Majority Muslim Countries

Interesting quiz, but it has to be said that Islam in these countries isn't the same. I recently saw a documentary about Kyrgyzstan and their culture - the people didn't even mention the Islam at all, they have their own culture which is probably older, stronger and rooted deeper than any (historically) new religion.

Thanks for the clarification, I thought it the original comment was pretty funny.

Of course many of these communities were completely isolated from each other for centuries... the people living up in the mountains of central Asia and in the archipelagos of SouthEast Asia most of all, so naturally their cultures diverged. These days with the internet and television, though, we can see a growing conformity all over the Muslim umma. From Kazakhs who never heard a word of spoken Arabic before to Indonesians who previously were more Buddhist than Muslim are all now being influenced by fundamentalists and Wahabists from other corners of the Islamic world.

Definitely true of South Asia too, especially Bangladesh. Pakistan is still somewhat close to the Middle East and has a history of being Islamist, and in India, Muslims often can't afford to break from the regional culture because of fears of persecution. Bangladesh is unique though--it's 90% Muslim, but its culture is essentially another regional Indian variant. This is true of everything from cuisine to dress to language and even Islam itself, which is very spiritual and folksy due to both influence from Sufism and traditional Indian religions.

Despite that, conservative strains of Islam are becoming more prevalent, based on what I hear on the news and from family members. It's not due just to propaganda from Arab fundamentalists, as factors such as rising Hindu nationalism in India and the aging of the independence generation (which was very committed to secularism) are also significant... but there's also no doubt that the proliferation of ideas from the M.E. also plays a role.

It is true that Islamic culture in India might mirror the local one in certain areas. However In Muslim Majority Areas/Cities, it is very similar to Arabic muslim culture. Women in these places don't move outside their homes and wear the full niqab. Madrasas are the primary schools for muslim children , and people often share radical islamic thoughts. Infact Indian Muslims have their own civil code and courts, which are based on Sharia.

Also it is incorrect to say the previous generation of Muslims used to be "secular" and newer generations are becoming more religious. Previous generations of "South Asian" muslims were as fervently religious as today, which can be seen by the countless riots /genocides / massacres that have occurred in the last century.

I still think there was a great commitment to secularism in the past though. Yes religious discrimination/rioting has always been a thing, but at least government officials cared more about anti-communalism. People like Nehru in India and Mujib in Bangladesh made religious tolerance cornerstones of their policy, and radical religious groups (like the RSS, Jamaat, etc.) weren't part of mainstream politics. Also, in Bangladesh anyways, one of the main reasons for independence was because people didn't like Pakistanis imposing their own culture and trying to wipe out Bengali culture... which is why there was a strong spirit of ethnic/civic nationalism in the early days of the country and pride in Bengali culture. There's certainly less of that now though as Bangladesh has become more globalized and as people don't remember the war with Pakistan as well.

Rahman's secular credentials are a sham. He was a member of the All India Muslim Students Federation (founded by Jinnah, to advance the cause of Pakistan) and Bengal Muslim League , which was a communal organization that campaign for the partition of India (and Bengal). Infact he was seen as one of the most powerful members of the party and was extremely close to Hussein Suhrawardy, who headed the 1946 Calcutta Killings. The killings lead 4000 people dead and over 1 lakh homeless.

I'll admit I didn't know of his connection to Suhrawardy and the Calcutta riots until today, but I don't think that necessarily indicts him. He may have been a Muslim nationalist at first, but after the Partition he pivoted to Bengali nationalism quickly as a consequence of the Language Movement. In fact, after Suhrawardy died and he became head of the Awami Muslim League, he dropped the word "Muslim" from the name and specifically appealed to Hindus to promote his vision of an independent Bangladesh. He also made secularism a key point in the Constitution and during his administration.

I'm not saying he's perfect, but he definitely changed in the time between the Partition and the 1971 Liberation War and was much more committed to secularism and Bengali culture than many of the leaders who came after him. Most non-Muslims in Bangladesh (including my family members, who are Christian) still widely revere him.

This isn't Europe. In Arabia especially there's no distinction between culture and islam and politics

^ Djilas, most people in the Middle East wouldn't agree with you. I don't necessarily think that they're right to, but, just throwing that out there.

