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Jordan leads the Islamic world in its antipathy for Jews according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center.

The poll, which surveyed 17,000 people in 17 countries, said 100 percent of Jordanians viewed Jews unfavorably. The majority of Jordanians are Palestinians, but the late King Hussein and his son and successor, King Abdullah have been known for their pro-American stances.

Russia led all other countries with favorable views of Christians (92 percent) while Turkey (63 percent) had the most unfavorable view of Christians.

The Netherlands led all nations surveyed both in positive views of Jews (85 percent) and negative views of Muslims (51 percent).

Significant numbers of respondents in only Jordan (38 percent) and Lebanon (40 percent) blamed U.S. policies for Islamic extremism.

Respondents in Lebanon, which has a large Christian population, were nearly unanimous (99 percent) in their unfavorable views of Jews. 91 percent were favorable to Christians.

The poll found decreasing support in Islamic countries for Al Qaida and suicide bombings.

Jordan was the exception. In the latest poll, the level of Jordanian support for Bin Laden rose to 60 percent, compared to 55 percent in 2002.

The center also reported increased Jordanian support for suicide attacks.

Fifty-seven percent of Jordanian respondents expressed support for suicide bombings, up from 43 percent in 2002.

In Morocco, support for Al Qaida dropped from 49 percent in 2003 to 26 percent in the latest poll. In Lebanon, only two percent of respondents expressed support for Al Qaida. ^[1]

Resultaten tyder på att antisemitiska uppfattningar och ambivalenta attityder till judar är jämförelsevis mer utbredda bland muslimer än bland kristna och icke-religiösa. Bland vuxna hyser 39 av dom som betecknar sig som muslimer en systematisk antisemitisk inställning jämfört med 5 procent totalt.^[2]

Nearly two fifths (37 per cent) believe that the Jewish community in Britain is a legitimate target “as part of the ongoing struggle for justice in the Middle East”. Moreover, only 52 per cent think that the state of Israel has the right to exist, with 30 per cent disagreeing, a big minority. One in six of all Muslims questioned thinks suicide bombings can sometimes be justified in Israel, though many fewer (7 per cent) say the same about Britain. This is broadly comparable to the number justifying suicide attacks in ICM and YouGov polls of British Muslims after the July 7 attacks.^[3]

Attacks on Britain’s Jews have risen to the highest level since records began.

A study published today shows the number of reported anti-Semitic incidents has almost tripled in 10 years, with more than half the attacks last year taking place in London. The findings prompted the report’s authors to warn of a “wave of hatred” against Jews. The number of incidents increased to 594 last year, up by 31 per cent on the previous year.

Violent assaults soared to 112, up by more than a third on 2005.^[4]

53% of the Danes still believe Jyllands-Posten did nothing wrong by publishing the cartoons, while 38% think the cartoons should never have been published and the others are not sure.^{[5] [6]}

Below half of all Danish muslims distances themselves of the violent reactions in the Middle East to the Jyllands Posten Muhammed Cartoons events in a clear-cut fashion. And 11 percent "have complete understanding" for flag-burning, destroying of Embassies and boycotts of Danish goods, according ta a new poll." 53 percent say that they feel more like muslims than Danes in the current situation and 36 percent say they feel more like both a Muslim and a Dane. The rest feel more like a Dane.^[7]

90% of Muslims living in Norway thought it was wrong to draw and print the Muhammed cartoons. 7% did not think it was wrong and 3% did not know. The corresponding numbers for the population at large was 48%, 43% and 8%. Asked whether publishing drawings that are perceived as insulting should be punished harder, 42% of the muslims agreed, while 45% disagreed and 13% did not know. The rest of the population: 14%, 80% and 6%. Muslims between 30 and 44 years felt less strongly that it should have been punished harder. Asked if they thought the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims in Norway had become worse after the riots, 47% of Muslims answered yes, 45% answered no, and 8% didn't know. The numbers for the rest of the population were 62%, 24% and 14%. ^[8]

a recent poll indicates that only 3 per cent of Pakistanis believe that Al Qaida was responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the US, notwithstanding Osama Bin Laden and his deputies have taken credit for the attacks on more than one occasion.^[9]

The 400 terrorists on whom I’ve collected data were the ones who actually targeted the “far enemy,” the U.S., as opposed to their own governments. I wanted to limit myself for analytical purity to that group, to see if I could identify anything different from other terrorist movements, which were far more nationalistic.

Most people think that terrorism comes from poverty, broken families, ignorance, immaturity, lack of family or occupational responsibilities, weak minds susceptible to brainwashing - the sociopath, the criminals, the religious fanatic, or, in this country, some believe they’re just plain evil.

Taking these perceived root causes in turn, three quarters of my sample came from the upper or middle class. The vast majority—90 percent—came from caring, intact families. Sixty-three percent had gone to college, as compared with the 5-6 percent that’s usual for the third world. These are the best and brightest of their societies in many ways.

Al Qaeda’s members are not the Palestinian fourteen-year- olds we see on the news, but join the jihad at the average age of 26. Three-quarters were professionals or semi- professionals. They are engineers, architects, and civil engineers, mostly scientists. Very few humanities are represented, and quite surprisingly very few had any background in religion. The natural sciences predominate. Bin Laden himself is a civil engineer, Zawahiri is a physician, Mohammed Atta was, of course, an architect; and a few members are military, such as Mohammed Ibrahim Makawi, who is supposedly the head of the military committee.

Far from having no family or job responsibilities, 73 percent were married and the vast majority had children. Those who were not married were usually too young to be married. Only 13 percent were madrassa-trained and most of them come from what I call the Southeast Asian sample, the Jemaah Islamiyya (JI). They had gone to schools headed by Sungkar and Bashir. Sungkar was the head of JI; he died in 1999. His successor, Bashir, is the cleric who is being tried for the Jakarta Marriott bombing of August 2003; he is also suspected of planning the October 2002 Bali bombing.

As a psychiatrist, originally I was looking for any characteristic common to these men. But only four of the 400 men had any hint of a disorder. This is below the worldwide base rate for thought disorders. So they are as healthy as the general population. I didn’t find many personality disorders, which makes sense in that people who are antisocial usually don’t cooperate well enough with others to join groups. This is a well-organized type of terrorism these men are not like Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, loners off planning in the woods. Loners are weeded out early on. Of the nineteen 9-11 terrorists, none had a criminal record. You could almost say that those least likely to cause harm individually are most likely to do so collectively.

At the time they joined jihad, the terrorists were not very religious. They only became religious once they joined the jihad. Seventy percent of my sample joined the jihad while they were living in another country from where they grew up.^[10]

Attacks against Jews and Muslims accounted for more than 76 percent of all anti-religious hate crimes in 2002, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual report, which compiles data from more than 12,000 law-enforcement agencies from across the United States.

