Making Sense of the Senseless

Published in Huffington Post. November 13, 2009

The news that one of US Army's very own has shot to death 13 fellow soldiers and wounded 30 others is just as shocking and puzzling as the many random shootings that preceded this. Do we know why the killers at Columbine gunned down their fellow classmates? Do we understand why a shooter at Virginia Tech perpetrated the deadliest peacetime shooting incident by a single gunman in US history? There is a lot of chatter about Maj Nidal Malik. Hasan's motive but they offer little if any clarity to a murky situation.

Could the fact that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan was allegedly harassed because of his Islamic faith be a motive? Could Hasan's desire to avoid deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan be a reason? Could Hasan's view that the war on terror is merely a euphemism for a war on Islam explain this carnage? No reason can justify the unjustifiable. Hasan was not the first minority to face discrimination.

Moreover, how will killing innocent people stop discrimination? If anything, it will lead to more profiling and more discrimination against Arabs and Muslims. Some Muslims serving in the U.S. military may at times feel conflicted about being deployed to a war zone to fight members of their faith. However, how do such conflicted feelings make one angry enough to pull the trigger repeatedly and indiscriminately killing people? Many people find the tactical aspects of the war on terror troubling and are outspoken critics of it. But no critic of the war of on terror advocates killing innocent people as a way to affect it. Of all people, Maj. Hasan, a person trained by the US military ought to have known better. An Associated Press report suggests that the US military had known about Maj. Hasan's anti-American rants and his many angry outbursts. Why did the military not help Maj. Hasan deal with his inner demons? Why was Hasan not booted out of the service he so ungratefully and desperately wanted to leave (despite owing his education to the US military)?

In the absence of concrete answers, the media is left to speculate. The mainstream US media has acted with great responsibility and professionalism by avoiding excessively sensationalizing the news and taking the time to point out that American Muslims, individually and collectively have unequivocally condemned this senseless killing. However, the usual suspects, like right-wing commentators, Michelle Malkin and Debbie Schulssel, have not missed the opportunity to goad Islam and Muslims. On the Fox & Friends, host Brian Kilmeade asked Geraldo Rivera, "Do you think it's time for the military to have special debriefings of Muslim Army civilian officers, anybody enlisted?" Kilmeade further suggested that "it's time for the military to have special debriefings" of U.S. soldiers who are Muslims.

The tragedy at Fort Hood has evoked fear and anger among many in the American Muslim community. History suggests that their fear of a backlash is no figment of their imagination. Some Muslim leaders have urged American Muslims to pray and take protective measures. While prayer is always good and there is no fault in being careful, the action most urgently needed from the American Muslim community is not to withdraw from public life but rather to reach out and explain to their fellow Americans that the actions of Maj. Hasan are not representative of their faith or feelings about America. Muslims in America do face the problems of discrimination and many feel dismayed about America's policy towards hotspots like Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran or Palestine. But these issues cannot be solved by acts of terror or random violence. Terrorism in the name of Islam has only brought more misery to Muslims at home and abroad. Terrorism is morally bankrupt and strategically unsuccessful.

Most Americans have never met a Muslim and thus it is not surprising that they share a negative perception of Islam. For many their only knowledge of Islam and Muslims is shaped via the media where the news regarding Islam and Muslims is overwhelmingly negative. When a headline grabbing tragedy like Fort Hood unfolds, it is not surprising that many Americans demonstrate fear of and anger towards Muslims. Such fear and anger are not unprecedented. After September 11, 2001 American Muslims faced a similar situation. They responded not by retreating to the comforts of their prayer sanctuaries but rather by reaching out to fellow Americans. Those actions helped. However, the number of open houses and outreach efforts has dwindled in recent years. While the leadership of the American Muslim community has continued their interactions with leaders of the various faith based communities, but interactions at the grassroots levels, where it matters most, are few and far between. This vacuum has and will continue to get exploited by the Islamophobes. American Muslim organizations have been good at fire-fighting, rushing to douse the flames of hate after they have erupted. But they have not shown a propensity to be proactive and persistent with their efforts of ensuring more meaningful and sustained interactions between ordinary Muslims and people of other faiths (or non-faith).

American Muslims are also angry as to why they have to stand up and explain themselves every time a member of their faith does something bad. Their anger will not solve a problem that is real. Some Muslims are indeed committing acts of senseless violence invoking the name of Islam. Groups like al-Qaeda and its leaders like Osama bin Laden have a history of conflating political rhetoric with religious imagery. Take for example Osama bin Laden's August 23, 1996 statement, where he evokes powerful religious imagery while speaking about a political problem, "The people of Islam suffered from aggression, iniquity and injustice. . . . the latest and the greatest of these aggressions, incurred by the Muslims since the death of the Prophet . . . . in the occupation of the two Holy Places. Clearly after Belief (Iman) there is no more important duty than pushing the American enemy from the holy land." Such language does catalyze the popular perception that the faith of Islam motivates some Muslims to attack America and Americans.

However, linking Islam to terrorism because of bin Laden's rhetoric is an oversimplification of a complex problem. Far from the rage and fury of the extremists, Islam actually provides a theology for peace and guidelines for living peacefully in a world with diverse people and nations. Indeed peace and justice are the foundational elements of Islam. The Qur'an preaches pluralism, "O men! Behold, We have created you all out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Behold, God is all-knowing, all-aware." (49:13)

The Qur'an also emphasizes the sanctity of life saying, "do not take any human being's life (the life) which God has declared to be sacred--otherwise than in (the pursuit of) justice: this has He enjoined upon you so that you might use your reason,"(6:151). In addition, the Qur'an states, "that if anyone slays a human being--unless it be [in punishment] for murder or for spreading corruption on earth--it shall be as though he had slain all mankind; whereas, if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the lives of all mankind," (5:32). Taken together, Islamic jurisprudence advocates the preservation of life, honor, and the dignity of all human life as a supreme endeavor.

Furthermore, Islam forbids suicide. In the Islamic ethos, the beginning (i.e., the birth) and the end (i.e., the death) of life in this world (Muslims believe in an afterlife) is the will of God. God gives life and death to an individual according to His own absolute knowledge and wisdom. Suicide implies a lack of trust in God and a lack of faith in His benevolence, mercy, love, wisdom, and knowledge. The Prophet Muhammad said, "A man was inflicted with wounds and he committed suicide, and so God said: My servant has caused death on himself hurriedly, so I forbid Paradise for him."

