 to become a security contractor.  A senior Pakistani official said he believed Davis had worked with Xe, the firm formerly known as Blackwater.   Pakistani suspicions about Davis's role were stoked by the equipment police confiscated from his car: an unlicensed pistol, a long-range radio, a GPS device, an infrared torch and a camera with pictures of buildings around Lahore.   "This is not the work of a diplomat. He was doing espionage and surveillance activities," said the Punjab law minister, Rana Sanaullah, adding he had "confirmation" that Davis was a CIA employee.   A number of US media outlets learned about Davis's CIA role but have kept it under wraps at the request of the Obama administration. A Colorado television station, 9NEWS, made a connection after speaking to Davis's wife.  She referred its inquiries to a number in Washington which turned out to be the CIA. The station removed the CIA reference from its website at the request of the US government.   Some reports, quoting Pakistani intelligence officials, have suggested that the men Davis killed, Faizan Haider, 21, and Muhammad Faheem, 19, were agents of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency (ISI) and had orders to shadow Davis because he crossed a "red line".   A senior police official confirmed US claims that the men were petty thieves – investigators found stolen mobiles, foreign currency and weapons on them – but did not rule out an intelligence link.   A senior ISI official denied the dead men worked for the spy agency but admitted the CIA relationship had been damaged.  "We are a sovereign country and if they want to work with us, they need to develop a trusting relationship on the basis of equality. Being arrogant and demanding is not the way to do it," he said.   Tensions between the spy agencies have been growing.  The CIA Islamabad station chief was forced to leave in December after being named in a civil lawsuit.  The ISI was angered when its chief, General Shuja Pasha, was named in a New York lawsuit related to the 2008 Mumbai attacks.   Although the two spy services co-operate in the CIA's drone campaign along the Afghan border, there has not been a drone strike since 23 January – the longest lull since June 2009.  Experts are unsure whether both events are linked. Davis awaits his fate in Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.  Pakistani officials say they have taken exceptional measures to ensure his safety, including ringing the prison with paramilitary Punjab Rangers.  The law minister, Sanaullah, said Davis was in a "high security zone" and was receiving food from visitors from the US consulate. Sanaullah said 140 foreigners were in the facility, many on drug charges.  Press reports have speculated that the authorities worry the US could try to spring Davis in a "Hollywood-style sting".  "All measures for his security have been taken," said the ISI official. "He's as safe as can be."

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2011

Common platform to discuss issues turned into a platform to woo Muslims - Ummid.com

http://ummid.com/news/2011/February/20.02.2011/etv_seminar.htm

 
Monday February 21, 2011 06:27:24 PM, ummid.com Staff Reporter

Former BJP President Rajnath Singh during the seminar on Minority issues held in Mumbai on February 20
Malegaon: When it declared to organise the day-long seminar February 20, ETV Network promised to provide a common platform to discuss the challenges minorities are facing in India. The seminar held in a Mumbai hotel, however, turned into a common platform for the leaders and politicians from various political parties and groups to score over one another, amid blame game and sans concrete plans for the minority empowerment.
 
Hurling the salvo against the Indian National Congress was former Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh with the support from party MP Shahnawaz Husain whereas at the receiving end were the top Congress leaders including Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan, Union Minister Salman Khurshid, State Congress President Manikrao Thakre and others. At the same time, the BJP leaders were leaving no stone unturned to use the opportunity to woo the Muslims - most of the time even taking the stand totally against the BJP policy and promising something, opposing which is the core of BJP politics.
 
"Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power for just six years in the sixty-three years of independent India. How can it be blamed for the backwardness of the minorities", said Rajnath Singh who was presiding over the seminar that was aired live on ETV channels.
 
"Let the government come out with a concrete proposal for the Muslim empowerment, safety of the Awkaf properties or on any other pending issues, BJP will certainly support them", he added.
 
Vehemently denying the allegations that he and his leader LK Advani had went to see Sadhavi Pragya Singh Thakur, one of the accused in the Malegaon blast case, Rajnath Singh said, "BJP is neither providing any support to Malegaon blast culprits nor does it have anything to do with them."
 
On Swami Aseemanad's confession and release of the Muslim accused, he said, "The CBI is investigating these cases. We should wait for the results and have faith in the judiciary."
 
