Polling Muslims. The "small extremist minority" myth

[dronald]

When the topic of Islam is brought up, often Muslims will claim it’s a “small minority” that support extremism. But what exactly is extreme? Just because a Muslim won’t kill you doesn’t mean they don’t have some backwards ideas:

Pew Research (2013):
Only 57% of Muslims worldwide disapprove of al-Qaeda.
Only 51% disapprove of the Taliban.
13% support both groups and 1 in 4 refuse to say.
pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-concerns-about-extremist-groups/
Wenzel Strategies (2012):
58% of Muslim-Americans believe criticism of Islam or Muhammad is not protected free speech under the First Amendment.
45% believe mockers of Islam should face criminal charges (38% said they should not).
12% of Muslim-Americans believe blaspheming Islam should be punishable by death.
43% of Muslim-Americans believe people of other faiths have no right to evangelize Muslims.
32% of Muslims in America believe that Sharia should be the supreme law of the land.
andrewbostom.org/blog/2012/10/31/sixty-percent-of-us-muslims-reject-freedom-of-expression
ICM Poll:
40% of British Muslims want Sharia in the UK
20% of British Muslims sympathize with 7/7 bombers
telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1510866/Poll-reveals-40pc-of-Muslims-want-sharia-law-in-UK.html
Pew Research (2010):
82% of Egyptian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
70% of Jordanian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
42% of Indonesian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
82% of Pakistanis favor stoning adulterers
56% of Nigerian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/

 

[dronald]

WZB Berlin Social Science Center:
65%% of Muslims in Europe say Sharia is more important than the law of the country they live in.
gatestoneinstitute.org/4092/europe-islamic-fundamentalism
Pew Global (2006)
68% of Palestinian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
43% of Nigerian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
38% of Lebanese Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
15% of Egyptian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
cnsnews.com/node/53865
World Public Opinion (2009)
61% of Egyptians approve of attacks on Americans
32% of Indonesians approve of attacks on Americans
41% of Pakistanis approve of attacks on Americans
38% of Moroccans approve of attacks on Americans
62% of Jordanians approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (21% oppose)
42% of Turks approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (45% oppose)
worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/feb09/STARTII_Feb09_rpt.pdf
NOP Research:
62% percent of British Muslims say freedom of speech shouldn’t be protected
1 in 4 British Muslims say 7/7 bombings were justified
78% of British Muslims support punishing the publishers of Muhammad cartoons
cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
People Press Surveys
31% of Turks support suicide attacks against Westerners in Iraq.
people-press.org/2004/03/16/a-year-after-iraq-war/
Belgian HLN
16% of young Muslims in Belgium state terrorism is “acceptable”.
hln.be/hln/nl/1275/Islam/article/detail/1619036/2013/04/22/Zestien-procent-moslimjongens-vindt-terrorisme-aanvaardbaar.dhtml
ICM Poll:
25% of British Muslims disagree that a Muslim has an obligation to report terrorists to police.
icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Poll%20Nov%2004/Guardian%20Muslims%20Nov04.asp
Pew Research (2007):
26% of younger Muslims in America believe suicide bombings are justified.
35% of young Muslims in Britain believe suicide bombings are justified (24% overall).
42% of young Muslims in France believe suicide bombings are justified (35% overall).
22% of young Muslims in Germany believe suicide bombings are justified.(13% overall).
29% of young Muslims in Spain believe suicide bombings are justified.(25% overall).
pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf#page=60

 

[dronald]

