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Resources
of The Muslim World
Natural
Resources:
The
Muslim world is rich in natural resources. The longest river of the
world, the Nile (6,671 km. long), flows through Sudan and Egypt. The
largest desert, the Sahara (9,000,000 sq. km.), is encompassed by
Muslim countries. The northern gateway of the Mediterranean is
guarded by Turkey, the master of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. The
Mediterranean's eastern gateway is controlled by Egypt through Suez
and Port Saeed. The Mediterranean is almost 60 percent a Muslim
lake, and the Gulf is almost 100 percent under Muslim countries'
jurisdiction. So also is the Red Sea. There are important Muslim
outposts in the Atlantic and the Pacific, too.
Over
50 percent of the known petroleum reserves are believed to lie in
the Muslim world. It also has large amounts of other natural and
agricultural resources. For instance, barley (75 percent of the
world's production [wp]), cocoa (25 percent of wp), copra (30
percent of wp), cotton (40 percent of wp), dates (93 percent of wp),
groundnut (25 percent of wp), jute (48 percent of wp), livestock (40
percent of wp), natural rubber (70 percent of wp), rice (40 percent
of wp), pepper (40 percent of wp), coal (huge reserves), natural gas
(tremendous reserves), phosphate (35 percent of wp), tin (52 percent
of wp), and heavy reserves of iron ore. No doubt, the Muslim world
is rich in natural resources. They have been explored, trenched, and
refined by the technically advanced Western countries. The Muslim
world on its own is unable to benefit adequately from the bounties
of nature.
Manpower
Resources:
Another
argument being extended for the economic cooperation of the Muslim
world relates to manpower. It is noted that the population of the
lower income economies of the Muslim world is large: Bangladesh
(110.6 million population), Pakistan (115.8 million), Indonesia
(181.3 million), Egypt (53.6 million) and Sudan (25.8 million). The
population of the lower-middle-income countries of the Muslim world
is also quite large. For example, Morocco has a population of 25.7
million, Turkey 57.3, Algeria 25.7 million, and Iran, 57.7 million.
On the whole, the Muslim world has a surplus of human resources.
Land
Resources:
The
Muslim world occupies vast land reserves. Because land is a factor
of production, it may be used for increasing output. The vastness of
the land masses of the Muslim world can be understood by having a
glance at statistics. For example, Chad has an area of 1,284,000 sq.
km., Indonesia 1,905,000 sq. km., Sudan 2,506,000 sq. km., Algeria
2,382,000 sq. km., and Saudi Arabia 2,150,000 sq. km.
Economic Structure:
Most Islamic countries' economies are based on
agriculture. Even though the industrial and manufacturing sectors'
share of the GDP has considerably increased recently, the
agricultural sector remains dominant. Except in a few countries, the
backbone of the economy is either agriculture or services. Nearly
all Muslim countries of the African continent are primarily
agrarian. Some have significant services sectors, too (among those
that do not are Egypt and Nigeria). The industrial contribution to
the GDP accounted for around 38 percent and 30 percent in Nigeria
and Egypt, respectively, which is relatively better than the rest of
the continent but unfavorable to world levels. In the case of
Nigeria, its relatively large industrial sector is attributed to an
abundance of mining reserves.
The Asian Muslim countries have a little more
industrial base than the Muslim African countries, especially those
that are members of ASEAN-Malaysia and Indonesia. The accumulated
share of industrial and manufacturing sectors to GDP in Indonesia is
estimated at around 65 percent, while in Malaysia, it is nearly 40
percent. In the South Asian region, Pakistan and Bangladesh have
recently augmented the contribution of their industrial and
manufacturing sectors to GDP. In both countries, services and
agriculture are the two biggest sectors, but the industrial and
manufacturing sectors are sizable, too.
In terms of capital-intensiveness, financial reserves, and mining
resources, the countries of the Middle Eastern region have a
distinct advantage. The members of the Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) mainly rely on their oil reserves.
The economic position and structural distribution
of the economies of Turkey, Iran, Algeria, Morocco, Syria, and
Jordan are satisfactory. In fact, in these countries prospects for
further improvement are fairly high. The countries of the Muslim
world are based either on agriculture, industry cum service, or oil
exports.
Looking at their diverse potentials, one may conceive of economic
integration and cooperation among the Muslim countries. In any case,
their dependence on the West may be scaled down in terms of trade
and commodity assistance.
Manufacturing distribution indicates that most
Muslim countries have attained capable manufacturing levels in (a)
consumer products including food items, beverages, and tobacco; and
(b) textile and clothing. This is particularly true of Pakistan,
Egypt, and the six Central Asian republics, which have an abundance
of cotton. Nevertheless, their technical know-how in the field of
manufacturing is limited. They therefore export sizable quantities
of raw cotton. Almost all of them spend large sums of foreign
exchange to import medium and heavy machinery.
Strategic Importance:
The Muslim belt is strategically located. It
begins from Morocco and ends in Indonesia, almost touching
Australia. The region can be more closely linked together by the
principal arteries of communications, i.e., by air, rail, road, and
sea. This natural benefit gives it an overriding edge over other
regions.
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