Taking his leader's strong show of Muslim appeasement even further, Sayyed Shahnawaz Hussain, BJP MP from Bhagalpur said, "BJP has no role in whatever that happened to the minorities in the past. We are concentrating on current generation and its prevailing issues, and if the government brings a resolution in the parliament for the development of the minorities based on Sachchar Committee report, BJP will fully support it."
 
Maharashtra Chief Minister in his comments on Swami Aseemanand's confession and release of Muslim youths reiterated his earlier stand and said no injustice would be done to anyone.
 
"Justice will be done to every individual of the state. An innocent won’t pay for someone else’s crime and a criminal won’t be let free to create massacre, I assure you from this forum", he said.
 
Union Minister Salman Khurshid also reiterated his earlier assertions and said, the government is committed to the development of the minorities and taking all efforts for the proper use of wakf properties.
 
On the minority status of Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University Salman Khurshid could just say that these institutions are established by the Muslims and they are for them. 
 
The seminar that started at 10:00 in the morning ran till 04:00 in the afternoon. What is surprising to those present is the lack of seriousness among the politicians in addressing the challenges minorities are facing.
 
"From the seminar one thing has come out very clearly. The Muslim community is no more interested in mere rhetoric and empty promises. They want concrete plans for their empowerment and the politicians should make note of this", Karim Salar, Jalgaon based educationalist and head of Iqra Education Society who was present in the seminar said to ummid.com.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Ulema Council organizes Nyay rally in Lucknow - TwoCircles.net

http://twocircles.net/2011feb20/ulema_council_organizes_nyay_rally_lucknow.html

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Ulema Council organizes Nyay rally in Lucknow

Submitted by admin3 on 20 February 2011 - 9:33pm


By TCN Special Correspondent,

Lucknow: Thousands of workers of Rashtriya Ulema Council (RUC), converged at Mini Stadium in Vikas Nagar for their Nyay (Justice) rally to demand justice and equality for Muslims and other marginalized sections on Sunday. The RUC, which was formed in the wake of crackdown on Azamgarh after Batla House encounter in 2008, completed its two years of existence.


Maulana Amir Rashadi and Maulana Tahir Madani, the top RUC leaders who are prominent Muslim clerics, adopted a matured political tone unveiling their future plans.

“We are not in a hurry for grabbing power by any means, it is the start of a political revolution to change the system and our goal is not 2012. We have 100 years planning and are working on it,” said Maulana Rashadi.

From its earlier policy of “only Muslim” stand, the RUC has also included other marginal sections in their agenda. The charter of demands included reservation to dalit Muslims and Christians, reservation of 9.41 percent within the 27 percent quota for backward caste beside equality to all the marginal, downtrodden sections of the society. Corruption, price rise and other issues also figured in the speeches of the RUC leaders.


Rashadi also reiterated his demand of implementation of Nimesh Commission report and release of Maulana Hakim, Tariq Qasmi and Maulana Kahlil Mujahid-the accused in terror cases. “If the Mishra commission report is not made public and implemented within one month, we will launch an agitation,” said Rashadi.

Lashing out at the Congress led UPA government, Rashadi claimed that the central government was concealing the Nimesh Mishra report while dispatching its emissary to Sanjarupur in Azamgarh. “It is a cruel joke on the sufferings of the Azamgarh people,” he said.

Rashadi also denied any alliance in the coming state assembly elections. The RUC leader even ruled out any association with the Gorakhpur based Peace Party, claiming to go all alone in the coming elections.


Surprisingly, some of the leaders of RUC during their speeches made derogatory comments on Chief Minister Mayawati, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and even termed Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as a traitor. However, the senior leaders disowned these remarks from the stage itself.

“We cannot allow any such personal comment and also cannot call Maulana Azad as a traitor. Our stage cannot be used for such statements,” said Maulana Nizamuddin clearing the murmuring among the crowd.

The rally which was the second one by RUC at the same ground, this time witnessed a bigger crowd and better management.


Sunday, February 20, 2011

Why Arab/Muslim rulers can survive for 30/41/200 years even in a changed world? By Ghulam Muhammed

Monday, February 21, 2011

Why Arab/Muslim rulers can survive for 30/41/200 years even in a changed world?

