The Islamo-Rectangle (and Then Some)

What are the northernmost, southernmost, easternmost, and westernmost majority-Muslim countries?  Let's determine the winners by comparing the countries' northernmost, southernmost, easternmost, and westernmost points, respectively.

(By the way, note that it wouldn't make much sense to ask this question for Christianity, not so much because it's a larger religion—there are only about 25% more Christians than Muslims—but because European colonialism was in large measure seaborne, while Arab and then Turkish colonialism was much more on land.)

Comments

[bernard11]

I suppose northernmost and southernmost are determined by distance from the poles, but how are easternmost and westernmost to be determined?

[Jon S]

Hemispheres, through the Prime Meridien

[DaivdBehar]

Hey, cold hearted, viper scumbag lawyers, did you enjoy the Anne Frank Diary? Multiply by 10 million in Afghanistan, as traitor filth lawyer Biden appeases pure evil.

Back to your idiotic games, lawyer scum.

[ah....Clem]

Minimum or maximum longitude.

It’s why Alaska is the easternmost and westernmost US state.

[jdgalt1]

If we were doing Christian majority countries, east and west would have to be Russia, since it spans 180 on dry land, and I don’t think any of the Aleutians quite does.

North would have to be Greenland (Denmark), and South Chile.

[ah....Clem]

Is Russia majority Christian? Polls range from 47% to 71%. And ,the government has not exactly been Christian-friendly if that matters.

And assuming the US is majority Christian, we also span the 180 degree meridian so we can make the claim too. Not sure that the “rules” say anything about an actual piece of land needing to be on the meridian.

[DRM]

Hmm? The current Russian government’s been plenty Christian-friendly, if by “Christian” you mean the Russian Orthodox Church.

Granted, if you don’t count the de facto state church whose hierarchy is composed of people who were installed by Putin’s comrades at the KGB as Christian, Russia has very few Christians.

[Seamus]

By whichever is furthest east or west from Mecca.

[Hugo S. Cunningham]

longitude east or west of Makkah. That would avoid arguments over whether Mauretania and Senegal are in the Eastern or Western hemispheres.

[loki13]

I’d guess …. Indonesia (East and South), Kazakhstan (North), Senegal (West).

[Eugene Volokh]

loki13: I think you’re 3/4 right.

[loki13]

Hmmm…. I thought the southernmost part of Indonesia is further south than the Comoros?

(Looking it up)
11°0′27″S on Pamana Island.

It’s almost 12 on Comoros.

DANG IT!

Comoros it is.

[loki13]

(And this is why you look things up instead of relying on your memory)

[Eugene Volokh]

There’s extra glory in getting it right, or even mostly right, just from memory.

[loki13]

🙂

I have to give credit to a really good teacher I had in Sixth Grade, who had us all create notebooks and memorize all the countries in the world, their capitols, and facts about those countries. Some of the countries have changed since then (part of getting older), but I’ve been able to keep up with world geography really well because of that.

Just goes to show that good teachers make a difference that lasts a life time.

(Same with law school professors as well. There were only a few that made any real difference in my life, but the ones that did made all the difference; I can honestly say that one law school professor, in particular, made me a much better attorney. I hope you have the same influence on your students, EV.)

[David Nieporent]

and facts about those countries.

In conclusion, Libya is a land of contrasts.

[Hank Ferrous]

Very nice.

[Glennn]

Kazakhstan for Northern, Indonesia for Southern. I am guessing we are using the prime meridian for east and west and 180 degrees would be simultaneously the most easterly and westerly one could go? So indonesia would be the most East and Senegal the most western?

[Hugo S. Cunningham]

As late as 1979, Kazakhstan would not have counted as a majority Muslim country, because ethnic Kazakhs had suffered hideous losses in the 1930s from Stalin’s Collectivization famines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_demography_of_Kazakhstan
But since then, especially since independence in 1991, Kazakh population has rebounded, while some Europeans have left.

[Jon S]

Having not looked at comments above:

North: Kazakhstan
South: Somalia
East: Indonesia
West: Western Sahara/Morrocco

[Jon S]

Indonesia is tricky so actually southernmost as well it appears.

Seems that there is no majority Muslim country in Western Hemisphere.

[Lee Moore]

Seems that there is no majority Muslim country in Western Hemisphere.

Morocco, Mauretania, Senegal

[ah....Clem]

South and east is easy – Indonesia.

North appears to be Kazakhstan.

West looks like Senegal.

[ah....Clem]

I’m now wondering if there is a majority Islam island nation in the Pacific that might be eastern- or western-most. Don’t think so, but there might be.

[litanyofcomplaints]

Comoros in the Indian Ocean looks like it qualifies as the southernmost.

[Kevin Smith]

Looks like you are correct. Kick Indonesia to the curb, at least for southernmost

[Kevin Smith]

According to the wiki pages for List_of_countries_by_westernmost_point and List_of_countries_by_easternmost_point there is not a Pacific Island that would fit the bill

It does also exemplify why asking the same question about Christianity is pointless though. The nothernmost, southernmost, easternmost, and westermost Christian nations are also the nothernmost, southernmost, easternmost, and westermost nations generally (and several nations deep as well)

[DaivdBehar]

Although an extreme atheist, I am an intelligent atheist, not a stupid atheist as most are. I recognize that religion explains to the average person why he should go to work, take care of his family, and not hurt others. It is 10 times more effective at doing that than the law. There will never be enough punishment by law to persuade people to do that.