Vandalism and intimidation were the most frequently reported incidents.

Incidents of anti-Jewish bias declined 10.7 percent, from 1,043 to 931, and incidents of anti-Muslim bias dropped 67.7 percent, from 481 to 155.^[11]

If the latest FBI hate-crime statistics are any indication, of the 1,314 verified offenses motivated by religious bias, 68.5 percent were anti-Jewish.

Only 11.1 percent were anti-Islamic, despite claims of rampant anti-Muslim bigotry in the U.S. by groups like the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Across the board, hate crimes in the U.S. dropped last year by 6 percent, according to the 2005 FBI report release last week, although violence against people based on their race accounted more than half of the reported incidents.

Police nationwide reported 7,163 hate crime incidents in 2005, targeting victims based on their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and disabilities. That was down from 2004, when the FBI reported 7,649 incidents.^[12]

FBI Releases 2008 Hate Crime Statistics

Press Release — Hate Crime Statistics Web Site

• “An analysis of the 7,780 single-bias incidents revealed that 51.3 percent were motivated by a racial bias”
• Anti-Black Racial Hate 2,876, Anti-Jewish Hate 1,013, Anti-Homosexual 1,200, Anti-Hispanic 561
• Anti-Islam Incidents – 105

Table 1

Incidents, Offenses, Victims, and Known Offenders by Bias Motivation, 2008

• Data Declaration • Download Excel

¹ The term victim may refer to a person, business, institution, or society as a whole.
² The term known offender does not imply that the identity of the suspect is known, but only that an attribute of the suspect has been identified, which distinguishes him/her from an unknown offender.
³ In a multiple-bias incident, two conditions must be met: (a) more than one offense type must occur in the incident and (b) at least two offense types must be motivated by different biases.^[13]

Nearly one in three people in the Arab world is illiterate, including nearly half of all women in the region, the Tunis-based Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Organisation (Alecso) said Monday.

Three-quarters of the 100 million people unable to read or write in the 21 Arab countries are aged between 15 and 45 years old, Alecso said in a statement.

Equally alarming, some 46.5% of women in the region are illiterate, the organisation reported, urging governments to put the fight against illiteracy at the top of their agendas.^[15]

According to the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by Ministry of Public Health and Population in September 2006....illiteracy among mothers, the health ministry’s survey shows that on average 35 percent of married Yemeni women aged between 15 and 24 are literate, with 59 percent of married women in urban areas and 26 percent of married women in rural areas being able to read and write.^[16]

In 2004 a third (33 per cent) of Muslims of working age in Great Britain had no qualifications – the highest proportion for any religious group. They were also the least likely to have degrees or equivalent qualifications (12 per cent).^[17]

NEW DELHI — Even those who caution against "illusions of grandeur and power," as the head of India's governing coalition, Sonia Gandhi, did last week, cannot hide their sense of pride at the idea of India as a nation that extends the concessions of secular democracy to its many castes, creeds and faiths.

Yet that notion has come under strain in recent days, with an official panel having concluded that Muslims, India's largest religious minority, are "lagging behind" on most things that matter.

[....]

In the famed national bureaucracy, the Indian Administrative Service, Muslims made up only 2 percent of officers in 2006. Among district judges in 15 states surveyed, 2.7 percent were Muslim.

Educational disparities were among the most striking. Among Muslims, Shariff said, the literacy rate is about 59 percent, compared with more than 65 percent among Indians as a whole. On average, a Muslim child attends school for three years and four months, against a national average of four years.

Less than 4 percent of Muslims graduate from school, compared with 6 percent of the total population. Less than 2 percent of the students at the elite Indian Institutes of Technology are Muslim. Equally revealing, only 4 percent of Muslim children attend madrasas, Shariff said.

The gaps in employment are likely to be among the most politically explosive. Muslims appear to be overrepresented among day laborers and street vendors and underrepresented in the public sector. Muslims secured about 15 percent of government jobs, considerably less than the share filled by "backward" castes and dalits, who were considered "untouchables" in the Hindu caste system.^[18]

Muslim males and females in Great Britain had the highest rates of reported ill health in 2001. Age-standardized rates of 'not good' health were 13 per cent for Muslim males and 16 per cent for Muslim females. After taking account of the different age structures of the groups, Muslims had the highest rates of disability. Almost a quarter of Muslim females (24 per cent) had a disability, as did one in five (21 per cent) Muslim males. ^[19]

According to the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) conducted by Ministry of Public Health and Population in September 2006....25 percent of children aged between 2-9 years are affected with at least one type of disability, the more widespread being delayed motor skills and slow cognitive development in that order.^[20]

LONDON (Reuters) - The Gay Police Association (GPA) has been reprimanded for an ad which implied Christians were responsible for a huge rise in violent attacks on homosexuals.

The advert, placed in The Independent newspaper under the banner “in the name of the father” showed a Bible and a pool of blood.

It was a one-off, used to back up the GPA’s claim that the association had recorded a 74 percent increase in homophobic incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the religious belief of the perpetrator.

The association said the accompanying text made clear Christians were not the only group accused, in fact a quarter of the alleged incidents were provoked by Muslims, it said. ^[21]

Gallup conducted telephone and face-to-face interviews with 500 Muslims in the UK, France and Germany.

“The most dramatic contrast was found in attitudes towards homosexuality,” the study said. “None of the 500 British Muslims interviewed believed that homosexual acts were morally acceptable.”

Remarkable. They couldn’t find a single British Muslim who would come out publicly in support of homosexuals. Not one.^[22]

According to a Zogby International poll of American Muslims taken in November and December of last year, a whopping 71 percent oppose "allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally." And 68 percent support the death penalty.^[23]

The survey shows both hopeful and troubling signs with respect to Muslim support for terrorism and the viability of democracy in Muslim countries. In Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia, there have been substantial declines in the percentages saying suicide bombings and other forms of violence against civilian targets can be justified to defend Islam against its enemies. The shift has been especially dramatic in Jordan, likely in response to the devastating terrorist attack in Amman last year; 29% of Jordanians view suicide attacks as often or sometimes justified, down from 57% in May 2005.

Confidence in Osama bin Laden also has fallen in most Muslim countries in recent years. This is especially the case in Jordan, where just 24% express at least some confidence in bin Laden now, compared with 60% a year ago. A sizable number of Pakistanis (38%) continue to say they have at least some confidence in the al Qaeda leader to do the right thing regarding world affairs, but significantly fewer do so now than in May 2005 (51%). However, Nigeria's Muslims represent a conspicuous exception to this trend; 61% of Nigeria's Muslims say they have at least some confidence in bin Laden, up from 44% in 2003.

