ISLAMIC ECONOMIES
Throughout most of its history, Islam has been a parasitic society, dependent on countless host societies for economic survival. Its principal economic bases were the spoils of war, in large part slaves, a Poll Tax (Jisyah), and a Land Tax (Haraj). When its expansion by the sword was halted, due principally to the increased ability of Western nations to defend themselves, the entire society collapsed upon itself. Islam refuses to recognize any knowledge not contained in the Koran and Hadith, notwithstanding the tremendous expansion of knowledge since the Seventh Century A.D. This mindset has thus doomed most Muslim countries to economic failure and miserable living conditions for most of their inhabitants. The exception, of course being the current dictators in power
Before being conquered by the Muslims, in 640 & 641 A.D., Egypt was the breadbasket of the Middle East, providing grains for its own population, and for several surrounding regions. Today, Egypt would be in a state of continuous famine, were it not for gifts or subsidies to buy grain from the United States and other countries. When Cairo fell to Muhammad’s warriors, one of the first directives of Caliph Umar was to order the burning of the Library of Alexandria, at that time the largest repository of knowledge in the world. He is reputed to have said, "If the writings contained there were in agreement with the Koran, then they were redundant and therefore useless; if they disagreed with the Holy Book, then they were blasphemous and must be burned." With such a prejudice against knowledge, which holds sway even today in most of Islam, is it any wonder that poverty and misery abound in almost every Muslim country?
According to the World Bank, using statistics of 2002, the total value of exports from the Arabic speaking countries, excluding petroleum exports, with a combined population of over 250 million, does not even arrive at one-fifth the value of those of Finland, with a population of only five million. The total Muslim populations of Israel's closest neighbors, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine is approximately 185,136,000, but the combined per capita income of these eight countries of only $ 36,864. On the other hand, Israel, with a total population of under eight million, has a per capita income of $29,672. No wonder that the Israelis are so hated!
Islam's continued refusal to accept any knowledge, unless based on the Koran and Hadith, has contributed to the financial and intellectual poverty in the Islamic world. This is well illustrated by the gross disparity concerning the recipients of Nobel prizes. During the 108 year period of the Nobel awards, from 1901 through 2009, only six awards have been received by Muslims, who represent 1.2 billion inhabitants, or about 20% of the world's population. During this same period, Jews, who worldwide represent only about 2.5% of world population, have received 165 awards!
[Postnotes: (1) Anwar Sadat, winner of the Peace Prize in 1978, was later assassinated by his own countrymen because of his attempts to bring peace between Egypt and Israel. (2) Yasar Arafat received the Peace Prize in 1994 and a member of the Nobel Committee, Kaare Kristiansen, resigned in protest, declaring that Arafat was a Terrorist.....which he certainly was. ]