The recent Tsunami of the so-called democratic revolution spreading out from Tunisia to neighboring countries all the way from the West of Arab/Muslim World to the East of Gulf, has given no time to reflect on the deeper aspects of the entire upheaval and a question is never been posed as to why the threatened rulers lasted such an ‘un-westernized’ long rule of decades and decades.

The general assumption in western media reports projects their self-serving arguments, that it was the WEST, especially the USA that had supported the traditionally autocratic regimes, for interest of its own.

There was never an attempt to study why such long duration rule of a particular person, family or tribe had ensured a modicum of continuity and stability for the country, that could probably have provided the backdrop to a longer term development of the countries and its people, without being engaged in violent disruption of societies.

Bush would advance his idiotic theory that democratic nation do not go to war, while not only declaring his own nation as an ideal democratic nation and then unleashing wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.

If constitutional monarchies in UK, Japan, and Thailand had survived for centuries, the essential part of their democracy was the election of their executives. In nations where such constitutional arrangements existed or were introduced, an overall stability and integrity of the nation and its citizens was more or less stretched for longer duration.

Besides, in Arab and Muslim world, an underlined Quranic injunction is embedded in believing peoples’ psyche where they are called upon to ‘obey Allah, His prophet and THOSE THAT RULED OVER THEM.’

Another ayah provides for Mashwara or consultations – meaning discussions leading to consensus – and that allowed for any of the many chosen method/s of finding consensus, without resorting to ONE MAN ONE VOTE method of universal counting of heads. This has been the bedrock of Islamic affairs in Muslim societies for 14 plus centuries.

The Western demonizing of such long ruled states, though quite understandably on the grounds of mis-governance and the Imperialist West’s compulsion to changes horses, is meant to force the so-called Westernizing and Modernization of Muslim societies, is in effect a waging of a continuing WAR ON ISLAM as an old obscurantist, out of times, out of fashion life-style system, that threatens some very basic tenets of the Western thoughts on human affairs and community life.

A more sinister motive can be adduced to the US forcing changes so that all future countries must be amenable to THEIR ‘Regime Change’ tactics, without the West having to invade Muslim countries, like they did in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is for the people of the Arab/Muslim world to recognize the forced changes inflicted on their societies and insist in organizing and managing their internal affairs, in full conformity of their ethos and their culture, no doubt nurtured for centuries through Islamic traditions.


Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai

Programme on challenges for minority politicized - By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net

http://twocircles.net/2011feb20/programme_challenges_minority_politicized.html

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Programme on challenges for minority politicized

Submitted by admin3 on 20 February 2011 - 10:37pm
By Rehan Ansari, TwoCircles.net,

Mumbai: ETV Urdu organized a seminar on challenges before the minority in Hotel Kempski in Mumbai on Sunday which was telecast live on all its channels in over 7 countries. The programme ran into trouble when the invitation sent by ETV Urdu, mentioned Rajnath Singh, the former president of the BJP, as the president of the programme. 


Some Muslim organizations boycotted this programme and alleged that ETV Urdu is acting like paid media to soften Muslims towards BJP’s leadership and the Sangh Parivar. As expected people started hooting and disturbing many speakers like Salman Khurshid, P.A. Inamdar- leaders of Congress and Rajnath Singh.

Presence of Politicians politicized the issue and speakers of congress blamed the BJP and BJP blamed the Congress for the backwardness of Muslims. Blaming Congress, Rajnath Singh, leader of the BJP said, “Sachar committee report suggests that it’s not the BJP which ruled only for 6 years but others who are ruling since last 60 years, are responsible for the backwardness of Muslim.”

L-R: Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan and Salman Khurshid

On Gujarat riots 2002, he said that there were many communal riots after the independence and Muslims should also remember other riots also. During his speech some members from the audience started questioning and asked about his views on Sachar Committee and reservations for Muslims and found him non committal. He said, “We will discuss it in the Party and will let you know.” He was also questioned about Malegaon and Swami Aseemanad.

Salman Khurshid, Union Minister of Minority Affair highlighted the commitment of the UPA II on maintaining the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia.

Rajnath Singh

Prithivi Raj Chauhan, Chief Minister of Maharashtra announced construction of two more Haj Houses one in Nagpur and the other in Aurangabad. He said, “Lots of discussion has taken place now; we should act and our government have identified the problems and are working on a roadmap.