Al-Jazeera (2006):
49.9% of Muslims polled support Osama bin Laden
wikiislam.net/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden
Populus Poll (2006):
16% of British Muslims believe suicide attacks against Israelis are justified.
37% believe Jews in Britain are a “legitimate target”.
populuslimited.com/pdf/2006_02_07_times.pdf
danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
GfK NOP:
28% of British Muslims want Britain to be an Islamic state
civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
NOP Research:
68% of British Muslims support the arrest and prosecution of anyone who insults Islam;
cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
MacDonald Laurier Institute:
62% of Muslims want Sharia in Canada (15% say make it mandatory)
35% of Canadian Muslims would not repudiate al-Qaeda
torontosun.com/2011/11/01/strong-support-for-shariah-in-canada
macdonaldlaurier.ca/much-good-news-and-some-worrying-results-in-new-study-of-muslim-public-opinion-in-canada/
al-Arabiya:
36% of Arabs polled said the 9/11 attacks were morally justified; 38% disagreed; 26% Unsure
alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/10/166274.html
Gallup:
38.6% of Muslims believe 9/11 attacks were justified (7% “fully”, 6.5% “mostly”, 23.1% “partially”)
washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/just-like-us-really
Policy Exchange:
1 in 4 Muslims in the UK have never heard of the Holocaust;
Only 34% of British Muslims believe the Holocaust ever happened.
imaginate.uk.com/MCC01_SURVEY/Site%20Download.pdf
civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf

 

[Eric_Hilbert]

I’ll allow this Ron, just make sure we stay within the posting rules.

 

[georget]

Thank you posting these polls, they are quite alarming, but it’s information we all need to know. This world is failing badly, we need be brave and faithful witnesses now and pray for guidance.
May God have mercy on us all

 

[grasscutter]

The polls are alarming, but I wonder how accurate a reflection of Islam they are. Quite often, people peacefully going about their lives and their faith don’t bother answering polls about their views. It’s more often people who have an emotional investment in the issues.

 

[BackHand]

youtube.com/watch?v=Ry3NzkAOo3s

Here’s interesting video I watched about the Muslim extremist “minority” personally I think Muslims who are terrorists are actual Muslims, they’re just taking a bit of a different interpretation of the Koran and their religion. When ever someone says well “ISIS fighters aren’t true Muslims!” or “Extremist like Al Qaeda and the Taliban aren’t true Muslims!” They are committing a logical fallacy known as “No True Scotsman.” Of course extremists are Muslim though I I doubt over 50% of them are extremists with a bit of basic math we can view the problem of Islamic extremism.

There are 1.57 billion Muslims it living in the world, if just one out of every ten Muslims was an extremists then that would mean there are
157,000,000 million extremists living in the world.

In fact if just one out of every 100 Muslims are a extremist then there would be 15,700,000 extremists living in the world.

So unless my math is wrong the world may be facing a pretty big problem.

 

[Stylteralmaldo]

…So unless my math is wrong the world may be facing a pretty big problem.

The world is full of people (approx. 7 billion). If just 0.1% were psychopaths (a rather conservative estimate), that means 70,000,000 people on this planet are psychopaths. That’s a scary thought.

Now put a bunch of psychopaths in a concentrated area (perhaps Islamic State would qualify) and then we’d have a pretty big problem.

 

[Mount_Carmel]

When it comes to Islam I wish the term ‘extremist’ wasn’t bandied about so much- the correct term is ‘fundamentalist’, as in the definition that explains someone going back to their roots and early history.

The word ‘extremist’ distances the reality.

 

[hasantas]

=dronald;12840473]When the topic of Islam is brought up, often Muslims will claim it’s a “small minority” that support extremism. But what exactly is extreme? Just because a Muslim won’t kill you doesn’t mean they don’t have some backwards ideas:

Do these extremists emerge in normal conditions? All these groups emerge from anarchy and vacancy of a powerful authority of goverment. There are many internal wars, conflicts which are caused by foreign powers. Islamic countries are under occupancy and oppression of other(western) powerful countries. People rebel against those powers and unfortunately these rebellions use the name of Islam to get moral power and adherents.

Muslims do not harm other because such a crime will be punished by God. But some groups take a fetva to do that terrible acts. And that bad conditons cause that. Europeans once killed each other for millions when they had some conflicts between each others.

