Who Speaks for Islam Part 1

10/02/2008 07:43 PM | By John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed

In this five-part series, Gulf News publishes excerpts from the fascinating conclusions of the largest ever opinion survey of the world's Muslims, carried out by Gallup. Who speaks for Islam by John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed was published by Gallup Press.

What do the world's one billion Muslims really think? What does the silent majority of Muslims want for their lives, and in their politics? Why are the aspirations of the vast majority of Muslims in direct contrast to most of the world's impressions of Muslims?

Islam's silenced majority

New book makes a case for democratising the debate about 9/11 and its after-effects.

What many saw as an ongoing conflict between the United States and parts of the Muslim world intensified dramatically after the horrific events of 9/11. Violence has grown exponentially as Muslims and non-Muslims alike continue to be victims of global terrorism. Terrorist attacks have occurred from Morocco to Indonesia and from Madrid to London, and wars in Afghanis-tan and Iraq rage on. War and terrorism have claimed hundreds of thousands of lives since 9/11, the vast majority of victims being civilians.

As we cope with savage actions in a world that seems ever more dangerous and out of control, we are inundated with analysis from terrorism experts and pundits who blame the religion of Islam for global terrorism. At the same time, terrorist groups such as Al Qaida beam messages throughout the world that demonise the West as the enemy of Islam and hold it responsible for all the ills of the Muslim world.

Amid the rhetoric of hate and growing violence, manifest in both anti-Americanism in the Muslim world and in Islamophobia in the West, discrimination against, or hostility toward, Islam or Muslims has massively increased. In the aftermath of 9/11, President George W. Bush emphasised that America was waging a war against terrorism, not against Islam. However, the continued acts of a terrorist minority, statements by preachers of hate (Muslim and Christian alike), anti-Muslim and anti-West talk show hosts, and political commentators have inflamed emotions and distorted views.

Negative perceptions

The religion of Islam and the mainstream Muslim majority have been conflated with the beliefs and actions of an extremist minority. For example, a 2006 USA Today/Gallup poll found that substantial minorities of Americans admit to harbouring at least some prejudice against Muslims and favouring heightened security measures for Muslims as a way to help prevent terrorism. The same poll found 44 per cent of Americans saying that Muslims are too extreme in their religious beliefs.

Nearly one-quarter of Americans, 22 per cent, say they would not want a Muslim as a neighbour; less than half believe US Muslims are loyal to the United States.

Are the negative perceptions and growing violence on all sides only a prelude to an inevitable all-out war between the West and 1.3 billion Muslims? The vital missing piece among the many voices weighing in on this question is the actual views of everyday Muslims. With all that is at stake for the West and Muslim societies - indeed for the world's future - it is time to democratise the debate.

Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think is about this silenced majority. This book is the product of a mammoth, multi-year Gallup research study. Between 2001 and 2007, Gallup conducted tens of thousands of face-to-face interviews with residents of more than 35 nations that are predominantly Muslim or have substantial Muslim populations. The sample represents residents young and old, educated and illiterate, female and male, and from urban and rural settings. With the random sampling method that Gallup used, results are statistically valid within a plus or minus 3-point margin of error. In totality, a sample representing more than 90 per cent of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims was surveyed, making this the most comprehensive study of contemporary Muslims ever done.

Surprising conclusions

The study revealed far more than what could possibly be covered in one book. The most significant, and at times, surprising conclusions have been listed below.

Here are just some of those counter-intuitive discoveries:

- Who speaks for the West?: Muslims around the world do not see the West as monolithic. They criticise or celebrate countries based on their politics, not based on their culture or religion.

- Dream jobs: When asked to describe their dreams for the future, Muslims don't mention fighting in a jihad, but rather getting a better job.

- Radical rejection: Muslims and Americans are equally likely to reject attacks on civilians as morally unjustified.

- Religious moderates: Those who condone acts of terrorism are a minority and are no more likely to be religious than the rest of the population.

- Admiration of the West: What Muslims around the world say they most admire about the West is its technology and its democracy — the same two top responses given by Americans when asked the same question.

- Critique of the West: What Muslims around the world say they least admire about the West is its perceived moral decay and breakdown of traditional values — the same responses given by Americans when posed the same question.

- Gender justice: Muslim women want equal rights and religion in their societies.

- R.E.S.P.E.C.T.: Muslims around the world say that the one thing the West can do to improve relations with their societies is to moderate their views toward Muslims and respect Islam.

- Clerics and constitutions: The majority of those surveyed want religious leaders to have no direct role in crafting a constitution, yet favour religious law as a source of legislation.

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Global view: Does one size fit all?

While many people commonly speak of Islam and Muslims in broad, all-encompassing terms, there are many interpretations of Islam and many different Muslims.

Muslims come from diverse nationalities, ethnic and tribal groups, and cultures; speak many languages; and practice distinct customs. The majority of the world's Muslims live in Asia and Africa, not the Arab world. Only about one in five of the world's Muslims are Arabs.

The largest Muslim communities are in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria rather than Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Iran. And millions of Muslims live in Europe, the United States, and Canada, where they represent the second and third largest religion (second largest in Europe and Canada and third largest in the United States).

Because of globalisation and emigration, today the major cities where Muslims live are not only exotic-sounding places such as Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Makkah, Islamabad, and Kuala Lumpur, but also London, Paris, Marseilles, Brussels, New York, Detroit, and Los Angeles.

Religiously, culturally, economically, and politically, there are multiple images and realities of Islam and of Muslims.

Religiously, Muslims are Sunni (85%), who are the majority in most Muslim countries, or Shia (15%) who are a majority in Iran.

Further adding to the diversity, Shia Islam later split into three main divisions: the Zaydis, the Ismailis, whose leader today is the Harvard-educated Aga Khan; and the Ithna Ashari, who are majorities in Iran and Iraq.

Different theologies

Like other religions, Islam also has different, and sometimes contending, theologies, law schools, and Sufi (mystic) orders. Finally, Muslims, whether Sunni or Shia, can be observant or non-observant, conservative, fundamentalist, reformist, secular, mainstream, or religious extremist.

The world's 1.3 billion Muslims live in some 57 countries with substantial or majority Muslim populations in Europe, North America, and across the world.