The belief that terrorism is justifiable in the defense of Islam, while less extensive than in previous surveys, still has a sizable number of adherents. Among Nigeria's Muslim population, for instance, nearly half (46%) feel that suicide bombings can be justified often or sometimes in the defense of Islam. Even among Europe's Muslim minorities, roughly one-in-seven in France, Spain, and Great Britain feel that suicide bombings against civilian targets can at least sometimes be justified to defend Islam against its enemies.^[24]

49.9% of Arab Muslims Support Osama Bin Laden^[25]

The survey, based on 1,200 respondents across Indonesia’s 33 provinces, showed 11.2 percent believed suicide bombings were justifiable on occasion while 0.5 percent said the method could always be justified to defend Islam from its enemies.

The survey also revealed that 8 percent support masterminds of past suicide bombings, including Noordin M. Top, the most wanted terror suspect in Indonesia, who authorities say is an expert in recruiting young suicide bombers among the country’s impoverished masses. ^{[26] [27] [28]}

Up to 1.3 percent of Indonesian Muslims nationwide admit using violence against people or objects they consider contradictory to their beliefs, a survey found, with more than 40 percent ready to wage war for their faith.

Acts of violence in the survey on religion and violence by the Center for Islamic and Social Studies (PPIM) ranged from 0.1 percent of respondents admitting their involvement in demolishing or arson of churches constructed without official permits, to 1.3 percent who committed "intimidation" against those they considered had blasphemed Islam.

The survey spanned 1,200 Muslims in 30 of the country's 33 provinces.

"The percentage looks very small but it is very high in its real figure when you note that 85 percent, or 200 million, of the country's 230 million population are Muslims," PPIM researcher Jajat Burhanudin said Thursday during the release of the results.

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The survey, conducted from 2001 to March 2006, found 43.5 percent of respondents were ready to wage war on threatening non-Muslim groups, 40 percent would use violence against those blaspheming Islam and 14.7 percent would tear down churches without official permits.

"This condition has helped terrorists easily recruit new comrades and makes the country a fertile ground for sectarian radicalism," Jajat said.

He added that a simultaneous study on the reasons for the results found Islamic teaching and Islamism made the most significant contributions to violent behavior, both in the domestic and public spheres.

"The more Muslims give their support for certain Islamic teachings legitimizing the use of violence, the more violence will happen."

He noted that between 30 percent and 58 percent approved of amputation of the left hand for thieves and the stoning to death of rapists, as well as other tenets of sharia law, and opposed the election of non-Muslims for president. ^[29]

Overall 94 percent have an unfavorable view of al Qaeda, with 82 percent expressing a very unfavorable view. Of all organizations and individuals assessed in this poll, it received the most negative ratings. The Shias and Kurds show similarly intense levels of opposition, with 95 percent and 93 percent respectively saying they have very unfavorable views. The Sunnis are also quite negative, but with less intensity. Seventy-seven percent express an unfavorable view, but only 38 percent are very unfavorable. Twenty-three percent express a favorable view (5% very).^[30]

And now 98% of the Sunni Arabs say that all attacks on Americans are justified and that they personally approve of them, and 75% of the Shi'a say the same thing. Only the Kurds express, by a large majority, lack of approval for such attacks. ^[31]

Support for attacks against US-led forces has increased sharply to 61 percent^[30]

Secret MoD poll: Iraqis support attacks on British troops

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent Last Updated: 11:59pm BST 22/10/2005

Millions of Iraqis believe that suicide attacks against British troops are justified, a secret military poll commissioned by senior officers has revealed.

The poll, undertaken for the Ministry of Defence and seen by The Sunday Telegraph, shows that up to 65 per cent of Iraqi citizens support attacks and fewer than one per cent think Allied military involvement is helping to improve security in their country.
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Forty-five per cent of Iraqis believe attacks against British and American troops are justified - rising to 65 per cent in the British-controlled Maysan province;

• 82 per cent are "strongly opposed" to the presence of coalition troops;

• less than one per cent of the population believes coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security;

• 67 per cent of Iraqis feel less secure because of the occupation;

• 43 per cent of Iraqis believe conditions for peace and stability have worsened;

• 72 per cent do not have confidence in the multi-national forces.

The opinion poll, carried out in August, also debunks claims by both the US and British governments that the general well-being of the average Iraqi is improving in post-Saddam Iraq.

The findings differ markedly from a survey carried out by the BBC in March 2004 in which the overwhelming consensus among the 2,500 Iraqis questioned was that life was good. More of those questioned supported the war than opposed it.

Under the heading "Justification for Violent Attacks", the new poll shows that 65 per cent of people in Maysan province - one of the four provinces under British control - believe that attacks against coalition forces are justified.

The report states that for Iraq as a whole, 45 per cent of people feel attacks are justified. In Basra, the proportion is reduced to 25 per cent.^{[32] [33] [34]}

The vast majority of Iran's Turkish, Saudi and Pakistani neighbors want the United States to accept a nuclear Iran, according to a new poll of the Muslim world.

Saudi Arabia and other governments in the region are officially opposed to a nuclear-armed Iran, but two-thirds of Pakistanis, one-third of Saudis and more than one-fifth of Turks support the idea, shows a series of polls released on June 14 by Terror Free Tomorrow, a nonprofit and non-partisan organization. Large numbers of people surveyed were undecided, sponsors said.

A plurality of people from the countries polled, including a two-thirds majority in Pakistan, favor the United States and other countries accepting a nuclear Iran if diplomatic efforts to halt Tehran's program fail instead of resorting to military strikes.

"Popular opinion in the region seems to defy conventional wisdom. It may be unprecedented for people of different countries to be willing to accept nuclear weapons by a neighboring nation," Ken Ballen, president of Terror Free Tomorrow, wrote in the report's executive summary.

The report warned that "despite a deep historical enmity between Iran's Persian Shia population and its ethnically diverse Arab, Turkish and Pakistani Sunni neighbors," their acceptance of nuclear-armed Iran "shows that the radical Islamist propaganda, which portrays the West as the enemy of Islam is gaining dangerous ground." ^{[35] [36]}

Fifty-nine percent of Palestinians believe that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad should continue their armed struggle against Israel even if Israel leaves all of the West Bank and Gaza, including East Jerusalem, and a Palestinian state is created^[37]

26 percent of Palestinians consider the Sept. 11 attacks consistent with Islamic law.^[38]

How do you feel towards suicide bombing operations against Israeli civilians? Do you support them, or oppose them?

