Economist’s comment on Muslim Attitudes…
In “If you want my opinion” (The Economist, Pg 72, issue dated Mar 10, ’07) – a study of Muslim attitudes and their views on various things like democracy, terrorism etc. I came across a few worrying facts and a little display of breathtaking (and possibly naive) optimism:
Worrying Fact # 1: A recent survey of 28,000 people in 27 countries for the BBC world Service revealed that 51% of Indonesians – that is about 100million people (in Indonesia alone) expect a “clash of civilization” a la Samuel Huntington. Note that Indonesia is not only the world’s largest Muslim country but also, one of V S Naipaul’s “converted” civilisations – a country that “can be easily set on the boil“*
Breathtaking/Naive Optimism #1: “In almost every country that Gallup surveyed (this was a survey carried out in 2005 & 2006 of Muslims in mainly Islamic countries), women as well as men thought that sharia, Islam’s sacred law, should be the main or sole basis of legislation. But female respondents saw no contradiction between this affirmation and the idea of rights and opportunities for women.”
Worrying Fact # 2. A recent survey of British Muslims commissioned by Policy Exchange revealed that 37% of Muslims aged between 16 and 24 (I suspect a pretty significant demographic group amongst Muslims in UK) would prefer to live under sharia law…36% favoured death for those who abandoned Islam…and a remarkable 13% approved of groups like al-Qaeda.
Breathtaking/Naive Optimism #2: Munira Mirza, one of the co-authors of the Policy Exchange report (above) felt that some of the conclusions from the survey were “overdone” and the polls “partly reflected…the alienation of youngsters”.
Worrying Fact # 3: A consistent Gallup finding (through out its polls carried out in 2001-2002 and 2005-2006) has been that “8% of Muslims round the world – at least 80m people – strongly support terrorist acts against America” (and presumably against other infidel countries like India?)…
I was reminded of one of my earlier posts: “A marginal minority of 15 million”
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* From the Prologue to V S Naipaul’s “Beyond Belief“
The most encouraging thing about the article?
That, with the exception of Britain (2.7% Muslims), Italy (14% Muslims) and Russia (6% Muslims), India (20% Muslims) seems to have the smallest percentage – of a very large number – who thinks a violent conflict is inevitable.
And call me naive, but 92% of Muslims who are not in favour of terrorist acts is something not to ignore either.
That is the problem with statistics. It can be interpreted either way, depending on the lens. Also since we do not know what questions were asked, how do we know how to interpret the answers?
But interesting to see some interest in the matter.
Back in late 1990s, all Asians in the UK were just that – Asians. Around early Noughties, the FT started to recognise Indians, Chinese, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. What prompted that segmentation? Perhaps it is worth exploring, knowing and using again.
Thanks.