Major Muslim communities today are not only in Dakar, Khartoum, Cairo, Damascus, Riyadh, Tehran, Islamabad, and Kuala Lumpur, but also in London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, New York, and Washington, D.C. Muslims speak not only Arabic, but also Persian, Turkish, Urdu, Swahili, Bahasa Indonesia, and Chinese, as well as English, French, German, Danish and Spanish.

Muslim women's dress, educational and professional opportunities, and participation in society vary significantly too.

Women in some Muslim societies cannot drive cars and are sexually segregated, but women in many other parts of the Muslim world drive cars, ride motorcycles, and even fly planes.

Some Muslim women are required by law to fully cover themselves in public, while others are prohibited from displaying the Muslim headscarf.

A growing number of Muslim women are choosing to cover their heads, while others do not.

Women majority

In the United Arab Emirates and Iran, women make up the majority of university students.

In other parts of the world, women lag behind men in even basic literacy.

Women serve in government in parliaments and cabinets and have headed governments in Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia, while in other Muslim countries, women are struggling for the right to vote and run for office.

Muslim women may wear a sari, pantsuit, blue jeans, dress, or skirt, just as Muslim men may wear long flowing robes, blue jeans, pullover sweaters, or three-piece business suits and may be bearded or clean-shaven.

Perhaps the most striking examples of diversity in the Muslim world are in economic and political development.

Economically, the oil-rich and rapidly developing Gulf states such as Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are worlds apart from poor, struggling, underdeveloped countries such as Mali and Yemen.

And politically, Islamic governments in Iran, Sudan and the Taliban's Afghanistan stand in sharp contrast with the more secular-oriented governments of Egypt, Syria, Turkey and Indonesia.

In Turkey, Algeria, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Yemen, Pakistan, and Malaysia, Islamic activists have emerged as an "alternative elite" in mainstream society. Members or former members of Islamic organisations have been elected to parliaments and served in cabinets and as prime ministers and presidents of countries such as Turkey, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Islamic associations

Islamic associations provide social services and inexpensive and efficient educational, legal, and medical services in the slums and many lower middle-class neighbourhoods of Cairo, Algiers, Beirut, Mindanao, the West Bank, and Gaza.

All the while, and in stark contrast, some militant groups have terrorised Muslim societies in the name of Islam; attacked New York's World Trade Centre and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. in the US and set off bombs in Madrid, Spain and London in the UK.

They reflect a radicalism that threatens the Muslim and Western worlds.

The vast diversity of Islam and of mainstream moderate Muslims has been overshadowed and obscured by a deadly minority of political (or ideological) extremists.

In a monolithic "us" and "them" world, Islam - not just Muslims who are radical - is seen as a threat, and those who believe in an impending clash of civilisations are not only the Bin Ladens of the world, but also many of us.

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One God and many prophets: Basic beliefs

Islam means "a strong commitment to God" and shares the same Arabic root as the word for peace, or salaam. Jesus' mother, Mary, is mentioned by name more times in the Quran than in the New Testament.

Because faith is central to the lives of so many Muslims around the world, a basic understanding of Islam is necessary to fully grasp much of what is to follow. This section, which discusses the basic tenets of Islam, will be particularly useful to readers who are less familiar, or not familiar at all, with Islam.

Islam means "a strong commitment to God" and shares the same Arabic root as the word for peace, or salaam.

Some Muslim theologians define Islam as attaining peace through commitment to God's will.

Definition

This general definition is significant because Muslims regard anyone who meets these criteria at any time in history to have been a "Muslim". And therefore, the first Muslim was not the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), but Adam, the first man and prophet of God. Islam asserts that all nations were sent prophets and apostles (Quran 35:24) who all taught the same basic message of belief in one unique God, and in this regard, all the prophets are believed to have been "Muslims."

"We believe in God and what has been revealed to us; in what was revealed to Abraham and Esmail, to Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their Lord. We do not make a distinction between any of them [the prophets]. For we submit to God." (Quran 3:84).

Like Jesus and Moses, the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) (AD570-632) was born and taught his message in the Middle East, where Islam quickly spread.

Muslims worship the God of Abraham as do Christians and Jews.

Rather than a new religion, Muslims believe Islam is a continuation of the Abrahamic tradition. Thus, just as it is widely acknowledged that the current meaning of Judeo-Christian tradition was forged during World War II, today there is growing recognition of the existence of a Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, embracing all the children of Abraham.

Muslims recognise the biblical prophets and God's revelation to Moses (Torah) and Jesus (Gospels).

Indeed, Mousa (Moses), Eisa (Jesus), and Maryam (Mary) are common Muslim names.

Jews, Christians and Muslims trace their biblical lineage to Abraham. Muslims learn many of the same Old and New Testament stories and figures that Jews and Christians study (Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, the Ten Commandments, David and Solomon, Mary and Jesus), sometimes with differing interpretations.

For example, in the Quran, Adam and Eve disobey God and eat the apple together, and this disobedience does not impose "original sin" on future generations.

Also, Jesus' mother, Mary, is mentioned by name more times in the Quran than in the New Testament. The Quran describes Mary's virgin birth of Jesus, who is venerated as one of the great prophets in Islam but not considered divine. According to the Quran, diversity in belief, cultures, and traditions is part of God's intended creation and a sign of his wisdom:

"If God had so willed, He could surely have made you all one single community: but [He willed it otherwise] in order to test you by means of what He has given you. Race one another then in doing good works!" (Quran 5:48).

"Among His signs is the creation of the Heavens and the Earth, and the diversity of your languages and colours. Surely there are signs for those who reflect." (Quran 30:22).

Egalitarian ideals

"O humankind, We have created you male and female, and made you nations and tribes for you to get to know one another. Indeed, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Behold, God is all-knowing, all-aware." (Quran 49:13).

Though no society is free from racial prejudice, Muslims take great pride in what they regard as Islam's egalitarian ideals.

For example, a Moroccan World Poll respondent says what he admires most about the Muslim world is Islam's message of racial equality. "I have a high regard for Islam's values and teachings and the non-racial attitudes of Muslim people." The Quran emphasises the unity of believers around a shared faith, regardless of ethnicity or tribe.

