There were no comparisons in my post. So I'm not sure why you keep bringing up fruit.
No, the Muslims have no say in what happens in this world. Despite their huge population, they are bit players. Here are the reasons why:
Most of them live in piss poor third world countries that don't matter in geopolitics. They are too busy burning the wrong flag and killing each other to matter in this world. Just a minor irritant that needs to handled once in a while.
The ones that are better off live in countries controlled by tyrants (politely called emirs or kings) who essentially count on goodwill from the west to keep them safe and in power.
They have no innovations, no manufacturing, nothing we'd want. The only thing they have is oil. But again, majority of that is controlled by a few sheikhs who don't dare cross us.
The only threat we face from Muslims is random terrorist attacks. Nobody here has woken up with cold sweats wondering if some Islamic nation is going to defeat us in war.
127 million Japanese have more influence in this world than the entire 1.5 billion Muslims. 500 million EU citizens have a GDP of over 18 trillion, 300 million Americans over 17 trillion. The combined GDP of all 57 Islamic countries is 5.7 trillion. Compare that to France which by itself has a GDP of 2.8 trillion with only 67 million people.
Simply put, Muslims don't have much to offer to the world we live in and hence, have minimal influence.
Lol, and pigs fly as well in your world. Correct?
The global Islamic Civilization is spreading across the planet and has established itself firmly in the heartlands of all major continents of the world, including Europe.
However, some people like you will remain in their state of delusions while the "real world" will continue to march on. I see people like you commenting about "impoverished Muslims" as if Muslims are some sort of backwater, rural subsaharan Africans. lol,
The reality however is quite different and can be verified by just looking at credible statistics and data..
Muslim World has massive industries, advance transport systems, nuclear reactors and nuclear technology, brands that are consistently ranked number one globally (For example check out the global airlines ranking), advance telecommunication across spectrum, some of the largest corporations of the world, massive production of agriculture, minerals, steel etc. and many Muslim nations have also placed satellites in the space.
Offcourse, they are not as advance as United States...but
they are a complete modern peoples of 21st century with all the technological advancements and the production means to sustain and advance their civilization (which, if you haven't noticed, they have been doing).
Islamic World...as an aggregate...is a "middle-class" world extending globally across continents. Islamic Civilization encompasses around 1/4 of humanity and has presence on GLOBAL scale (One of the ONLY two global civilization human kind has ever seen (the other is West) ). So much so, that it has spread and extended to established itself in the heartlands of Europe and throughout the Western World as well The "average" income of an average Muslim of the world is around $10,000 by purchasing power parity (Source: 2014 updated world bank statistics on global economy). Some Muslim countries are rich as fcuk, while others poor. Many others in the middle. But over-all, Islamic World is a middle-income economic sphere.
The total exports of Muslim World are around $2.2 trillion (majority of them non-oil/gas exports).
And do we need to talk about market size of 1.7 billion customers?! Here's something..
The worth of global halal food market alone is $1.1 trillion. In other words, just food market of Muslims in twice the size of entire Japanese exports for 2014!!!
So all this talk of "poor Muslims..oh uh" is nothing but pure imagination of some people that just can not digest the reality and would like to keep living in their own self-imagined world.
Muslims control tremendous amount of world's resources (energy, oil, minerals), rule gigantic populations across continents, have some of the largest/most powerful militaries of the world (including nuclear forces!!), Islamic law/culture shapes the lives of
BILLIONS of people
across continents, and so on.
The amount of power, influence, and resources Islamic Civilization has is insane...considering the fact that Islamic Civilization(s) remained superpower(s) of the world for nearly 1000+ years and ruled the Earth from 7th to 18th century (general trend) and today they are in their "demise" per say (since West took that lead post 18th century and maintains it till now).
In other words, Islamic Civilization is so powerful in itself that they are "expanding" even during their "demise cycle"...No other civilization in history has done that. And here we have people who dream of "erasing Islam" from the France (and planet if they could). LOL!!
Heck, forget about global Islamosphere were Muslims are in power and rule, Islam and Islamic Civilization is thriving even in the heart of ultra secular Europe!!
Muslims and Islam are a integral part of Europe/West now. Tens of millions of Europeans across Europe are Muslims. There are tens of thousands of mosques, millions of girls in Hijab and millions more following Islamic dress code. Halal-food is mainstream. Islamic presence and symbols can be 'felt' in every major European center. Muslim Europeans are involved in mainstream European life as businessmen, innovators, doctors, engineers, celebrities, soccer players, journalists, property-dealers, politicians, teachers, social workers, TV actors, News anchors, and even ****-stars (yes!)!! Islam has become inevitable part of European fabric. It is Europe's largest minority socio-cultural-religious force.
There is special transmission on TV channels during Ramadan in UK, and
inclusion of Islamic studies in Public schools across Germany are all evidences of how Islamic Civilization has spread its presence throughout Europe.
When you have Islamic Studies in
PUBLIC SCHOOLS for better integration of society, you don't get more mainstream than that...
Arabic is being taught in the heartlands of Europe to thousands of children who were born in Europe and are Europeans by law.
Heck, Muslims are in the parliaments of Europe, serve as ministers in European governments, and have commanded the ruling parties of major European nations.
In the largest capital of European Union, 33% of all small to medium sized enterprises/businesses are owned by Muslims!! (Even though Muslims represent only 12% of the population)
Source:
London's Mecca rich: the rise of the Muslim multi-millionaires splashing their cash - London Life - Life & Style - London Evening Standard
Do I need to tell you the amount of influence GCC has in West due to its billions in investment via Sovereign Wealth Funds?
Muslims have tremendous power, control, and influence across the globe...with powerful allies in the International system and so on.
Do you even understand what influence and power actually mean?
GCC Sheiks will not cross U.S b/c it goes against their interests. Same goes for U.S. Come back when U.S is able to extract something from GCC that GCC itself deem running contrary to their interests.
Hint: That will never happen.
Turkey give a big f*ck you to NATO when they chose Chinese systems with ToT. Same goes for Pakistan which did its own thing in Afghanistan in regards to Taliban/Al Qaeda---even though the superpower itself want Pak to do something else.
United States is the most powerful nation on Earth right now. No doubt, but what was it again? Muslims having less influence than Japanese?
@gambit You think Muslims have less influence than Japanese? Always interesting to read your insights. Again, I am not talking about more efficient economy, more respect, and so on. I am talking about "influence" on humanity.