Strongly support 22.4
Somewhat support 33.8
Somewhat oppose 24.3
Strongly oppose 16.4

No answer 3.1^[39]

75% of Palestinians support the suicide bombing of the Maxim restaurant in Haifa in which 23 people were killed.^[40]

79 percent of Iraqis say that the US is having a negative influence on the situation in Iraq, with just 14 percent saying that it is having a positive influence. Views are especially negative among the Sunnis (96% negative), and the Shias (87% negative). However, a plurality of Kurds (48%) say that the US is having a positive influence, while just 34 percent say it is having a negative influence.^[30]

A large majority of Iraqis—71%—say they would like the Iraqi government to ask for US-led forces to be withdrawn from Iraq within a year or less. Given four options, 37 percent take the position that they would like US-led forces withdrawn “within six months,” while another 34 percent opt for “gradually withdraw[ing] US-led forces according to a one-year timeline.^{[30] [41]}

A majority of Iraqis (61%) still believe that ousting Saddam Hussein was worth the hardships they might have suffered, however this is down sharply from the 77 percent who said this in January.^[30]

The survey showed near-identical numbers as an earlier survey, published by As-Safir on March 2. That survey showed 70.9 percent support for Hizbullah operations to capture Israeli soldiers.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb

However, while 59 percent of the Druze community in March supported such operations, only 40 percent now express such support.

Christian support for capture operations rose from 48 percent to 55 percent, due likely to the Free Patriotic Movement's memorandum of understanding signed with Hizbullah.

The survey showed 87 percent support for Hizbullah's retaliatory attacks on northern Israel . ^[42][43]

Nearly two thirds of people in Pakistan hold favourable views of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and 86 per cent approve of President Pervez Musharraf, according to a survey by a major American organisation.

Nearly half of those interviewed said suicide bombings against Israelis and, in Iraq, against Americans and other Westerners are justified.

The report by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project survey found that 65 per cent favoured Osama and that pluralities of 47 per cent believed Palestinian suicide attacks on Israelis were justified. Forty-six per cent thought attacks on Westerners in Iraq were justified.

The Pew Research Centre is a non-profit and non-governmental organisation, which specialises in opinion surveys. Its reports are widely respected in Washington’s academic circles.

Pakistan was one of four Muslim-majority countries in the survey, which also included Turkey, Jordan and Morocco, the governments of all of which have strong ties with the US.

Pew, the polling organisation questioned 1220 people in Pakistan’s urban areas, 1000 nationwide in four Moroccan cities and about 1000 each nationwide in Turkey and Jordan between February 19 and March 3.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Pew also conducted polls during the same period in the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia. ^{[44] [45]}

Almost half of all Saudis said in a poll conducted last year that they have a favorable view of Osama bin Laden's sermons and rhetoric

...

He noted that less than a third of Saudis polled had a positive opinion of militant clerics, although government-appointed religious figures did better.^[46]

Here are a few key findings on the UAE from a 2004 poll conducted by Zogby

International:

-- 73% of UAE citizens had a negative view of the United States; only 14% had a favorable view.

-- Only 5% of UAE citizens felt that "democracy" was an "extremely important" reason for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction was cited by 16%. "Oil" and "domination of the Muslim world" were the main reasons offered by UAE citizens for our invasion of Iraq.

-- 81% of UAE citizens felt Iraq was worse off after the war. Only 4% said it was better off without Saddam.

-- Asked to identify their "most admired" world leaders, 18% of UAE citizens chose Osama bin Laden. "No one" finished first with 22%.

-- When asked how they viewed themselves, only 19% said they identified first and foremost as citizens of the United Arab Emirates, while 66% said they saw themselves as "Muslims" first. ^[47]

Gazet van Antwerpen, a local Antwerp newspaper, published the results of a poll among a representative group of 495 Muslim youths between 15 and 25 years of age, who live in the Flemish harbour town. 89% of these youths respond that religion occupies a “very important” place in their lives. 41% attend the mosque at least once a week (while 12% never does). 85% say they will raise their children in the Muslim faith. This in itself would not be a bad thing (on the contrary), except for the fact that 48% of Antwerp’s Muslim youths are convinced that the Quran should be taken literally and 21% readily admit that they have already heard their imam preach a hate sermon.

In addition, 21% of the young Antwerp Muslims say that they find it “problematic” that the majority of Antwerp’s citizens are non-Muslims, while less than half (47%) do not regard this as a problem. 22% of the Muslim girls prefer to marry a man who has lived in a Muslim country all his life.

Many of the young Muslims are unwilling to become Flemish. 40% say that Islamic values are incompatible with Flemish values.^[48]

Most disturbing, some surveys find that the younger generation of Turkish Germans express surprising hostility toward Europe and the West. In one study, the sociologist Wilhelm Heitmeyer and his colleagues at the University of Bielefeld found that almost one-third of those polled agreed that Islam must become the state religion in every country. Even though they live in Europe, 56 percent declared that they should not adapt too much to Western ways, but should live by Islam. More than a third insisted that if it serves the Islamic community, they are ready to use violence against nonbelievers. Almost 40 percent said that Zionism, the European Union and the United States threaten Islam."^[49]

This week, more than 5 underage citizens of Malmø were forced to sex. 10 youths were robbed and 8 teenagers were so badly beaten they needed medical attention, but only 3 of 10 report violence to the police. Of those which have been misused for sex, not even 1 in 7 go to the police.^[50]

Muslim population: 945,000 or 5.8%^[51]

The study found 40 percent of the Moroccan youth in the Netherlands reject western values and democracy. Six to seven percent are prepared to use force to defend Islam.

The majority are opposed to freedom of speech for offensive statements, particularly criticism of Islam.^{[52] [53]}

More than one in 10 British Muslims back al Qaida-style terror strikes on the United States, a poll has revealed.

In the run up to the anniversary of war in Iraq, more condemned the recent Gulf conflict than attacks on America.

And almost half said they might consider becoming a suicide bomber if they lived as a Palestinian.

An overwhelming 80% say Britain and the US should not have launched the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

That is significantly higher than the 73% opposed to terrorist strikes on the US, according to the ICM survey for The Guardian.

Attacks on the US by al Qaida or other groups were viewed as justified by 13% of the 500 British Muslims questioned.

Another 15% said they did not know whether the such attacks are wrong or right.

Far fewer, 10%, said Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush were right to go to war.

Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Tonge provoked fury when she said that despite condemning violence living as a Palestinian could have driven her to become a suicide bomber.

However, 47% of Muslims agreed compared with just 15% of all of those questioned. . . .

One of Britain’s most radical Muslim leaders said he believed the majority of Muslims in the UK supported al Qaida-style terror attacks on the United States.

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, who heads the London-based group Al-Muhajiroun, said British Muslims were afraid to voice their real feelings about the coalition war in Iraq.

And he claimed that far more were pro-Osama bin Laden than really admitted.

“I am sure the real figure who support al Qaida is much higher than one in 10.

“Since the introduction of the new anti-terrorism laws, Muslims are terrified to speak their minds. “I believe it is the majority of Muslims in the West who support al Qaida. This is beyond doubt.