What are the core Muslim beliefs that unite this diverse, worldwide population? As Christians look to Jesus and the New Testament and Jews to Moses and the Torah, Muslims regard the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the Quran, God's messenger and message, as the final, perfect, and complete revelation.

And, because of the remarkable success of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and the early Muslim community in spreading Islam and its rule, Sunni Muslims look to an ideal portrait of "the first generation" of Muslims (called the companions of the Prophet) as their model - a common reference point by which to measure, judge, and reform society.

Key Points

- The many languages, customs, and ethnicities of the Muslim world illustrate its vast diversity. There are 57 countries around the world that are majority Muslim or have significant Muslim minorities — Arabs make up only roughly 20% of the global Muslim population.

- Faith and family are core values in Muslims' lives, and Muslims regard them as their societies' greatest assets.

- Muslims, like Christians and Jews, believe in the God of Ebrahim and recognise biblical prophets such as Ebrahim, Moses, and Jesus.

- Jihad has many meanings. It is a "struggle for God", which includes a struggle of the soul as well as the sword. The Islamic war ethic prohibits attacking civilians.

 Part II

10/02/2008 07:43 PM | By John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed

In this five-part series, Gulf News excerpts the fascinating conclusions of the largest ever opinion survey of the world's Muslims, carried out by Gallup. Who speaks for Islam? by John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed was published by Gallup Press.

Western confusion over Sharia

The majority of Muslims believe women should have the right to vote and hold jobs and leadership positions.

Sharia has been equated with stoning of adulterers, chopping off limbs for theft, imprisonment or death in blasphemy and apostasy cases, and limits on the rights of women and minorities. The range of differing perceptions about Sharia surfaced in Iraq when Shia leaders, such as Iraq's senior Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, called for an Islamic democracy, including Sharia as a basis of law in Iraq's new constitution. An Iraqi Christian member of the Iraqi constitution's drafting committee, Yonadam Kanna, said in summer 2005 that the consequences of making Sharia one of the main sources of law would be dire. "For women it would be a disaster." Nevertheless, more than 1,000 Iraqi women rallied in support of Sharia in the southern city of Basra in August 2005 in response to another rally opposing Sharia in Baghdad a week earlier.

Taking a stance on the debate regarding the role of Sharia in Iraq's new constitution, then-administrator L. Paul Bremer in 2004 said of the interim constitution, "Our position is clear. It can't be law until I sign it." Donald Rumsfeld, then-Secretary of Defence, warned in 2003 that the United States would not allow Iraq to become a theocracy like Iran, confusing the idea of including Sharia in Iraq's new constitution with creating a theocracy, or clerical rule.

Although in many quarters, Sharia has become the buzz-word for religious rule, responses to the Gallup Poll indicate that wanting Sharia does not automatically translate into wanting theocracy. Significant majorities in many countries say religious leaders should play no direct role in drafting a country's constitution, writing national legislation, drafting new laws, determining foreign policy and international relations, or deciding how women dress in public or what is televised or published in newspapers. Others who opt for a direct role tend to stipulate that religious leaders should only serve in an advisory capacity to government officials.

In the West, Sharia often evokes an image of a restrictive society where women are oppressed and denied basic human rights. Indeed, women have suffered under government-imposed Sharia regulations in Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Sudan, the Taliban's Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. However, those who want Sharia often charge that these regulations are un-Islamic interpretations.

Gallup Poll data show us that most respondents want women to have autonomy and equal rights. Majorities of respondents in most countries surveyed believe that women should have:

- the same legal rights as men (85 per cent in Iran; 90 per cent range in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Lebanon; 77 per cent in Pakistan; and 61 per cent in Saudi Arabia). Surprisingly, Egypt (57 per cent) and Jordan (57 per cent), which are generally seen as more liberal, lag behind Iran, Indonesia, and other countries.

- rights to vote: 80 per cent in Indonesia, 89 per cent in Iran, 67 per cent in Pakistan, 90 per cent in Bangladesh, 93 per cent in Turkey, 56 per ceaent in Saudi Arabia, and 76 per cent in Jordan say women should be able to vote without any influence or interference from family members.

- the right to hold any job for which they are qualified outside the home. Malaysia, Mauritania, and Lebanon have the highest percentage (90 per cent); Egypt (85 per cent), Turkey (86 per cent), and Morocco (82 per cent) score in the 80 per cent range, followed by Iran (79 per cent), Bangladesh (75 per cent), Saudi Arabia (69 cent), Pakistan (62 per cent), and Jordan (61 per cent).

- the right to hold leadership positions at cabinet and national council levels. While majorities among those surveyed support this statement, those in Saudi Arabia (40 per cent) and Egypt (50 per cent) are exceptions.

While Sharia is widely depicted as a rigid and oppressive legal system, Muslim women tend to have a more nuanced view of Sharia, viewing it as compatible with their aspirations for empowerment. For example, Jenan Al Ubaedy, one of 90 women who sat on Iraq's National Assembly in early 2005, told the Christian Science Monitor that she supported the implementation of Sharia. However, she said that as an assembly member, she would fight for women's right for equal pay, paid maternity leave, and reduced hours for pregnant women. She said she would also encourage women to wear hijab and focus on strengthening their families. To Ubaedy, female empowerment is consistent with Islamic values.

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Most Muslims want a legal mixture

Both sexes alike across the Muslim world support some Sharia input.

Cutting across diverse Muslim countries, social classes, and gender differences, answers to our questions reveal a complex and surprising reality. Large majorities in nearly all nations surveyed (95 per cent in Burkina Faso, 94 per cent in Egypt, 93 per cent in Iran, and 9o per cent in Indonesia) say that if drafting a constitution for a new country, they would guarantee freedom of speech, defined as "allowing all citizens to express their opinion on the political, social, and economic issues of the day."

However, while acknowledging and admiring many aspects of Western democracy, those surveyed do not favour wholesale adoption of Western models. Many appear to want their own democratic model that incorporates Sharia — and not one that is simply dependent on Western values. Actually, few respondents associate "adopting Western values" with Muslim political and economic progress. Abuses in the name of Sharia have not led to wholesale rejection of it.

In our data, the emphasis that those in substantially Muslim countries give to a new model of government — one that is democratic yet embraces religious values — helps to explain why majorities in most countries, with the exception of a handful of nations, want Sharia as at least "a" source of legislation.

