On Sunday, April 13, Arab News published a controversial article in the “Local Press” section. The author spoke of a subject that most of us chose to ignore — at our own peril.

It is a subject that is as old as civilization and yet to this day, people and nations are paralyzed by its abusive power and are unable to confront it head on. It is a subject that has become the object of attention of most leaderships and religions of the world; it is a subject that has necessitated the institution of an international agency to monitor its global impact; it is a subject that our own King Abdullah has warned against and finally, it is a subject that is now at the core of the agenda of the “10-year plan of action” of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. But more importantly, it is something that is eating into the vitals of our humanity, our dignity and our very existence.

The subject of the controversial article is corruption. The author is Al-Ohaideb. The title is: “Selfishness (being) the Curse of our Time”. Corruption by bribery is a malignant social disease, a precursor for social decay, a manifestation of dishonest behavior, a threat to human integrity, a symptom of lawlessness and a warning of bad things to come.

Corruption is against all Islamic teachings — yet for reasons beyond comprehension — it intrigues me to know why our Islamic institutions think that the “preservation of our culture” depends more on their fight against women’s driving, against women’s employment as salespeople in public shops, against women enjoying a cup of coffee in public spaces, rather than on their fight against the eradication of “corruption” as the root of all evil? Of course, there are issues like women being gang-raped, women being forcibly divorced from happy marriages, and women being physically abused that should engage their attention.

The core of Islamic culture depends on the preservation of the authentic “Muslim character” as exemplified by our Prophet (peace be upon him) and not on women and women’s issues. Truth, honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, solidarity, transparency — these are but a few of the endangered values that “corrupt” practices are destroying on a daily basis.

The challenge for us then is to ask ourselves if we can confront this Big C? For over three thousand years, civilizations have tried. The Law of Moses condemned bribery, so did the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, and so did people over the centuries since then. Globally speaking, anticorruption campaigns and anticorruption “watches” and anticorruption policies have become commonplace, but corruption still continues to flourish.

Millions of bribes change hands every day, and billions suffer the consequences. Corruption has grown so widespread and sophisticated that it threatens to undermine the very fabric of human society.

In some countries almost nothing gets done unless a palm is greased. A bribe to the right person allows you to pass an exam, get a driver’s license, land a contract, and open a business. Even in the world of commerce, it is said that some companies allocate a third of all their profits to pay off corrupt government bureaucrats. According to the British magazine, The Economist, as much as 10 percent of the $25 billion spent every year in international arms trade goes to bribe potential customers. During the last decade alone, “crony” capitalism — corrupt business practices that favor a privileged few who have good connections — is said to have ruined the economies of entire countries.

But in order for us to fight this pernicious disease, we need to learn more about what it really is, how is it measured, why does it occur — and continue to occur — and what can be done about it.

Transparency International (TI), a Berlin-based organization, defines corruption as “the abuse of public office for private gain”. The index created by TI measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among a country’s public officials and politicians. In a recent survey, TI found that Finland, Denmark, and New Zealand are perceived to be the world’s least corrupt countries — while Somalia and Myanmar are the most corrupt. The nature of the index is complex as it draws on 14 polls and surveys from 12 independent institutions as well as on the opinions of business people and country analysts on the subject.

Only 190 of the world’s 193 countries are included in the survey, and that is because of the absence of reliable data from the remaining countries. The standard scores applied by TI range from ten — which is absolutely corruption free — to zero — which is highly corrupt. A score of 5.0 is the number TI considers as the borderline figure that distinguishes countries that do (and do not) have a serious corruption problem. To see where most countries fare on this index, let me share with you some statistics so that you have an idea of where we in Saudi Arabia stand.

For example, Finland, the least corrupt stands at 9.4; Singapore at 9.3; Canada at 8.7; UK at 8.4; Hong Kong at 8.3; Germany 7.8; Japan at 7.5; USA at 7.2; Spain at 6.7; Israel at 6.1; Qatar at 6.0; UAE at 5.7; Malaysia at 5.1; Jordan at 4.7; Oman at 4.7; Kuwait at 4.3; Tunisia at 4.2; Turkey at 4.1; China at 3.5; Morocco at 3.5; Algeria at 3.0; Lebanon at 3.0; Egypt at 2.9; Syria at 2.4; Iraq at 1.5 and Saudi Arabia at 3.4.

Unfortunately, I have to end this article as I have reached the end of my allocated word count. I hope to leave you with enough food for thought till next week’s article in which I will discuss why acts of corruption continue to take place, and what can be done about it.