Pornography (Part 1): Disturbing Statistics for Muslim Countries

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by Rafik Beekun

I was shocked recently to learn that internet surfers from Algiers had tried to access the site of a major child pornographic ring uncovered in Europe.  Knowing of the huge costs of pornography to the USA and to U.S. businesses specifically, I decided to track down some statistics with respect to this ‘industry’ globally and with respect to Muslim countries.  Here is what I found.

According to Google Trends, over all years for which data has been gathered, seven out of the top ten countries searching for the word ’sex’ on the internet are Muslim Countries.  In order of viewing, these Muslim countries are : Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, Indonesia and Iran.  Please view this link from Google Trends.  If you cannot access Google Trends, I have saved a screen output in pdf format which you can view by clicking here.  At the same time, it is important to note that, as of 2/10/07, no Muslim country was in the top ten countries searching for the word ‘porn’ on the internet.

Latest Global Pornography Statistics:

• Industry size: $57.8 billion worldwide, $12 billion in U.S. alone
• Number of pornography websites: Pornographic websites 4.2 million (12% of total websites)
• Pornographic pages: 372 million
• Daily pornographic search engine requests: 68 million (25% of total search engine requests)
• Daily pornographic emails: 2.5 billion (8% of total emails)
• Average daily pornographic emails/user: 4.5 per Internet user
• Monthly Pornographic downloads (Peer-to-peer): 1.5 billion (35% of all downloads)

Affecting Adults:

• 20% of men view pornography at work
• 13% of women view pornography at work
• 10% of adults have internet sexual addiction
• 47% Christians who said pornography is a major problem in the home

Affecting Business Productivity:

• 70 percent of all internet pornography traffic take place during the 9-to-5 workday.
• Nearly one out of three companies has terminated an employee for inappropriate web use.

Affecting Muslim Countries:

• According to Google Trends (2/10/07), Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Indonesian are 4 of the top languages in which the word “sex” has been searched for during all years for which data is available.
• Arranged in order within each country, here are some Muslim cities that led in the search for the word “sex” within specific countries are – Egypt: Giza; Saudi Arabia: Riyadh;  Iran: Tehran; Jordan: Amman; Pakistan: Faisalabad; Indonesia: Bogor; Malaysia: Shah Alam;Nigeria: Ibadan; Algeria: Algiers; Mauritania: Nouakchott; Morocco: Casablanca;  Tunisia: Tunis; and Turkey: Istanbul.

Business and Legal Consequences:

• According to CP80’s report, all of the Fortune 500 companies surveyed reported having formal computer usage policies in place, with eighty percent using a technology tool to filter and/or monitor their employees’ computer activities. These firewalls and other filtering programs to keep pornography out are expensive, intrusive and can sometimes interfere with legitimate computer activities.
• Internet porn introduces the issue of a hostile work environment relative to internet use. Whereas lewd jokes, e-mails or gestures or comments can cause a company legal difficulties, employees are going on websites that promote hate groups, pornography and illegal activities.   Any of these activities can bring lawsuits upon a company.
• When employees view Internet pornography in the workplace, they use-up as bandwidth and computing resources.
• A Websense study reported that 70 percent of all internet porn traffic take place during the 9-to-5 workday. Billions of dollars in lost productivity are lost over millions of employees, businesses, states and countries.
• When an employee is fired for viewing Internet pornography at work, it affects both productivity and morale and it represents a loss in the training investment made by that business in that employee.
• Terminated employees can seek retribution against the company.
• When a business fires one or more employees for viewing Internet pornography, it can reflect poorly on the company: Why are its employees viewing pornography when they should be working?
• When an employee accesses a pornographic website, any number of viruses or other nasty computer codes may then be allowed into the culprit’s computer, and can then propagate to the whole business’s computer network.

To pre-empt internet pornography viewing in the workplace, several Fortune 500 companies have created an “acceptable use policy (AUP)” for internet usage, including a disclaimer about the dangers of the internet, a summary of appropriate and inappropriate uses of the internet (i.e., no personal commercial uses, no illegal copying, etc.), a statement about avoiding frivolous use (i.e., downloading large personal files, engaging in chat rooms, etc.) and a ‘no expectation of privacy’ statement that waives privacy rights over any materials sent or created using the company’s computer network.