In only a few countries did a majority say that Sharia should have no role in society; yet in most countries, only a minority want Sharia as "the only source" of law. In Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangla-desh, majorities want Sharia as the "only source" of legislation.

Most surprising is the absence of systemic differences in many countries between males and females in their support for Sharia as the only source of legislation.

For example, in Jordan, 54 per cent of men and 55 per cent of women want Sharia as the sole source of legislation. In Egypt, the percentages are 70 percent of men and 62 per cent of women; in Iran, 12 per cent of men and 14 per cent of women; and in Indonesia, 14 per cent of men and 14 per cent of women.

Ironically, we don't have to look far from home to find a significant number of people who want religion as a source of law. In the United States, a 2006 Gallup Poll indicates that a majority of Americans want the Bible as a source of legislation.

Forty-six per cent of Americans say the Bible should be "a" source, and 9 per cent believe it should be the "only" source of legislation.

Perhaps even more surprising, 42 per cent of Americans want religious leaders to have a direct role in writing a constitution, while 55 per cent want them to play no role at all. These numbers are almost identical to those in Iran.

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The misconception of a religion

September 11 attacks have doubled fear of the faith in the US.

The failures of governments, the hijacking of Islam by rulers and by terrorists, as well as assassinations, suicide attacks and abuse of women and minorities have taken their toll on Muslim societies and on the image of Islam in the West.

A Washington Post/ABC News poll in 2006 found that nearly half of Americans — 46 per cent — have a negative view of Islam, seven percentage points higher than observed a few months after September 11, 2001. According to the poll, the proportion of Americans who believe that Islam helps stoke violence against non-Muslims has more than doubled since the 9/11 attacks, from 14 per cent in January 2002 to 33 per cent. Similarly, a Pew Research Centre survey found that about a third of Americans (36 per cent) say Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence among its followers.

In contrast, the majority in the Muslim world see Islam through different eyes — as a moderate, peaceful religion that is central to their self-understanding and their success. As we saw in the last chapter, overwhelming numbers of Muslims continue to identify religion as a primary marker of their identity, a source of guidance and strength, and crucial to their progress.
 
With the exception of Kazakhstan, majorities of those surveyed in Gallup Polls of countries with substantial Muslim populations (as high as 98 per cent in Egypt, 96 per cent in Indonesia, and 86 per cent in Turkey) say that religion is an important part of their daily lives.

This compares with 68 per cent of respondents in the US and 28 per cent of respondents in the UK for whom religion is an important part of their daily lives. Yet democracy is among the most frequent responses given as a key to a more just society and to progress. When asked to describe aspects of life that are important to them, significant numbers cite having an enriched religious and spiritual life and a democratically elected government as at least very important.

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Who's democracy is it anyway?

Many Muslims feel sceptical of America's intentions in encouraging such political systems across the globe.

If democracy is a desired goal for many Muslims and for US foreign policy, do Muslims believe the West has any role to play? To answer this question, we need to look at some sobering realities. There are a number of challenges in the plan to win the minds and hearts of Muslims; feedback to multiple questions in the Gallup Poll reflects criticisms and scepticism about US foreign policies and actions. Although there was widespread desire for democracy, which many Muslims view as necessary for their progress, with the exception of 10 countries surveyed, majorities disagree with the statement that "the US is serious about encouraging the establishment of democratic systems of government in this region."

Muslim attitudes toward the United States have been affected by what is perceived as America's — and to a great extent Europe's — "double standard" in promoting democracy: its long track record of supporting authoritarian regimes and failure to promote democracy in the Muslim world as it did in other areas and countries after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In a major policy address in 2002, Ambassador Richard Haass, a former senior State Department official in the George W. Bush administration, remarked that before the invasion of Iraq, both Democratic and Republican administrations practised "democratic exceptionalism" in the Muslim world, subordinating democracy to other national interests such as accessing oil, containing the Soviet Union, and grappling with the Arab-Israeli conflict.

More recently, Muslim cynicism about the United States promoting democracy has grown for a number of reasons: the use of "creating democracy" as a retroactive rationale for invading Iraq only after weapons of mass destruction in that country didn't materialise; the impression that the United States was orchestrating an "acceptable" American version of democracy in Iraq with its own hand-picked "George Washington," Ahmad Chalabi; and the trail of human rights abuses from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib. US and European refusal to recognise the democratically elected Hamas government in Palestine further reinforces such impressions.

"They (US officials) are all for democracy as long as they like the results," Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, told The Financial Times. Roth believes that America's mission to promote democracy has become equated with "regime change" and has lost credibility in the Muslim world. "Its push for democracy is over now," he said.
 
In The Washington Post, Salameh Nematt, a Jordanian analyst and former Washington bureau chief for the Arabic-language newspaper Al Hayat, echoed Roth's pessimism: It's a success story for Al Qaida, a success story for autocratic Arab regimes that made democracy look ugly in their people's eyes. They can say to their people: "Look at the democracy that the Americans want to bring to you. Democracy is trouble. You may as well forget about what the Americans promise you. They promise you death."

Worldwide Muslim opinions have been influenced by the explosion in mass communications that has swept across much of the Muslim world and outstripped the control of governments.

Many Muslims feel sceptical of America's intentions in encouraging such political systems across the globe.

If democracy is a desired goal for many Muslims and for US foreign policy, do Muslims believe the West has any role to play? To answer this question, we need to look at some sobering realities. There are a number of challenges in the plan to win the minds and hearts of Muslims; feedback to multiple questions in the Gallup Poll reflects criticisms and scepticism about US foreign policies and actions. Although there was widespread desire for democracy, which many Muslims view as necessary for their progress, with the exception of 10 countries surveyed, majorities disagree with the statement that "the US is serious about encouraging the establishment of democratic systems of government in this region."

Muslim attitudes toward the United States have been affected by what is perceived as America's — and to a great extent Europe's — "double standard" in promoting democracy: its long track record of supporting authoritarian regimes and failure to promote democracy in the Muslim world as it did in other areas and countries after the fall of the Soviet Union.

