[Interestingly, though coordinated efforts are on to link Muslims with violence and terror activities, and with dubious groups like ISIS, the Pew Research Centre in its study said significant Muslim populations have an unfavorable view of ISIS.]
Washington: Though coordinated and intensive efforts are on to malign Islam, and link Muslims with every bad and negative things and hate crimes against them are rising with every passing day, a recent study by a leading American think tank said Muslims are the fastest growing religious group in the world.
"Muslims are the fastest-growing religious group in the world. The growth and regional migration of Muslims, combined with the ongoing impact of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) and other extremist groups that commit acts of violence in the name of Islam, have brought Muslims and the Islamic faith to the forefront of the political debate in many countries", said American think tank Pew Research Centre said in a study released on February 27, 2017.
"There were 1.6 billion Muslims in the world as of 2010 – roughly 23% of the global population – according to a Pew Research Center estimate. But while Islam is currently the world’s second-largest religion (after Christianity), it is the fastest-growing major religion. Indeed, if current demographic trends continue, the number of Muslims is expected to exceed the number of Christians by the end of this century", the Pew said.
"Although many countries in the Middle East-North Africa region, where the religion originated in the seventh century, are heavily Muslim, the region is home to only about 20% of the world’s Muslims. A majority of the Muslims globally (62%) live in the Asia-Pacific region, including large populations in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey", it said.
Indonesia is currently the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, but Pew Research Center projects that India will have that distinction by the year 2050 (while remaining a majority-Hindu country), with more than 300 million Muslims.
"There are two major factors behind the rapid projected growth of Islam, and both involve simple demographics. For one, Muslims have more children than members of other religious groups. Around the world, each Muslim woman has an average of 3.1 children, compared with 2.3 for all other groups combined", the report said.
"Muslims are also the youngest (median age of 23 years old in 2010) of all major religious groups, seven years younger than the median age of non-Muslims. As a result, a larger share of Muslims already are, or will soon be, at the point in their lives when they begin having children. This, combined with high fertility rates, will fuel Muslim population growth", it added.
Interestingly, though coordinated efforts are on to link Muslims with violence and terror activities, and with dubious groups like ISIS, the Pew Research Centre in its study said significant Muslim populations have an unfavorable view of ISIS, including virtually all respondents in Lebanon and 94% in Jordan.
"Muslims mostly say that suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilians in the name of Islam are rarely or never justified, including 92% in Indonesia and 91% in Iraq. In the United States, a 2011 survey found that 86% of Muslims say such tactics are rarely or never justified. An additional 7% say suicide bombings are sometimes justified and 1% say they are often justified", the survey said.
In an earlier study, it was found that there was a sharp rise in Muslim population after 9/11 US attack due to conversion. The study revealed that as Islamphobic hate crimes increased against Muslims more and more non-Muslims were inclined towards understanding and study of Islam and Muslims.
There was a sharp increase in the sales of books on Islam and Muslims after 9/11 terror attack. It was followed by rise in conversion rate, it was found.
Similar rise in conversion was witnessed after Paris terror attack.
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