Positioning of the World of Islam in North-South Demarcation

The present paper is an attempt to study the position of the Islamic countries in the North-South division through studying their economic, social and cultural conditions. Hence a number of criteria have been studied to explain the developmental condition of the bloc of Islamic countries and a specific threshold has been set to the depict the North-South demarcation. These criteria prepare the grounds for a logical comparison within the Islamic world bloc and between the bloc of Islamic countries and other developmental groupings such as the developing and developed worlds. The main question of the present paper is as follows: what is the position of the countries constituting the Islamic world in the world and in the division of North and South? The findings of the paper indicate that the countries of the world of Islam, on the basis of main development indexes and variables, are not congruent. But on the basis of the existing demarcations, the condition of the world of Islam is compatible with the weak countries of the South. The failure of the countries of the world of Islam in scientific development and attraction and employment of advanced technology are among the factors for their weak position on the world level. Qualitative and quantitative data have been used through analytical-descriptive method to test the hypothesis.