In a major policy address in 2002, Ambassador Richard Haass, a former senior State Department official in the George W. Bush administration, remarked that before the invasion of Iraq, both Democratic and Republican administrations practised "democratic exceptionalism" in the Muslim world, subordinating democracy to other national interests such as accessing oil, containing the Soviet Union, and grappling with the Arab-Israeli conflict.

More recently, Muslim cynicism about the United States promoting democracy has grown for a number of reasons: the use of "creating democracy" as a retroactive rationale for invading Iraq only after weapons of mass destruction in that country didn't materialise; the impression that the United States was orchestrating an "acceptable" American version of democracy in Iraq with its own hand-picked "George Washington," Ahmad Chalabi; and the trail of human rights abuses from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib. US and European refusal to recognise the democratically elected Hamas government in Palestine further reinforces such impressions.

"They (US officials) are all for democracy as long as they like the results," Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, told The Financial Times. Roth believes that America's mission to promote democracy has become equated with "regime change" and has lost credibility in the Muslim world. "Its push for democracy is over now," he said.
 
In The Washington Post, Salameh Nematt, a Jordanian analyst and former Washington bureau chief for the Arabic-language newspaper Al Hayat, echoed Roth's pessimism: It's a success story for Al Qaida, a success story for autocratic Arab regimes that made democracy look ugly in their people's eyes. They can say to their people: "Look at the democracy that the Americans want to bring to you. Democracy is trouble. You may as well forget about what the Americans promise you. They promise you death."

Worldwide Muslim opinions have been influenced by the explosion in mass communications that has swept across much of the Muslim world and outstripped the control of governments.

Who speaks for Islam: Part IV

10/02/2008 07:44 PM | By John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed

In this five-part series, Gulf News excerpts the fascinating conclusions of the largest ever opinion survey of the world's Muslims, carried out by Gallup. Who speaks for Islam? by John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed was published by Gallup Press.

Sexism committed by men, not religion

Because anti-women views are often believed to result from religious sentiment, important questions that must be asked are: Does religiosity among Muslim men correlate with less egalitarian views toward women? Is there merit to the arguments of those who say that women's lagging status in much of the Muslim world is attributable to Islamic principles?

Our data analysis would say no to both questions. When we compared the men who say that women and men should have the same legal rights with men who espouse the opposite view, for the most part, we found little difference in their degree of religiosity. In fact, in Lebanon, Morocco and Iran, men who support women's rights are found to be more religious than those who do not support women's rights. The only exception among the eight countries included in this analysis is Turkey, where the opposite is true. In Turkey, in contrast to other parts of the Muslim world, religiosity correlates heavily with lack of education, which could explain this result.

A similar trend is evident among men convicted of honour killings, long believed to be the result of religious zeal. For example, research indicates that 69.4 per cent of men who committed honour killings in Jordan did not perform their daily prayers, and 55.5 per cent did not fast. That these men fail to observe the most obligatory rituals of Islam suggests that their act of murder is not motivated by religious zeal or devotion. Rather, other factors normally associated with criminal behaviour are more likely to play a role. For example, most of these men had a record of violent behaviour: 35.1 per cent had already served sentences for crimes. Furthermore, 32.4 per cent were illiterate, only 3.7 per cent had attended college, and 24.1 per cent were brought up in broken homes.

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Women see worse problems than gender issues in Muslim societies

Although Muslim women value the role Islam plays in their personal lives and favour a role for Sharia as at least an aspect of their public lives, they are not uncritical of the Muslim world. What women say they admire least about Arab/Muslim societies is similar to what their male counterparts complain about: lack of unity, economic and political corruption, and extremism.

As Marina Ottaway of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace points out, Muslim women are operating in a larger context of limited political freedom, economic deterioration, and global injustice - problems that confront all citizens of the Muslim world.

Considering the political stagnation and democracy deficit in many of these countries, it is not surprising that gender inequality did not generate the frequency of spontaneous responses one might expect to this open-ended question. In Gallup's surveys, gender inequality is not mentioned at all in Jordan and mentioned by only 1 per cent of women in Egypt and 2 per cent in Morocco. It is mentioned by 5 per cent of women in Saudi Arabia, but it is outranked by "lack of unity" and "high unemployment."

Overall, women favour Islam's role in their lives, but they see a gap between the ideal and reality. Haja Samira summarises this sentiment well in her critique of modern Muslim society: "We are Muslim in name, but our acts are not those of Muslims."

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Equal rights don't always bring equality

While Egyptian women agree that women should vote for whomever they wish without interference (95 per cent) and work at any job they are qualified to fill (88 per cent), their enthusiasm for "the same legal rights" is more muted (69 per cent). A similar pattern is found among women in Jordan, where a significant percentage (30 per cent), though still a minority, disagree that women and men should have the same legal rights, although they agree that women should have rights to the ballot and the workplace.

Interestingly, the women who disagree with giving women the "same" legal rights as men are not less educated than their counterparts. They are, however, more likely to favour Sharia as the only source for legislation. So do women who support Sharia oppose gender equality? Not necessarily. Rather, some Muslim women believe that having the same legal rights does not always mean fair and just treatment of women, because men and women have different roles in a family. In the words of one Egyptian woman: "Giving a farmer and a carpenter both a hammer as a tool to help their work is certainly treating them the same, but not fairly."

One example from Islamic jurisprudence may help to explain what she means: Men and women have the same legal rights in matters of crime and punishment, financial interactions, and other matters of civic law. However, in Muslim family law, the area of Sharia most strongly criticised in the West for gender discrimination, men and women share different, "complementary" rights - ones that do not necessarily favour men. For example, according to a unanimous opinion of Muslim jurists, a woman carries no financial obligation for the family. She maintains the right to keep her earned wages and property under her name alone, instead of as "communal property." However, she and her children have legal rights to her husband's property and earnings. Men are also financially responsible for wedding expenses, housing, and the mahr.

Even if she is very wealthy, a woman is never financially responsible for supporting anyone, not even herself. The "complement" to this financial advantage is that her inheritance is a 1:2 ratio to that of her brother's. The rationale for this law is that while a woman may work, she should never be obligated to work.

And therefore, her closest male relative is responsible for her financial support. Because her financial responsibility is zero, in theory, and her brother is responsible for his own family and potentially for his mother and other female siblings if they are not married, giving his sister a third of the inheritance may seem unfairly generous to some. Giving women the "same" legal rights as men would obviously do away with this advantage that Muslim women have historically enjoyed.

