The Muslim World Geography and Development by Dr. Mushtaqur Rahman; Lanham: University Press of America, 1987, 190 pp.

Abstract

This book owes its origin to a major international conference held in
April by the Association of Muslim Social Scientists at Iowa State University
in April 1983. The papers cover "a wide range of topics to match the wide
range of crises in which the Muslim world finds itself." It includes forty-six
illustrative maps and figures and twenty-six tables. which make the texts more
meaningful.
In recent times, the issues of Third World development and technology
transfer have stirred much controversy, resulting in a polarization of views.
On one hand is the Third/Muslim World view that the so-called transfer of
technology, whether from the capitalist or communist countries, is
counterproductive and exploitive, generating a client/dependency relationship.
On the other hand, the donors feel that their "technological giveaways" promote
"interdependence, collective self-reliance, and mutual interest." Between these
two extremes lies Muslim resurgence and Islamic revivalism, with Islam as
a sociopolitical force providing its own ideological and institutional solutions
to the issues of development and technology transfer. The emphasis is on
conscientious "value-patterned" socioeconomic development. Iowa State
University's 1983 Conference and the present book focus on this motivating
theme. They advocate alternate development strategies which are basically
Islamic in spirit, substance, and system.
In section 1 of the book, trends and issues typical of the Muslim world
are evaluated, specifically with reference to Pakistan. The first paper is a
comparatively short study of coloniaJism (capitalist and communist) vis-avis
the Muslim world. The remedial recipe is an Islamic Development
Policy/Strategy. The second paper discusses the development dilemma of the
Islamic countries, in the light of Islanuc values. The third author emphasizes
that Islamic development is holistic, aiming at the moral man in a moral
society. Taken together, these first three papers form a contextual framework
for specific area case studies analyzing the influence of alien aid and alienating
development strategies ...