Is it better to live in the West, or in a Muslim country?

Recall the fatwa by Islam QA on how they said its haraam to live in non-Muslim countries.

Extremely often, the people who spread the message of Islam in a hideous way constantly point at the flaws of western countries. They go on and on about alcohol, drugs, fornication and adultery (all this by the way is also prevalent in Muslim countries). And they can't stop bragging how clothing leads to rape (Muslim countries like Egypt and Pakistan have higher sexual assault and rape rates than western countries). I am not in any way a proponent of those flaws. I've said before it breaks my heart when Muslims engage in those acts (whether they live in the west or a muslim country). But the West is not only made up of those things. There's MANY MORE aspects to these countries which make life a lot easier. If Muslim countries were smart, they'd start following the west.

I've mentioned before how I live in Canada. Aside from the issues affecting to aboriginal people, this country really is a great place. For example, the status of women. We have no laws targeting women, we don't frown upon women for making the choices that they do, and we definitely don't kill women for personal honor. The women here are very successful in politics, law, science and technology, arts and entertainment, literature, and so on. There's laws to protect women and girls from sexual assault and domestic violence, and laws to ensure women are getting educated. Many Muslim women are also becoming increasingly successful here in Canada.

Now lets look at our Muslim countries. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iran have laws on women in regards to their clothing, employment, transportation, education, and physical recreation. We know how Iran and Saudi treat women. I had some hope for Kuwait, then I found out they have several conservative areas of society (such as publishing a woman's name in the news or in literature causes parents to disown their daughters). And they also recently passed a bill forbidding women to work pass 8 o clock. In Saudi a woman can be legally under house arrest if the husband doesn't want her to leave the house. Only in our own countries do people sink to this level of stupidity.

In Canada, we are taught and expected to be polite, kind, and be good Samaritans, to EVERYONE. It doesn't matter what religion or culture people have, being helpful is an icon of Canadian identity. Now in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, and other countries, you are only suppose to be kind and helpful to SPECIFIC sects of Islam, and only to SPECIFIC tribes. Because being from, or helping/being kind to other sects of Islam and other tribes means you are unworthy. All tribes see other tribes as kaffir, and all sects see each other as kaffir. So in other words, being from a certain sect of Islam, or a certain tribe, means you are no different than a Christian or a Jew, or an atheist.

In Pakistan, the huddud laws imposed by the dictator Zia Ul Haq required raped women to bring 4 witnesses. To this day, there's over 10 000 rape victims in jail because they couldn't bring the witnesses. Many more women can't tell the police otherwise they'd be jailed, and many can't tell their families because in the tribal regions women are routinely killed for getting raped. There's also discrimination for women who enter the workforce. The society is hell bent on promoting and regulating various forms of sexism. None of this happens in Canada. Canadians know that sexual harassment and sexism is wrong. Which is why you don't find men eye raping women here. In Pakistan and Egypt, the men will state you down good and they might even follow you around. This never happens here in Canada. Because Canadian society knows this is wrong.

And then we have a crapload of injustice and corruption. In Canada, you can't bribe a police officer, and a police officer will not ignore claims of rape and sexual assault. In Pakistan, our police take bribes and hardly ever fill out forms for rape or sexual assault. Also in Canada, there's no fighting between Shia's and Sunnis. In our countries, shias and sunnis target each other like crazy, spilling blood quite often. Also here in Canada there's no inter-ethnic violence. In Pakistan, they take their tribes religiously and its dishonorable to marry from another tribe, or caste. In Canada, there's no gunmen hired by the political parties and you are not killed for supporting one particular party over another. In Pakistan, political violence is extremely common. I mentioned only Pakistan here, but many other Muslim countries fall here as well.

In many muslim countries, journalists and reporters and comedians risk their lives by questioning, reporting, or critisizing political and military leaders. This doesnt happen in the West.

Oh and another example is public transport. Here in Canada, the bus stops and train stations can become pretty crowded. This is the same in Pakistan and Egypt. But there's a difference. In Pakistan and Egypt, women are routinely sexually harassed and assaulted. This NEVER happens in Canada. Women and girls are taking the trains and buses by themselves all the time, whether its during the day or at night time. NO ONE does anything to them. Sadly, this isn't the case in Pakistan and Egypt. The men there have no control over themselves. Its just sad and wrong on so many levels.

BEHIND all the atrocious stupidity and idiocy, there's scholars who either promote the above, or just sit silent.

Muslims today, both men and women, feel MUCH safer, MUCH more connected, and MUCH more helped out by non-muslims in these non-muslim countries. The manners, the respect shown by non-muslims here is NOT MATCHED by Muslims in our own countries. Why do you think many of us choose to have non-muslim friends? Because they UNDERSTAND us much more than other Muslims. This isn't to say Muslims don't have other Muslims as friends, but I'm speaking in the context of western countries, where everything is developed and correct. But in our countries, everything is wrong, often backed by scholars.

Now of course there's problems in western countries too. But the difference is how society responds. Year after year Muslim countries dominate in honor killings, oppression of women and minorities, political instability, corruption, injustice, incredibly flawed Islamic views, and so on. Aside from the last point I mentioned, the other problems also occur in the west, but to LESSER degrees, and only in CERTAIN contexts. And the citizens work hard to get rid of those problems. For example, in Winnipeg, it was ranked as Canada's most racist place. Obviously not everyone is racist there, but how did the society react? They were heavily disappointed. The citizens of Winnipeg are not proud of that label, and they're all chipping in to make things right. Now compare this to a place, like Karachi, a city in Pakistan which has numerous problems, but one specific one is honor killings. How do citizens react knowing women are routinely killed for family honor? There isn't much of an outcry. Now I am Pakistani and I know the Pakistani media. Very few mention the problems and very few offer solutions. In Winnipeg, radio stations, magazines, and tv stations all rallied against racism and attempted to come up with solutions on how to solve this issue. And in Karachi? Little to nothing. Because society ACCEPTS such forms of brutality.