Arif Nasim Khan Minister of Minority affair and Awqaf declared that government has freed 450 acres of waqf land from illegal occupants. He also announced that the Maharashtra government is the first to implement Prime Minister’s 15 points programme.

He announced that “a monitoring committee of MLAs the legislative committee will be formed to look after the implementation of Minority schemes and prepare a yearly report that later will be tabled in the assembly and will be discussed.”

Maulana Mehmood Madni, secretary, Jamiatul Ulema Hind stressed the need for education and said, “We must teach our kids at any cost.”

Those who participated in the programme include Ms.Fauzia Khan, MoS for Minority affair, Mohan Prakash, secretary Congress Committee, Delhi, Manik Rao Thackeray, president, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, Shanwaz Husain, and other leaders of BJP.

Islam and demography - Economist | The Future of the Global Muslim Population - The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7294978&story_id=18008022


Islam and demography

A waxing crescent

Islam is growing. But ageing and slowing. That will change the world

Jan 27th 2011 | From The Economist print edition
ARE Muslims taking over the world, or at a minimum, transforming Europe into Eurabia? Whatever your hopes or fears for the future of the world’s religions, a report published this week has plenty to stoke them. “The Future of the Global Muslim Population”, produced by the Pew Research Centre, a non-profit outfit based in Washington, DC, reckons Muslim numbers will soar from 1.6 billion in 2010 to 2.2 billion by 2030. In other words, from 23.4% to 26.4% of the global total.

At the heart of its analysis is the ongoing effect of a “youth bulge” which peaked in 2000. In 1990 Islam’s share of the world’s youth was 20%; in 2010, 26%. In 2030 it will be 29% (of 15-to-29-year-olds). But the Muslim world is slowly heading towards paunchiness: the median age in Muslim-majority countries was 19 in 1990. It is 24 now, and will be 30 by 2030. (For French, Germans and Japanese the figure is 40 or over.) This suggests Muslim numbers will ultimately stop climbing, but later than the rest of the world population.

The authors call their calculations demographic, not political. Drawing on earlier Pew research, they say conversion is not a big factor in the global contest between Islam, Christianity and other faiths; the converts balance out. Nor do they assess piety; via the imperfect data of the United Nations, the European Union and national statistics, they aim simply to measure how many people call themselves Muslim, at least culturally, if asked.

New numbers, they say, will change the world map. As Indonesia prospers, its birth rate is falling; South Asia’s remains very high. By 2030, 80m extra mouths in Pakistan will boost its Muslim numbers to 256m, ousting Indonesia (with 239m) as the most populous Islamic land. India’s Muslim minority will be nearly as large at 236m—though growth is slowing there too. And in 2030 India’s Muslims will still constitute only a modest 15.9% of that country’s swelling total, against 14.6% now.

The report asserts no causal link between Islamic teaching and high fertility rates, although it notes that poverty and poor education are a problem in many Muslim lands. In Muslim countries such as Bangladesh and Turkey, it observes, the lay and religious authorities encourage birth control. Better medical care and lower mortality boost poor-country population numbers too.

Some bleak findings concern Nigeria, where Muslim numbers are seen rising to 117m in 2030 from 76m now, edging up from 47.9% to 51.5% of the population. Illiteracy among Nigerian women of child-bearing age is three times as high among Muslims (71.9%) as among others (23.9%). Two-thirds of Nigerian Muslim women lack any formal education; that goes for just over a tenth of their non-Muslim sisters. The fertility rate is between six and seven children per Muslim woman, versus five for non-Muslims. It is hard to prove that these factors are related, but they do seem to form a pattern.
 

Eurabian nights
The total Muslim share of Europe’s population is predicted to grow from 6% now to 8% in 2030: hardly the stuff of nightmares. But amid that are some sharp rises. The report assumes Britain has 2.9m Muslims now (far higher than the usual estimates, which suggest 2.4m at most), rising to 5.6m by 2030. As poor migrants start families in Spain and Italy, numbers there will rocket; in France and Germany, where some Muslims are middle-class, rises will be more modest—though from a higher base. Russia’s Muslims will increase to 14.4% or 18.6m, up from 11.7% now (partly because non-Muslims are declining). The report takes a cautious baseline of 2.6m American Muslims in 2010, but predicts the number will surge by 2030 to 6.2m, or 1.7% of the population—about the same size as Jews or Episcopalians. In Canada the Muslim share will surge from 2.8% to 6.6%.