Many Islamic laws are within the laws of the Arab countries themselves. Such as in Saudi Arabia you are not allowed to eat in public during ramadan

Islam is essentially the codified form of 6th Century Quraish culture. Arab bedouin culture and the Muslim religion are all but inextricable; nearly impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins, and if you could, of course, religion is a facet of culture, anyway.

You speak as if you know...

whoops I forgot Africa

So did history.

Yeesh.

What an oof.

If I may, I live in Malaysia, a country included on your list. Malaysia, despite having very strict drug laws(messes with me getting my medications), is a wonderful place. Now, I am an expatriate from the United States and, consequently, have very high standards. I was very surprised when I came to Malaysia. It is a very liberal place with one of the best economic track records in southeast Asia. Any comments, Kal?

I actually quite like SouthEast Asia, and am very much at home there, but you really find Malaysia to be liberal? Granted, the blasphemy laws there do not carry a death sentence, only 3 years imprisonment and a $1,000 fine. I guess that's something. Pretty liberal for a Muslim country, but still pretty sad in my view. Malaysia was ranked 141st in the Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (not so great). They censor or ban hundreds of movies and news reports every year. And sure, their economy is doing well by SE Asia's standards, and some of that is due to their willingness to embrace economic reform and think forward.

I still wouldn't call Malaysia liberal or progressive. I don't particularly dislike the country, I just would not attach either of those labels to it. Even considering that it's one of the least Muslim of all these Muslim countries. Also, in recent years they have been moving in the wrong direction, as has much of the Muslim ummah.

Maybe I used the wrong words... Malaysia is very strict, and the government controls most news outlets. The country has a sort of unofficial racial placement system, with the Malays controlling the government, the Chinese controlling the economy, and the Indians doing everything else.

Malaysia has the right to free worship, so I'm not quite sure what you mean by blasphemy.

I have seen the Reporters without Borders listings, though I have my doubts as to whether they actually are completely accurate.

Malaysia, to me, is definitely the most progressive and liberal country on this list.

Just google Malaysia blasphemy laws and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Also worth looking up on Wikipedia: Hamza Kashgari. A story that hits closer to home for me, as I live in Saudi Arabia- Hamza is a young Saudi blogger who sent out 3 vanilla tweets stating, in poetry, that he would like to shake the hand of Muhammad and that he didn't like the deification of the figure that he saw. When the tweets became news in Saudi Arabia Hamza tried to flee to New Zealand for asylum, but he was arrested en route in Malaysia and deported back to Saudi Arabia where many were calling for the death penalty. He spent two years in prison there and was only just released. He's been forbidden from working and now lives in fear for his life, thanks to Malaysian authorities.

Oh my... I don't really know what to say. You win that argument Kal.

I'd pick living in Malaysia over Buddhist Myanmar any day. South-East Asia is almost the perfect region to prove that religion alone, without analysis of other factors, is not the basis of "backwardness". Malaysia is one of the most well off, Myanmar is easily the most repressive and backwards countries in South-East Asia.

Another example. Look at Albania and Kosovo compared to Serbia. Where would you rather live?

Senegal or Nigeria?

See my point?

You'd rather live in Pristina or Tirana than Belgrade?

Well, If he is muslim then most certainly he'd rather live in Tirana or Pristina. Serbians are not fond of them lately (cannot blame them for that). :)

Nevertheless, why didn't you choose to compare Italy and Morocco or Japan and Bangladesh?

It is completely pointless to pick two random countries (one muslim, one not) and make one choose which one they'd prefer to live in.

About two years later... and I've actually been to all these places now. I'd like to retract my incredulity in the previous question. I would prefer to live in Pristina over Belgrade, now that I've seen both cities firsthand. And Albania has friendlier people and a much nicer climate than Serbia, so I'd rather live there, as well. Of all the many countries I've been through in the last few years I have to say Serbia is damn near the bottom of the list of places I would ever want to return to. Very negative experiences there.

Malaysia is now ranked 145th in the Press Freedom Index (2018), but is now considered to have a 'very high' Human Development Index at #57 (2018).

Actually, Bruh, the point was that even countries (like Malaysia) that are near the top of the list of Muslim countries in terms of liberal attitudes, HDI, etc, are still pretty backward relatively speaking. And also... what I said below on August 26, 2017. I had previously commented sarcastically about how progressive all of these countries were, then in the follow-up comments had listed a few that were more liberal than the rest (but not included Malaysia), and then max had asked if they should be included. I was making the case that calling Malaysia liberal was not really accurate, maybe only by comparison to a place like Saudi Arabia. Anyway some of those older comments are gone now.

