The Umma’s Involuted Border

 
A Bloody Borders Update

After my initial post on The Bloody Borders Project, a4g and other commenters suggested that I develop maps to illustrate the density of Muslim population as well as the terrorist attacks.

Since then I’ve been working on the Umma Maps, based on Muslim population data supplied by answers.com. The results are represented in the series of maps shown below.

All Islamic terror attacks since September 11, 2001

The nature of the “bloody border” is astonishingly clear in this map. With the exceptions of Iraq and Afghanistan, the highest concentrations of terrorist attacks occur along the edges of the Umma, where it meets the areas of lower (but significant) Muslim population.

And now compare this map:

Islamic terror attacks in 2002

With this map:

Islamic terror attacks in 2005

You can see that the Coalition interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan have, from a systemic point of view, caused the border of the Umma to involute, to form fractal boundaries extending into what had been the heart of Islam.

It’s not just the American troops that bring this about — the arrival of new ideas and new political systems brings its own instability and generates the “bloody border” response. The political and social concepts introduced by the Coalition into the Umma are an extreme violation of fundamentalist Islamic tenets. Thus the hardcore zealots of the Umma are drawn in to oppose the introduction of what they see as dangerous and deadly memes.

Once again, the exceptions are interesting. China, Burma, Turkey, and the former Soviet republics in Central Asia seem to be exempt from the “bloody borders” principle.

The relative calm and Burma, China and the “Stans” may have one or more of these causes:

1. Repressive dictatorial governments that maintain a monopoly on violence, or

2. Official control of information flow so that news of attacks is lacking.

Turkey is a different matter. Has its military helped to keep a lid on Islamism? Has it exported its worst troublemakers to the Muslim ghettos of Eurabia? Commenters are invited to weigh in on this topic.

In fact, the relative calm in the center of the Umma may result more from the repressive nature of the governments of Islamic countries than in a peaceful utopian political culture based on the Shari’ah. The events in Iraq suggest that the different sects and subgroups of Islam would, if given the chance, have at each other until the last throat was cut.

In any case, Samuel Huntington was not making it up: there is a border and it is bloody. The border has lately become a fractal, and the unfolding events of the next few years should prove interesting indeed.


See the complete range of maps and information, including a new (smaller) animation, at The Bloody Borders Project.

A full table of information on Muslim populations is listed below.

Note: I am well aware that the differential regional breakdown of Muslim populations within countries, especially India, Russia, and China, is significant. I have in hand a database of Muslim population statistics within Indian states, but have not had time to utilize it yet in order to make a map.

If anybody can point me to reliable and complete data (i.e., every administrative district in the country must have a separate statistic) for other countries, please put the URL in the comments or send me an email, and I will collect data to use in future updates.