Islam ıs a peaceful religion Christians killed thousand Muslims when they captured Jerusalem. But Muslims(Saladin) did not massacre as Christians did. Ottomans did not kill people when they conquered some places in Europe. That shows that Islam does not accept terrorism.

 

[Mount_Carmel]

Do these extremists emerge in normal conditions? All these groups emerge from anarchy and vacancy of a powerful authority of goverment. There are many internal wars, conflicts which are caused by foreign powers. Islamic countries are under occupancy and oppression of other(western) powerful countries. People rebel against those powers and unfortunately these rebellions use the name of Islam to get moral power and adherents.

Muslims do not harm other because such a crime will be punished by God. But some groups take a fetva to do that terrible acts. And that bad conditons cause that. Europeans once killed each other for millions when they had some conflicts between each others.

Islam ıs a peaceful religion Christians killed thousand Muslims when they captured Jerusalem. But Muslims(Saladin) did not massacre as Christians did. Ottomans did not kill people when they conquered some places in Europe. That shows that Islam does not accept terrorism.

I see you buy into the sanitised version of Islamic historicity, including a 'kind and humanitarian Saladin:

I recommend you listen to this YouTube version of the Islamic conquest of Jerusalem - it goes to original/primary sources for the information. Mostly Saracen/Muslim sources.

youtu.be/eqEovnetLFo

ps. The reality is that most killing of Muslim throughout history has been done by fellow Muslims, right from the Battle of the Camel in 656AD - very shortly after Muhammad had died.

pps. The reason why the Franks/Crusaders managed to recapture Jerusalem after the first Arab invasion was largely down to the ‘Muslims’/Arabs being being split and too busy warring with each other at that time.

 

[dronald]

Do these extremists emerge in normal conditions? All these groups emerge from anarchy and vacancy of a powerful authority of goverment. There are many internal wars, conflicts which are caused by foreign powers. Islamic countries are under occupancy and oppression of other(western) powerful countries. People rebel against those powers and unfortunately these rebellions use the name of Islam to get moral power and adherents.

Muslims do not harm other because such a crime will be punished by God. But some groups take a fetva to do that terrible acts. And that bad conditons cause that. Europeans once killed each other for millions when they had some conflicts between each others.

Islam ıs a peaceful religion Christians killed thousand Muslims when they captured Jerusalem. But Muslims(Saladin) did not massacre as Christians did. Ottomans did not kill people when they conquered some places in Europe. That shows that Islam does not accept terrorism.

You can’t just say every statistic I posted is because of some type of anarchy or oppression.

Believing that criticism of Muhammad should be a punishable crime is extreme. There are many other examples regarding stoning women, messed up beliefs about the holocaust, and sharia.

 

[Matthew_Light]

I imagine if Muslims had been fighting wars against, propping up dictators, colonizing and occupying Christian-majority countries for the last few hundreds of years, we would see very similar levels of polling support for terrorism among Christians. How many Iraqi Muslims have died since the US invasion and overthrow of Saddam Hussein? Over 200,000 killed through violence, and another 200,000 through the disruption of health care, clinics, destruction of shelter and commerce, etc.

Violence and coercion breeds hatred and resentment.

 

[Matthew_Light]

Believing that criticism of Muhammad should be a punishable crime is extreme. There are many other examples regarding stoning women, messed up beliefs about the holocaust, and sharia.

It is true - many in Muslim societies hold the same beliefs about religious coercion that many in Christian societies held before the enlightenment. Those societies need to go through a similar process as western societies did a couple hundred years ago. It was and is a very difficult process.

 

[Matthew_Light]

When it comes to Islam I wish the term ‘extremist’ wasn’t bandied about so much- the correct term is ‘fundamentalist’, as in the definition that explains someone going back to their roots and early history.

Does claiming that Islam is fundamentally violent and (basically) an evil religion help or hinder bringing peace and respect between Muslims and Christians?