Any group or individual committing an act of terror in the name of Islam, deserve unequivocal condemnation. More Americans expect to hear this repeatedly and directly from American Muslims. Even when repetition is tiresome, Muslims must remain persistent in dissociating their faith from the criminal actions of a few. At the same time those who insist on linking every bad action by a Muslim to their faith must realize that their actions only inflame passions and alienate Muslims, whose support is necessary to defeat those who kill in the name of Islam.

Answers about terrorism cannot be boiled down to sound bites and slogans. Terrorism is a complex phenomenon that requires thoughtful analysis and discussion. Almost eight years after the declaration of a war on terror, terrorism remains a threat and by many indicators a bigger problem today than before September 11, 2001. Only thoughtful discussions can lead to sensible polices. Name calling and finger pointing will leave us grappling to explain tragedies like Fort Hood. Muslims have as much a stake in this issue as any other community. The victims of terrorism are majority Muslims. Rather than treating Islam as the problem, it is more constructive to view it as a solution towards achieving peace and justice.

India’s Invisible Minority

This article is based on a lecture given at the Press Club in Kolkata (Calcutta), India on September 24, 2009. The lecture was sponsored by the American Center in Calcutta, India.

First Published by AltMuslim. October 23, 2009

This year due to a coincidence of the lunar calendar, Eid-ul-Fitr and Durga Puja, two major religious festivals of India, were celebrated within a week of each other in late September. After twenty-two years, I was able to witness both in my birth city of Kolkata (Calcutta, India). One common thread between the Pujas and Eids is the propensity amongst the faithful to shop for new clothes and gifts with the same fervor and joy as Christmas shoppers in my adopted homeland of United States. The area colloquially called New Market is the nexus of this buying spree in Kolkata. I had a few things to shop for my family and quite naturally gravitated towards where all Kolkata roads seemed to meet.

Fighting the heat and humidity of a late September afternoon and amidst the crushing crowds, I could not help but notice that the overwhelming majority of the signs strewn across the myriad of shops were Puja greetings, well-wishing those celebrating Durgautsov. Conspicuous in their absence were well wishes to the Muslim community on the occasion of their Eid. Muslims who make up over twenty percent of the population in Kolkata, have become its invisible minority, increasingly squeezed out of the public square in Kolkata and beyond.

In 1947, after India’s bloody and tragic partition, many Muslims, particularly the elites, migrated to Pakistan leaving behind a political and social vacuum. Those who chose to remain Indian outnumbered those who opted for Pakistan. Yet Indian Muslims have been stigmatized as India’s fifth column. The subsequent rise of the Hindu political identity marked by the Hinduvta movement, the lack of creative ideas in the Muslim community towards self-empowerment, the post-independence educational curriculum depicting Muslims as outsiders, Islamophobia, and violence in the name of Islam; all have contributed to marginalize India’s Muslims.

Writing a book review in The Hindu, A.G. Noorani commented, “It (the Muslim problem) must be treated urgently and seriously as one of the national problems. Discrimination against Muslims has been a blot on India's record as a democracy. That blot must be erased with determination and speed by all Indians who cherish the Great Indian Ideal.” Thus, the idea behind empowering Muslims in India should not be viewed as either appeasement to a voting block or solely an altruistic program to uplift one of India’s most downtrodden socio-religious communities.

Persistent religious discrimination and recurring communal violence have marred India’s ideals and values. It has diminished India’s narrative of a secular state where multi-ethnic and multi-religious communities can safely and freely reside. The erosion of the constitutionally protected fundamental rights has been especially disillusioning for India’s Muslim youth. The repeated failure of governments, both local and national, to take appropriate measures to protect the rights of minority citizens has prompted the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to put India on its 2009 Watch List.

Despite the obvious need to correct the problem, religious fanatics and fundamentalists have espoused the notion that Muslim empowerment is a zero-sum game. In particular the Hinduvta movement has cultivated a mistaken notion that any gain to the Muslim community is a loss for the Hindus. But in today’s globalized society, power resides not so much in unilateralism (shown to be glaringly ineffective by George W. Bush) but rather in effective mutuality and sharing between all who have a stake in a nation’s future. Thus, the issue of Muslim empowerment should be as much a Hindu concern as it is a Muslim aspiration.

Empowering Muslims in India requires a three pronged effort with all of the parts working together in a holistic manner to convert today’s challenge into tomorrow’s opportunities. The first prong undoubtedly lies on the shoulders of India’s Muslim community. Instead of succumbing to the political rhetoric being espoused by self-appointed leaders, Muslims must leave aside their cynicism and engage in the Indian political, social and cultural life with vigor and positivity. The Civil Rights movement in America can serve as an inspirational model. Integration will be more effective if Indian Muslims harmonize their Islamic identity with their Indian one.

Such integrative steps can happen only if India’s state, local and central governments come forward with bold new proposals to correct the glaring deficiencies pointed out by the Sachar Committee Report. Although much of the grievances in the report were well known to Muslims, the Sachar Report is an eye opener to those who assumed away the Muslim problem or blamed it on some foreign conspiracy. The Sachar Report is poignant in its pathos that the disempowerment of India’s Muslims is an Indian problem created by decades of neglect and abuse, which hangs as an albatross on India’s otherwise vibrant democracy. Quite ironically, states like West Bengal and Kerala that boasted the most liberal governments were just as culpable in their lack of attention to Muslim empowerment as regions that hosted more religiocentric governments, like Gujarat. I was shocked to learn that in my birth state of West Bengal, Muslim representation in state public sector undertakings is exactly zero percent!

Other statistics are equally grim - less than 4 percent Muslims graduate from school; 1 in 25 undergraduate students and 1 in 50 post graduate students in premier university and colleges are Muslims; although Muslims are nearly 14 percent of India’s population their share in government employment is 4.9 percent; in India’s security agencies, Muslim representation is 3.2 percent; only 2.1 percent of Muslim farmers own tractors; just 1 percent own hand pumps for irrigation; if Muslims do outnumber majority Hindus in anywhere, it is predictably as a proportion of the prison population (much like Blacks in America).

