A major survey that claims to represent one billion Muslims around the world has found that the majority favours democratic rights and representative government, rather than any of their radical alternatives.
The overwhelming majority of Muslims strongly feels that the West disrespects both Islam and Muslims, a perception that is broadening the gulf between the world’s Muslims and the West. The United States in particular is seen as exhibiting “cultural disrespect” for Islam, as well as being out to gain political domination of Muslim countries. The acute conflicts in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan are major factors that deepen the feeling that the US has little interest in helping their resolution in a manner which ensures that justice is done.
The results of the survey conducted by Gallup Inc, which forms the basis of a book – Who Speaks for Islam by John Esposito and Dalia Mogahed - were released on Thursday at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Esposito and Mogahed, the authors of the book – Who Speaks for Islam – found that when asked in 2002 what they knew about Islam, 54 percent of Americans said “not much”. In January 2007, the number of those who gave the same answer to the same question had risen to 57 percent. When Muslims were asked by Gallup what they most admired about the West, the majority replied, “Technology, liberty and democracy.” When the same question was put to Americans, they could find nothing about Islam that they admired. When asked if the 9/11 attacks were justified, 92 percent of Muslims in the 35 countries polled answered in the negative. The 7 percent that justified the attacks could not quote a single verse from the Quran to support their view. |