Behavioral, Affective and Cognitive Consequences

According to the website of the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, addiction to pornography may have severe consequences on the individual, and these consequences tend to escalate in the following manner:

1. Addiction: Pornography provides a powerful sexual stimulant or aphrodisiac effect, followed by sexual release, most often through masturbation.
2. Escalation: Over time addicts require more explicit and deviant material to meet their sexual “needs.”
3. Desensitization: What was first perceived as gross, shocking and disturbing, in time becomes common and acceptable, and
4. Acting out sexually: There is an increasing tendency to act out behaviors viewed in pornography.

Consequences from an Islamic Perspective:

Allah, in Surah Al-An`aam (6: 151) in the Qu’ran says: “Do not even go near lewdness – whether overt or covert”. In Surah Al-A`raaf (7: 33), He states again: “Declare [O Prophet,] indeed my Lord has prohibited lewdness, whether overt or covert.” Then at another instance, in Surah Bani-Israeel (17: 32) the Qur’an says: “Do not even go near fornication”.

As a commentator on the website “Understanding Islam” points out, the first and third verses cited above reiterate the phrase: “Do not even go near”. This phrase implies that a person should not only try to avoid lewdness and/or fornication, but should also try to avoid all kinds of stimulants that might lead to lewdness and/or fornication.

In discussing pornography and Islam, the Islamic principles pertaining to halal and haram as presented by Yusuf al Qaradawi must be referred to. A first rule is that what is lawful is also wholesome and pure. What is not lawful can hurt us. For example, Islam has long discouraged Muslims from drinking alcohol. It is only recently that childbirth studies have indicated that any amount of alcohol consumed by a woman during pregnancy can affect the child in her womb, and lead to fetal alcohol syndrome and/or mental retardation. Implicitly, what is lawful is also moral, and what is unlawful is immoral. For example, adultery is both unlawful and immoral. A second rule is that what leads to an unlawful act is also unlawful. Hence, pornography is unlawful and immoral because it may lead to adultery or pre-marital sex.

Abdul Malik Mujahid has already discussed Islam’s stance with respect to pornography very well.  Instead of repeating him, here are links to the articles that he has written:

1. Islam and Pornography: A Definite No NO.
2. A 12-step Guide to Fight Pornography Addiction.

The scholars at IslamonLine.net have also responded to questions from Muslims who have fallen victim to this problem. Here are some of their answers and advice:

3. Watching Pornography to Fulfil One’s Desire.
4. Advice to Overcome Porn Addiction.

Helpful resources:

1. To help businesses, the British Government has a very helpful website to aid you in setting up your own AUP. Please click here to access it. You can also download their sample internet acceptable use policy here.
2. Computerworld has an excellent article titled “Ten tips for implementing an acceptable internet use policy” that you should read. Please click here to read this article.
3. IBM Global Services – Acceptable Internet Use Policy for IBM Services.
4. State and County Departments of Education in the USA are also issuing acceptable use policy (AUP) guidelines with respect to pornography. Here are two links that may be of use to you in forming your own AUP policy: (a) Kentucky Department of Education AUP Guidelines, and (b) AUP Policy–Permission Forms

Sources:
1. Internet Pornography Statistics. Latest statistics.
2. Internet Pornography Statistics 2003.
3. Modern Directions: Pornography
4. Tricks Pornographers Play.
5. The Effects of Internet Pornography on Business.

Additional articles:
1. Pornography addiction among Muslims–stories and tips.
2. The Secret Life of Husbands (Sex and the Muslim Ummah).
3. Sex and the Muslim Ummah (Part 1).

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Filed under Ethics & Morals, Islam, Workforce Issues

Tags: addiction, adultery, internet sex, islamic perspective, masturbation, Muslims, pornography, pre-marital sex, sex, zina