The Islamicity Foundation’s 2018 Annual Report
Islamicity Indices for Building Effective Institutions for Political, Economic and Social Reform and Progress
1. Executive Summary
The 2018 Islamicity indices, published on May 15, show New Zealand to be the country that best reflects Islamic values and institutions in the world. Followed by Sweden and the Netherlands, these countries more closely follow the precepts of Islam as compared to Muslim-majority countries that profess Islam as their guiding principle of governance. As was the case in 2017, Muslim-majority countries performed sub-par – their practices and values did not reflect the Islamic teachings of the Qur’an and hadiths.
In 2018, the world improved its performance along all five indices. The countries of western Europe, North America, and developed Asian countries continued to perform well in the indices. The list of top ten performers has changed little relative to last year. The results again demonstrate that developed countries with effective institutions, governance that is answerable to the people, strong economies, and respect for human rights and the rule of law do well on the indices and follow the precepts of Islam more closely than the Muslim-majority countries.
The Muslim-majority countries, on the other hand, improved their performance across three of the five indices, lagging behind in Economic and International Relations Islamicity. The African, south and central Asian, and some Middle Eastern countries that constitute the greater number of developing and conflict-affected countries fared worse, while more developed European, Asian-Pacific, and rich Middle Eastern countries performed better.
To build strong institutions necessary for socio-economic progress, Muslim countries should more closely follow the precepts of Islam and teachings of Qur’an and hadiths in building effective institutions and improving their governance practices. Only when these countries adopt effective institutions that embody freedom and are fair, just, economically progressive, respective of human and political rights and in harmony with the international community, will they truly internalize and execute Islamic standards of governance.
Looking across the board, freedom and equitable opportunity for self-development, the rule of law and justice are at the foundation of successful societies. The Islamicity Indices provide the moral instrument for achieving such successful societies. They provide a measurable instrument for assessing success and shortcoming and the areas requiring the most urgent attention. Governments and the people can peacefully agree to adopt such indices and set a timetable to achieve an agreed upon improvement in their institutional structure. In this way, they can achieve peaceful and measurable reform.