I’m from Malaysia and Muslims here have become far more religious than they were in the past. Some of them I might even consider, dare I say, “fundamentalist”? It’s easier to see Muslim Malay women wearing black niqabs today than it was years ago and I’ve even seen a few young teenage girls wearing them.

The Malaysian states of Kelantan and Terengganu are governed by a radical Islamic party with the former being a stronghold of said party for many years. From what I’ve heard, “religious police” exist there, enforcing rules such as wearing the hijab. These states have banned women from performing dances publicly and Terengganu even cancelled a music festival last year, calling it “immoral”.

I wouldn’t consider Malaysia to be progressive at all but I’m from Malaysian Borneo where it is very, very tolerant compared to Peninsular Malaysia, so I consider myself lucky as I’m not from the majority Muslim-Malay population. I’m irreligious so this shift towards radicalism is very worrying

Also... out of this entire list of countries I would say Malaysia is probably the most liberal/progressive of all of them. The UAE might come in 2nd place. That sort of proves my point, though. If the MOST liberal country on the entire list is a place where it's still illegal to commit blasphemy and there is no concept of free speech, with international rankings on gender and income equality that are middling at best... then that's a pretty sad statement about the rest of the list.

kalbahamut, what do you think of Turkey as the most progressive of them? They're a secular republic, after all (and economically thriving), even if Erdogan slowly destroys its liberal qualities.

I just spent three months in Turkey. It's an interesting place. I met many people there who still believed in Ataturk's vision of a secular Turkey, but this is a very contentious view. Many believe that Islamist Erdogan is still close to becoming dictator, despite his party's slightly disappointing performance in the last election. I'm not sure if they are overall more secular or liberal than Malaysia. They're both near the top of the list. Other contestants would be the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Azerbaijan, Kosovo, Albania, Jordan, Tunisia, maybe the Maldives and Comoros...

Malaysia is ranked #145 in the Press Freedom Index (2018), #22 amongst majority Muslim countries; #52 in the Democracy Index (2018), #1 amongst majority Muslim countries; #57 in the Human Development Index (2018), #8 amongst majority Muslim countries; #56 in the Gender Development Index (2017), #4 amongst majority Muslim countries.

Jack: thanks. those are interesting stats and help illustrate the point that there is a sharp contrast between leading the world and leading the Muslim world.

Relative to most other Muslim countries they are. But this isn't saying that much.

Depends in what sense. It's a very corrupt dictatorship, run by Aliyev and his cronies. But religion is more about tradition than everyday life like in Persian gulf. Virtually nobody wears a scarf and alcohol is freely available.

dg not sure what you're basing your comment on. Turkey has been regressing under Erdogan for a long time but not that much since 2015. And many other Muslim countries have been trending the same way for decades. If I was going to rank all of these in terms of progressive values the list would be something like (very, very roughly): 1. Albania 2. Bosnia 3. Kosovo 4. Azerbaijan 5. Malaysia 6. Turkey 7. Comoros 8. Qatar 9. Egypt 10. Indonesia 11. Jordan 12. Iraq 13. Bahrain 14. UAE 15. Kazakhstan 16. Oman 17. Kuwait 18. Morocco 19. Brunei 20. Nigeria 21. Lebanon 22. Tunisia 23. Maldives 24. Algeria 25. Djibouti 26. Libya 27. Kyrgyzstan 28. Tajikistan 29. Uzbekistan 30. Turkmenistan 31. Burkina Faso 32. Sierra Leone 33. Chad 34. Guinea 35. Mali 36. Senegal 37. Gambia 38. Bangladesh 39. Pakistan 40. Syria 41. Yemen 42. Iran 43. Afghanistan 44. Niger 45. Mauritania 46. Somalia 47. Sudan 48. Saudi Arabia

Not great company to be in but still easily top 10.

Unfortunately my above comment has not aged very well. Erdogan and Turkey are both getting worse just in the past six months.

