Population increase is generally considered to be the main cause for overall poverty and backwardness of a nation. Is population increase a real problem? Or is it just a myth. We need to scrutinize the whole matter judiciously. The Quran teaches us that it is Allah who has so aptly furnished the earth for human habitation and to support life.
“It is He who made the earth a resting place for you and the sky as a canopy, and sent down water (rain) from the sky and brought there with fruits as a provision for you. Then do not set rivals unto Allah (in worship) while you know (that he alone has rights to be worshiped)” (Quran-2:22)
“And surely, we gave you authority on the earth and appointed for you there in provision (for your life). Little thanks do you give”. (Quran-7:10)
The role of the man, on this earth, is to purify, to refine and to transform the available resources into useful means. This requires intellect and diligence. The proper usage of these factors is the human obligation of creation. It is the duty of government to conserve and use the resources in, of course, in a “creative” way and plan this properly so that they advance the welfare of all creation, human, animal and plant, and all other aspects of creation. Because these duties of government and people have been neglected, indeed, denied by both, population is seen as ‘the problem”. Its increase is, therefore projected as the biggest global crisis we ever face.
The first work on “population increase” that generated fear in the minds of people was that of the Darwin influencing British Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus (d. 1834). Not surprisingly a professor of history and political economy at, the infamously rapacious East Indian Company College. His treatise ‘An Essay on the principle of population was written against the utopian philosophers, like William Godwin, Marquis de Condorcet and also Jean Jaques Rousseau. These philosophers believed in the perfectibility of the society. Similarly, in 1968, Paul Ehrlich published ‘The Population Bomb’, who predicted that in 1985 the world as we know it would end based on population progression, famine would spread uncontrollably, oceans would dry up, most of the western lands would transform into deserts and that the average life span of man would fall to 42 years. These predictions, of course, failed, as have those of his preceptor Malthus.
In 1798, when Malthus was writing his book, world was roughly 900 million. In just two centuries, it has risen to about 7 billion. What has afflicted humanity more in this period, the meteoric rise of untold prosperity or the Malthusian collapse into a dearth of resources? Has wealth or meagerness been the boon of man? Of course the answer is prosperity of wealth. The fact is that the increase in population directly leads humanity to prosperity and no do poverty. Neither Malthus predictions nor Ehrich’s prophesies over materialized. Their calculations may have been right, but they were on the status quo and technologies of their times. How many technological revolutions took place after Malthus wrote? How much advancement was there in knowledge after Ehrich.
These were not accidental occurrences. As population increases, our Creator provides man with both advancement in science and technological excellence, as well as having richly resourced the earth to support life, period. The words the Quran said to the ignorant Arabs who did not have the slightest hesitation about killing their children for fear of poverty, remain notable for the great tribes of our time, who continue the logic of Quraysh unabated.
“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide them and for you. Indeed, their killing is ever a great sin”. (Quran-17:31)
Earth’s population in 1850 was 1,262 million. If humanity presence on earth is at least 2 million years old, as anthropologists tell us, then something like 110 billion people have ever lived on earth and a hundred thousand generations have come and gone. Yet by 1850, the population count reached only 1,262 million. What happened after that? From 1830 the period required for the rise of every one billion of people has been published in the UN world population prospectus in 1998. Even though it required one century for the population to rise from 1 to 2 billion, it took only 30 years to rise from 3 to 4 billion in 15 years, reached 5 billion in the next 12 years and another 12 years to strike 6 billion.
The space available to us today is the same on which man began 2 million years ago. Yet UN Human Development Report make clear that in 1950 when world population was 2,406 billion, the food grain production on earth was 6.24 billion tons. In 1990, when population rose to 5.1 billion, food grain production had risen to 18 billion tons. What had happened here? Population doubled, yet food production tripled. If facilities were available for the distribution of food grains, then in 1990 when population doubled, each man would have got 1.5 times the amount of cereals than those in 1950. Allah says in Quran:
“We shall provide for them (children) as well as for you” (Quran-17:31)
No better proof is needed to render Allah’s promise in these verses true.