Data Source for Muslim Population Statistics

Country	Population	%  Mus.	Muslim  Population
Afghanistan	29,928,987	99.0	29,629,697
Albania	3,563,112	70.0	2,494,178
Algeria	32,531,853	99.0	32,206,534
Angola	11,190,786	1.0	111,907
Argentina	39,537,943	1.5	593,069
Armenia	2,982,904	2.0	59,658
Australia	20,090,437	1.5	301,356
Austria	8,184,691	4.7	384,680
Azerbaijan	7,911,974	93.4	7,389,783
Bahrain	688,345	85.0	585,093
Bangladesh	144,319,628	88.0	127,001,272
Belarus	10,300,483	0.5	51,502
Belgium	10,364,388	3.5	362,753
Belize	279,457	1.0	2,794
Benin	7,460,025	20.0	1,492,005
Bhutan	2,232,291	1.0	22,322
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4,025,476	40.0	1,610,190
Botswana	1,640,115	1.0	16,401
Brunei	372,361	67.0	249,481
Bulgaria	7,450,349	12.2	908,942
Burkina Faso	13,925,313	55.0	7,658,922
Burundi	6,370,609	10.0	637,060
Cambodia	13,607,069	3.5	476,247
Cameroon	16,380,005	20.0	3,276,001
Canada	32,805,041	2.0	656,100
Central African Republic	3,799,897	15.0	569,984
Chad	9,826,419	54.0	5,306,266
China	1,306,313,812	3.0	39,189,414
Comoros	671,247	99.0	664,534
Congo (Brazzaville)	3,039,126	2.0	60,782
Congo (Kinshasa)	60,085,004	10.0	6,008,500
Côte d'Ivoire	17,298,040	38.6	6,677,043
Croatia	4,495,904	1.3	58,446
Cyprus	780,133	18.0	140,423
Denmark	5,432,335	3.0	162,970
Djibouti	476,703	99.0	471,935
East Timor	1,040,880	4.0	41,635
Egypt	77,505,756	91.0	70,530,237
Eritrea	4,561,599	50.0	2,280,799
Estonia	1,332,893	0.8	10,000
Ethiopia	73,053,286	47.5	34,700,310
Fiji	893,354	7.0	62,534
France	60,656,178	7.5	4,549,213
Gabon	1,389,201	1.0	13,892
Gambia	1,593,256	90.0	1,433,930
Georgia	4,677,401	9.9	463,062
Germany	82,431,390	3.7	3,049,961
Ghana	21,029,853	16.0	3,364,776
Greece	10,668,354	2.8	300,000
Guinea	9,467,866	85.0	8,047,686
Guinea-Bissau	1,416,027	38.0	538,090
Guyana	765,283	10.0	76,528
Hungary	10,006,835	0.6	60,041
India	1,028,610,388	13.4	138,188,726
Indonesia	241,973,879	88.2	213,469,356
Iran	68,017,860	99.0	67,337,681
Iraq	26,074,906	97.0	25,292,658
Ireland	4,015,676	0.5	19,676
Israel	6,276,883	14.6	916,424
Italy	58,103,033	1.7	987,751
Jordan	5,759,732	95.0	5,471,745
Kazakhstan	15,185,844	47.0	7,137,346
Kenya	33,829,590	7.0	2,368,071
Kuwait	2,335,648	85.0	1,985,300
Kyrgyzstan	5,146,281	80.0	4,117,024
Laos	6,217,141	1.0	62,171
Lebanon	3,826,018	70.0	2,678,212
Lesotho	1,867,035	2.0	37,340
Liberia	3,482,211	20.0	696,442
Libya	5,765,563	97.0	5,592,596
Lithuania	3,596,617	0.6	21,579
Luxembourg	468,571	2.0	9,371
Macedonia	2,045,262	30.0	613,578
Madagascar	18,040,341	7.0	1,262,823
Malawi	12,158,924	20.0	2,431,784
Malaysia	23,953,136	60.4	14,467,694
Maldives	349,106	99.9	348,756
Mali	12,291,529	90.0	11,062,376
Mauritania	3,086,859	99.9	3,083,772
Mauritius	1,230,602	16.6	204,279
Mongolia	2,791,272	4.0	111,650
Morocco	32,725,847	98.7	32,300,410
Mozambique	19,406,703	20.0	3,881,340
Myanmar	42,909,464	4.0	1,716,378
Namibia	2,030,692	3.0	60,920
Nepal	27,676,547	4.2	1,162,414
Netherlands	16,407,491	6.0	984,449
Niger	11,665,937	90.0	10,499,343
Nigeria	128,771,988	50.0	64,385,994
Norway	4,593,041	1.6	73,488
Oman	3,001,583	99.0	2,971,567
Pakistan	162,419,946	96.3	156,491,617
Palestinian Territories	3,761,904	84.0	3,159,999
Philippines	87,857,473	5.0	4,392,873
Portugal	10,566,212	0.3	36,981
Qatar	863,051	95.0	819,898
Russia	143,420,309	15.0	21,513,046
Rwanda	8,440,820	4.6	388,277
Saudi Arabia	26,417,599	100.0	26,417,599
Senegal	11,126,832	94.0	10,459,222
Serbia and Montenegro	10,829,175	21.0	2,274,126
Seychelles	81,188	1.1	894
Sierra Leone	6,017,643	60.0	3,610,585
Singapore	4,425,720	16.0	708,115
Slovenia	2,011,070	2.5	50,276
Somalia	8,591,629	100.0	8,591,629
Somaliland	7,591,629	100.0	7,591,629
South Africa	44,344,136	1.5	665,162
Spain	40,341,462	2.5	1,008,536
Sri Lanka	20,064,776	7.0	1,404,534
Sudan	40,187,486	65.0	26,121,865
Suriname	438,144	22.0	96,391
Swaziland	1,173,900	1.0	11,739
Sweden	9,001,774	4.0	360,070
Switzerland	7,489,370	4.4	329,532
Syria	18,448,752	88.0	16,234,901
Taiwan	22,894,384	0.7	160,260
Tajikistan	7,163,506	95.0	6,805,330
Tanzania	36,766,356	35.0	12,868,224
Thailand	65,444,371	5.0	3,272,218
Togo	5,681,519	13.7	778,368
Trinidad and Tobago	1,088,644	6.0	65,318
Tunisia	10,074,951	99.0	9,974,201
Turkey	69,660,559	99.0	68,963,953
Turkmenistan	4,952,081	89.0	4,407,352
Uganda	27,269,482	15.0	4,090,422
Ukraine	47,425,336	0.5	237,126
United Arab Emirates	2,563,212	76.0	1,948,041
United Kingdom	60,441,457	2.7	1,631,919
United States	295,734,134	1.4	4,140,277
Uzbekistan	26,851,195	89.0	23,897,563
Venezuela	25,375,281	0.5	126,876
Vietnam	83,535,576	0.8	710,052
Western Sahara	273,008	99.8	272,461
Yemen	20,727,063	99.0	20,519,792
Zambia	11,261,795	1.1	123,879
Zimbabwe	12,746,990	1.0	127,469
Other	784,410,076	0.1	892,881
All Countries	6,386,793,850	23.4	1,493,776,900
	Note: Some figures are estimates, and Muslim population figures are unavailable for some countries.
Source: http://www.answers.com/topic/islam-by-country