Muslim Publics Divided on Hamas and Hezbollah

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It is often mentioned here and elsewhere that only a tiny majority of muslims engage in acts of terror. And while it is true that only a few are willing to take direct action (how many many people, no matter how comitted, no matter what the cause, are going to sign up for a suicide mission, after all?) what do we make of this recent survey in which, clearly, many muslims are sympathetic to extremist groups? :confused:

pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah

And how can you fault westerners for being apprehensive about “sharia law”, when you read things like this:
At least three-quarters of Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan say they would favor making each of the following the law in their countries: stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion. Majorities of Muslims in Jordan and Nigeria also favor these harsh punishments.
🤷
 
Interesting.

Did you see that in Lebanon, more Christians (20%) had a favorable view of Hezbollah than did Sunni Muslims (12%)? And as for Hamas, the favorability amongst Lebanise Sunni Muslims and Christians was about the same, just slightly more for Christians (it was 9% and 10% respectively.)

And most countries showed large majority unfavorable views of Al-Qaeda too. Most Lebanese Muslims had no favorability towards Al-Qaeda, or confidence in Bin Laden. While a lot of Arab countries had more favorable views of both Hamas and Hezbollah, South Asian Muslims had less favorable views. That shows a regional, rather than faith-based split.

This is more politics, less religion.

Interesting all the same!
 
And how can you fault westerners for being apprehensive about “sharia law”, when you read things like this:
At least three-quarters of Muslims in Egypt and Pakistan say they would favor making each of the following the law in their countries: stoning people who commit adultery, whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery and the death penalty for those who leave the Muslim religion. Majorities of Muslims in Jordan and Nigeria also favor these harsh punishments.
And you would find 100% in favour of that in Saudi Arabia, that what the “sharia law” is all about…

Sometimes I wonder whether we humans need a harsh law to keep us from sinning by fearing GOD (i.e., Islam), or a love law where we shy from sinning to GOD because we love Him (i.e., Christianity).

In the Islamic countries there is no other way to control sinning against GOD and against each others except through Islamic sharia, for example, here in Saudi Arabia we have the least crimes in many categories because people are afraid that their hand will be cut or they will be stoned, we do not have “don’t sin because you love GOD” in Islam…
 
Sr Amy,

Hasn’t Beirut and most of Lebanon been Maronite Christians until the brutal siege in the '70’s and 80’s…so what choice do they have now as their leadership has been categorically violently assassinated?

Many are believing we are approaching Ezechial 38…

I can understand the Muslims’ rage at seeing the Israelis return to their homeland…

Please know this return was predicted by Sacred Scripture…so people are fighting against a movement in God…

The Muslims came into the Jewish Christian Holy Land and over took it…violently. Our Lord was a Jew, He is our Savior. Now the Palestinian Christians are being forced to leave their land after 2,000 years.

We are preparing our hearts and souls for Christ. I pray all hearts will open their hearts to the peace of the Infant Christ.
 
Interesting.

Did you see that in Lebanon, more Christians (20%) had a favorable view of Hezbollah than did Sunni Muslims (12%)? And as for Hamas, the favorability amongst Lebanise Sunni Muslims and Christians was about the same, just slightly more for Christians (it was 9% and 10% respectively.)

And most countries showed large majority unfavorable views of Al-Qaeda too. Most Lebanese Muslims had no favorability towards Al-Qaeda, or confidence in Bin Laden. While a lot of Arab countries had more favorable views of both Hamas and Hezbollah, South Asian Muslims had less favorable views. That shows a regional, rather than faith-based split.

This is more politics, less religion.

Interesting all the same!
I agree the Shia-Sunni divide is evident in the Lebanon results. It is further into the text that they mention that.

Also, we are limited in that they published results for just a selection of countries. Saudi Arabia was not reported on, for instance.
 
And you would find 100% in favour of that in Saudi Arabia, that what the “sharia law” is all about…

Sometimes I wonder whether we humans need a harsh law to keep us from sinning by fearing GOD (i.e., Islam), or a love law where we shy from sinning to GOD because we love Him (i.e., Christianity).

In the Islamic countries there is no other way to control sinning against GOD and against each others except through Islamic sharia, for example, here in Saudi Arabia we have the least crimes in many categories because people are afraid that their hand will be cut or they will be stoned, we do not have “don’t sin because you love GOD” in Islam…
I’m not convinced necessarily that harsh punishments will necessarily reduce crime rates. They can sometimes cause shifts in which crimes are commited (moving rape up to murder, so as to elminate witnesses, for example). There is also the oft-repeated story about hanging pickpockets, at which hangings was a good place to get your pocket picked!

But what really caught my eye was the last item on the list “death penalty for conversion from islam”.

It’s just wrong on so many levels - freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, punishment doesn’t fit the “crime”, etc.
 
I missed that part about the death sentence for those who do not convert to Islam.

Some how, if Islam takes over the world, with the deliberate breakdown of society – we are seeing it all around us…I could see many refusing to convert and many people dying…

The Hezbollah are Shi’a…aren’t they…and with Iran…who is creating war to bring forth their Mahdi…sounds like the AntiChrist.
 