Then if our ingenuity and the earth’s capacity are not in question with regard to food supply, then what is. Noble prize winner Amartya Sen in his book “Poverty and Famines: An essay on enticement and deprivation’, has made clear that the main factor leading to famine is not population but corrupted politics.
The best example is the famine that struck Bengal in 1943. The British government lays the blame on torrents, tempests, World War II and importing limitations. Citing the government records, Amartya Sen proves this wrong. He also proves that there was more tonnage of cereals available in 1943 than in 1941 and the steps that the British government took in fear of war with Japan was the actual reason that led to the famine that took the lives of an astonishing and criminal 1.5 million people, according to the official records. Even though the amount of grains and cereals required for the people of Bengal were available there, the political play of the British caused the vulnerable to be suddenly afflicted with poverty and deprived of money to buy food. Amartya Sen also shows that the government records on this famine are not trustworthy, since it actually took up to 2.5 million of lives. Thus the real enemy of human welfare is clearly not increased population but immoral politicians.
Malthus and Ehrlish also put forward the argument that population increases so does diseases. The argument continues today by depopulation zealots. But the factual records prove this wrong. The chart published by the institute of Applied Manpower Research, which relates increased population and average Indian lifespan obviously says that, life span increases with increase in population. What is the reason behind this? With the rise in population the standard of living increased. This led to better health and a decrease in the death rate of youth and children from the disease. This is sufficient to understand the baselessness of the argument put forward by Malthus and his successors that population explosion leads to disease and tribulation.
The argument that increased population results in increased population density thus decreasing the net annual income is also fallacious. If we analyse the population density and per capita income datasheet published 2002 by the Population Reference Bureau, it says, in places like Congo ,Somalia, Tanzania, Gambia and Mali where population density is much less, the net annual income is also much less and far less than the world average per capta income of 87,140. But Singapore and Hong Kong where population density is very high, the net annual income is thrice that of the world average.
The fact that income in places of high population density is greater than that of low density region is obvious. A Macanese receives only 1/100th of an acre on average. An Australian receives an average of 82.5 acres. But the income obtained from 1 sq km of land in Macao is 7,300 times more than that from Australia. World average income is $ 12,769. It is 469 times greater in Macao. Where population density is at its peak. Records make famous that the income obtained from 1sq km of Macao is 386 times greater than from oil opulent Saudi Arabia. This teaches us that wealth is not tied to natural resources or geographical areas of earth. Rather, it is the people who are the real producers of wealth.
The fact is that the money is earned using human ability to produce resource and that advancement and welfare are, therefore, products of increased population. Decreased population is thus not the reason for economic development of rich Western countries. There source of wealth is drawn from two sources
1. Money earned through weapons sales
2. Exploitation of their actual and implied ‘sovereign’ rule in the world, that is to say, hegemony. These are the sources of their economic growth.
We, therefore, must look very skeptically at the largely western driven commandments to control the population of what used to be called the Third world. Population control is, in gimmick for continuation of the western hegemony in our rich ‘poor’ countries. There is genuine fear that these population-rich communities will begin to understand the association of their human resources and their capacity to generate real wealth and sovereign independence and begin to determine their own uses and land productivity, making agricultural and ecological advances in scientific and technological fields and that this and not the mere rise of their population may be the reason behind the false threat of population explosion.
Islam teaches that like worldly resources, offspring and wealth are adornment of earthly life.