How will liberal democracies accommodate such variety? The clarity of a written constitution may give America an advantage over many European countries, where unwritten custom has more sway. Jonathan Laurence, an Islam-watcher and professor at Boston College, thinks Europe could rise to the challenge, but failure is also easy to imagine. Europe’s Muslims should, by 2030, have become articulate and effective political bargainers. But with nativism on the march, it is also highly possible that Muslims will come to feel they have less in common with their fellow citizens than with their growing band of co-religionists elsewhere.

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http://pewforum.org/The-Future-of-the-Global-Muslim-Population.aspx


The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life


The Future of the Global Muslim Population

Projections for 2010-2030

ANALYSIS January 27, 2011
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md2-lede_large Executive Summary
The world’s Muslim population is expected to increase by about 35% in the next 20 years, rising from 1.6 billion in 2010 to 2.2 billion by 2030, according to new population projections by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Globally, the Muslim population is forecast to grow at about twice the rate of the non-Muslim population over the next two decades – an average annual growth rate of 1.5% for Muslims, compared with 0.7% for non-Muslims. If current trends continue, Muslims will make up 26.4% of the world’s total projected population of 8.3 billion in 2030, up from 23.4% of the estimated 2010 world population of 6.9 billion.
While the global Muslim population is expected to grow at a faster rate than the non-Muslim population, the Muslim population nevertheless is expected to grow at a slower pace in the next two decades than it did in the previous two decades. From 1990 to 2010, the global Muslim population increased at an average annual rate of 2.2%, compared with the projected rate of 1.5% for the period from 2010 to 2030.
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These are among the key findings of a comprehensive report on the size, distribution and growth of the global Muslim population. The report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life seeks to provide up-to-date estimates of the number of Muslims around the world in 2010 and to project the growth of the Muslim population from 2010 to 2030. The projections are based both on past demographic trends and on assumptions about how these trends will play out in future years. Making these projections inevitably entails a host of uncertainties, including political ones. Changes in the political climate in the United States or European nations, for example, could dramatically affect the patterns of Muslim migration.
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If current trends continue, however, 79 countries will have a million or more Muslim inhabitants in 2030, up from 72 countries today.1 A majority of the world’s Muslims (about 60%) will continue to live in the Asia-Pacific region, while about 20% will live in the Middle East and North Africa, as is the case today. But Pakistan is expected to surpass Indonesia as the country with the single largest Muslim population. The portion of the world’s Muslims living in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to rise; in 20 years, for example, more Muslims are likely to live in Nigeria than in Egypt. Muslims will remain relatively small minorities in Europe and the Americas, but they are expected to constitute a growing share of the total population in these regions.
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In the United States, for example, the population projections show the number of Muslims more than doubling over the next two decades, rising from 2.6 million in 2010 to 6.2 million in 2030, in large part because of immigration and higher-than-average fertility among Muslims. The Muslim share of the U.S. population (adults and children) is projected to grow from 0.8% in 2010 to 1.7% in 2030, making Muslims roughly as numerous as Jews or Episcopalians are in the United States today. Although several European countries will have substantially higher percentages of Muslims, the United States is projected to have a larger number of Muslims by 2030 than any European countries other than Russia and France. (See the Americas section for more details.)
In Europe as a whole, the Muslim share of the population is expected to grow by nearly one-third over the next 20 years, rising from 6% of the region’s inhabitants in 2010 to 8% in 2030. In absolute numbers, Europe’s Muslim population is projected to grow from 44.1 million in 2010 to 58.2 million in 2030. The greatest increases – driven primarily by continued migration – are likely to occur in Western and Northern Europe, where Muslims will be approaching double-digit percentages of the population in several countries. In the United Kingdom, for example, Muslims are expected to comprise 8.2% of the population in 2030, up from an estimated 4.6% today. In Austria, Muslims are projected to reach 9.3% of the population in 2030, up from 5.7% today; in Sweden, 9.9% (up from 4.9% today); in Belgium, 10.2% (up from 6% today); and in France, 10.3% (up from 7.5% today). (See the Europe section.)
Several factors account for the faster projected growth among Muslims than non-Muslims worldwide. Generally, Muslim populations tend to have higher fertility rates (more children per woman) than non-Muslim populations. In addition, a larger share of the Muslim population is in, or soon will enter, the prime reproductive years (ages 15-29). Also, improved health and economic conditions in Muslim-majority countries have led to greater-than-average declines in infant and child mortality rates, and life expectancy is rising even faster in Muslim-majority countries than in other less-developed countries. (See the section on Main Factors Driving Population Growth for more details. For a list of Muslim-majority countries and definitions for the terms less- and more-developed, see the section on Muslim- Majority Countries.)