“The role of the suicide bomber in Palestine is a noble one – to fight for freedom for his people and become a martyr. Why is it strange for Muslims to want to be part of this?”^[54]

13% of British Muslims think that the four men who carried out the London Tube and bus bombings of July 7, 2005, should be regarded as “martyrs”

7% agree that suicide attacks on civilians in the UK can be justified in some circumstances, rising to 16 per cent for a military target

16% of British Muslims say that while the attacks may have been wrong, the cause was right

2% would be proud if a family member decided to join al-Qaeda. Sixteen per cent would be “indifferent”

56% of British Muslims believe that the Government is not doing enough to fight extremism, more than the 49 per cent of the whole population who agree

50% think the intelligence services have the right to infiltrate Muslim organisations to gather information about their activities and the way they obtain funding

65% of British Muslims say that their community needs to do more to integrate properly with British society

35% say that they would feel proud if a close family member joined the police ^[55]

Forty-five percent say 9/11 was a conspiracy by the American and Israeli governments. This figure is more than twice as high as those who say it was not a conspiracy. Tragically, almost one in four British Muslims believe that last year's 7/7 attacks on London were justified because of British support for the U.S.-led war on terror.

When asked, "Is Britain my country or their country?" only one in four say it is. Thirty percent of British Muslims would prefer to live under Sharia (Islamic religious) law than under British law. According to the report, "Half of those who express a preference for living under Sharia law say that, given the choice, they would move to a country governed by those laws."

Twenty-eight percent hope for the U.K. one day to become a fundamentalist Islamic state. This comports with last year's Daily Telegraph newspaper survey that found one-third of British Muslims believe that Western society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to end it.

The news is no less alarming on the question of freedom of speech. Seventy-eight percent support punishment for the people who earlier this year published cartoons featuring the Prophet Mohammed. Sixty-eight percent support the arrest and prosecution of those British people who "insult Islam." When asked if free speech should be protected, even if it offends religious groups, 62 percent of British Muslims say No, it should not.

Also concerning freedom of speech, as the NOP Research survey reports, "hardcore Islamists" constitute nine percent of the British Muslim population. A slightly more moderate group is composed of "staunch defenders of Islam." This second group comprises 29 percent of the British Muslim population. Individuals in this group aggressively defend their religion from internal and external threats, real or imagined.

The scary reality is that only three percent of British Muslims "took a consistently pro-freedom of speech line on these questions."^[56]

The fact that, as the BBC News 24 is reporting, all 21 of those arrested this morning in connection with the airline terror plot were British-born is going to produce yet more soul-searching about the state of integration in Britain.

Forty-five percent are convinced that 9/11 was an American/Israeli conspiracy—and that number rises to 51 percent among Muslims aged 18-24. Thirty percent would rather live under sharia rather than British law and 28 percent would like Britain to become an Islamic state. Eleven percent have firmly decided that British foreign policy justified the July 7th bombings, and 31 percent of young Muslims agree with this idea. Sadly, this is no rogue poll. Other surveys have come up with very similar results.

These numbers demonstrate how imbecilic it is to argue that if only Tony Blair hadn’t allied himself with George W. Bush in the war on terror there would be no problem. So, if changing British foreign policy—or to be more frank, appeasement—won’t work, then what will? This is where pretty much everyone in Britain is stumped. A good place to start might be ceasing to tolerate people wandering around London boasting “We’re all Hezbollah now.^[57]

Muslim population: 1.6 million (2.8%) ^[58]

However, 11 percent said they believed further attacks against the U.S. by al-Qaida or similar groups would be justified, and 8 percent said such attacks would be justified against Britain.

As reported by the Associated Press, the survey asked: "President Bush and Tony Blair say that the war against terrorism is not a war against Islam. Do you agree or disagree?"

Seventy percent said they disagreed, 20 percent said they agreed and 10 percent said they didn't know.

Asked whether they believed the U.S. and its allies were justified in blaming the Sept. 11 attacks on al-Qaida, 17 percent answered 'yes' while 56 percent replied 'no.'

Also, 64 percent said al-Qaida should not have been blamed for the October bombings on Bali that killed 192 people and similar terrorist attacks.

Yet 44 percent said attacks by al-Qaida or similar groups are justified because Muslims are being killed by the U.S. or allies using American-made weapons. Forty-six percent said such attacks were not justified. The survey question did not say where Muslims were being killed.

^{[59] [60] [61]}

the GPA's claim that the association had recorded a 74 percent increase in homophobic incidents, where the sole or primary motivating factor was the religious belief of the perpetrator.

The association said the accompanying text made clear Christians were not the only group accused, in fact a quarter of the alleged incidents were provoked by Muslims, it said.^{[62] [63]}

Public opinion in Britain is mostly favourable towards Muslims, but the feeling is not requited by British Muslims, who are among the most embittered in the western world, according to a global poll published yesterday.

The poll, by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project, asked Muslims and non-Muslims about each other in 13 countries. In most, it found suspicion and contempt to be mostly mutual, but uncovered a significant mismatch in Britain.

The poll found that 63% of all Britons had a favourable opinion of Muslims, down slightly from 67% in 2004, suggesting last year's London bombings did not trigger a significant rise in prejudice. Attitudes in Britain were more positive than in the US, Germany and Spain (where the popularity of Muslims has plummeted to 29%), and about the same as in France.

Less than a third of British non-Muslims said they viewed Muslims as violent, significantly fewer than non-Muslims in Spain (60%), Germany (52%), the US (45%) and France (41%).^[64]

According to a new poll of British Muslims, 37% of the 500 adults surveyed viewed Anglo-Jewry as "a legitimate target as part of the struggle for justice in the Middle East."

More than half believed British Jews exerted too much influence over foreign policy.

46% believe "the Jewish community in Britain is in league with the Freemasons to control the media and politics," a conspiracy theory Board of Deputies director-general Jon Benjamin found "completely bizarre."

More than a quarter of 18- to 24-year-olds said they agreed with the views of jailed hate preacher Abu Hamza. ^{[65] [66]}

ALMOST a quarter of British Muslims say the 7/7 bombings can be justified because of the Government's support for the war on terror, according to an opinion poll.

And nearly half of those polled, or 45 per cent, believe the 9/11 attacks on New York were a conspiracy between the United States and Israel. The survey, for a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary to be screened tonight, found Muslims under 24 were twice as likely to justify the 7/7 attacks as those aged over 45. It found 24 per cent either agreed or tended to agree that the 7/7 bombings were justified, although 48 per cent said they "strongly disagreed".

A third of those questioned said they would rather live under Sharia law in the UK than British law.

The survey also reveals concerns among Muslims about Britain's moral standards, with 40 per cent saying it is a country of bad moral behaviour.^[67]

Muslims who see the 7/7 bombing attacks in London as justified on balance: 6 percent.