It will be a mistake to leave the task of Muslim empowerment to the goodwill of governments alone. As India transforms itself into a market economy, it is the private sector that will play a bigger role in both the economic and social transformation of India. India’s big-business community can, if they choose to, play a positive role in empowering India’s Muslim minority. One mechanism for creating an Indian corporate workforce that is reflective of India’s socio-religious communities is through the voluntary adoption of the UN Global Compact. Launched in the year 2000 the Global Compact is an effort by the United Nations to usher-in a more sustainable, just and inclusive global economy.

To achieve this goal, the Global Compact outlined ten principles broadly classified in the areas of human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. If the business community takes the necessary steps to apply these principles, it will inevitably lead to not only preserving the profit margins for the businesses but to a general well being of the society. By ending all overt and covert discriminations in labor practices, businesses can assist in empowering India’s minorities. By adhering to higher environmental standards businesses can also help the poor (including but not limited to Muslims) who are usually the disproportionate victims of environmental degradation.

The issue of Muslim empowerment is not so much about the Muslim community as it is about India’s future. A more educated Muslim community will constitute a more enlightened Indian work force leading to better business opportunity and a more sustainable growth for India’s economy. The next step in India’s economic evolution will likely not come on the backs of call centers and outsourcing. Rather it will come as result of higher paying service oriented jobs that require a large educated work force. An empowered Muslim community will also mean fewer security headaches and lesser social tension.

The Sachar commission recommends that 15 percent of all government funds be allocated to Muslim welfare and development. While this may work in the short run, in the long run Muslims need equal opportunities not quotas or handouts. This can come about via the establishment of “Equal Opportunities Commission” much like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in the United States. Such a commission, armed with judicial powers, can greatly aid in empowering India’s Muslim much like the EEOC continues to do for America’s minority communities. These suggestions, among the many made by the Sachar report, are not difficult to implement provided governments and citizens alike make a commitment to change their mindset that for too long has regarded the issue of Muslim empowerment as a zero-sum game relegating them to become India’s invisible minority.

Bangladesh's future rests on development of ethical financial markets

The Financial Express, October 7, 2009

A recent Bangladesh Bank (BB) policy paper asserts that moving into the future, Bangladesh will have to rely heavily on capital markets to raise the necessary money to fund capital expansion projects. Capital expansion projects need a lot of money and relying solely on banks to raise that money is inefficient. In Bangladesh, financing via debt market is generally small and stock markets are in their infancy, albeit growing rapidly. Stock market capitalisation has grown at an average annual rate of 77 per cent from 2003 to 2008.

Despite such positive signs, Bangladesh has an Achilles' heel as it has been consistently cited by Transparency International (TI) as one of the countries with the highest levels of corruption. Transparency International, a civil society organisation, cites the economic cost of corruption as, "Corruption leads to the depletion of national wealth. It is often responsible for the funneling of scarce public resources to uneconomic high-profile projects, such as dams, power plants, pipelines and refineries, at the expense of less spectacular but fundamental infrastructure projects such as schools, hospitals and roads, or the supply of power and water to rural areas. Furthermore, it hinders the development of fair market structures and distorts competition, thereby deterring investment." The benefits from the development of the financial markets can easily be undone by the general pervasiveness and permissiveness of corruption.

The centrality of ethics in economic development is easily discerned from the fact that the three largest economies of the world US, Japan and Germany all rank among the top 20 (least corrupt) in the Corruption Perception Index. In developed countries like the US, business school curriculums and professional organisations are accelerating the integration of ethics. The hope is that effectively integrating ethics and social responsibility into pedagogy will allow the grooming of professionals who will avoid the ethical pitfalls that have become the hallmark of the many financial scandals in the recent past. Bangladesh should not wait to address the issue of ethics after some scandal rocks its markets. Rather a proactive strategy can avoid major scandals allowing Bangladesh to sustain its economic development.

The solution lies in a pursuing a two-pronged strategy. First, ethics has to be integrated in the business curriculum so that tomorrow's business leaders graduate armed with the motivation and knowledge about why ethics matter. The second strategy requires major businesses to voluntarily adopt the principles of the UN Global Compact.

Popular text books in finance and business state that the goal of the financial manger is, "to maximise the current value per share of the existing stock," fostering a notion that shareholder wealth maximisation is devoid of any moral concern. Such ambiguity leaves students unsure about the role of ethics in business. At worst, practitioners may treat ethics and shareholder wealth maximisation as a zero-sum game, more of one leading to less of the other. Effective integration of ethics will come about if students are convinced that shareholder wealth maximisation is indeed consistent with the pursuit of ethics and social responsibility.

Ethics need not be exclusively policed using paternalistic mechanisms. Rather, the marketplace can moderate the urge to be self-centered. This is possible so long as media and civic society accept their responsibility of naming and shaming ethical violators. Take for example the well publicised controversy regarding American talk show host Don Imus. On the April 4, 2007, he said referred to the players in the women's basketball team at Rutgers University as "nappy-headed hoes," a description deemed offensive to the teams' Black players. This was not the first time Imus had used derogatory language to insult minorities. A few days later, facing a surge of protests, Imus' show was cancelled and later he was fired from his position by CBS, although Imus had not violated any law.

Was CBS' action consistent with shareholder wealth maximisation? NGOs made appeals to advertisers withdraw their support of Imus' show. Customers threatened advertisers with economic sanctions. By firing Imus, CBS acted as a conduit for the ethical beliefs of the stakeholders. CBS did not need to become expert on the US. Constitution nor did it need to conduct a shareholder referendum to determine their moral beliefs. CBS made an ethical decision but within the framework of what is called the marketplace of morality.

In Bangladesh, purveyors of Islamic finance are assuming prominence. Islamic universities are competing side-by-side with established secular institutions. Scholars dating back to Adam Smith and Max Weber have argued that religion plays a fundamental role in shaping economics. The development of a stronger ethical foundation for Bangladesh's financial markets can be aided by understanding the consistency between normative Islam and modern theories of virtue ethics.

The comparable word for ethics in Islam is 'akhlaq' or 'khuluq'. The issue of "internal good" is best captured in the two Islamic concepts of 'taqwa' (piety) and 'ihsan' (excellence). Having 'taqwa' allows a person to be aware of God's omnipresence and attributes, serving to remind believers of their responsibility towards God. 'Ihsan' pertains to obtaining perfection or excellence in worship, morals, manners, attitudes and social interactions.