This comment makes less sense now that my original comment at the top got deleted. I had commented sarcastically "all such progressive and modern places" or something to that effect... there was a long string of follow-up comments. In the back-and-forth I had listed the handful of countries on this quiz that were relatively more liberal than the others, while pointing out that even among the most liberal of these countries there's still not a single place where it's good to be female, Jewish, atheist, or gay. Malaysia wasn't one of the more relatively liberal countries on my own short list. Max was responding to that.

Stay in Malaysia. The USA is a dumpster fire here right now. Especially here in Florida.

Apparently Kalbahamut had a lot to say about this quiz.

and there's more where that came from. :) I've spent a lot of time in some of these places.

Gets Comoros and Maldives, misses Pakistan -.-

I missed Sudan, but only because i thought i had already guessed it.

Dammit. Missed Albania, The Gambia and Kosovo.

Where is Palestine (97.5% majority muslim)?

It is recognised as a sovereign nation by most countries (135 out of 196, or 69%), and has observer status at the UN similar to Vatican City and (until 1992) Switzerland.

That's why I wonder why kosovo is considered a country on Jetpunk while Palestine is not (All political conflicts aside). I mean Kosovo has less recognition in the UN and Russia is still excercising veto power against it.

Kosovo has full sovereign control over it's own territory. It has a functioning undisputed (internally) government. It does not use Serbian currency ("Palestine" uses the Israeli shekel). Kosovo issues its citizens Kosovan passports. Kosovo controls its own borders. Kosovo has it's own military. "Palestine" has none of those things. What Palestine has going for it is popularity in the UN due to being a cause du jour for many Islamic countries or countries in Africa that are confused by Muslim propaganda equating Israeli nationalism with European colonialism. Sympathy does not equal sovereignty.

Eulex (read NATO) army has control over territory of Kosovo, it does not have its own currency and it is main European supplier of heroin.In such small country that undisputed government with help of NATO should take care of this. So, army base for NATO, drug money for government, just play dead if you want to stay alive there. It is shame how Kosovo is poor and they were once part of rich Yugoslavia.

And Palestine does issue its own passports. I saw hundreds of them when I was there.

Serbia sucks. It's not a shame to not be a part of that country. Particularly considering how the government was treating the Muslim/Albanian Kosovars. If Yugoslavia was so wonderful why are Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Montenegro all countries now?

I didn't say that Kosovo had it's own currency. I said they don't use Serbian dinars. Currently they use euros. I guess I was wrong about the military. I looked it up and apparently this was disbanded following independence in 1999. Still, there is no Serbian military presence in Kosovo. Unlike the West Bank which has IDF checkpoints all over the place.

Yugoslavia was wealthy mainly due to Slovenia and Croatia. Kosovo as part of Yugoslavia was still poor as it is today.

There are a bunch already. Search the site for words like "Orthodox," "Jewish," "Muslim," "Christian," "Catholic," "Buddhist" etc and you should find them.

Couldn’t find one for Pastafarianism :(

Sadly there are no Pastafari-majority cities, even in Italy.

I didn't see a single country there that hasn't been responsible for deaths of other religions.

Because, realistically, about 80% of countries of the world would fall into that category, regardless of what the religion in question was. I don't think the recently independant Gulf countries ever declared holy war, while former European Powers all did at some point. It's a function of time.

What?

I know that but are you sure that's the point he was making? My comment "what?" was reflecting a genuine inability to make sense of what he was trying to say.

We've heard and are better informed on this and every subject than you are.

"We've heard and are better informed on this and every subject than you are."

It's amazing how people on the internet just say those kind of things not knowing one single thing about the other person.

"It's amazing how people on the internet just say those kind of things not knowing one single thing about the other person."

... are you talking about yourself? Because... I actually know quite a lot about the person I'm responding to. I've been reading his comments for years. If you knew me better maybe you'd understand that I wouldn't have left the above comment if I was not absolutely certain. But... easier to assume, I guess?

same typed Bosnia like a million times, because Bosnians are known as Bosnian Muslims and then I typed Senegal and was surprised

Chicken

I want some chicken.

I like this comment

Bait alFarooj on Imam Saud Street in Riyadh next to the 50 Fruits makes the best fried chicken in the world.

I had no idea countries like Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were so Muslim.

