The true divine religions especially Islam have a lot of moral and ethical rules that are aimed at creating a healthy social atmosphere for people in society. One of the biggest achievements of divine religions is to prevent the individual and society from falling into evil, corruption and promiscuity. Moral injunctions such as respecting elders, fulfilling promises, reconciling with others, showing love and kindness to people and encouraging marriage; and legal and religious laws such as prohibition of sodomy, prohibition of adultery, the necessity of modest dress and in economic matters the prohibition of usury and other Shari’ah injunctions lead to prevalence of a healthy social atmosphere.

Your question can be studied from two perspectives: First, the existence of corruption in Islamic countries: In today’s world, there exist no longer any borders among the countries, so access to sexual and sensual matters has become very easy. All the countries especially the Islamic countries do suffer from corruption, lawlessness and chaos. The Islamic countries having an anti-corruption identity are more under attack than any other countries. Indeed, it does not mean that the Islamic countries are entangled in a bad situation in terms of sexual corruption. However, the point that should be taken into consideration is that, first of all, the Islamic countries are very different in terms of acting upon Islamic injunctions. Secondly, we must differentiate between Islam and Islamic countries. If Islam is acted upon, it will leave its impact on society but unfortunately, now-a-days many or most of the Islamic countries are just calling themselves as Islamic whereas, in fact, they are not putting the Islamic laws into practice.  Moreover, the Islamic countries which aim to implement and carry out the Islamic laws are faced with a lot of hurdles one of which is the domination of the Western culture over all the cultural, political and economic affairs of the world countries including the Islamic ones. Hence, we conclude that the existence of corruption in the Islamic countries is not due to acting upon the Islamic commandments.  It is, in reality, our own actions that fail to prevent from corruption. Today, there is nothing in the name of hijab (Islamic modest dress) in all the Islamic countries. If there is a woman observing hijab, it is because of her own personal interest in hijab.[1]

Second, there is more corruption in Islamic countries:

Having learned that the corruption in Islamic countries should not be ascribed to Islam, we can doubt the authenticity of the foregoing proposition i.e. “there is more corruption in Islamic countries”. Although the Islamic countries have an appearance (outward fashion) of Islam, the same appearance has, to a great extent, managed to protect them against the global corruptions. The same apparent religiosity in the Western country which is generally not observed has left very destructive impact on the individual and society in the West. Therefore, we draw your attention to some corruption statistics in the Islamic countries:

1. Increase of divorce rates in the European countries leading to permeation of corruption in society. According to some statistics, one out of two marriages in the European Union ends up in divorce and separation. In 2004 about four million and eight hundred babies were born in the Euro zone two third of which were born out of legal marriage. That is to say, they were born through extra-marital relationships or illicit sexual affairs.[2]

2. One woman is raped every two hours whereas some organizations including Anti-Rape Campaign Association in France believes that the fear of declaring sexual assault on women is still haunting women with only 50 percent of them taking their complaints to the police.[3]

3. Based on the research findings announced by the justice ministry of the United States of America, prostitution and brothel-running have turned into a very lucrative and profitable business in a way such that the avenue earned through this business is worth 8 billion dollars. Now there are as many as 900 cinemas showing porn movies.[4] According to the statistics released by the US Center for Women Studies and Feminism, fifty percent of female employees and fifteen percent of male employees are sexually assaulted in their work environment.[5]

4. Legalizing gay-marriage in Western countries including Belgium, Deutschland (Holland), Spain etc. is yet another clear sign of corruption which has been opposed even by people in the same country.[6]

5. According to some stats, the problems and harms emanating from alcoholic drinks result annually in the deaths of approximately 600 individuals from the European people.[7]

These and many other stats released by official sources of Western countries are just small instances of what is happening in the West.

It is because of the existence of the same problems that the youths and girls in the advanced and Western countries have been encouraged to adopt modest dress. The most recent statistics show that the girls in these countries tend to wear more modest dresses than they used to. Here are two examples in this regard:

1. The Internet research group (IG) which is a statistics analysis group based in New York has announced: “The new generation of NY girls do not, unlike the previous generations, tend to show off themselves or wear body revealing clothes. The researchers in this group say: The reason behind this new approach of the girls is in their willingness to control themselves and be safe from others’ harassments.[8]

2. According to Fars News Agency, the results of a new study in Turkey show that in the last four years, the ladies wearing Islamic modest dress have increased four folds.[9]

Of course, it does not imply that the situation in Islamic countries is desirable; rather there is a long way to go to reach a position befitting them.

At the end, it is pertinent to mention that what we just mentioned in the second point are instances of corruption which we as well as the West consider to be corruptions, otherwise there are many examples of corruption which they do not believe to be corruption but we consider them as corruption. Now if we draw a comparison between Muslim countries and the Western countries, perhaps the existence of corruption in the Western countries may not be even comparable with the Islamic countries.

Related index:

Question 19624 (site: en18955) (Modest Dress Code and the Reason for Enforcing it).

Question 4265 (site: 4736), (Hijab and the Marriage of the Youths in Muslim Countries).

Question 19605 (Site: en18931) (Hijab in Islam).

Question 19549 (Site: en18878) (The Philosophy of Women’s Modest Dress).