Islam, Feminism, and the World's Most Populous Muslim Nation

[umsami]

I know often times in the West, we are lead to believe that all Muslims are Arabs... or that the Saudi interpretation of Islam is revered throughout the Muslim world. (And yes, there are Muslims here in the West who seem to believe these things as well. )

That simply isn't the case.

Less than 15% of Muslims are of Arabic origin.

The top four Muslim-majority countries are not Arab, they are:
1) Indonesia Over 231 million
2) Pakistan 170 million
3) Bangladesh 159 million
4) Nigeria 149 million

Finally we get Egypt at 75 million in the #5 spot.

The Saudis have a population of 25 million and rank #15. There are over 9 times as many Muslims in Indonesia than Saudi Arabia! There are more Muslims in Indonesia than in all of the Arab countries combined.

Time has an article "Indonesia's Islamic Schools: More Female Friendly" which I thought some might find interesting.

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...=rss-world-cnn

...Indonesia's two largest Muslim political parties — the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah — have intricate campaigns promoting women's rights. Indonesian feminists, male and female alike, have worked with progressive pesantran to develop women-friendly interpretations of shari'a — a radical break with the conservative notions of shari'a across the Muslim world, which tend to be heavily reliant on the world views of medieval — and male — jurists....

[doubledutch]

cool - very interesting!

[Tradd]

Very interesting - thanks!

Direct link to article:

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...925584,00.html