Islamic Religion Limiting Economic Growth.
Islamic religion forms one of the oldest faiths on the face of the world. In the countries, it has spread, it creates a strong base in the governing of the country. The religion defines the political, economic, science, the position of women, and the economic level of a nation. This factor affects the Finacial status of a country due to its influence on the natural, human, and psychical resources. This essay focuses on the Islamic States as one of the regions affected economically by religion. Finally, the paper will entail various methods practicable in increasing economic activities in the country.
Islamic countries would be one of the poorest countries if they were unfavored by natural resources. The majority of Islamic states are positioned in regions rich in natural resources, e.g., crude oil. The countries include Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine. Islamic religion, as uniting factors among all members of the doctrine, must influence the economic development of a country in terms of politics and economics (Naim, 2019). exploring the history of religion it provides approximately 1000 years and above. Due to the high points it’s inseparable to separate religious and economic development of a country. According to Lewis he held its challenging to separate Islamic religion and political, social and economical of a specific country.
Despite the fact most of Islamic countries are located in poor terrain; Jeffrey Sachs sided on religion as one of the factors affecting Islamic states. Though religion may affect to a great level the performance of a country culture and religion contribute greatly (Ghernaout, 2017). Taking an example of the 19th and 20th imperialism most of the countries practicing Islamic failed to encounter a significance growth in terms of their economies.
The Korona is an Islamic book advocating for fairness in terms in conducting any type of business. Through this faithful book the faithful have an obligation to own property through a fair means. The process of earning wealth must be conducted through a fair means without leaving your brother in distress or suffering. Finally the clients must value transparency in paying the writers on time. Failure to donging the right thing on time contributes to loss of writers hence inadequacy of writers dealing with specific tasks. Until THE 10th century most of the Muslim countries were at a high pace in terms of development. The factors most of the Muslim country positioned in poor poisoned areas cannot account for their underperformance.
The holy book prohibits borrowing of money to make profits. This teaching discouraged many faithful Muslim forms taking loans and using them to make interest. Luckily the 20th century Muslims has advanced financial systems (Lakis & Baltušytė, 2017). They allow their members to borrow cash and make profits used in the growth of the business. Credit forms a largest part of development plans due to limitation of resources. The growth of the Muslim culture began in the 19th century when they began employing the services of the people from the western European. In case they were depended to grow their own economic block they would take a couple of year to exploit even their natural resources.
The perfection of Muslims in the 10th century led to the belief of contentment in terms of science and mathematics. The belief led to low enrollment of the faithful in learning programs. The religious beliefs led to a huge propionate of Islamic disregarding education. They viewed it as a western form of colonization. The factors affecting economies lies greatly on the political will of a country.
In the 18th century and below most of the Islam countries speaking tried to establish their own rule. Unfortunately they based it upon the teachings of the Korana. Colonizers in every country aimed developing a governing state similar in their homeland. For years the Muslim community was ruled by sultans, prophets and emperors. The people exercised their personal interest rather than favoring society goals. A human being is limited to living to a maximum of a certain number of years. These means the plan of a region keeps on changing from time to the other based on a personal interest. Due to the high respect awarded to authorities by the religion it lead to following poor leaders in a bid to ensure spiritual growth.
Women have unequal opportunities compared to men in engaging in economic activities. In ganging the contribution of women in building every successful economy, it forms a huge portion. Formulating laws and rules inhibiting the advancement of women in the society indicates a reduction the growth in economics capacity. More than 50 % of the total population forms the illiterate. Women are the people training young individual to become who they wish in a society. Creating a sense of discrimination among the group leads to weak leaders who make poor decision. Education is the key to enlightenment which should be granted to everybody without minding their religion or culture. It creates a sense of understanding amongst various people.
Islamic religion denies women basic rights such as the ability to contribute in making decisions for the family. Males are never correct in all the activities they engage. Giving women an opportunity to make decisions provides an appropriate opportunity to express their ideas which may form a significance part in solving society challenge. Women are also denied the right to engage in activities such as driving which would create employment opportunities for their gender. An Islamic country denies women the right to choose their own clothes. Women are supposed to wear clothing covering their whole body to avoid attraction from men.