When Islam was spreading rapidly across the world it penetrated deeply into central Asia, spreading as far as Xinjiang (northwest China). All of Central Asia was then surrounded by Muslims... Uyghurs to the east, various Muslim Turkic peoples to the north (some of whom would later migrate west and conquer Anatolia), and what would later become Iran and Pakistan to the south... Persia and the areas of the Indian subcontinent that were subjugated by invading Arabs.

how the hell did I forget Yemen Bahrain Tajikistan and Brunei

and kosovo

CRAP I lived in Albania and Kosovo for 6 years total and missed both! Also never would have guessed that Azerbaijan has more Muslims than Saudi Arabia... funny how that works out!

Got everything but Kosovo. I should have remembered that Kosovo is mostly ethnic Albanian.

According to Wikipedia, Bosnia and Herzegovina is narrowly majority Muslim, at 51%.

A lot of Protestants do say that.

Anybody know why there's that pocket in south Asia - Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. - that's Muslim? Just curious why a predominantly Middle-Eastern religion became so entrenched there.

Islam spread through violent and bloody conquest as far west as Morocco and Spain, pushing in to Europe as far as France in the west and Vienna in the east, and as far east as the Indian subcontinent. Once it became pretty entrenched in the east there, it spread mostly via trade with the East Indies, where it flourished leading to several different sultanates springing up. I think the fact that the conquest was halted in India accounts for why there seems to be a break when you reach IndoChina in SE Asia.

^ but that doesn't account for the rest of the break where, if you keep going east, first you get to Myanmar where Muslim Rohingas are a persecuted minority, and then Thailand which is overwhelmingly Buddhist and the only Muslims are ethnic Malays in the far southern provinces.

If you look at history, it spread pretty much contignuously from the Middle east eastward. There was a time, when almost all of India was at least ruled by muslims. But the populace kept their hindu faith, so once the invaders were driven north to today's Pakistan and Bangladesh, it created this "split" between the Middle east and the Sunda islands. Also, muslims were well known as sailors in the Indian ocean, so for example, they went from Bengal more or less directly to Sumatra, bypassing continental Myanmar and Thailand on their way. Also, the continent had strong, old, well organised religions like hinduism and buddhism, so they weren't so easy to convert. Meanwhile, I'm not aware that the islands had anything more than some local cults and religions, something we might call animism or shamanism. So once converted to islam, there was nothing to return to even if the people would have wanted to.

My initial comment here got deleted some 4 years after the fact? That unfortunate. I thought it had inspired a lot of interesting dialogue. There were a bunch of perhaps linked comments that also got wiped out. What for? Did JetPunk get contacted by CAIR?

That seems like the first one you should guess.

I guess it's settled then.

Yes, yes. We know. But Buddhist Myanmar is just as bad. And, honestly, I think there are pockets of the United States Bible Belt where people would be all too happy to implement the kind of violence and oppression that these countries use, as long as it was done in the name of "Christianity." Religious zealotry tends to lead to savagery. These countries have more fundamentalists than most, but fundamentalism -- and all its moronic, violent tendencies are not unique to Islam.

I miss the long and interesting conversation that used to be at the top of this page in response to a similar comment I left. Still don't understand why it was deleted so many years after it began.

To quote and then paraphrase Sam Harris: the problem with Islamic fundamentalism is the fundamentals of Islam. While granted the Old Testament contains some of the worst books ever written in human history, Christianity has somewhat reformed. Certain flavors of Buddhism can provide a rationale for kamikaze attacks, but in most the logical path to justifying suicide bombing is a tortured one. And the more crazy Jain fundamentalists get... the *less* we have to worry about them.

Comparing Georgia, South Carolina, or Arkansas to Saudi Arabia is a bit of a stretch.

I did not mean to compare entire states to the most oppressive Islamic regimes, but I really don't think it is a stretch in 2019 to say that there are certain places in the US where you can find an appreciable percentage of the population that is every bit as backwards, fundamentalist, and savage as you'd find in the worst Muslim countries. The US states are too big to assign those characteristics generally, but there are counties where fundamentalism is rampant. Gay conversion therapy, science denial, literal worship of weapons, and a sincere belief that Donald freaking Trump is the second coming of Christ. (I am not making that up. I spoke to one of these people and I still can't get over it.) I honestly think if these people had their way, they'd be happy to stone gays, immigrants, and atheists to death. And as a final clarification: I am not suggesting this is true of all southerners, Trump supporters, or religious people. But there are pockets where it's prevalent.