· Who feel sympathy for the “feelings and motives” of those who carried out the 7/7 attacks: 24 percent.

· Understand “why some people behave in that way”: 56 percent.

· Disagree with Tony Blair’s description of the ideology of the London bombers as “perverted and poisonous”: 26 percent.

· Feel not loyal towards Britain: 16 percent.

· Agree that “Western society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to bring it to an end”: 32 percent willing to use non-violent means and (as noted above) 1 percent willing to use violence “if necessary.” Just 56 percent of Muslims agree with the statement that “Western society may not be perfect but Muslims should live with it and not seek to bring it to an end.”

· Agree that “British political leaders don’t mean it when they talk about equality. They regard the lives of white British people as more valuable than the lives of British Muslims”: 52 percent.

· Dismiss political party leaders as insincere when saying “they respect Islam and want to co-operate with Britain’s Muslim communities”: 50 percent.

· Doubt that anyone charged with and tried for the 7/7 attacks would receive a fair trial: 44 percent.

· Would not inform about a Muslim religious leader “trying to ‘radicalise’ young Muslims by preaching hatred against the West”: 10 percent.

· Do not think people have a duty to go to the police if they “see something in the community that makes them feel suspicious”: 14 percent.

· Believe other Muslims would be reluctant to go to the police “about anything they see that makes them suspicious”: 41 percent.

· Would inform the police if they believed that knew about the possible planning of a terrorist attack: 73 percent. (In this case, the Daily Telegraph did not make available the negative percentage.)

Another opinion poll, this one commissioned by Sky News and carried out by Communicate Research (which interviewed 462 UK-based Muslims by telephone) found similar results:

· Muslims who agree with what the London suicide bombers did: 2 percent.

· Who believe there is a Koranic justification for the bombings: 5 percent.

· Disagree with the statement that “Muslim clerics who preach violence against the West are out of touch with mainstream Muslim opinion”: 46 percent.

· Think of themselves as Muslim first and British second: 46 percent. Another 42 percent do not differentiate between the identities. A mere 12 percent see themselves as British first and Muslim second. ^[68]

The special poll based on a survey of 500 British Muslims found that a clear majority want Islamic law introduced into this country in civil cases relating to their own community. Some 61 per cent wanted Islamic courts - operating on sharia principles – "so long as the penalties did not contravene British law". A major part of civil cases in this country deal with family disputes such as divorce, custody and inheritance. The poll also found a high level of religious observance with just over half saying they pray five times a day, every day - although women are shown to be more devout than men. The poll reveals that 88 per cent want to see schools and workplaces in Britain accommodating Muslim prayer times as part of their normal working day.^[69]

A new poll says about a quarter of British Muslims sympathise with the motives of the London bombers, if not their methods.

And the survey in London's Daily Telegraph shows one-third of British Muslims believe Western society is immoral. The poll asked Muslims if they felt the July the 7th suicide attacks in which 56 peopled died were justified, and six per cent said they were.

71 per cent said they weren't justified at all, and 11 per cent said they weren't justified on balance.

But asked whether they had sympathy with the feelings and motives of the four British Muslim bombers, 13 per cent said they had a lot of sympathy and another 11 per cent had a little.^[70]

In the poll, carried out two weeks after the raid, Muslims were also asked: "Do you think it is right or wrong for the police to act to pre-empt potential terrorist attacks, even if the intelligence, information and warnings may turn out to be wrong?" Thirty-one per cent said it was right and 57% said it was wrong. This view contrasts sharply with that held by the general public. When the same question was asked of a representative sample of all adults, 74% said the police were right to act and 17% said they were wrong.^[71]

1.6m the number of Muslims in Britain (1.54 million in England and Wales and 40,000 in Scotland)

43 per cent originate from Pakistan, 17 per cent from Bangladesh and 9 per cent from India

36 per cent of Tower Hamlets’ population is Muslim, the highest concentration of any part of the UK

2/10 Pakistani or Bangladeshi women are active in the job market, compared to 7/10 black Caribbean and white women

£150 a week is the average amount that Pakistani and Bangladeshi men earn less than white men

30 per cent of pupils of Pakistani origin gained 5 or more GCSE grades A-C in 2000, compared with 50 per cent of the total population

1in3 Muslims has no qualifications, the highest for an ethnic group in Britain. They also have the lowest proportion of degrees or other higher qualifications

9 per cent is the number of Muslim prisoners in England and Wales. The number rose in 1994-2004 from 2,513 to 6,571

2004 In this year Muslims had the highest male unemployment rate in Britain, at 13 per cent, about three times the rate for Christian men (4 per cent)

31 per cent of working age male Muslims were economically inactive, the highest level in the country, in 2004^[72]

Muslims in Britain oppose Shiekh Abu Hamza's views by a factor of two-to-one; however, among the age group 18-24, the figures are reversed, and two out of three who expressed an opinion agree with his views (27% supporting his views, 14% disagreeing with them).^[73]

The poll found that 63% of all Britons had a favourable opinion of Muslims, down slightly from 67% in 2004, suggesting last year's London bombings did not trigger a significant rise in prejudice. Attitudes in Britain were more positive than in the US, Germany and Spain (where the popularity of Muslims has plummeted to 29%), and about the same as in France.

Less than a third of British non-Muslims said they viewed Muslims as violent, significantly fewer than non-Muslims in Spain (60%), Germany (52%), the US (45%) and France (41%).

By contrast, the poll found that British Muslims represented a "notable exception" in Europe, with far more negative views of westerners than Islamic minorities elsewhere on the continent. A significant majority viewed western populations as selfish, arrogant, greedy and immoral. Just over half said westerners were violent. While the overwhelming majority of European Muslims said westerners were respectful of women, fewer than half British Muslims agreed. Another startling result found that only 32% of Muslims in Britain had a favourable opinion of Jews, compared with 71% of French Muslims. ^[74]

Books calling for the beheading of lapsed Muslims, ordering women to remain indoors and forbidding interfaith marriage are being sold inside some of Britain's leading mosques, according to research seen by The Times....

Extremist literature, including passages supporting the stoning of adulterers and waging violent jihad, was also found on sale at many other mosques regarded as mainstream institutions.

The researchers found hardline material at a quarter of the 100 mosques visited during the project.

The report said: "On the one hand, the results were reassuring: in only a minority of institutions – approximately 25 per cent – was radical material found.

"What is more worrying is that these are among the best-funded and most dynamic institutions in Muslim Britain – some of which are held up as mainstream bodies. Many of the institutions featured here have been endowed with official recognition."^[75]

A survey published in December found that 44% of Nigerian Muslims believe suicide bombing attacks are "often" or "sometimes" acceptable. Only 28% said they were never justified.
...
And the July 2006 global Pew survey found that among Muslims, a quarter of Jordanians, a third of Indonesians, 38% of Pakistanis and 61% of Nigerians all expressed confidence in the mass murderer who founded al-Qaida.^[76]

WASHINGTON - One in four younger U.S. Muslims said in a poll that suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances, though most Muslim Americans overwhelmingly reject the tactic and are critical of Islamic extremism and al-Qaida.

