A Report

A Report

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1994 11-12 November-December 24 A Report (232)

The Christian church has conducted a study on the spread of different religions over the world. One part of this review, published by Christianity Today magazine (March 1992), reported that “since 1934, Islam has grown by 500 percent and Christianity by 47 percent. Both religions have about a billion followers, followed by Hinduism with 500 million followers, Buddhism with 245 million followers and Judaism with about 15 million followers.”

According to this review, 60 years ago, the followers of Christianity were far more in number than the followers of Islam. But today their numbers are almost equal. If this pace continues, the Muslims will certainly outnumber the adherents of all other religions.

However, just an increase in numbers is no reason for great rejoicing. Along with this there must be provision for their training and education. Today, Muslims are behind in education everywhere. Aligarh Muslim College established a hundred years ago and later developed as a University, is the pride of the Muslims. They take enormous pride in saying that this Muslim University is not just an institution but a movement. Yet a recent review has revealed that in the villages on the outskirts of Aligarh district there is a mere two per cent of the Muslims who can be classed as educated (Statesman, April 12, 92).

This is a clear indication of how much work there still remains to be done.