| « Previous: Labour Union Protests, Palestinian style | Next: Islam and Gay Rights II » |
Survey of Muslims in America
27 October 2006Occasionally, but not often enough, we find Muslims with opinions that we can respect - they want to live in peace and harmony with all mankind. Thank goodness that some Muslims are taking the step of speaking out against extremism in the Muslim community. Muslims for a Safe America is one such group - they’re not afraid to call a spade a spade, an apparent rarity in the Muslim world.
Recently (September 1, 2006 to September 4, 2006 ), Muslims for a Safe America did a survey at the Islamic Society of North America’s 43rd Annual Convention in Chicago, and published their results. Among the “highlights”:
2. Do you consider yourself to be a Muslim first, an American first, or both equally?
MUSLIM FIRST 214
AMERICAN FIRST 4
BOTH EQUALLY 86
UNDECIDED 3
3. Is the American government at war with the religion of Islam?
YES 208
NO 79
UNDECIDED 20
7. Did the U.S. government organize the 9/11 attacks?
YES 106
NO 151
UNDECIDED 50
9. Did Muslims commit the July 2005 train and bus bombings in London?
YES 140
NO 104
UNDECIDED 63
17. Do you believe that your personal phone calls are being listened to, or that your personal mail or email is being read, by the U.S. government?
YES 205
NO 78
UNDECIDED 24
21. Should Iran develop nuclear weapons?
YES 161
NO 123
UNDECIDED 23
30. If you learned about a plot by Muslims to attack targets inside America, would you tell law enforcement authorities?
YES 234
NO 39
UNDECIDED 34
Now, we have done some statistics over the years and are aware that people may call into question bias, given the people that were surveyed. Likely, the surveyees were more religious and therefore more likely to side with the “Muslim view” on issues. However, in response to this, if these religious Muslims are very well represented at ISNA, doesn’t that call into question ISNA’s views and they’re ability to speak for all Muslims? Perhaps. But then again, it seems like nobody really knows where the “average Muslim” stands on the issues presented in this survey. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never know.
The results are both difficult to swallow, but heartening all at the same time. We’re really happy that the majority of Muslims going to this conference claim that they would notify authorities of an impending attack if they knew about it - that’s very good news! However, we’re concerned that a majority also think that Iran should develop nuclear weapons (not just friendly nuclear technologies, which Iran is claiming to be developing - we’re talking NUKES here) and that a majority of those surveyed believe (or are undecided) that the US was responsible for 9/11 and that Britain perpetrated the July 2005 bombings against it’s own people.
We invite you to comment about this survey and what you think about the results. Do they show the Muslim community in a good light or bad light? Do the opinions of Muslims generally fall in line with those of the people surveyed or are the opinions of the Muslim community more softer or more radical?
This is an interesting study. I hope we get to hear more from this organization in the future.
Tags:Arab/Muslim World , muslim opinions , muslim surveys , USA