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Muslim women want equal rights

In the West, Muslim women have frequently been portrayed as victims of a repressive social order so severe that it renders most women in Muslim societies unaware that they even deserve rights. In 1906, a group of women missionaries held a conference on Muslim women in Cairo and published the conference proceedings in a collection called Our Moslem Sisters: A Cry of Need from the Lands of Darkness Interpreted by Those Who Heard It. The introduction reads: "They will never cry for themselves, for they are down under the yoke of centuries of oppression."

One can still hear echoes of these sentiments. In a scene in Baby Boom, a Hollywood movie about a high-powered career woman turned single mother, the heroine is interviewing nannies for the infant she just inherited. One of the interviewees is a woman dressed in a long black veil who speaks in a thick Arabic accent as she says, "I will teach your daughter to properly respect a man. I speak only when spoken to. I do not need a bed; I prefer to sleep on the floor."

This image is reinforced by the Western press, which portrays Muslim women as silent, submissive and relegated to the domestic sphere, while men monopolise the active roles. In a survey of all photographs of Muslims in the American press, three-quarters (73 per cent) of the women were depicted in passive capacities, compared with less than one-sixth (15 per cent) of the men. In photographs of the Middle East, women were six times (42 per cent) more likely to be portrayed as victims than were men (7 per cent).

In sharp contrast to the popular image of silent submissiveness, Gallup findings on women in countries that are predominantly Muslim or have sizable Muslim populations hardly show that they have been conditioned to accept second-class status. Majorities of women in virtually every country we surveyed say that women deserve the same legal rights as men, to vote without influence from family members, to work at any job they are qualified for, and even to serve in the highest levels of government. In Saudi Arabia, for example, where as of this writing, women were not allowed to vote or drive, majorities of women say that women should be able to drive a car by themselves (61 per cent), vote without influence (69 per cent), and work at any job for which they are qualified (76 per cent).

Egyptian women, who face far fewer restrictions than their Saudi counterparts, speak even more strongly in favour of women's rights, with 88 per cent saying that they should be allowed to work at any job for which they are qualified. In Egypt, as elsewhere in the Muslim world, this attitude is not just a theory: a full third of professional and technical workers in Egypt are women, on par with Turkey and South Korea.

If you want to put faces to these data, observe women such as Souad Saleh, an assertive and outspoken woman whose area of expertise is fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence. Saleh is an Islamic jurist and professor at Al Azhar University, the most prominent institution of Islamic scholarship and authority in Sunni Islam. She was the first woman dean of faculty at the institution and is a prolific writer on issues ranging from family law to women's rights, authoring more than seven volumes on Islam and at least four in-depth research works.

A regular on pan-Arab television and one of the most outspoken preachers on Islam, her message is clear: "Islam is simple and holds women in high esteem."

Celebrity preachers aren't the only ones who defy conventional wisdom. There are also women like Salwa Riffat, an Egyptian woman now in her late 5os who earned her bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering from Cairo University and went on to earn her PhD in civil engineering. At the same time, she managed to successfully balance raising a family and fulfilling the demands of her career. She is now a professor of engineering, teaching men and women alike. "Women of my generation were at the forefront of a new era in Egypt," she says, referring to the wave of women attending college that gained momentum in the 1950s and 196os. "Now, it's hardly something worth noting that in Egypt, universities are filled with women, in some cases more than men, and they are excelling." The valedictorians of Cairo's elite medical school are famously known to almost always be female.

These cases are hardly unique. Nationally representative self reported data show percentages of women in Iran (52 per cent), Egypt (34 per cent), Saudi Arabia (32 per cent), and Lebanon (37 per cent) with postsecondary educations. In the UAE and Iran, women make up the majority of university students. However, in Muslim countries - as well as in non-Muslim countries - Gallup finds a wide range of female education with percentages of women pursuing postsecondary educations dipping as low as 8 per cent and 13 per cent in Morocco and Pakistan, respectively, which is comparable with 4 per cent in Brazil or 11 per cent in the Czech Republic.

Jonathan Hayden, a young American who went to Malaysia and Indonesia as part of a research project, met some of these female Muslim college students, who challenged a few of his own assumptions:

Some college girls approached me after a session at a university in Kuala Lumpur. After the meeting with about 1oo students and teachers, I stayed behind to get a few more questionnaires. I was cornered by a group of young girls who wanted to know all about America, why we came all that way to meet them, and what our research was about. They told me about them-selves and wanted to explain Islam to me. They were slightly aggressive and wanted to understand what Americans thought about them and the reasons behind some of our foreign policy decisions. But they were also very polite and we took pictures at the end. I remember thinking at the end that this is not the picture of Muslim women that we are usually presented with in the West. They were smart, curious and well-spoken. These were not submissive women who are forced to live a life of serving their husband. They were getting a college education and had a future that would allow them to pursue any dream that they wanted.

According to the Unesco 2oo5 Gender and Development report, the ratio of women to men in secondary education in 2oo1-o2 was 1oo per cent or higher in Jordan, Algeria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Libya, the UAE, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Bangladesh. This compares with only 77 per cent in Turkey, a staunchly secular nation often assumed in the West to be ahead of its neighbours in gender development, or 74 per cent in India. The gender gap in these nations is higher than in Saudi Arabia, which has an 89 per cent ratio of women to men enrolled in secondary education.

Despite these hopeful statistics, women's basic education still lags in some countries. In Yemen, women's literacy is only 28 per cent vs 7o per cent among men; in Pakistan, it is 28 per cent vs 53 per cent for men.

These sad findings, however, are not unique to Islamic nations nor do they represent the entire Muslim world; women's literacy rates in Iran and Saudi Arabia are 70% and as high as 85% in Jordan and Malaysia.

Who speaks for Islam: Part V

10/03/2008 06:52 PM | By John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed

This is the last of five excerpts published by Gulf News of the largest ever opinion survey of the world's Muslims. Who speaks for Islam? by John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed was published by Gallup Press.