“Wealth and children are the adornment of the worldly life. But the enduring good deeds are better of your lord for reward and better for one’s hope” (Quran-8:46)
Those crying out for fear population explosion are the same who wax loquacious about the improvement of the reproductive health of cattle and broiler chickens through genetic modifications. Yet the stewardship that man can provide, earth is much more than the contribution that to be made by cows, hens and goats. Man is the producer of wealth by the permission of his Lord. It is nothing other than foolish to think of reducing his number to attain progress. As for those who produce deliberately misleading and terrorizing reports on poverty and who argue for population control, Allah has started in His Quran about the origin of such a trumped up peril:
“Satan threatens you with poverty and orders and you to commit evil deeds. Whereas Allah promise you forgiveness from Himself and bounty and Allah is all sufficient of His creatures’ needs and all knowing”. (Quran-2:268)
“It is He who made the earth a resting place for you and the sky as a canopy, and sent down water (rain) from the sky and brought there with fruits as a provision for you. Then do not set rivals unto Allah (in worship) while you know (that he alone has rights to be worshiped)” (Quran-2:22)
“And surely, we gave you authority on the earth and appointed for you there in provision (for your life). Little thanks do you give”. (Quran-7:10)
The role of the man, on this earth, is to purify, to refine and to transform the available resources into useful means. This requires intellect and diligence. The proper usage of these factors is the human obligation of creation. It is the duty of government to conserve and use the resources in, of course, in a “creative” way and plan this properly so that they advance the welfare of all creation, human, animal and plant, and all other aspects of creation. Because these duties of government and people have been neglected, indeed, denied by both, population is seen as ‘the problem”. Its increase is, therefore projected as the biggest global crisis we ever face.
The first work on “population increase” that generated fear in the minds of people was that of the Darwin influencing British Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus (d. 1834). Not surprisingly a professor of history and political economy at, the infamously rapacious East Indian Company College. His treatise ‘An Essay on the principle of population was written against the utopian philosophers, like William Godwin, Marquis de Condorcet and also Jean Jaques Rousseau. These philosophers believed in the perfectibility of the society. Similarly, in 1968, Paul Ehrlich published ‘The Population Bomb’, who predicted that in 1985 the world as we know it would end based on population progression, famine would spread uncontrollably, oceans would dry up, most of the western lands would transform into deserts and that the average life span of man would fall to 42 years. These predictions, of course, failed, as have those of his preceptor Malthus.
In 1798, when Malthus was writing his book, world was roughly 900 million. In just two centuries, it has risen to about 7 billion. What has afflicted humanity more in this period, the meteoric rise of untold prosperity or the Malthusian collapse into a dearth of resources? Has wealth or meagerness been the boon of man? Of course the answer is prosperity of wealth. The fact is that the increase in population directly leads humanity to prosperity and no do poverty. Neither Malthus predictions nor Ehrich’s prophesies over materialized. Their calculations may have been right, but they were on the status quo and technologies of their times. How many technological revolutions took place after Malthus wrote? How much advancement was there in knowledge after Ehrich.
These were not accidental occurrences. As population increases, our Creator provides man with both advancement in science and technological excellence, as well as having richly resourced the earth to support life, period. The words the Quran said to the ignorant Arabs who did not have the slightest hesitation about killing their children for fear of poverty, remain notable for the great tribes of our time, who continue the logic of Quraysh unabated.
“And do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide them and for you. Indeed, their killing is ever a great sin”. (Quran-17:31)
Earth’s population in 1850 was 1,262 million. If humanity presence on earth is at least 2 million years old, as anthropologists tell us, then something like 110 billion people have ever lived on earth and a hundred thousand generations have come and gone. Yet by 1850, the population count reached only 1,262 million. What happened after that? From 1830 the period required for the rise of every one billion of people has been published in the UN world population prospectus in 1998. Even though it required one century for the population to rise from 1 to 2 billion, it took only 30 years to rise from 3 to 4 billion in 15 years, reached 5 billion in the next 12 years and another 12 years to strike 6 billion.
The space available to us today is the same on which man began 2 million years ago. Yet UN Human Development Report make clear that in 1950 when world population was 2,406 billion, the food grain production on earth was 6.24 billion tons. In 1990, when population rose to 5.1 billion, food grain production had risen to 18 billion tons. What had happened here? Population doubled, yet food production tripled. If facilities were available for the distribution of food grains, then in 1990 when population doubled, each man would have got 1.5 times the amount of cereals than those in 1950. Allah says in Quran:
“We shall provide for them (children) as well as for you” (Quran-17:31)
No better proof is needed to render Allah’s promise in these verses true.
Then if our ingenuity and the earth’s capacity are not in question with regard to food supply, then what is. Noble prize winner Amartya Sen in his book “Poverty and Famines: An essay on enticement and deprivation’, has made clear that the main factor leading to famine is not population but corrupted politics.
