The Muslim world must correct Western misperceptions about Islam as a religion that fosters extremism, Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Monday. «We need to inform the world of the reality of Islam,» Musharraf told a meeting of the World Islamic Economic Forum. «Some radical clerics reinforce the Western misperception that Islam as a religion believes in extremism and intolerance,» Musharraf said. In a wide-ranging speech, Musharraf painted a bleak picture of the social and economic prospects facing the world's 57 Muslim nations, pointing out that their combined gross national products were less than the GNP of a single European nation, Germany. Muslims number about 1.3 billion worldwide, and account for some 25 percent of the world's population. But their economies make up less than 5 percent of the global economy based on gross domestic product. The result is «economic deprivation, poverty and unemployment,» Musharraf said, adding that this «leads to a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness.» Musharraf attributed this to the low levels of education in the Muslim world. «This is a major failure in the knowledge-driven world of today,» Musharraf told delegates. «We are an agrarian society.» On his part, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the current chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, attributed the rise of extremism among Muslims to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. «That is the core. It is because of Palestine that many people are angry. Even the rich Muslims doing well are angry,» Badawi said. The World Islamic Economic Forum is an organization aimed at promoting trade and business ties among members of the OIC. Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz opened the conference on Saturday with a speech in which he noted that although Islamic nations control 70 percent of the world's hydrocarbon reserves, nearly 40 percent of Muslims still live in poverty and Islamic states together account for less than eight percent of world trade. Government officials said former U.S. President Bill Clinton will attend the 3-day conference.