I recognize that religious societies are wealthier. We are wealthier than secular Europe or Commie China. The Egyptians built monument that still bring in $5 billion in tourist dollars, thousands of years after being built for religious purposes.

It is a scam, if not the greatest scam (pay us now, get rewarded after your death). However, it has more benefits than harms.

One place, where it does not belong is in American law. The latter is filled with supernatural false doctrines from the Catholic religion. It must be completely thrown out and restarted from scratch. It is garbage now, with every self stated goal of every law subject in utter failure. Your profession stinks, lawyers.

[James Pollock]

“Although an extreme atheist, I am an intelligent atheist”

The atheist and extreme parts are true.

[DaivdBehar]

James, aren’t you a lawyer? Nothing you say has the slightest validity. You are part of a criminal cult enterprise with supernatural beliefs in mind reading, forecasting, and standards set by a fictitious character who is really Jesus. Like STFU, you moron.

[DaivdBehar]

In defense of the Catholic Church, from where the common law was plagiarized, they held these beliefs in accordance with their faith. They attributed these powers to God, who would judge your soul after death. The lawyer cannot even read the texts from which he is plagiarizing.

They did develop the business model of the Inquisition which enriched the Vatican beyond human imagination. The lawyer got that one right in subjecting our nation to the Inquisition 2.0, bringing in wealth that is 2 orders of magnitude beyond that of the Church.

[MoreCurious]

Sorry to pop your balloon, but every reader of VC can easily spot the lie in the first sentence of your note. Nice try, though.

[OtisAH]

Atheist: a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods

Extreme Atheist: basic dumbass who pretends to intelligence, poorly.

[FreddyHill]

My crystal ball, which is tuned to the year 2050, says Sweden for the northernmost country.

[Sebastian Cremmington]

It has to do with the distance a camel can travel in a year.

[James Pollock]

Flying carpet.

[Sebastian Cremmington]

As a kid I remember shopping for Persian rugs with my family and a big appeal of the rugs involved some sort of tax scam one could easily get away with…they were apparently magic rugs. I will add Ghani has the Rolex…but the Taliban has the time. Rolexes and Johnnie Walker Black…the currency of corrupt foreigners. 😉

[Vaclav Matthess]

A quick browse of the comments seem to indicate that most look to the Prime Meridian as the center; therefore the anti-meridian (180th meridian as being the farthest east or west). I would submit that the International Dateline should be the dividing line.

[darkknight9]

N
W,E
S

Kazakhstan
Suriname, Indonesia
Mozambique

[David Nieporent]

Neither Suriname nor Mozambique are close to being majority Muslim.

[darkknight9]

I couldn’t remember but I didn’t want to look like a chump just hitting up google for the right answers. 🙂

[Indy Lawyer]

Without looking at the other comments (but checking my map on my phone), I’m going with N: Kazakhstan, S: Indonesia, W: Senegal, E: Indonesia.

[buckleup]

It is interesting looking at a map how little it’s spread around the world. Although population demographics suggest a different story by the end of the century.

[Sebastian Cremmington]

In a few months…Whatchamacallitastan

[jdgalt1]

Without looking at other people’s answers:

North: Kazakhstan
South: Tanzania
East: Indonesia
West: Western Sahara (if it counts as a country); otherwise Algeria.

[DavidS-T]

Tatarstan would be the northermost if “country” includes constituent republics of the Russian Federation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatarstan#Religion

[Syd Henderson]

And Mayotte would be furthest south if we counted French possessions.

[Hugo S. Cunningham]

In the frivolous spirit of this whole thread, I will offer a theoretical argument that, regardless of how future immigration patterns may change the demography of Europe in general and Norway in particular, no permanent Muslim settlement can be established in Spitsbergen, north of the Arctic Circle.
Explanation: During the month of Ramadan, Muslims must fast between sunrise and sunset. The Muslim calendar is a lunar calendar of 355 days, falling 10 days earlier each year against our solar calendar of 365.25 days. Every 35 years or so, it will coincide with the two-month (or more?) “midnight sun” of June, meaning that rigidly observant Muslims would starve to death.

[Davedave]

Religious Jews and Muslims already deal with Arctic-circle related problems. There are some interesting theological approaches, but if the religious are happy with those approaches, as they seem to be, then there is no barrier to permanent settlement.

“In areas characterized by continuous night or day, some Muslims follow the fasting schedule observed in the nearest city that experiences sunrise and sunset, while others follow Mecca time”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramadan#Ramadan_in_polar_regions

“He advises that a Jewish traveler observe the beginning and end of the Sabbath based on the clock of the location whence he came.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_law_in_the_polar_regions

Interesting correspondence there.

[DavidS-T]

The northernmost Islamic state that ever existed was the Khanate of Sibir. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanate_of_Sibir

[Seamus]

I’m going to guess that Kazakhstan would be northernmost, and that Indonesia would be both southernmost and easternmost. (If I’m wrong, it’s probably because there’s a Muslim-majority country in Africa that lies farther south. I don’t think there is, though, because Indonesia lies on the Equator, and to the best of my knowledge Islam hasn’t obtained a majority in any of the African countries south of the Equator.)

The westernmost would be whatever country is farthest west in Africa–probably Mauritania, Senegal, or The Gambia.

[Seamus]

Well, damn! Got completely blindsided by the Comoros. (In fairness, it wasn’t an independent country when I was growing up, and learning most of what I know about the countries of the world. I’ve managed to update my knowledge on some matters, such as the emergence of Timor L’Este, the South Sudan, Slovakia, and for the former Yugoslav republics, but little islands in the Indian Ocean slipped right past me.)