The idea of "moral judgment" is best exemplified by two Islamic concepts of justice (adl) and trusteeship (khilafa). In pursuing wealth maximisation, people should not lie or cheat; they must uphold promises and fulfill contracts. Usurious dealings are prohibited. Excessive speculation is shunned. In the Islamic hermeneutics, the rich are not the real owners of their wealth; they are only the trustees. Thus, justice requires that the rich spend their wealth in accordance with the terms of the trust, one of the most important of which is fulfilling the needs of the poor. Islam views human beings as God's vicegerent or trustee (khalifa) on earth, implying that there is no conflict between the morality and the pursuit of economic success. Given the right motivation and means, all economic activity can assume the character of worship.

The second leg in the effective integration of ethics in finance rests with businesses voluntarily adopting the UN Global Compact. On July 26, 2000 the United Nations launched an innovative public-private partnership (PPP), calling it the UN Global Compact. The idea was to foster "social responsibility," amongst corporations. It was a call to the business community that their goal in managing businesses should not be exclusively focused on profit margins but in addition take steps to realise a more sustainable, just and inclusive global economy.

To achieve this goal, the Global Compact outlined ten principles broadly classified in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. The Global Compact requires participating businesses to annually report their progress on the ten principles. If the business community takes the necessary steps to apply these principles, it will inevitably lead to not only preserving their profit margins but to a general well-being of the society. In particular, principle 10 of the Global Compact asks businesses to strive against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery. Only 25 Bangladeshi companies have signed on to the UN Global Compact. Unfortunately, over half of them are classified as "non-communicating", having failed to comply with the reporting requirements. Eight Bangladeshi small and medium enterprises (SME) have signed on the UN Global Compact but only three have complied with all the reporting requirements. More businesses need to voluntarily adopt the UN Global Compact and this will come about only if civic society uses the marketplace of morality to demand business practices adhere to standards, which can ensure a more sustainable globalization.

Adam Smith defines "internal good" as "the man who acts according to the rules of perfect prudence, of strict justice, and of proper benevolence." Attaining "internal good" is necessary not just for altruistic reasons but also for profit making purposes. Providing profit by harming society perverts the purpose of business. An effective marketplace of morality, Dobson asserts will make financial markets truly ethical. He goes on to say, "Dishonesty and deceit would be anathema, because honesty and integrity are themselves internal goods. A truly ethical individual, pursuing internal goods, would never sacrifice honesty for material gain, but only too readily sacrifice material gain for honesty."

More Americans Empathize with Muslims

Huffington Post, Sep 11, 2009
Also on AltMuslim

The latest survey from the Pew Research Center for People and the Press shows an unmistakable trend of Americans slowly but surely beginning to appreciate the challenges and aspirations of its fellow Muslim citizenry. Perhaps this trend is a result of nearly half of Americans saying that they personally know someone who is a Muslim. The fact that so many Americans profess knowing a Muslim is surprising given the fact that American Muslims makeup fewer than 2 percent of the overall U.S. population. The latest Pew poll shows the percentage of Americans who view Islam to be a violent religion is at its lowest level in recent years although not lower than the 25 percent mark recorded in the first Pew poll on this subject shortly after the terrorist attacks on 9-11. The biggest change in attitude came among surprisingly conservative Republicans, a 13 point decrease in the view that Islam is violent.

Coinciding with this positive trend are the findings that show more Americans, nearly 6 in 10, saying that Muslims are subject, “to a lot of discrimination.” While the empathy factor for Muslims have increased, knowledge about Islam and Muslims remain pitifully low. Two-thirds of people who are not Muslims find Islam to be “very different or somewhat different” from their faiths. The Pew report states that, “slim majorities of the public are able to correctly answer questions about the name Muslims use to refer to God (53%) and the name of Islam’s sacred text (52%).” Only four-in-ten correctly answered both “Allah” and “the Quran.” Those who know a Muslim are least likely to see Islam as encouraging of violence and most likely to express favorable views of Muslims.

The change in attitude towards Islam and Muslims are undoubtedly the result of more American Muslims than ever before taking the time to and making the effort to reach out to their neighbors and colleagues trying to explain away the misunderstandings about their faith. In recent days and months, major American leaders have also taken extraordinary steps in reminding fellow Americans about the valuable contributions being made by American Muslims. “I saw….a photo essay …of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave….you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards -- Purple Heart, Bronze Star -- showed that he died in Iraq….. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone …. it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. ….. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life,” observed General Colin Powell, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former Secretary of State in while being interviewed on Meet the Press.

More recently President Barack Obama speaking at a Ramadan iftar noted, “And like the broader American citizenry, the American Muslim community is one of extraordinary dynamism and diversity -- with families that stretch back generations and more recent immigrants; with Muslims of countless races and ethnicities, and with roots in every corner of the world. Indeed, the contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country. American Muslims are successful in business and entertainment; in the arts and athletics; in science and in medicine. Above all, they are successful parents, good neighbors, and active citizens.” Perhaps the President stated the obvious but if more American opinion leaders find the courage to do just that then the trend towards a more positive view Islam and Muslims will undoubtedly accelerate. And America will be better for that.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently noted that U.S. military is bungling its outreach to the Muslim world and squandering good will by failing to live up to its promises. Adm. Mullen’s views are backed by data that shows opinions about America and America’s intentions remain alarmingly poor in much of the Muslim world. To change the hearts and mind, American rhetoric will have to be backed by American action. Adm. Mullen went on to say, “Our messages lack credibility because we haven’t invested enough in building trust and relationships, and we haven’t always delivered on promises.” One reason we have failed to build trust relationships with the Muslim world, is because so few Americans understand Islam and Muslims.

American Muslims will have to increase their efforts to reach out to their neighbors and colleagues. Americans of other faiths will have to reciprocate. Undoubtedly understanding is a two-way street. Muslims must also increase their efforts to understand the faiths of other people. Given today’s global political tensions, economic unease, and ecological concerns, the need for identifying our common ground and working together for the common good is urgent.

Understanding the Current Economic and Financial Crisis

Islam Online. Aug 5, 2009

Easy credit and risky derivatives are the apparent factors that triggered this once-in-a-generation global financial crisis.