While Gallup data indicate that faith is not the distinguishing factor primarily responsible for extremism, Islam does remain a significant source of religious, historical, national, and cultural identity. Thus, Islam remains in the spotlight. As noted previously, secular and religious rulers and reform and opposition movements (mainstream and extremist) have used religion to legitimate, recruit, mobilise, and motivate. Just as religion remains part of the fabric of Muslim societies, so too it remains a potent force in political and social change.

As we have seen, both our data and Muslim politics demonstrate a broad-based desire for greater political participation, democratisation, government accountability, and the rule of law. However, a major concern in the region is that the West is not really interested in Muslim self-determination, but instead desires to bolster authoritarian regimes and promote its own brand of democratic governance. In the short run, real self determination will require engaging religious political parties and leaders who would be democratically elected if free and fair elections were held in many countries today. Many will be more independent and disagree with some US policies.

However, allowing people to make change peacefully and air their grievances freely will diminish the allure of those who advocate violence as the only means available. Moreover, opening up the political system in countries where strong political parties have not been permitted will also provide non-Islamist alternatives.

Diagnosing terrorism as a symptom and Islam as the problem, though popular in some circles, is flawed and has serious risks with dangerous repercussions. It confirms radical beliefs and fears, alienates the moderate Muslim majority, and reinforces a belief that the war against global terrorism is really a war against Islam.

Whether one is radical or moderate, this negative attitude is a widespread perception.

Muslims say that they admire Western technology and liberty most of all, and then go on to say that they associate these qualities most not with France, Japan, or Germany, but with the United States.

It is precisely because the West in general, and the United States in particular, is seen as having "a fair judicial system," as giving its "own citizens many liberties," and portraying itself as a champion of human rights that US actions toward Muslims, such as those at Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, and other abuses are seen as so hypocritical.

One US diplomat who was in Egypt when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke out said she was told by the locals: "We would expect this from our own government, but not from you."

Ironically, it may be because of America's idealised image as a beacon for democracy in the Muslim world that its actions elicit such passionate anger. The perception is: for you, America, to go against your own values and how you would treat your own people and to abuse Muslims in this way means you must really despise us and our faith.

Avoiding or ending acute conflicts in the Muslim world is more effective than projecting a strong military presence to safeguard American interests and limit the growth of global terrorism.

The argument that a strong military presence in the region will win the war against terrorism is not borne out by Gallup data from across the Muslim world. The long war against terror will not be won on the battlefield, but by winning the loyalty of the people in the region.

While terrorists must be fought aggressively, military occupation of Muslim lands increases anti-American sentiment, diminishes American moral authority with allies, and silences the voices of moderates who want better relations.

In the end, ongoing conflict between the West and the Muslim world is not inevitable. It is about policy, not a clash of principles.

Polls found that Lebanese hold Christians and Muslims in high regard (more than 90 per cent have favourable opinions of each) despite a decades-long civil war in Lebanon fought roughly along confessional lines.

Today, less than a generation after the civil rights struggle, a majority of blacks and whites in America say that relations between their groups are good. These hopeful examples underscore the possibility of improving relations between groups - even those whose conflicts lasted centuries - and the relative speed by which this is possible when there is a greater understanding of the conflict's root cause.

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The real war is one of perceptions

As our data have demonstrated, the primary cause of broadbased anger and anti-Americanism is not a clash of civilisations but the perceived effect of United States foreign policy in the Muslim world. Nor is there a blind hatred of the West.

- Muslim opinion distinguishes between Western nations and between their leaders: America/Bush and Britain/Blair vs France/Chirac and Germany (Blair and Chirac were still in office when Gallup conducted this poll).

- Unfavourable opinions of Britain and the United States contrast sharply with more positive opinions of France and Germany. Across all predominantly Muslim countries polled, an average of 75 per cent of respondents associate "ruthless" with the United States (in contrast to only 13 per cent for France and 13 per cent for Germany).

- Western European nations share Muslim opinions about the United States.

Thus, we need to disaggregate "the West" and the "Muslim world" into individual, distinct countries whose confrontations and conflicts are attributable to specific policies of specific nations and their leaders, especially the United States.

While knowing more about Muslims makes Americans more likely to hold positive views about them, the exact opposite trend exists among Muslims with regard to their opinion of the United States government. The closer that respondents follow news about issues related to US foreign policy, the more likely they are to hold negative opinions of the United States government.

Some in the West counsel that Islam is the problem and that the West needs to fight it or create a "moderate Islam" to defeat anti-Americanism, overcome resistance to modernisation, and promote democracy and human rights.

This rhetoric alienates the very Muslim majorities that are Western allies in the fight against religious extremism and global terrorism. This approach can result in unwise foreign policies: support for secular authoritarian leaders and regimes that suppress all opposition, including mainstream secular leaders and "Muslim democrats"; the marginalisation of mainstream Islamic parties that function within society; and a "shock and awe" military policy to promote democracy.

It also results in domestic policies that compromise civil liberties: indiscriminate profiling and arrest of Muslims, monitoring of mosques and closure of religious institutions. The net result is to convince many Muslims that the West is waging a war against Islam and Muslims. The problem is not Islam any more than Christianity or Judaism is the cause of its extremists and terrorists; it's the political radicalisation of religion that creates militant theologies.

Islam may be a powerful weapon for discrediting terrorists and limiting the growth of terrorism. For example, in Indonesia, those who say that the 9/11 attacks were unjustified support this response by citing religious principles ("It is against God's law," "God hates murder," or "It is against Islam") as well as humanitarian ones (the loss of human life was tragic, and so forth), while those who say that 9/11 was justified cite political grievances to support their response, not religious justifications.

Identity

For overwhelming majorities of Muslims (who are also the moderates), Islam is a fundamental source of identity, guidance and spiritual and psychological security. Mainstream Muslims, who have been the primary victims of terrorism, are as concerned about extremism, violence, and terror as are Westerners.

They, even more than Westerners, believe that they are responsible for fighting extremism and for modernising their societies. Respecting Islam will encourage the moderate majority to use their authentic interpretation and engagement of religion to disarm the extremists by using the Quran's principles against terrorism.

Regarding religion as the primary problem weakens the positive power of religion and culture and obscures our common values and shared concerns. This fear of Islam leads to the belief in a monolithic Islamic threat that requires massive Western political and military power. Our over-reliance on military solutions is then seen by many Muslims not as an effort to liberate and democratise, but to occupy and dominate - in essence, to "redraw the map of the Middle East and Muslim world."