Growing, But at a Slower Rate

The growth of the global Muslim population, however, should not obscure another important demographic trend: the rate of growth among Muslims has been slowing in recent decades and is likely to continue to decline over the next 20 years, as the graph below shows. From 1990 to 2000, the Muslim population grew at an average annual rate of 2.3%. The growth rate dipped to 2.1% from 2000 to 2010, and it is projected to drop to 1.7% from 2010 to 2020 and 1.4% from 2020 to 2030 (or 1.5% annually over the 20-year period from 2010 to 2030, as previously noted).
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The declining growth rate is due primarily to falling fertility rates in many Muslim-majority countries, including such populous nations as Indonesia and Bangladesh. Fertility is dropping as more women in these countries obtain a secondary education, living standards rise and people move from rural areas to cities and towns. (See the Related Factors section for more details.)
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The slowdown in Muslim population growth is most pronounced in the Asia- Pacific region, the Middle East-North Africa and Europe, and less sharp in sub-Saharan Africa. The only region where Muslim population growth is accelerating through 2020 is the Americas, largely because of immigration. (For details, see the charts on population growth in the sections of this report on Asia-Pacific, Middle-East-North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and the Americas.)
Falling birth rates eventually will lead to significant shifts in the age structure of Muslim populations. While the worldwide Muslim population today is relatively young, the so-called Muslim “youth bulge” – the high percentage of Muslims in their teens and 20s – peaked around the year 2000 and is now declining. (See the Age Structure section for more details.)
In 1990, more than twothirds of the total population of Muslim-majority countries was under age 30. Today, people under 30 make up about 60% of the population of these countries, and by 2030 they are projected to fall to about 50%.
At the same time, many Muslim-majority countries will have aging populations; between 2010 and 2030, the share of people age 30 and older in these countries is expected to rise from 40% to 50%, and the share of people age 60 and older is expected nearly to double, from 7% to 12%.
Muslim-majority countries, however, are not the only ones with aging populations. As birth rates drop and people live longer all around the globe, the population of the entire world is aging. As a result, the global Muslim population will remain comparatively youthful for decades to come. The median age in Muslim-majority countries, for example, rose from 19 in 1990 to 24 in 2010 and is expected to climb to 30 by 2030. But it will still be lower than the median age in North America, Europe and other more-developed regions, which rose from 34 to 40 between 1990 and 2010 and is projected to be 44 in 2030. By that year, nearly three-inten of the world’s youth and young adults – 29.1% of people ages 15-29 – are projected to be Muslims, up from 25.8% in 2010 and 20.0% in 1990.
Other key findings of the study include:

Worldwide

  • Sunni Muslims will continue to make up an overwhelming majority of Muslims in 2030 (87- 90%). The portion of the world’s Muslims who are Shia may decline slightly, largely because of relatively low fertility in Iran, where more than a third of the world’s Shia Muslims live.
  • As of 2010, about three-quarters of the world’s Muslims (74.1%) live in the 49 countries in which Muslims make up a majority of the population. More than a fifth of all Muslims (23.3%) live in non-Muslim-majority countries in the developing world. About 3% of the world’s Muslims live in more-developed regions, such as Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.
  • Fertility rates in Muslim-majority countries are closely related to women’s education levels. In the eight Muslim-majority countries where girls generally receive the fewest years of schooling, the average fertility rate (5.0 children per woman) is more than double the average rate (2.3 children per woman) in the nine Muslim-majority countries where girls generally receive the most years of schooling. One exception is the Palestinian territories, where the average fertility rate (4.5 children per woman) is relatively high even though a girl born there today can expect to receive 14 years of formal education.
  • Fewer than half (47.8%) of married women ages 15-49 in Muslim-majority countries use some form of birth control. By comparison, in non-Muslim-majority, less-developed countries nearly two-thirds (63.3%) of all married women in that age group use some form of birth control.