This feature illustrate women are viewed as sex objects who are supposed to protect themselves from men attraction. Such believes demorizes female investors intending to engage in economic activities in any of the Islamic states (Syed & Ali, 2019). Women are the highest decision makers when it comes to choosing products intended for home consumption. Any company intending to grow their operations might face a difficult in case they focus their progress on past marketing skills. Equality should always be emphasized in terms of business engagement to provide a fair environment for all genders hence maximum growth.
Most of the Islamic religious people value more after life compared to the current life. These notion lead people in consuming everything they have saved over time. a society that does not focus on the growth of its future cannot progress. Growth requires people to save for the purpose of investing in a bid to acquire in the future. Most of the teachings in Islamic religion urge members to fight for their faith and engage in force conversion of people to Muslim through Jihad.
The wars lead to political instability creating unfavorable business environment. Almost 60 5 of Muslim countries engage in war political wars due to the high value of resources found in their areas. Nobody would risk their lives to make petty cash. This inhibits foreign investors who form a high percentage of investments. They come in with new skills from their country employing them in a foreign land thus improving the lives of the locals. Muslims value conducting business by themselves in and taking all the profit. It inhibits foreign who come in with a large amount of capital and provide employment opportunities for the unemployed enabling them to start small scale which might grow over time.
Due to religion some business might be difficult to conduct. Islam prohibits alcohol consumption a business generating millions of dollars all over the world (Al-Ansari et al 2019). People will continue engaging in activities that make them feel rejuvenated. It is difficult to promote tourism while prohibiting alcohol drinking and women dancing in clubs. Tourism brings in new people who may come later as investors and deal with unemployment challenge. A large percentage of Muslim countries face a problem when it comes to employment. Without employment people cannot save and later use their funds to grow.
There several measures which should be taken to curb the challenge of poor economic growth in Islamic states. Religious teachings should never overcome the growth of any nation. Limiting growth of a nation leads to dependency and later formal colonization. Islamic state should start by ensuring equal opportunities for all people. It gives an opportunity for both genders males and females in exhibiting their skills. Every gender has a unique characteristic which when employed in field of business can produce excellent results.
Some religious teaching such as the prohibition of earning interest on money led out should be abolished. People should be encouraged to lend their cash to those with limited amount of money. It turns out that most of the people with practible business ideas lack capital. On the other hand those with excess fund lack ideas. Combining the two minds through promoting those with money to lend for an interest would ensure a two way win. Some acts such as Jihad should be totally avoided to prevent. These acts lead to lack of peace which can greatly affect the operations of business.
The government should take upon itself in ensuring negative religious practices are abolished. It can be done through formulating bills that stops any activity intended to harm the economy. Relevant officials should ensure they conduct operations to stop activities that entail discrimination of gender. Starting programs encouraging women to engage in business activities such as giving those grants increases their spirit in business.
In conclusion, the economic growth of a country depends on various factors including religion and culture. It’s the responsibility of a government and citizens to avoid religious teachings that affects the advancement of a country. Shedding past behaviors discouranging growth such as discrimination of women and engaging in wars in the name of religion attracts investors. When investors start business in a country they offer employment opportunities at the same time paying taxes to the government. Continued persistence in doing what is right leads in achieving countries goals in the long run. People must be flexible to change in order to achieve the best for themselves and future generations.
References
Al-Ansari, B., Thow, A. M., Mirzaie, M., Day, C. A., & Conigrave, K. M. (2019). Alcohol policy in Iran: Policy content analysis. International Journal of Drug Policy, 73, 185-198.
Ghernaout, D. (2017). Environmental principles in the Holy Koran and the Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Am. J. Environ. Prot, 6, 75-79.
Lakis, V., & Baltušytė, D. (2017). ISLAMIC BANKING AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO BANKS IN THE WESTERN COUNTRIES. Ekonomika/Economics, 96(3).
Naim, N. (2019). An examination of the intellectual property regimes in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states and a series of recommendations to develop an integrated approach to intellectual property rights (Doctoral dissertation, University of Bradford).
Syed, J., & Ali, F. (2019). Theorizing equal opportunity in Muslim majority countries. Gender, Work & Organization.