The perception of United States policy as a form of American neocolonialism - what a prominent group of neoconservatives has called the creation of a New American Century - fuels anti-Americanism globally in the Muslim world and beyond and is used by terrorists as they appeal to new recruits. It also diminishes American moral authority in the Muslim world, Europe and other parts of the world.

Lastly, it silences the voices of moderate Muslims who advocate better relations with the United States.

The Gallup World Poll consistently confirms that the crucial issues in improving relations are the beliefs and perceptions of "the other," which affect and need to inform foreign policies. The war against global terrorism has been fought on three major fronts: military, economic and diplomatic. As military experts have noted, while the military can capture and kill terrorists, it is not equipped to win the struggle for minds and hearts.

This, many today would argue, requires a public diplomacy that addresses the ideological dimensions of war: the war of ideas and the foreign policies created.

Government agencies, think tanks, and the military - all of which in the past had ignored the relationship of religion to politics and international affairs - now have special units of experts, conferences, workshops, and curricula focusing on Islam and Muslim politics and culture.

Government leaders and politicians use and abuse religion in domestic and international politics, too often talking about and for Muslims who have not been heard.

Few are able to base their conclusions on datadriven analysis that reflects the voices of majorities of Muslims across the world - data that are vital in a campaign of programmes and policies to win hearts and minds.

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Mistrust matches lack of knowledge

Unfortunately, Americans' feelings or beliefs about Muslims show little understanding of the diversity in Islam.

- 44 per cent of Americans say Muslims are too extreme in their religious beliefs. Less than half believe that US Muslims are loyal to the United States.

- Nearly one-quarter of Americans, 22 per cent, say they would not want a Muslim as a neighbour. As we have seen, 32 per cent of Americans say they admire nothing about the Muslim world, and 25 per cent admit they simply "don't know."

Even more surprising is Americans' self-reported knowledge of Muslim views did not change from 2002 to 2007 despite (or perhaps because of) the dramatic spike in media coverage of the Muslim world during this time. A majority (57 per cen) say they know either nothing or not much about "the opinions and beliefs of people who live in Muslim countries."

Interestingly, the more Americans report knowing about Muslim countries, the more likely they are to hold positive views of those countries. This same trend is found as it relates to knowing a Muslim: those Americans who know at least one Muslim are more likely to hold positive views of Muslims and Islam. Americans say what they admire least about the Muslim world is extremism, radicalism, lack of openness to others' ideas, and gender inequality.

Muslims show substantial agreement with two of the above concerns - condemning the "radical fringe" and citing lack of openness to others' ideas as what they admire least about their own societies. However, Muslim and American perceptions diverge sharply on the issue of gender inequality among Muslims.

For Muslim women, half of the population polled, this concern is almost absent in criticism of their societies. Blaming Islam for women's mistreatment is a losing strategy that alienates those who would otherwise support an end to violence and women's oppression and empowers those who oppose women's rights in the name of defending Islam against a West who hates and wants to destroy the faith.

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Muslims and West not monoliths

At the heart of the problem is the tendency to believe that a monolithic West - a coherent unit defined by democracy, human rights, gender equality, and the division of church and state (secularism) - is pitted against a monolithic Muslim world that has sharply different values and aspirations that are incompatible with "Western" values.Western countries exhibit great diversity. The robust presence and role of religion in the US differs significantly from the decline of religion in Europe in countries such as Britain, France, and Germany or the Scandinavian countries.

US separation of church and state contrasts with Britain, Germany, and Norway, which still have state religions and/or state support for religious institutions. Ironically, American publics are much more religious than European publics (68 per cent of Americans vs 28 per cent of Britons, for example, say that religion is an important part of their lives). At the same time, in the United States, where church and state are separated by law, a majority says it favours the Bible as "a source" of legislation (55 per cent) - of that, 9 per cent say it should be "the only source."

Other significant differences are evident in the broad disagreement among European nations about going to war in Iraq. US and British military engagement sharply contrasts with major allies such as France and Germany, who were not supportive, and Spain and Italy, who were initially supportive but then bent to pressure from their majorities and pulled out of Iraq. Finally, Western European nations share most of the Muslim world's negative opinion of US leadership: 68 per cent of Germans, 67 per cent of French, and even 52 per cent of Britons disapprove of US leadership, as do 62 per cent of Jordanians and 53 per cent of Turks.

There is also wide diversity among Muslim nations - politically, economically, culturally, and religiously. As discussed earlier, oil-rich and rapidly developing Gulf states such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia hardly resemble poor, struggling, underdeveloped countries such as Mali and Yemen.

Islamic republics such as Iran contrast sharply with the more secular-oriented governments of Egypt and Syria. Arab and Muslim nations have a history of rivalry and conflict: Saddam's Iraq versus Iran, Iraq versus Kuwait, and Egypt versus Sudan. We also forget the vast cultural differences among Muslims: less than a quarter are Arab; the majority of Muslims are Asian or African. Finally, significant religious differences exist between Sunnis and Shias who, despite their common Islamic faith, have critical theological and political differences and religious orientations that range from ultra-orthodox to liberal reformers.

The surprising conclusion? Muslims globally, like people of many other faiths, are geographically, racially, linguistically, and culturally diverse. To the further surprise of many, even in terms of some values, Muslims show substantial diversity. For example, only 27 per cent of Jordanians and 33 percent of Saudis say divorce "cannot be morally justified," while 46 per cent of Egyptians and 92 per cent of Bangladeshis assign divorce this label. This difference among Muslims not only illustrates how diverse Muslims are as people with varying cultures and norms, but it also exemplifies the rich diversity within Islam's schools of thought, which hold differing opinions on the issue of divorce.

In contrast to expected differences, the number of commonalities we find between the Muslim world and the West shatters many myths. A significant number of Americans and Muslims believe that religion is or ought to be a pillar of their society, informed and guided by the Bible or Sharia. Majorities of both groups cite the importance of religion in public life and the preservation of family values.

Each group is concerned about its economic future, employment and jobs, and the ability to support its families. Each gives high priority to technology, democracy, the importance of broad political participation, and freedoms of speech and social justice.