THE MOST FAITHFUL country in the world to the Qu’aran is Ireland, a report has found.

While one would reasonably expect a majority Muslim country such as Malaysia or Saudi Arabia to top such a list, Ireland, Denmark and Luxembourg are all rated higher at following the Muslim holy text.

Hossein Askari, a Professor of International Business and International Affairs at George Washington University in the US was one of the two authors of the Islamicity index along with Scheherazade S. Rehman, told the BBC that the paper tracked how countries applied the lessons of the Qu’aran to societal life.

“We looked at whether or not the countries did what they were supposed to do.

“We looked at governance, political and human rights and international relations.”

The findings of the report showed that Ireland, the UK and the US all scored higher than every single member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

In fact, the OIC’s highest-ranked member was Malaysia at 33, while Saudi Arabia and Qatar are at 93 and 111, respectively.

Professot Askari says that the reason for the low ranking of Islamic countries is their governance.

There are people who use religion as a tool of power and a tool of legitimacy. They don’t care about the Muslim people. They don’t say you have to go out and learn the Qu’aran.

The teachings of the Qu’aran say that economic prosperity is good for society, but Askari’s report found that prosperity rarely trickles down in Islamic countries.

Read: Peter Robinson: I was misinterpreted when I said I’d trust Muslims ‘to go down to the shops for me’