The survey by the Pew Research Center, one of the most exhaustive ever of the country's Muslims, revealed a community that in many ways blends comfortably into society. Its largely mainstream members express nearly as much happiness with their lives and communities as the general public does, show a broad willingness to adopt American customs, and have income and education levels similar to others in the U.S.

Even so, the survey revealed noteworthy pockets of discontent.

While nearly 80 percent of U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings of civilians to defend Islam can not be justified, 13 percent say they can be, at least rarely.

That sentiment is strongest among those younger than 30. Two percent of them say it can often be justified, 13 percent say sometimes and 11 percent say rarely.^[77]

In a survey of newly naturalized citizens, 90 percent of Muslim immigrants said that if there were a conflict between the United States and their country of origin, they would be inclined to support their country of origin, said John Fonte of the Hudson Institute. ^[78]

1. Are you a U.S. Citizen? (If no, then don’t fill out survey.) YES 307 NO 0

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

4. Can a good Muslim be a good American? YES 292 NO 11 UNDECIDED 4

5. Did Muslims hijack planes and fly them into buildings on 9/11? YES 117 NO 139 UNDECIDED 51

6. Did the U.S. government have advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, and allow the attacks to occur? YES 200 NO 70 UNDECIDED 37

7. Did the U.S. government organize the 9/11 attacks? YES 106 NO 151 UNDECIDED 50

8. Are the tapes of Osama Bin Laden, claiming responsibility for the 9/11 attacks and threatening future attacks, real or fake? REAL 126 FAKE 129 UNDECIDED 52

9. Did Muslims commit the July 2005 train and bus bombings in London? YES 140 NO 104 UNDECIDED 63

10. The Canadian government says it stopped a plot by Canadian Muslims in June 2006 to attack targets in Canada. Do you believe there was a real plot by Muslims? YES 61 NO 202 UNDECIDED 44

11. The British government says it stopped a plot by British Muslims in August 2006 to bomb planes flying to America. Do you believe there was a real plot by Muslims? YES 66 NO 191 UNDECIDED 50

12. Is Al Qaeda a real organization, operated by Muslims who are trying to attack America? YES 149 NO 109 UNDECIDED 49

13. Is Al Qaeda attacking America because Al Qaeda hates American freedoms? YES 17 NO 269 UNDECIDED 21

14. Is Al Qaeda attacking America because Al Qaeda hates American involvement in the Muslim world? YES 228 NO 54 UNDECIDED 25

15. Is it justifiable for the U.S. government to do any of the following in an attempt to prevent terrorist attacks in America:

a. taking religion and ethnicity into account as one factor when deciding whom to interview and search at airports? YES 37 NO 258 UNDECIDED 12

b. monitoring activities at American mosques? YES 43 NO 255 UNDECIDED 9

. . .

25. Was America justified in invading Afghanistan after 9/11? YES - 51 NO - 248 UNDECIDED - 8

26. Is violence by Muslims against American civilians acceptable, in retaliation for the American government’s actions in the Muslim world? YES - 23 NO - 274 UNDECIDED - 10

27. Is violence by Muslims against the American military overseas acceptable, in retaliation for the American government’s actions in the Muslim world? YES - 134 NO - 154 UNDECIDED - 19

28. Is violence by Muslims against the American military in the U.S. acceptable, in retaliation for the American government’s actions in the Muslim world? YES - 73 NO - 211 UNDECIDED - 23

29. Is violence by Muslims against American government officials acceptable, in retaliation for the American government’s actions in the Muslim world? YES - 51

NO - 231 UNDECIDED - 25 ^{[79] [80]}

More than one-third of American Muslims believe that the U.S. war on terrorism is really a war on Islam, according to survey information released yesterday by researchers at Georgetown University.

Thirty-eight percent of American Muslims polled said they believe the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the tensions with Iran and Syria, reflect a foreign policy that is targeting Islamic countries and Muslims themselves.

An additional 33 percent of Muslims interviewed said they believe the United States is fighting a war on terrorism, and 29 percent said they were not sure. ^[81]

In a poll conducted five months ago, and broadcast on Britain's Channel 4 TV, nearly 25% of British Muslims said the July 7, 2005, terror bombings in London, which killed 52 innocent commuters, were justified. Another 30% said they would prefer to live under strict Islamic Sharia law rather than England's democratic system.

...
In other countries, the figures are no less unsettling. A survey published in December found that 44% of Nigerian Muslims believe suicide bombing attacks are "often" or "sometimes" acceptable. Only 28% said they were never justified.

According to the annual Pew Global Attitudes Survey, released in July 2006, "roughly one-in-seven Muslims in France, Spain and Great Britain feel that suicide bombings against civilian targets can at least sometimes be justified to defend Islam." The report also found that less than half of Jordan's Muslims believe terror attacks are never justified. In Egypt, only 45% of Muslims say terror is never justified.
...
After Cpl. Gilad Shalit was abducted by Hamas terrorists last summer, a poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center revealed that 77.2% of Palestinians supported the kidnapping, while 66.8% said they would back additional such attacks.

More than six out of 10 Palestinians also said they were in favor of firing Kassam rockets at Israeli towns and cities.
...
And the July 2006 global Pew survey found that among Muslims, a quarter of Jordanians, a third of Indonesians, 38% of Pakistanis and 61% of Nigerians all expressed confidence in the mass murderer who founded al-Qaida.

In Lebanon six months ago, the Beirut Center for Research and Information found that over 80% of the Lebanese population said they supported Hizbullah.

^[82]

In Turkey, Morocco and Indonesia, 15% or fewer now say such actions are justifiable. In Pakistan, only one-in-four now take that view (25%), a sharp drop from 41% in March 2004. In Lebanon, 39% now regard acts of terrorism as often or sometimes justified, again a sharp drop from the 73% who shared that view in 2002. A notable exception to this trend is Jordan, where a majority (57%) now says suicide bombings and other violent actions are justifiable in defense of Islam. ...

When it comes to suicide bombings in Iraq, however, Muslims in the surveyed countries are divided. Nearly half of Muslims in Lebanon and Jordan, and 56% in Morocco, say suicide bombings against Americans and other Westerners in Iraq are justifiable. However, substantial majorities in Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia take the opposite view.

As in past Global Attitudes surveys, publics in predominantly Muslim countries believe that democracy can work in their countries. Large and growing majorities in Morocco (83%), Lebanon (83%), Jordan (80%) and Indonesia (77%) – as well as pluralities in Turkey (48%) and Pakistan (43%) – say democracy can work well and is not just for the West. ...