I’ll just leave this here…Another view on Hezbollah

It is true that there are many, many Lebanese Christians who support Hezbollah. Of course, since the majority of Lebanese Christians live outside of Lebanon (in the diaspora, they in fact form a super-majority), I’d be wary of extrapolating based on any one community’s view. Keep in mind that Lebanon is not just Maronites, Shiites, Sunnis and Druze…there are something like 18 sects recognized in Lebanon, and all have their own political peculiarities. In the past, when Maronite Christian resistance was a viable option (before the Ouwet were forcibly disarmed and the Arab identity was forced onto Lebanon as part of the BS “Ta’if Agreement”), you would have found the majority of Christians in Lebanon with the Ouwet, the Guardians of the Cedars, the Tigers, the Marada, or some other Christian militia during the civil war. But there were always those who were against all that and with the PLO, like the majority of the Greek Orthodox who are usually pan-Arabist (see, for instance, George Habash). Since all of those militia groups are essentially extinct, and the LF has been transformed into a regular opposition party, the only option remaining for armed resistance to outside agitation is Hezbollah, who NEVER had to disarm even though they gained such assurances through kidnapping and extortion. It is Lebanon’s peril that the dog Hassan Nasrallah operates his armed “state within a state” and then uses the fallout of his idiotic decisions to rally more of Lebanon to his party and his form of Lebanese nationalism. It does not help that there are traitors like the useful idiot Michel Aoun and his “Tayyar” who kiss Hassan’s feet and claim to embrace “centrism” and “secularism”. Tfeh!

Basically, Lebanon’s a mess, everyone’s out for himself and his party or confession, and because Lebanon really is a target for Israeli aggression and Syrian (and American!) meddling, Hezbollah remains popular with people who have a very peculiar view of self and national/regional interest. I’m not sure I wouldn’t share it myself, if I were Lebanese living in-country, since the viable options for Christians are pretty darn slim, all things considered. Luckily I have known Lebanese who have had their heads screwed on straight (anti-Hezb and anti-Israel? Oh my stars! You’d think this was impossible!), but as they were living in Eugene, Oregon and not Beirut I am not sure how popular their views are among Lebanese as a whole. As the Christian population continues to decline, we see both more militancy and more apathy. Some even say they are effectively in a third civil war right now. Guess who loses this one? :signofcross:
 
Sr Amy,

Hasn’t Beirut and most of Lebanon been Maronite Christians until the brutal siege in the '70’s and 80’s…so what choice do they have now as their leadership has been categorically violently assassinated?

Many are believing we are approaching Ezechial 38…

I can understand the Muslims’ rage at seeing the Israelis return to their homeland…

Please know this return was predicted by Sacred Scripture…so people are fighting against a movement in God…

The Muslims came into the Jewish Christian Holy Land and over took it…violently. Our Lord was a Jew, He is our Savior. Now the Palestinian Christians are being forced to leave their land after 2,000 years.

We are preparing our hearts and souls for Christ. I pray all hearts will open their hearts to the peace of the Infant Christ.
The discrepancies in this post and distorted opinions are kind of baffling to me. I will pray for you.
 
I agree the Shia-Sunni divide is evident in the Lebanon results. It is further into the text that they mention that.

Also, we are limited in that they published results for just a selection of countries. Saudi Arabia was not reported on, for instance.
Actually they were pretty selective. Muslims only account for maybe half of Nigerians but Muslims from African nations aside from Nigeria and Egypt weren’t polled (which leaves Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco at least.) And then some Arab states like Yemen, Qatar, Oman, the Emirates, Syria, even Iraq weren’t mentioned. And let’s not forget about Iran. Then there’s the formerly Soviet countries, or countries with sizable Muslim populations that are a minority, like India.

So this was just a small sampling representing some extremely diverse opinions between different regions and sects.
 
Actually they were pretty selective. Muslims only account for maybe half of Nigerians but Muslims from African nations aside from Nigeria and Egypt weren’t polled (which leaves Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco at least.) And then some Arab states like Yemen, Qatar, Oman, the Emirates, Syria, even Iraq weren’t mentioned. And let’s not forget about Iran. Then there’s the formerly Soviet countries, or countries with sizable Muslim populations that are a minority, like India.

So this was just a small sampling representing some extremely diverse opinions between different regions and sects.
I wonder if Pew didn’t poll the other countries but only released the data for these few? There are potentially innocent reasons for doing so, for instance, if they are selling the larger data set to interested parties, it might make since to release just a portion (not give away the whole store, so to speak). Or, maybe they are polling in other countires on a different time schedule, to be released at another date? No idea if that’s the case, or not, just speculation.
 
I wonder if Pew didn’t poll the other countries but only released the data for these few? There are potentially innocent reasons for doing so, for instance, if they are selling the larger data set to interested parties, it might make since to release just a portion (not give away the whole store, so to speak). Or, maybe they are polling in other countires on a different time schedule, to be released at another date? No idea if that’s the case, or not, just speculation.
Good point. 👍
 
THanks, Dhzereimi…70% Lebanonese non Muslim…and the encroachment of the Iranian backed Hezbollah…

I didn’t realize that there were that much more sub groups there…

It is sad there is so little peace in that region…and I can understand your sense about the Latin Church…it is in a different world…and soon the militancy will be at its doorsteps…
 
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