I was just gonna say this. I don't think that's related to religion jmellor--that's related to human nature. There are plenty of people who promote violence because of politics, cultural/racial reasons, or just because that's their personality. Fundamentalism doesn't just have to be a religious thing.

Yes, but religion is the most dangerous because it provides such a sense of moral superiority. Thinking God is on your side will empower you to do all manner of unconscionable things.

Oh man. Saudi Arabia went out of my head!

Lol, got Burkina faso but forgot afghanistan. Smh

99.8% in Tunisia ?

This is litterally an unbelievable figure. Society there has been more and more secular since at least 40 years, and as of now any figure above 90% would look very suspicious to me. Now, 99.8 ??? Come on...

The figures are from 2010 - a lot may have changed since the Arab Spring.

In most of these countries the religion you profess has more to do with who your parents were than any actual beliefs you hold. But, having been to Tunisia a couple years ago, it's still a pretty religious and conservative place. It was much more like Saudi Arabia than I was expecting it to be.

I missed Burkina Faso, Maldives, Kosovo and Comoros. I think with more time I would have caught them

Bosnia and Hezegovina is a majority Muslim country as well, but it's missing here.

Lebanon is not at all majority muslim

How do you figure?

You're right. Lebanon isn't ALL majority muslim. But it's enough to make it to this quiz.

The muslim population in Lebanon is less then 50%

It's either majority Muslim or not. There are not degrees to being a majority.

Then that makes it a plurality

If you split islam between shia and sunni, then Lebanon is majority christian. Otherwise, it is a majority muslim country.

forgot burkina faso and the maldives

I'm from Malaysia (but not Muslim) and living in China!

Got them all but Brunei

Lol missed a few obvious ones like Syria, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, which I would have gotten if I had thought of them. Got 27/48. I was impressed how I got Mauritania, though.

can't believe I missed UAE. It has Arab in it's country name for crying out loud lol

Arab isn't exactly the same thing as Muslim. Did you get Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Mauritania? They all have "Islamic Republic" in their official country names. And none of them are Arab.

Well Tramp I know a lot of Arabs who aren't muslim. What you're saying doesn't make sense.

Is this a serious question? Christian Arabs are a tiny minority, there's no majority non-Muslim Arab country, Arabic is the holy language of Islam and you don't see many non-Arab inscriptions on mosques. The association is obvious ...

Almost forgot Kosovo..... overall, though, 100% first try and I'm pretty happy.

i only got half because i'm a dumb american :"(

A fellow dumb American, got them all

I wonder what this list would look like come 2100

honestly i think the percentages would drop especially in southeast asia and the balkans since they are focus areas for christian missionaries, arabia and north africa would stay stable, sub saharan africa would also drop from christian missionaries, maybe the stan countries too, but it'll probably rise in percentage somewhere

Update! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country#Table

Fun Fact did you know any country ending with Stan is a Muslim country

I scored 43/48

Nice but

+more people

Eid Mo Barik

Any countries in the Middle East other than Cyprus and Israel are Muslim countries.

The name is Islam

Is that you, Mr. Stevens?

pls add PALESTINE

Add Palestine

Not a sovereign country

winning a popularity contest at the UN doesn't make you sovereign.

Got Comoros and Bahrain with 1:19 remaining

Did anything new happen to Turkey? Like, did they change their census data or the way they classify religious groups? Last time I took this quiz, I think they were pretty close to the top of the list with around 99% (although I could be misremembering).

Seems plausible. A very small percentage (under 1%) of Turkish citizens are Christian, Jewish, or some other religion. The majority of the gap between the 89% cited here and 100 are various flavors of agnostic, atheist, deist, irreligious, secularist, or "none," but these people usually had observant Muslim parents or grandparents or great grandparents, and a lot of polls done in this area of the world would count all of those people as Muslim, too. The Wikipedia article may have switched to a different source that used different categorizations.

Shouldn't you add Vatican City? (Sarcasm...lol)

I was expecting Saudi Arabia in the first place, but Maldives? wow...

The Maldives is a smaller and more homogenous country with fewer resident expats. To gain Saudi citizenship you must be Muslim, if you are born to Muslim parents in Saudi Arabia you are by default a Muslim, and apostasy is still punishable by death there, so, I assume the 2% that are non-Muslim are all expats.

That's not the reason. The reason is that Palestine is not a sovereign country. Kosovo is. International recognition is one component of sovereignty, but far from the only one.