Poll Results Question Assumptions about Muslim World

Here's an eye-opener for you.

The Gallup World Poll analyzed a series of polls taken between 2005 and 2007 that covered about 90 percent of the Muslim world. It found that just 7 percent of those surveyed said the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were morally justified.

That's despite strong anti-Americanism in many Muslim nations. In one of them, Indonesia, no one who supported the attacks did so for religious reasons — instead, they cited mostly secular issues like U.S. foreign policy. In fact, many of those who didn't support the attacks gave humanitarian or religious reasons.

Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Center for Muslim Studies at the Gallup Organization, writes that the results of the polls question the assumptions of the war on terror. "Defining the current conflict as a battle between Western values and 'radical Islam' misses the root cause of terrorism while energizing the very perception that fuel sympathy for it — that Islam itself is under attack," she writes.

The study of the polls did show that the minority who approved of the attacks often said the greatest danger their countries faced was "occupation and U.S. domination." If the West wants better relations with the Muslim world, they said, it "should respect Islam and stop imposing its beliefs and policies."

Among moderates, economics was the main danger for their countries, "and along with respecting Islam, they see economic support and investments as a way for the West to better relations." (This supports the findings of a separate poll done by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.)

12:58 PM ET | 09-13-2007 | permalink

URL:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/news/2007/09/poll_results_question_assumpti.html