However, the fact is that responsible and reputable institutions, that are otherwise risk-averse, engaged in extremely risky trades without adequate protective measures, which points to something more fundamental being amiss.

Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, major financial institutions and regulators mistakenly clinged to the dogma that human beings are "rational" and make financial decisions purely motivated by economic incentives.

This assumption has been challenged for quite a while, but has grown louder since the start of the crisis. Influential voices in the field of economics, including Nobel laureates, are seeking fundamental changes in public policy.

The quest to better understand human nature is as old as human civilization. Religious texts and non-religious philosophies have pondered over this matter quite extensively.

Islam is no exception; it can be posited that Islam does provide a more holistic look into human reality by exploring not just observable facts about human nature, but also the eternal mysteries of soul and heart.

The Crisis

The current global financial and economic crisis, while not unprecedented, is certainly the most severe since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

On October 23, 2008 testifying before the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan called this crisis a "once-in-a-century credit tsunami," that resulted from the collapse of the US housing sector.

The impact of this crisis on the developed world is quite well documented. The US unemployment rate is expected to reach 10 percent and the projected GDP growth for 2009 is at an anemic 0.1 to 0.2 percent (Most economists agree that the ideal growth for US GDP is between 2-3 percent per a year).

Somewhat lost in the maelstrom is the impact of this crisis on the 1.4 billion people who live in extreme poverty, mostly in the developing world.

A global economic crisis is turning poverty into a catastrophe. The administrator of the UN Development Program, Kemal Dervis, warned that the, "current global economic conditions threaten the gains that have been made to reduce poverty, and advance development for large numbers of people."

The number of people who are chronically hungry could increase by 130 million in 2009, reaching three-quarter of a billion people now.

A crisis evokes a quest for not just solutions, but a renewed interest in examining the very fundamentals of the current system.

Economics Noble Laureate Joseph Stiglitz recently said that the current financial crisis requires a global response based on the principles of social justice and solidarity.

Rejecting "trickle-down" theories that dominated finance and economics since the 1980s (championed by Ronald Regan in the United States and Margaret Thatcher in United Kingdom), Stiglitz questioned the fundamentals of the current system, saying: "what is good for Wall Street is not necessarily good for all."

The Dogma

We have arrived, in part, to a dogmatic belief in free markets – primarily the notion that the "invisible hand" of the market is adequate to keep markets properly functioning.

The regulators of the economy (the Fed and the Treasury in the United States) placed an inordinate emphasis on laissez-faire (hands-off or let do) ideology, thus favoring systems that prefer "efficiency" without regarding the equally important societal concern of "fairness".

Moreover, regulators and many economists were unwilling to budge from the assumption that investors are "rational", (technically the marginal investor is assumed to be rational) disregarding an emerging body of literature in finance and economics that posited investor behavior to be driven by psychological or cognitive factors, such as fear and greed.

If people were purely rational then we would not see massive expenditures on lottery or gambling, where the cost of a lottery ticket always exceeds the expected pay-off from winning the lottery. For example, if the winning jackpot was $1,000,000 and 1,000,000 tickets were sold, then the probability of winning the jackpot is 1 in 1,000,000.

The expected payoff from this gamble is computed by multiplying the winning jackpot with the probability of a win; this equals $1.

If the cost of this lottery ticket exceeds $1 then the ticket is overpriced. Even without knowing any expectation theory, it is easy to understand that if this were not the case, Las Vegas will go out of business! In gambling, the house always wins and for every winner there are a million losers.

Thus, the Qur’anic injunction (5:93-94) against gambling is not just a matter of religious spirit, but also a matter of common sense[1].

A More Realistic Look at Economic Decision Making

Since Kahneman and Tversky's ground-breaking work 30 years ago, a new area of research called Behavioral Finance or Behavioral Economics explains why people often fail to rationally respond to economic choices[2]. The example on gambling is illustrative of such failures[3].

Value or price of an asset (financial or otherwise) is not always efficient — not reflecting the asset's true, fair value.

Thus, irrational human beings contribute toward irrational markets. The British economist John Maynard Keynes in his 1936 classic "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" wrote that contrary to being rational, human beings are far more likely to make decisions under the impulse of what he described as the "animal spirits".

In our time, economists Robert Shiller and George Akerlof in their book, "Animal Spirits ”, identify five "animal forces" that drive economic choices:

Confidence: Rather than making investment decisions based on objective facts, such as cash flows, investors are more likely to use "gut feelings" to make asset pricing decisions. Confidence is also contagion, like any virus. This leads to severe boom and bust cycles.

Fairness: People in general want to be fair and they want others to live with fairness. Thus, the ideas of fairness influencing wage-setting and the labor market explain "sticky" wages and persistent involuntary unemployment.

Corruption: Each major financial crisis of the past century has been preceded by anti-social behavior. The 1991 recession was preceded by the savings and loan crisis. The lead-up to the 2001 recession, with an outbreak of corporate corruption cases like Enron and WorldCom.

The current recession was preceded by sub-prime mortgages issued to people who logically could never have the means to repay them, and their securitization in packages that even the rating agencies that gave them AAA ratings could not understand.

Even watch-dog agencies, like the US Federal Reserve, had no understanding of types of risk that AIG was exposed to and how that risk could take down the US economy[4].

Money illusion: Refers to the tendency to think of asset value in nominal rather than real terms. People often take the numerical or face value of an asset as its true value, ignoring the impact that inflation had in reducing the purchasing power or real value of the asset.

Since accounting is based on nominal value and not real value "money illusion" clouds economic decision making.

Stories: Human lives are built around story telling. Without a narrative, life will be just one event after another, seemingly unrelated and random.

Stories give life purpose allowing the development of confidence in nations or institutions. Sometimes the "stories" are urban legends.

Take for example the myth that property prices or housing prices will always rise, because there is only so much land available.

This is not true. Yet, people believed this urban legend which led to the housing bubble in the United States. Stories can propagate myths, which in turn leads to bubbles. Eventually the bubble has to burst causing untold misery.
This "behavioral" deconstruction of human reality is not new to Islam's foundational texts. It is common knowledge that human beings have both an angelic and devilish side to them.

