Islamicity Indices [Research Assistantship]

Professor: Hossein Askari
 
Department: International Business/Honors Program/ESIA
 
Title: Islamicity Indices
 
Description: The motivation for this research (construction of Islamicity Indices and annual updating) has been the dismal state of most Muslim societies (http://IslamicityFoundation.org). As Mohammad Abduh famously observed over a century ago: “I went to the West and saw Islam, but no Muslims; I got back to the East and saw Muslims, but no Islam.” What went wrong? While some attribute the failure of Muslim societies to Islam, Islam is not the cause of their backwardness as they have not followed the rules and principles outlined in the Qur’an and practiced by the Prophet. There is much more to Islam than what is commonly referred to as the Five Pillars. These largely mechanical actions have been popularized by Western academics and in the process have trivialized the teachings of the Qur’an. Islam provides the framework, institutions and path towards flourishing societies.
 
The mission is to stimulate peaceful reform and development in Muslim countries by encouraging effective institutions—the essential premise for development and growth. Islamicity Indices reflect fundamental Islamic teachings for governance and offer the instrument and the moral compass for achieving this goal—effective institutions and reform. When we set up these indices, our purpose was to provide a metric for the state of governance in accordance with Islamic teachings, but we were surprised to find that countries such as Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and New Zealand show superior performance to Muslim countries. Among Muslim countries, Malaysia and Qatar have been the best performing countries over the last 15 years.
 
Duties: Help publicize the work through social media and maintain social media contact.
 
Time commitment: 4-6 hours per week (average)
 
Credit hour option*: 2
 
Submit Cover Letter/Resume to: askari@gwu.edu
*If credit is sought, all registration deadlines and requirements must be met. Students selected to be research assistants should contact Ben Faulkner at benfaulkner@gwu.edu whether they intend to pursue credit or not.