Asia-Pacific

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  • Nearly three-in-ten people living in the Asia-Pacific region in 2030 (27.3%) will be Muslim, up from about a quarter in 2010 (24.8%) and roughly a fifth in 1990 (21.6%).
  • Muslims make up only about 2% of the population in China, but because the country is so populous, its Muslim population is expected to be the 19th largest in the world in 2030.

Middle East-North Africa

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  • The Middle East-North Africa will continue to have the highest percentage of Muslim-majority countries. Of the 20 countries and territories in this region, all but Israel are projected to be at least 50% Muslim in 2030, and 17 are expected to have a population that is more than 75% Muslim in 2030, with Israel, Lebanon and Sudan (as currently demarcated) being the only exceptions.
  • Nearly a quarter (23.2%) of Israel’s population is expected to be Muslim in 2030, up from 17.7% in 2010 and 14.1% in 1990. During the past 20 years, the Muslim population in Israel has more than doubled, growing from 0.6 million in 1990 to 1.3 million in 2010. The Muslim population in Israel (including Jerusalem but not the West Bank and Gaza) is expected to reach 2.1 million by 2030.
  • Egypt, Algeria and Morocco currently have the largest Muslim populations in the Middle East-North Africa. By 2030, however, Iraq is expected to have the second-largest Muslim population in the region – exceeded only by Egypt – largely because Iraq has a higher fertility rate than Algeria or Morocco.

Sub-Saharan Africa

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  • The Muslim population in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to grow by nearly 60% in the next 20 years, from 242.5 million in 2010 to 385.9 million in 2030. Because the region’s non- Muslim population also is growing at a rapid pace, Muslims are expected to make up only a slightly larger share of the region’s population in 2030 (31.0%) than they do in 2010 (29.6%).
  • Various surveys give differing figures for the size of religious groups in Nigeria, which appears to have roughly equal numbers of Muslims and Christians in 2010. By 2030, Nigeria is expected to have a slight Muslim majority (51.5%).

Europe

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  • In 2030, Muslims are projected to make up more than 10% of the total population in 10 European countries: Kosovo (93.5%), Albania (83.2%), Bosnia-Herzegovina (42.7%), Republic of Macedonia (40.3%), Montenegro (21.5%), Bulgaria (15.7%), Russia (14.4%), Georgia (11.5%), France (10.3%) and Belgium (10.2%).
  • Russia will continue to have the largest Muslim population (in absolute numbers) in Europe in 2030. Its Muslim population is expected to rise from 16.4 million in 2010 to 18.6 million in 2030. The growth rate for the Muslim population in Russia is projected to be 0.6% annually over the next two decades. By contrast, Russia’s non-Muslim population is expected to shrink by an average of 0.6% annually over the same period.
  • France had an expected net influx of 66,000 Muslim immigrants in 2010, primarily from North Africa. Muslims comprised an estimated two-thirds (68.5%) of all new immigrants to France in the past year. Spain was expected to see a net gain of 70,000 Muslim immigrants in 2010, but they account for a much smaller portion of all new immigrants to Spain (13.1%). The U.K.’s net inflow of Muslim immigrants in the past year (nearly 64,000) was forecast to be nearly as large as France’s. More than a quarter (28.1%) of all new immigrants to the U.K. in 2010 are estimated to be Muslim.

