Resources of Islamic Countries

ABSTRACT


INTRODUCTION
The potential of uniting the resources of Islamic lands has sparked curiosity among Muslims worldwide (MacLean & Matar, 2011).Questions arise regarding the magnitude of their resources, the strength they would possess as a unified state, and their ability to confront global superpowers such as the United States or China.Additionally, concerns are raised about their resilience in the face of embargoes and their chances of success in military conflicts.These inquiries reflect the desire to understand the true potential of Muslim nations when considering the current global landscape (Buzan, & Lawson, 2014).
Islamic countries posses several advantages, including ideological strength rooted in aqidah (faith), juridical advantages derived from sharia (Islamic law), and natural advantages stemming from their geographical position, abundant natural resources, and significant population (Mangunjaya, 2013).However, a crucial aspect to consider is how this potential translates empirically into power.To shed light on this topic, it becomes essential to delve into comprehensive studies and analyze available data and facts.
While comprehensive studies of this nature remain relatively scarce, notable contributions have been made by scholars such as (Amhar, 2007), who have explored the potential of Islamic resources.These studies aim to provide a deeper understanding of the resources, capabilities, and strengths of Muslim nations when united, offering valuable insights into the power they could wield in the global arena.
By examining and analyzing the available data and facts, it becomes possible to assess the potential economic, political, and military power of Islamic lands (Rabasa,., Waxman, Larson, & Marcum, 2004).Such an evaluation can address the questions that linger in the minds of Muslims worldwide and provide a more informed perspective on the true extent of their collective capabilities (Kubicek, 2015).Understanding the true power and potential of Muslim nations when united is essential for shaping strategies, policies, and aspirations that could lead to a more prosperous and influential future for the Islamic world (Brzezinski, 1997).
In this context, it becomes crucial to explore and expand upon the existing research, filling the gaps in our understanding of the resources and power dynamics within Islamic lands.By doing so, we can gain a clearer understanding of the opportunities, challenges, and prospects that lie ahead for Muslim nations and the implications their unity could have on a global scale (Ahmad, 2004;Amhar, 2007).

RESEARCH METHODS
Among the institutions that collect such data is the Statistical, Economic and Social Research and Training Center for Islamic Countries (SESRIC), which is under the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (Al Ahsan, 1988).The data collected can be accessed through the address: https://www.sesric.org/.
It's been quite helpful, but the numbers in this database are of course not complete or 100% accurate and up-todate.There is a chance that it is too high (over-estimated) or too low (under-estimated).Information in Islamic countries is scarce or often confusing.Many Muslim governments cover-up information with various motives.Sometimes the data provided is data made by foreign consultants.Therefore, the data presented here should be viewed as an estimate or a preliminary approximation.And it must be realized that if the caliphate is established, this data will still change again.To bridge some countries where data is not available, or in certain years empty, then in processing this data sometimes the maximum or average number from the data of the last few years is used.

Islamic World Data
Currently, 57 countries are included in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.These countries received the nickname as part of the "Islamic world", namely because almost all of the population is predominantly Muslim .There are one or two that Muslims are a minority in population, but dominant in intellectual and power (Esposito, 2010).
The population in OIC member countries is in the range of 1.7 billion, or 21.5% of the world's population.There are still about 200 million Indian Muslims (13.4% of the population) and 25 million Chinese Muslims (2% of the population) that have not been accounted for.Together with Muslims in other countries, the world's Muslim population is in the range of 2 billion, among 7.8 billion people (25%) (Ibrahim, 2010).
According to the CIA World Factbook in (CIA, 2021) the gross domestic product (GDP) of the Islamic world in terms of local purchasing power or Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is in the range of US$ 22.2 trillion, or around 17, 48% of the world.For comparison, China's GDP-PPP is US$ 26.7 trillion, the United States is US$ 22.9 trillion, and the European Union is US$ 20.9 trillion.However, if it is divided into the population, the GDP per capita of the United States is still the highest, followed by the European Union, China, and the Islamic world (Sposato, & Saposnik, 2012).
The GDP of Islamic countries when divided by population, in 2020 will be US$ 7,360/year, or at the current exchange rate of Rp. 8.7 million per person/month.From Indonesia's perspective, it is relatively high.But currently, the distribution of these treasures was uneven.Qatar has the highest GDP per capita (US$ 133,357/year or Rp.158 million/month) and the lowest is Niger (US$ 1267/year or Rp.1.5 million/month).
The total area of the 57 OIC countries together is 32 million km 2 , wider than the United States, the European Union, and China together.Thus the average population density is 38 people per square kilometer.The highest density is experienced by Bahrain which is only a "city-state", where is 1055 people per square Kilometer, followed by the Maldives (933), Bangladesh (817), and Palestine (626).They have to be crammed into a narrow place, even though Allah's earth entrusted to Muslims is very wide.
Indeed, this large area is only meaningful when it is productive.Many Islamic lands are still deserts that have not been revived.Therefore, it is necessary to review many vital product indicators, such as energy production, food ingredients, and so on.Table-1 provides a list of OIC member countries with area, population, GDP-PPP, GDP/capita, and Human Development Index sorted alphabetically (OIC, 2021).

