Bottom of the list

Most Muslim countries have vast natural and mineral resources, with no dearth of population, but invest the least on human resource development. There is negligible investment in education, research or health, with the net result that all these states sit at the bottom of the list of nations rated according to socioeconomic development indicators. Although the Quran explicitly mandates inheritance rights for women and their right to marry of their choice, these basic rights are denied to them in our countries.

Countries like Pakistan have over the years witnessed a rise in illiteracy because the state has outsourced this vital constitutional obligation to the private sector, some funded by foreign NGOs and governments. This has led to deprivation in some leading to a rise in militancy, intolerance and a convoluted interpretation of Islam, which has nothing in common with what our Holy Prophet (pbuh) preached. Islam, a religion of peace, love, compassion and tolerance for other faiths, has been exploited by the ruling elite to perpetuate injustice.

Malik Tariq Ali

Lahore