God says in the Holy Qur'an [We have indeed created man in the best shape, then we reduced him (to be) the lowest of the low, except those who believe and do righteous deeds: for they shall have a reward unfailing.] (95:46).

The presence of "animal spirits" in human beings is well illustrated in the many stories of human failings in the Quran.

However, the same human being is also capable of extraordinary compassion and understanding. Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said, "God created Adam in His form".

This suggests that human beings have unlimited capacity for development and the pursuit of perfection. With proper nurturing, appropriate environment, and enforceable reward-punishment structure, human beings can gain reasonable control over their "animal spirits".

Thus, it is important to understand human nature in order to better explain why economic systems undergo severe boom and bust cycles, and what can be done to create a more stable and sustainable economic and financial system.


Footnote:

[1] [O you who believe, truly intoxicants and gambling and divination by arrows are an abomination of Satan; avoid them in order that you may be successful. Assuredly Satan desires to sow enmity and hatred among you by means of intoxicants and gambling, and to hinder you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. Will you not then desist?] (Al-Ma'idah: 93-94)

[2] Kahneman, Daniel, and Amos Tversky (1979) "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk", Econometrica, V. 47 No. 2, 263-292.

[3] Over half the US population has at one time or another bought a lottery ticket. The average expenditure on lottery exceeds that of spending on books or movie tickets.

[4] "Fool's Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted a Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe," By Gillian Tett. Little Brown.

Fulbright scholar promotes equality

FLORIDA TIMES UNION, June 29, 2009

UNF teacher will study Bangladesh culture for "common problems."
By Josh Salman

Parvez Ahmed understands the importance of culture.

The assistant (associate) finance professor at University of North Florida has worked hard to bridge the gap between the general population and Muslim community in Northeast Florida. He practices equality and preaches the same to his students.

So when Ahmed was awarded the coveted Fulbright Grant, he fulfilled a lifelong dream. He could take the same principles he strives to teach at UNF and apply them to students in South Asia.

Ahmed will be leaving in August to spend the fall semester teaching finance and doing research at the Independent University of Bangladesh in Dhaka, the nation's capital.

"[Teaching] is our way of affecting the hearts and minds of people we are visiting," Ahmed said. "I'm hoping to apply what I learn there to the classroom here and create exchanges."

While in Bangladesh, Ahmed will study the region's economy and financial sector. He will explore the nation's villages and the study the people.

He will venture into the bordering country of India, and see the effects an economic powerhouse can have on a smaller nation.

And he will break down market development in the third-largest Muslim country in the world.

"Most people associate Bangladesh with natural disasters," Ahmed said. "But there's a lot more to it than that."

Ahmed grew up in an Indian town near the university he will be visiting. He hopes this advantage will allow him to develop a deeper social relationship with the native residents.

"This allows us to better understand what's going on in these countries," Ahmed said. "The common problems requiring common solutions."

Ahmed is one of 1,100 faculty nationally awarded the Fulbright grant. He has been at UNF since 2002 and has received the Outstanding Researcher Award three times from Coggin College as well as the Outstanding Teacher Award.

Ahmed has also served on the OneJax board of directors for more than three years, where he's worked to suppress the public's post-Sept. 11 anxiety toward Muslims.

"Being selfish, I can't believe he's going to be gone," said Bobbie O'Connor, executive director of OneJax. "But he's really deserving of the award and has such a strong commitment to the community."

Ahmed plans to use his experience as a motivational tool and generate interest from his students in foreign culture and economics.

He is also planning a study-abroad trip to Egypt for finance students this March. And whether in America or across seas, Ahmed's students said there's no professor they would rather learn balance sheets and market indexes from.

"His lectures are so thought-provoking," UNF graduate student James Fugard said after one of Ahmed's classes. "His courses are definitely a challenge, but you come out learning a lot."

Amanda Mullins said she takes Ahmed's courses every opportunity she has. "He makes sure you know your stuff and can apply it in the real world," Mullins said. "His style definitely make concepts easy to understand."

Can Iran be Precursor to Major Changes in the Muslim World?

Published in Huffington Post.

In Cairo, a U.S. President owned up to a well known fact that in 1953 the United States played a role in overthrowing Mohammad Mosaddeq, the then democratically elected leader of Iran. Over half a century later, following the botched 2009 Presidential elections in Iran, it is no longer America denying Iranians the right to be represented by popular choice. It is no longer America playing puppeteer. Ironically, the ones pulling the strings are those who have most vociferously decried America’s ungodly interference in their region.

It is hard to prognosticate how events will unfold in Iran. Will there be any spillover effects in the rest of the Muslim world? Although, change has not yet fully blossomed, the atmosphere is pregnant with expectations. The battle for the future of Iran is emblematic of the broader struggle across many Muslim majority societies. At the core lies two questions, will democracy finally gain a firm foothold and what role will religion play in their political future?

In Iran, both sides have claimed religious justification for their actions. Ayatollah Khameni invoked his religious authority to issue a Nixonian edict that, if the Ayatollah says that the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is legitimate, then it must be so and it is Islamic. The opposition candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi also invoked Islam’s call for justice echoing the Quranic sentiment, “Stand firmly for justice as witnesses to God, even if it is against yourself.” (4:135).

However, literal reading of religious texts alone cannot provide all the necessary answers in this struggle for legitimacy and fairness. The issue of state-governance is not discussed in great details in Islam’s revealed text - The Quran. In verses 42:38 and 3:159, the Quran provides only basic principles, in that governance should be based on "mutual consultation," or “shura.” How this “shura” is to be conducted is left wide open for interpretation. Scholars of Islam contend that “shura” contains three essential elements - equal rights for all citizens, majority rule for public policy and the promotion of justice and human dignity. The degree to which a government is “Islamic” and “democratic” will depend on how well they rank on these three elements of “shura.”

The unfolding saga in Iran has not drawn much criticism from other countries in the region, for understandable reasons. In the struggle of ordinary Iranians, the other authoritarian regimes in the region, foresee an existential challenge to their own authority. If Iran “falls” to democracy, then can others be far behind? Too much support for Mousavi, and his success, is likely to give rise to similar popular movements across the region, which not only threatens the ruling elites but also makes America uncomfortable with the prospect of dealing with unknown actors who may emerge out of this quest for democratization. Too little support will result in the unsustainable continuation of the status quo. This is the dilemma facing President Obama.