Vital Product Indicator
Perhaps for a more comprehensive economic analysis, all the parameters contained in the statistics are needed, but considering that not every item has complete data available for all countries and there is no agreed weighting, then oil and gas production is chosen as the main energy source (although in several countries there are others available energy sources), then grains and meat for food, and steel for industrialization.(Erum, et al, 2019).
Proven oil reserves in all Islamic countries are 998 billion barrels.Meanwhile, the total crude oil production in 2019 was around 12 billion barrels per year.In 2020 this production fell due to the Covid-19 pandemic so world consumption fell.The five largest "oil granaries" are Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.(Sopian, et al., 2011)  For gas, the reserves are 117 trillion cubic meters.Meanwhile, the annual production is 1.3 trillion cubic meters, or the equivalent of 8.8 billion barrels.Currently, almost half of the oil and gas production, which together is around 20.8 billion barrels, is exported to non-OIC countries such as the USA, the European Union, or China (Reddy, 2013).
The total energy consumption in Muslim countries is the equivalent of 10.4 billion barrels of oil per year.A small part of this energy already comes from new energy (nuclear and biofuels), or renewable energy (solar, wind, hydro or geothermal).Total electricity from renewable energy is 367 Terra Watt-hours or the equivalent of 0.23 billion barrels of oil.
For food, staple food grain production is 425 million tonnes a year.The five largest grain producers are Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey, and Nigeria.If we divide the population, we will get a figure of around 0.67 kg per person per day.This is still below the average requirement (according to the FAO) of 750 grams per person per day.However, agricultural technology can still be improved and Muslims can be trained to fast sunnah.The problem is, many of these grain products are exported to developed countries because the fields have been contracted to foreign entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, the production of meat (camel, beef, goat) is estimated at 36.8 million tons.The top five meat producers are Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran, and Egypt.If we divide this by the population, we get 21 kg of meat per person per year, or 58 grams per person per day.A small number for the daily nutritional composition.Fortunately, our side dishes still vary between meat, fish, poultry, or vegetable protein.
After energy and food, steel is a vital product that is the basic capital for industry and construction.Steel production in the Islamic world is currently estimated at only 99 million metric tons per year.If two-thirds of this amount is used for construction (building frames, roads, bridges, electricity & telecommunications networks), factory machinery, trains, ships and weapons, then another third is for producing vehicles that weigh an average of 1 tonne, then this is just produced 33 million cars.A relatively small number for a population of 1.7 billion, because if an average family consists of 4 people, there will be 425 million families.So it wasn't until after 13 years that each of those families would have a new vehicle.
It is indeed smarter if these limitations encourage efficiency innovations, for example by popularizing mass transportation with light rail which saves steel or promoting bicycles which, apart from saving steel and energy, are also good for maintaining health and the environment.Simple life with limited desires although in unlimited resources comes from Islamic philosophy (Shabbir, et al., 2020).
However, in reality, currently, resources from Islamic countries are widely exported, often at very low exchange rates due to their low value-added content.
The trade balance of the Islamic world is positive (1747 billion US$ exports -1620 billion US$ imports).However, of this amount, which are exports to fellow Muslim worlds, only about US$ 113 billion and imports from fellow Muslims around US$ 118 billion.So dependence outside the Islamic world is still very large.Cooperation among Organizations of Islamic Cooperation is still a dream.If this is allowed, it will become an obstacle when the Caliphate State is established and then embargoed from outside.
Even in the world of tourism, visiting each other in the Islamic world, except in holy places, is still lower than the Islamic world and the developed world (Zamani-Farahani, 2016).

