Is it not thought-provoking that backwardness is the bane of the majority of the Islamic world? Is it due to the fact that the whole Islamic world faces the same conditions? Or has it come to this point for different reasons?

      However, some of the Islamic countries, even though they have vast natural resources, have not escaped from the scourge of backwardness. Even though the gross national product (GNP) is high in these countries, a significant majority of the people are struggling with poverty because the distribution of income is not fair. Moreover, since the GNP is spent not on development but on the luxuries of those who hold the reign, no steps are taken to get rid of backwardness.

      When we look at the Islamic countries, we see that their governments are different from each other, but backwardness is a common feature of these countries. Some of these countries are governed by kingdoms, some by so-called democracies, some by socialist systems, some by socialist systems with a tribalist identity such as Baathism, some by republics, some by the form of government characterised as Islamic republics, and some by different systems. But do all of these forms of governance lead to the same result, i.e. backwardness?

       What is the reason why all these countries have common or very similar economic characteristics despite the fact that they are different in terms of natural wealth and governed by different forms of government? In our opinion, the reason is some deliberate practices. These practices are generally dictated by the modern colonialist powers that divide the Islamic geography into small parts and make it dependent on them. However, we can say that some rulers implement these dictated practices willingly and adopt them in order to protect their reigns, while others are forced to implement them because they cannot overcome the walls formed by globalisation in our age, or even if they do not implement them, they are influenced by the consequences of the policies pursued against them. Let us now make a general analysis of these practices.

     In the Protocols of the leaders of Zion it is said: "The daily need for bread forces the Gentiles to remain calm and makes them our humble servants." (See Protocols of the Leaders of Zion, translated from the English translation by Victor Marsden, trans. Abdullah Mustafa, Protocol: 13, Sh. 80, Yeni Neşriyat, Istanbul, 1978) It is possible to see in this statement the general logic of the reasons behind the problem of backwardness and poverty, which is one of the most important problems of the Islamic world today. In this statement, it is mentioned that "the non-Jews should be kept quiet and they should be turned into helpless servants of the Jews". Contemporary colonial powers, on the other hand, aim to turn the peoples of poor countries into servants of their own interests and to keep them quiet and free from political activities. The most important preoccupation of the peoples in the service of modern colonialism is the problem of livelihood, which is the first goal of these practices.

    When people spend most of their time earning a living, they have no time to learn and deal with serious issues. Moreover, the fact that people often need to work a second job brings along the problem of unemployment. Business owners are sometimes more in favour of second job holders because they will work without insurance and for low wages. This leaves many people unemployed. This unemployment problem causes those who can find a job to worry about "losing their job". In addition to this, the state employs more staff than needed to work at low salaries. The primary objective of over-employment is not to solve the problem of unemployment, but rather to put a gag in more people's mouths. Because in countries where the problem of unemployment and poverty is widespread, the salary, even if it is small, is used as a kind of gem. Governments that are sincere about solving the unemployment problem prefer the way of activating the idle population by encouraging investment instead of aggravating the burden on the state and thus on the people by hiring more personnel than needed in state institutions.

        The worry of livelihood and the fear of losing their jobs are among the most important factors that enable people to stay away from politics and submit to the system that imperialism has plagued them. In addition, when people are deprived of a deep-rooted understanding of struggle and a consciousness of the cause, they cannot find the courage to resist oppression and injustice.

      We have already mentioned that the backwardness in the Islamic world is caused by some deliberate practices. We do not have the opportunity to dwell on these practices one by one and give detailed information about each of them. However, analysing the loan agreements made with the IMF and the practices related to these agreements will give us an idea.

      One of the most important reasons for the backwardness in the Islamic world is armament and the threat of war. Islamic countries allocate an average of 90% of their annual budgets to armament, military expenditures and foreign debt payments. In underdeveloped countries, the cost of one tank could finance the production of one hundred thousand tonnes of rice, which would meet the needs of half a million people for a year. With the cost of one modern fighter plane, pharmacies could be established in at least ten to fifteen thousand villages.

            The purpose of this armament is not a precaution against the threat from the modern colonial powers, but a precaution against the threats arising from the problems between neighbouring countries. It is noteworthy that when the colonialist powers moved from direct colonialism to indirect colonialism, they did not only fragment the Islamic geography but also left some problems between all neighbouring countries. Most of these problems are border problems. These problems are occasionally reheated and put forward, and when they deem it necessary, they bring some neighbouring countries into conflict on the basis of these problems. In the past, Iran and Iraq were pitted against each other, and today Eritrea and Ethiopia are pitted against each other. These bilateral problems have turned all neighbouring countries into potential threats against each other and these "threats" force countries to take up arms and military measures against each other.

      The modern colonial powers' increasing their military capabilities also play an important role in the arms race in the underdeveloped countries.

      The need for armament in backward countries has led to the transfer of all natural resources of these countries to developed countries.

      It is interesting to note that the modern colonial powers, which encourage the backward countries to arm themselves, keep the arms industry under their monopoly and do not allow the development of arms and war equipment industry in the backward countries outside their control. In this field, too, the backward countries are busy not producing but pouring money into the products produced by others.

      One of the important reasons for the backwardness in the Islamic world is globalisation. Current globalisations are actually a continuation of the colonialist understanding of the past. The international colonialist understanding has been undergoing some evolutions like the evolution of the understanding of slaves in Europe and has entered a new evolution with the current globalisation period.

      As in all political and social structures, there are certain power centres in today's global structures. These power centres try to put the structure they have established on an intellectual basis by producing some ideologies and theories in line with their own interests.

       In the contemporary global structuring, while the colonial powers cooperate among themselves, they only allow the backward countries to be their tail and do not allow them to enter into an alternative global structuring. They even try to control the trade of these countries among themselves.

     As a result, behind the backwardness experienced in the Islamic geography and the hunger that is especially effective in African countries today, we see the purposeful practices and policies related to modern colonialism. Of course, these policies are put into practice through the administrations that are put in charge of Muslim peoples but in reality serve the powers in question. Since these governments are disconnected from their people, they see their existence as indebted to the global and colonial powers that support them, and therefore they do not dare to step out of the line drawn by them.