Today’s Iran highlights the combustible mix of religion and politics. Muslims do not doubt the veracity of the Quran being the word of God. However, the interpretation of the divine words is entirely human and thus, its translation into practical law is open to multitudes of understandings. Using the power of the state to resolve such differences only creates discord, undermining both the state of faith and faith in the state. Historically, many Muslim jurists opted to stay out of government in order to retain their independence and credibility, thus making an argument favoring the separation of mosque and state.

Although majority of Muslims in countries like Egypt, Pakistan or Jordan today favor the introduction of Shariah, they do so because the current secular laws have failed to deliver justice to the people. Their hope is that Shariah will require, in the words of Noah Fledman (author of The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State), “all human beings — and all human governments — are subject to justice under the law.” Muslims are yearning for justice that they have been denied for so long, often due to outside interference but increasingly due to internal failures of Muslim majority states.

The onus for change is not only on those most affected, but also on Muslims living under democracies. In particular, Muslims in America and Europe can play a more assertive role in prodding Muslim majority nations to build civil societies whose governments are truly representative, whose judiciaries are respectful of the rights of all people and whose legislature fosters positive development of the material and the spirit. A success story in Iran can very well augur a sea change across the Muslim world. An unanswered question is how to support the struggle of the ordinary Iranians without appearing to interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation? It is a delicate balancing act requiring patient diplomacy by governments and peaceful civic engagement by ordinary citizens.

Professor Receives Fulbright Award to Lecture in Bangladesh

Media Relations & Events
Press Release For: May 06, 2009

Dr. Parvez Ahmed, associate professor of finance in the Coggin College of Business at the University of North Florida, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture and conduct research at the Independent University of Bangladesh in Dhaka during the fall 2009 academic year.

Ahmed, who speaks and writes fluent Bangla, is one of approximately 1,100 U.S. faculty and professionals who will travel abroad through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, which is America’s flagship international educational exchange program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields.

The Arlington resident will teach and conduct research in finance, with his research being focused in the areas of financial asset pricing and market efficiency in Bangladesh. Additionally, Ahmed wants to perform empirical studies on the stock market in Bangladesh as well as study the state of private investing. He may also study the private-public partnership in economic development that is being conducted by Non-Governmental Organizations.

“The Coggin College is thrilled that Dr. Ahmed has earned the Fulbright Award,” said Dr. John McAllister, dean of the Coggin College of Business at UNF. “His achievement is an explicit acknowledgement of his insights and academic record and an implicit endorsement of the excellence of the Coggin College and UNF.”

Ahmed has been at UNF since 2002 and has received the Outstanding Researcher award three times from Coggin College as well as the Outstanding Teacher award. He is the author of “Mutual Funds—Fifty Years of Research Findings” and has had his research on market efficiency and asset pricing published in numerous top finance journals.

Prior to coming to the University, he was the assistant professor of finance at Pennsylvania State University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He also served as a visiting professor of finance in the Executive MBA Program at Instituto Superior de Economia y Administracion de Empresas in El Salvador.

Ahmed has developed study abroad programs both for UNF and Pennsylvania State and is in the process of developing a study abroad program to Egypt. He earned his doctorate in finance from the University of Texas and his master’s degree in business administration from Temple University. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Aligarh Muslim University in India.

Since its establishment in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas, the Fulbright Program has provided approximately 286,000 people with the opportunity to observe each other’s political, economic, educational and cultural institutions, to exchange ideas and to embark on joint ventures of importance to the general welfare of the world’s inhabitants.

With more than 3,800 students, the Coggin College’s mission is to educate and develop business professionals through rigorous, relevant accredited degree programs offered by faculty devoted to student learning and engaged in scholarly activities.

Since 1976, the Coggin College of Business has been accredited by AACSB—only one in five business schools are awarded the accreditation, which honors the best business schools in the world. The AACSB is the world leader in accreditation for business education.

Contact: Joanna Norris, Assistant Director
Department of Media Relations and Events
(904) 620-2102

-UNF-

Muslims Disproportionate Victims of Flawed Terrorist Watch List

The Huffington Post, May 8, 2009

The Justice Department has now found that the FBI’s terrorist watch list is flawed. Not only does the list consist of a mind-boggling 1.1 million names of 400,000 people, the Justice Department has also found that the FBI was “sometimes dangerously slow to add suspects to the nation's terrorist watch list, and even slower to remove those cleared of suspicion.” As many as 24,000 people have been incorrectly kept on that list.

I have firsthand experience with the inefficacy of this list. Every time I travel overseas, I am subjected to extensive searches and wasteful questioning. This is a waste of scarce government resources. Let me illustrate a typical encounter at the border.

About a year and a half ago, my wife and I (both U.S. citizens) were returning home after my Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. Upon landing at New York’s JFK airport, we were met by two DHS officers who stood at the end of the jet way scanning the passport of every passenger who stepped off that airplane. Along with several other returning pilgrims, we were escorted into a special room where I found over two dozen other people awaiting questioning. When my turn came, the officer asked me to explain why I was being stopped for additional questioning. I answered that since I did not stop myself to be questioned, how am I supposed to know why was I singled out? I added that one reason for my special treatment is perhaps the fact that I am a Muslim. Such profiling is supposed to be illegal and the officer dutifully pointed that out. However, overwhelming numbers of people waiting additional questioning were visibly Muslims, most of them American citizens returning from Hajj.

Not only is the fact that I will be stopped entirely predictable (it happened again this Sunday as I was returning from a trip to Egypt) but the questions are exactly the same every time. The officers will ask me questions like where I work, why I traveled abroad, and who I met while abroad. Then they look through my baggage much like a Customs officer will be looking for items like food or seeds (that are illegal to bring in) but unlike a typical Customs stop the DHS/CBP officers seem curious about the books and magazines they find in my hand carry bags. That appears to me an intrusion into my first amendment rights.

An April 2009 report titled, Unreasonable Intrusions: Investigating the Politics, Faith & Finances of Americans Returning Home shows, “that U.S. Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) Customs & Border Protection (“CBP”) agents have systematically questioned individuals about their political beliefs, religious practices, and charities they support. Questions include “What is your religion?,” “What mosque do you attend?,” “What do you think of the war in Iraq?,” and “What charities do you contribute to?” Agents have also sought to review and copy business cards, credit cards, and data on laptops, digital cameras and cell phones. These interrogations and searches – which appear to be targeting Muslims or those perceived to be Muslim -- are taking place without evidence that the travelers have engaged in wrongdoing.”