Intangible Resources
In addition to resources that can be measured in the form of material/money, there are intangible (non-tangible) resources that cannot be directly measured, such as educated human resources, established organizations (networks), information (experience) collected, and infrastructure that has been developed (Oghojafor, Muo, & Aduloju, 2012).Awakened.This resource is measured by looking at data on the literate population, the ratio of entering universities, the government's share in GDP creation, income distribution, and debt repayments.
Population and economic growth more or less also illustrate the trends that exist in a country, and this is correlated with non-tangible advantages, as long as the factors are proportional (not only based on one aspect of excellence) (Chhetri, Gekara, Manzoni, & Montague, 2018).
Judging from the literacy rate, it turns out that the adult literacy rate in the Islamic world is only slightly above 73%!Even this is still in their respective national languages (Farsi, Urdu, Turkish, Malay, etc.).Meanwhile, the ratio that can receive tertiary education is around 30% of high school graduates.Even this is still beyond the question of the perfunctory quality of education in a capitalistic secular system (Wallerstein, Collins, Mann, Derluguian, & Calhoun, 2013).
The government's share in the creation of GDP describes the level of people's participation in economic activity.The higher the share of the government, the more vulnerable the country's economy is to political turmoil.Ideally, the government regulates the affairs of the people according to Islamic law, not as business actors, and only intervenes where the economic mechanism does not function.However, a value of 0% in GDP creation means the government is hands-off, and this is an indication of a failed country (Coyle, 2015). .
In the Islamic world, the government plays an average of up to 20% in economic activity.Afghanistan under American occupation had reached 40%.In some other war-torn countries, there are no data.
In terms of the economy related to large natural resources, these statistics may be confused between feudalistic, socialistic and ideal governments in Islam, in which natural resources belong to public ownership which the government must manage -but not business.But there is famous a example that comes from Islamic civilization, i.e. waqf (Medias, et al., 2022).

CONCLUSION
In various ways, the economic power of the Islamic world has been tried many times to unite.OKI has failed.The south-south pact -which also involved developing countries in Latin America failed.The last experiment was with the D-8 (Development-Eight) group, which consisted of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey.In reality, the D-8's influence is even smaller than that of regional groups such as ASEAN, especially on the G-8, namely the group of advanced industrial countries (US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia) which make up 65%. of the world economy.
So this attempt is likely to fail as well.The causes are too many, starting from the ego-nationalism of each country, its leaders who are not capable or independent (become puppets of a big country), to products between countries that are too similar so that they do not complement each other.
Without a fundamental change in the way of thinking in the Islamic world, namely the way of thinking about the vision and mission of their country in the world, it is difficult for there to be synergy from the unification of the Islamic world economy.
Only with this paradigm shift in thinking will there be efforts in the society of each country to not only become "land" for developed countries but to become agents of change to a new world that is pleasing to God.Slowly but surely they will reform their way of thinking, and behaving, and the ties that have made them a nation and state.
Then a country whose people and political and military forces are most prepared will take the lead in declaring the establishment of a new state, the Caliphate State.This new country at the beginning will show its best performance, as a just and truly independent country, while inviting other Muslim countries to join.
When the people of other Muslim countries see that joining the Caliphate State opens wider opportunities for a better, more advanced, and stronger life so that they can lead the world, they will flock to urge their respective governments to join the Khilafah State.
So one by one Islamic countries will enter the Caliphate State, as in the past the Dutch East Indies were joined to the Republic of Indonesia, or now European countries are joining the European Union.The power of the unified Islamic world under the Khilafah State will become a reality and will be even greater if the Islamic system has optimized the regulation of all potential natural and human resources in it, as well as the best Muslims who have been in developed countries.flocked home to dedicate himself to the glory of Islam and the Muslims.

Table 1 .
GDP and HDI of OIC member countries