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I agree with this assessment...but...

Reader comment on item: Islam's Key Quartet

Submitted by Jeremy Brown (Israel), Jan 2, 2011 at 04:05

I think you're right on with this determination of the leading Islamic countries. These do seem to be the center of action, innovation, and development of Islam as it interacts with the modern state.

I would add, though, a number of countries to watch in upcoming years in how they address the mixture of nation-state politics and regime stability vs. Islam:

1) Malaysia and Indonesia (as an example of how Islam is addressed among the southeast Asian countries)--these two states are in the last 10 years seemingly trying to find a consistent course for how to deal with Islam in their populous multicultural states.

2) Afghanistan--this is an example of how Western incursion into the Islam world will play out. (Arguably, Iraq could be put here too).

3) Kyrgyzstan--how Islam will be used by the former Soviet Islamic republics. All of them are essentially dictatorships, but Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are probably too totalitarian to make an assessment and judgment of how Islam will be used by the states of Central Asia (as regime security concerns weigh equally as heavily as religious concerns).

4) Hamas and Hizbullah--although these aren't states, it will be interesting to watch how Islamic movements in power or with heavy influence in government effect governance of a people/nation. This especially has major repercussions in places such as Egypt and Algeria, with their large Islamist opposition. If Hamas and Hizbullah show they can govern with Islam, this could lead the Muslim Brotherhood to try a similar project.

5) The Countries of Europe (especially France, Britain, and the Netherlands)--how Muslim populations will fit into the West in Muslim-minority countries, and more importantly, how the governments of such nations will address the issues of Islam and Muslim populations and their accompanying demands.

6) The United States--a very similar issue to point 5, but in a country which declares formal separation of religion and state.

It will be interesting to see if in 10 years your list will be the same.

Submitting....

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Reader comments (13) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Turkey is Islam -2.0 [79 words]PeterFeb 16, 2011 08:29182739
they are all the same [5 words]jon purizhanskyFeb 5, 2011 14:16182328
Whoops! [24 words]Jacob AGFeb 4, 2011 05:42182258
Loss of power [140 words]yuval Brandstetter MDJan 16, 2011 01:20181830
Electric Shmectric: bah humbug. [162 words]IngFeb 2, 2011 15:26181830
Bah Humbug? [99 words]y Brandstetter MDFeb 5, 2011 08:52181830
14Pakistan is an islamic disaster [146 words]dhimmi no moreJan 6, 2011 16:59181614
How did the US allow such a country (as Pakistan) to become a nuclear power? [54 words]AmazonasJan 20, 2011 22:12181614
1Pakistan is our enemy [146 words]dhimmi no moreJan 24, 2011 08:23181614
2I agree with this assessment...but... [330 words]Jeremy BrownJan 2, 2011 04:05181449
5It is just one nation [199 words]TedJan 3, 2011 00:23181449
2Indonesia [14 words]LorenzoJan 1, 2011 22:41181445
I agree with Lorenzo [23 words]SidFeb 3, 2011 11:29181445

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