The best example is the famine that struck Bengal in 1943. The British government lays the blame on torrents, tempests, World War II and importing limitations. Citing the government records, Amartya Sen proves this wrong. He also proves that there was more tonnage of cereals available in 1943 than in 1941 and the steps that the British government took in fear of war with Japan was the actual reason that led to the famine that took the lives of an astonishing and criminal 1.5 million people, according to the official records. Even though the amount of grains and cereals required for the people of Bengal were available there, the political play of the British caused the vulnerable to be suddenly afflicted with poverty and deprived of money to buy food. Amartya Sen also shows that the government records on this famine are not trustworthy, since it actually took up to 2.5 million of lives. Thus the real enemy of human welfare is clearly not increased population but immoral politicians.
Malthus and Ehrlish also put forward the argument that population increases so does diseases. The argument continues today by depopulation zealots. But the factual records prove this wrong. The chart published by the institute of Applied Manpower Research, which relates increased population and average Indian lifespan obviously says that, life span increases with increase in population. What is the reason behind this? With the rise in population the standard of living increased. This led to better health and a decrease in the death rate of youth and children from the disease. This is sufficient to understand the baselessness of the argument put forward by Malthus and his successors that population explosion leads to disease and tribulation.
The argument that increased population results in increased population density thus decreasing the net annual income is also fallacious. If we analyse the population density and per capita income datasheet published 2002 by the Population Reference Bureau, it says, in places like Congo ,Somalia, Tanzania, Gambia and Mali where population density is much less, the net annual income is also much less and far less than the world average per capta income of 87,140. But Singapore and Hong Kong where population density is very high, the net annual income is thrice that of the world average.
The fact that income in places of high population density is greater than that of low density region is obvious. A Macanese receives only 1/100th of an acre on average. An Australian receives an average of 82.5 acres. But the income obtained from 1 sq km of land in Macao is 7,300 times more than that from Australia. World average income is $ 12,769. It is 469 times greater in Macao. Where population density is at its peak. Records make famous that the income obtained from 1sq km of Macao is 386 times greater than from oil opulent Saudi Arabia. This teaches us that wealth is not tied to natural resources or geographical areas of earth. Rather, it is the people who are the real producers of wealth.
The fact is that the money is earned using human ability to produce resource and that advancement and welfare are, therefore, products of increased population. Decreased population is thus not the reason for economic development of rich Western countries. There source of wealth is drawn from two sources
1. Money earned through weapons sales
2. Exploitation of their actual and implied ‘sovereign’ rule in the world, that is to say, hegemony. These are the sources of their economic growth.
We, therefore, must look very skeptically at the largely western driven commandments to control the population of what used to be called the Third world. Population control is, in gimmick for continuation of the western hegemony in our rich ‘poor’ countries. There is genuine fear that these population-rich communities will begin to understand the association of their human resources and their capacity to generate real wealth and sovereign independence and begin to determine their own uses and land productivity, making agricultural and ecological advances in scientific and technological fields and that this and not the mere rise of their population may be the reason behind the false threat of population explosion.
Islam teaches that like worldly resources, offspring and wealth are adornment of earthly life.
“Wealth and children are the adornment of the worldly life. But the enduring good deeds are better of your lord for reward and better for one’s hope” (Quran-8:46)
Those crying out for fear population explosion are the same who wax loquacious about the improvement of the reproductive health of cattle and broiler chickens through genetic modifications. Yet the stewardship that man can provide, earth is much more than the contribution that to be made by cows, hens and goats. Man is the producer of wealth by the permission of his Lord. It is nothing other than foolish to think of reducing his number to attain progress. As for those who produce deliberately misleading and terrorizing reports on poverty and who argue for population control, Allah has started in His Quran about the origin of such a trumped up peril:
“Satan threatens you with poverty and orders and you to commit evil deeds. Whereas Allah promise you forgiveness from Himself and bounty and Allah is all sufficient of His creatures’ needs and all knowing”. (Quran-2:268)