 

[Bob_Crowley]

Do these extremists emerge in normal conditions? All these groups emerge from anarchy and vacancy of a powerful authority of goverment. There are many internal wars, conflicts which are caused by foreign powers. Islamic countries are under occupancy and oppression of other(western) powerful countries. People rebel against those powers and unfortunately these rebellions use the name of Islam to get moral power and adherents.

Muslims do not harm other because such a crime will be punished by God. But some groups take a fetva to do that terrible acts. And that bad conditons cause that. Europeans once killed each other for millions when they had some conflicts between each others.

Islam ıs a peaceful religion Christians killed thousand Muslims when they captured Jerusalem. But Muslims(Saladin) did not massacre as Christians did. Ottomans did not kill people when they conquered some places in Europe. That shows that Islam does not accept terrorism.

I recognise with all due respect that you are trying to steer a middle road here.

The fact is however that Moslems had been invading Europe** for 400 years** before the first crusade even took place.

The Crusades were not aimed at destroying Islam. They were aimed at reclaiming the “Holy Lands”, specifically Jerusalem and the surrounding territory.

You might be interested in reading an informed article from our point of view.

answering-islam.org/Authors/Stenhouse/crusades.02.htm

You are right however about Europeans killing each other by the million. Our own Wars of the Reformation killed far more Europeans than the Moslems did. This was allegedly about religion, but the reality is that a lot of it was political. Just as much of the violence in the Middle East today is politically motivated.

 

[Mount_Carmel]

Does claiming that Islam is fundamentally violent and (basically) an evil religion help or hinder bringing peace and respect between Muslims and Christians?

Ask the fundamentalists.

ps. According to Islamic tracts Muhammad was a ‘fundamentalist’.

 

[Matthew_Light]

Ask the fundamentalists.

I don’t give the fundamentalists the authority to define what Islam is. Nor what Christianity is.

ps. According to Islamic tracts Muhammad was a ‘fundamentalist’.

“Islamic Tracts”?

What is that?

 

[hasantas]

I recognise with all due respect that you are trying to steer a middle road here.

The fact is however that Moslems had been invading Europe** for 400 years** before the first crusade even took place.

The Crusades were not aimed at destroying Islam. They were aimed at reclaiming the “Holy Lands”, specifically Jerusalem and the surrounding territory.

You might be interested in reading an informed article from our point of view.

answering-islam.org/Authors/Stenhouse/crusades.02.htm

You are right however about Europeans killing each other by the million. Our own Wars of the Reformation killed far more Europeans than the Moslems did. This was allegedly about religion, but the reality is that a lot of it was political. Just as much of the violence in the Middle East today is politically motivated.

Muslims have different points about crusades. Perhaps Christianity think that start with a religious and good intent but that caused many persecutions. Some crusaders did bad things. So we cannot say all crusaders were so good.

Jeruselam is Holy for Islam too. It was the first direction where Muslims head for prayer(Salat). And is the place where prophet Muhammed was arised to Heavens. Jesus is Holy for Muslims too. So what is important about Jesus for Christians so that is important for Muslims either. And that make Jeruselam more important for Muslims than Christians.

With crusades Muslims were upset very much.

 

[Reuben_J]

And that make Jeruselam more important for Muslims than Christians.

Granted then that Jerusalem was important to Muslims too. But do they have to conquer it?

Jesuralem was conquered by the Muslims from the Christians Byzantine Empire in April 637, about five years after the death of Muslim Prophet Muhammad in 632ad. Caliph Umar personally traveled to Jerusalem to take over the city from Christian Patriarch Sophronius.

With crusades Muslims were upset very much.

It is understandable that Muslims were upset by the crusades. But the Christians were also upset by the Muslims who conquered their holy land and made it difficult for their pilgrims to worship there. Had it not been for that, there would not have been crusades.

Reuben.