Eight years into the so called war on terror, profiling of Muslims remain quite in vogue. Prejudices against Muslims remain real and progressively worsening. A recent ABC News/Post Poll finds that “Americans by 48-41 percent hold an unfavorable opinion of Islam — its highest unfavorable rating in ABC/Post polls since 2001. And 29 percent express the belief that mainstream Islam encourages violence against non-Muslims — down slightly from its peak, but double what it was early in 2002.”

Once again a vulnerable minority in America is being treated with unwarranted suspicion. Such suspicion only provides illusions of security because they yield no suspects plotting to harm Americans. Moreover, they alienate an entire community whose cooperation is critical in keeping our homeland safe and upholding our image as a nation respecting due process. It is time for America to reclaim its true legal tradition of judging a person by their actions, not on the basis of their color or practices of their faith or merely on the basis of their names.

A Muslim advocacy group, Muslim Advocates has asked the Obama administration to make sure that U.S. citizens are not detained and interrogated, or threatened with detention for failure to answer questions that go beyond establishing their legal status to enter the U.S. or whether they are carrying contraband. Also DHS should share data about travelers they are stopping, searching and questioning to demonstrate to the public that they are not engaging in discriminatory profiling of travelers.

The Justice department’s report pointing out the deficiencies in the watch list is a good start but more needs to be done. A congressional hearing on this matter can greatly aid in restoring trust and confidence in a border entry process that appears flawed and discriminatory.

In Search of a Model Muslim State

Huffington Post, April 14, 2009

During his recent visit to Turkey, President Obama spoke about the promise of a new era in Turkish-U.S. relationship that can serve as a "model partnership" between the West and the Muslim world. America's quest to find a "model" Muslim partner is not new. In January 2008, then U.S. President George W. Bush during his visit to Dubai described the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a "model Muslim state." UAE's economic progress and moderate political views made it a cause célèbre. But now many are predicting Dubai's demise as the global economic crisis strangles easy credit, which was critical in fueling its growth.

The euphoric crowning of UAE in 2008, and the hasty predictions of its demise a year later, both miss an important point. Beneath the glittering gold lies an underbelly that the rulers in the region are fighting to hide with the government planning to impose a fine for "carrying misleading news that harms the national economy."

Dubai is one of seven emirates that make up UAE, which today stands seventh in GDP per capita in the world. It ranks third highest among Muslim majority nations (only behind neighboring Qatar and Kuwait). A fairy story has been unfolding in the desert. In my visits to the region, I was awestruck by the sheer audacity of their dreams.

Dubai's rise as an economic powerhouse is not unprecedented in the region. Following the rapid rise of oil prices in the seventies, Saudi Arabia too had stunning economic growth. And yet it did not transform the country into a "model Muslim state." Like Saudi Arabia then, Dubai today is unable and unwilling to grant its citizens and residents socio-political freedoms that must go hand-in-hand with economic success to propel a country's rise into a model state.

UAE is home to the largest number of foreign-born residents in the world. A few of these residents enjoy great luxuries but most live a life of hopeless servitude. Unlike legal immigrants in most countries, the foreign-workers in UAE and the neighboring states will never gain equal rights in a country where they work, live and perhaps die.

Johann Hari (Huffington Post contributor), writing for the British newspaper The Independent, presents a heart-tugging expose of the many shattered dreams in the desert as a global recession converts Dubai (and perhaps the region) from being "Under Construction" to now teetering "Under Collapse."

A 2008 ABC News report describes working conditions in Dubai (could be said for the other countries in the region as well) as follows, "You are working in a system where you are not really free to leave your job. You actually need employers' consent to change jobs. You're working in a system where your passport is withheld. And really, if you displease your employer, you are going to find yourself on a plane right back to Sri Lanka or Bangladesh or India. Most of the workers live in labor camps an hour outside the city .... The men putting up the world's finest buildings live six to eight, sometimes 12, to a room."

Johann Hari further reports that, "This is all supposed to be illegal. Employers are meant to pay on time, never take your passport, give you breaks in the heat -- but I met nobody who said it happens. Not one. These men are conned into coming and trapped into staying, with the complicity of the Dubai authorities."

For the moment, setting aside the debate about separation of mosque and state, a "model Muslim state" at the bare minimum must embody Islam's normative ethics. At the foundation of economic justice lies a Quranic verse, "Give just measure and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due." (7:85) In addition, verses 42:38 and 3:159 instruct that governance is best when based on "mutual consultation," or shura, which must be infused with three essential elements -- equal rights for all citizens, majority rule for public policy and the upholding of justice and human dignity.

Prophet Muhammad said, "Your servants are your brethren upon whom God has given you authority. So, if someone has their brethren under control, they should feed them with the like of what they eat and clothe them with the like of what they wear. You should not overburden them with what they cannot bear, and if you do so, help them in their hard job."

UAE, like many of its neighbors, has indeed made giant strides in transforming the region's commerce and culture. U.S. exports to UAE are expected to surpass those to Israel and Saudi Arabia. Perhaps this economic growth is a precursor to other freedoms, particularly those pertaining to democracy and worker rights. But if history is any guide, the translation of economic success into socio-political freedoms will not be automatic or organic. It will require an effort by all who benefit from the status quo to look beyond their immediate comforts and aspire to doing well while doing good. There is no reason why economic well being should come at the expense of common sense decency and values.

A model Muslim state will uphold those values that the faithful most desire to see reflected in state policies. John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed, analyzing a recent worldwide survey by Gallup write, "Muslims across the world want neither secularism nor theocracy. They want freedom, rights and democratization." A model Muslim state will not only dazzle the world with commerce but also exhibit moral leadership in addressing common concerns like environmental stewardship and bridging the growing economic disparity between the haves and the have-nots.

Turkey perhaps stands a chance of achieving leadership that, in the words of President Obama, is "respectful," "secure," and "prosperous." States like UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have achieved economic success but little of anything else. In any case, American President's should not try too hard to sell "a model Muslim state." The world will know one, when they see one.