The Americas

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  • The number of Muslims in Canada is expected to nearly triple in the next 20 years, from about 940,000 in 2010 to nearly 2.7 million in 2030. Muslims are expected to make up 6.6% of Canada’s total population in 2030, up from 2.8% today. Argentina is expected to have the third-largest Muslim population in the Americas, after the U.S. and Canada. Argentina, with about 1 million Muslims in 2010, is now in second place, behind the U.S.
  • Children under age 15 make up a relatively small portion of the U.S. Muslim population today. Only 13.1% of Muslims are in the 0-14 age group. This reflects the fact that a large proportion of Muslims in the U.S. are newer immigrants who arrived as adults. But by 2030, many of these immigrants are expected to start families. If current trends continue, the number of U.S. Muslims under age 15 will more than triple, from fewer than 500,000 in 2010 to 1.8 million in2030. The number of Muslim children ages 0-4 living in the U.S. is expected to increase from fewer than 200,000 in 2010 to more than 650,000 in 2030.
  • About two-thirds of the Muslims in the U.S. today (64.5%) are first-generation immigrants (foreign-born), while slightly more than a third (35.5%) were born in the U.S. By 2030, however, more than four-in-ten of the Muslims in the U.S. (44.9%) are expected to be native-born.
  • The top countries of origin for Muslim immigrants to the U.S. in 2009 were Pakistan and Bangladesh. They are expected to remain the top countries of origin for Muslim immigrants to the U.S. in 2030.

About the Report

This report makes demographic projections. Projections are not the same as predictions. Rather, they are estimates built on current population data and assumptions about demographic trends; they are what will happen if the current data are accurate and the trends play out as expected. But many things – immigration laws, economic conditions, natural disasters, armed conflicts, scientific discoveries, social movements and political upheavals, to name just a few – can shift demographic trends in unforeseen ways, which is why this report adheres to a modest time frame, looking just 20 years down the road. Even so, there is no guarantee that Muslim populations will grow at precisely the rates anticipated in this report and not be affected by unforeseen events, such as political decisions on immigration quotas or national campaigns to encourage larger or smaller families.
The projections presented in this report are the medium figures in a range of three scenarios – high, medium and low – generated from models commonly used by demographers around the world to forecast changes in population size and composition. The models follow what is known as the cohort-component method, which starts with a baseline population (in this case, the current number of Muslims in each country) divided into groups, or cohorts, by age and sex. Each cohort is projected into the future by adding likely gains – new births and immigrants – and subtracting likely losses – deaths and emigrants. These calculations were made by the Pew Forum’s demographers, who collaborated with researchers at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria on the projections for the United States and European countries. (For more details, see Appendix A: Methodology.)
The current population data that underpin this report were culled from the best sources available on Muslims in each of the 232 countries and territories for which the U.N. Population Division provides general population estimates. Many of these baseline statistics were published in the Pew Forum’s 2009 report, Mapping the Global Muslim Population, which acquired and analyzed about 1,500 sources of data – including census reports, large-scale demographic studies and general population surveys – to estimate the number of Muslims in every country and territory. (For a list of sources, see Appendix B: Data Sources by Country.) All of those estimates have been updated for 2010, and some have been substantially revised. (To find the current estimate and projections for a particular region or country, see Muslim Population by  Country, 1990-2030.) Since many countries are conducting national censuses in 2010-11, more data is likely to emerge over the next few years, but a cut-off must be made at some point; this report is based on information available as of mid-2010. To the extent possible, the report provides data for decennial years – 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020 and 2030. In some cases, however, the time periods vary because data is available only for certain years or in five-year increments (e.g., 2010-15 or 2030-35).
The definition of Muslim in this report is very broad. The goal is to count all groups and individuals who self-identify as Muslims. This includes Muslims who may be secular or nonobservant. No attempt is made in this report to measure how religious Muslims are or to forecast levels of religiosity (or secularism) in the decades ahead.2
The main factors, or inputs, in the population projections are:
  • Births (fertility rates)
  • Deaths (mortality rates)
  • Migration (emigration and immigration), and
  • The age structure of the population (the number of people in various age groups)
Related factors – which are not direct inputs into the projections but which underlie vital assumptions about the way Muslim fertility rates are changing and Muslim populations are shifting – include:
To fully understand the projections, one must understand these factors, which the next section of the report will discuss in more detail.
Readers can also explore an online, interactive feature that allows them to select a region or one of the 232 countries and territories – as well as a decade from 1990-2030 – and see the size of the Muslim population in that place and time.

Footnotes
1 The seven countries projected to rise above 1 million Muslims by 2030 are: Belgium, Canada, Congo, Djibouti, Guinea Bissau,Netherlands and Togo. (return to text)
2 In other reports, the Pew Forum and the Pew Research Center have used large-scale public opinion surveys to measure the beliefs and practices of many religious groups, including Muslims in several countries. See, for example,Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2010, and Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream, 2007. (return to text)