Overall, nearly two-thirds of French (66%) and Germans (65%) oppose Turkey's EU bid, as do a majority of the Dutch (53%). Support for Turkey's admittance to the EU is most extensive in Spain (68%) and Great Britain (57%). ... In the West, only among the Dutch and Germans does a majority or plurality hold unfavorable views of Muslims (51% and 47%, respectively).

Anti-Jewish sentiment is endemic in the Muslim world. In Lebanon, all Muslims and 99% of Christians say they have a very unfavorable view of Jews. Similarly, 99% of Jordanians have a very unfavorable view of Jews. Large majorities of Moroccans, Indonesians, Pakistanis and six-in-ten Turks also view Jews unfavorably.

In the Asian countries surveyed, views of religious groups are generally more moderate. India, with its substantial Muslim minority, is closely divided with respect to views about Muslims; 46% hold a favorable view while 43% view them unfavorably. Opinions of Christians are considerably higher: 61% favorable compared with 19% unfavorable. Most Indians (56%) offer no opinion on Jews; those that do split 28% favorable to 17% unfavorable.

In China, half view Muslims unfavorably while only 20% hold a favorable opinion. Views about Christians are scarcely better: 47% unfavorable compared with 26% favorable. Chinese views of Jews are essentially the same as their attitudes toward Christians: 49% negative vs. 28% positive.

In most of Europe as well as North America, majorities or pluralities judge some religions as more prone to violence than others, and those that do mostly have Islam in mind. Similarly, in India, among the 39% who see some religions as more violent than others, nearly three-in-four (73%) point to Islam, while 17% designate Hinduism. In predominantly Muslim countries, many agree that some religions are more prone to violence than others, but those who think this mostly have Judaism in mind. In Turkey, a plurality sees Christianity as the most violent. ... Smaller majorities in Jordan and Indonesia also have positive views of Christians. However, in Turkey (63%), Morocco (61%) and Pakistan (58%), solid majorities express negative opinions of Christians. ...

In Lebanon, just 2% report some or a lot of confidence in bin Laden, and in Turkey only 7% do so.

In Morocco, just 26% of the public now say they have a lot or some confidence in bin Laden, down sharply from 49% in May 2003. In Indonesia, the public is now about evenly split, with 35% saying they place at least some confidence in bin Laden and 37% saying they have little or none; that represents a major shift since 2003, when 58% expressed confidence in bin Laden.

In Pakistan, however, a narrow majority (51%) places some measure of confidence in bin Laden, a slight increase from 45% in 2003. And in Jordan, support for the Al Qaeda leader has risen over the last two years from 55% to a current 60%, including 25% who say they have a lot of confidence in him. Unsurprisingly, support for bin Laden in non-Muslim countries is measured in the small single digits.^[83]

Families headed by a Muslim are more likely than other families to have children living with them. Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) had at least one dependent child in the family in 2001, compared with two fifths of Jewish (41 per cent) and Christian (40 per cent) families.

Muslim families also had the largest number of children. Over a quarter (27 per cent) of Muslim families had three or more dependent children, compared with 14 per cent of Sikh, 8 per cent of Hindu, and 7 per cent of Christian families.

The larger proportion of families with children and larger family sizes is partly a reflection of the younger age structure of the Muslim population, but may also reflect their intentions to have larger families. Many Muslims have a Pakistani or Bangladeshi background and it has been shown that these ethnic groups intend to have on average over 3 children, compared with around 2 for the White population.^[84]

Conducted upon directions of the World Health Organization (WHO) toward achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals, the study indicated that 28 percent of married women use contraceptives or birth-control and 47 percent of women receive health care during pregnancy, but only 24 of them deliver at health centers. The results show that the fertility rate in Yemen is 5.2 deliveries to every woman. They show that the fertility rate in rural areas is higher than that in urban areas, with 6 children per woman in rural areas and 4 children per mother in urban areas.^[85]

[A Muslim majority in] virtually every house of incarceration in France. About 60 to 70 percent of all inmates in the country's prison system are Muslim, according to Muslim leaders, sociologists and researchers, though Muslims make up only about 12 percent of the country's population.

In Britain, 11 percent [9,500] of prisoners are [self-described] Muslim in contrast to about 3 percent of all inhabitants, according to the Justice Ministry.^[86]

In maximum security ‘Category A’ jails such as Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire - the subject today of an exclusive report in Live magazine based on unprecedented access to both prisoners and staff - they make up 35 per cent of the inmates, and have converted numerous other prisoners to Islam.^[87]

Research by the Open Society Institute, an advocacy organization, shows that in the Netherlands 20 percent of adult prisoners and 26 percent of all juvenile offenders are Muslim; the country is about 5.5 percent Muslim.^[88]

In Belgium, Muslims from Morocco and Turkey make up at least 16 percent of the prison population, compared with 2 percent of the general populace, the [Open Society Institute] research found.^[89]

Though on the federal level they comprise about 6 percent of roughly 150,000 inmates, there are no nationwide statistics on Muslims in state prisons.

Experts believe the largest numbers in state prisons can be found in New York, where Muslims comprise roughly 18 percent of the 63,700 inmates; Pennsylvania, where the figure is about 18 percent out of 41,100; and California, where state officials don't tally religious affiliation but the figure could easily be in the thousands.

The bottom line is that the percentage of American Muslims in prison is almost certainly higher than it is in the general population, where the number of Muslims could be as high as 6 million, or roughly 2 percent.^[90]

NEW DELHI — Even those who caution against "illusions of grandeur and power," as the head of India's governing coalition, Sonia Gandhi, did last week, cannot hide their sense of pride at the idea of India as a nation that extends the concessions of secular democracy to its many castes, creeds and faiths.

Yet that notion has come under strain in recent days, with an official panel having concluded that Muslims, India's largest religious minority, are "lagging behind" on most things that matter

[....]

Among the panel's most damning statistics, as reported by The Indian Express, are that in many states Muslims are significantly overrepresented in prison. In the western state of Maharashtra, for instance, Muslims make up 10.6 percent of the population but 32.4 percent of those convicted or facing trial.^[18]

A recent survey of public acceptance of evolution in 34 countries did include one Muslim country, Turkey. The study found that about 25% of adults in Turkey agree with the statement, “Human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals,” well below the United States (at 40%). The result is all the more worrisome, because Turkey is one of the most educated and secular of Muslim countries. A recent sociological study analyzing religious patterns in Muslim countries (Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan) included a question about evolution as an example of an idea that challenges a “fundamental religious belief widely held by Muslims”. The respondents were asked: “Do you agree or disagree with Darwin’s theory of evolution?” Only 16% of Indonesians, 14% of Pakistanis, 8% of Egyptians, 11% of Malaysians, and 22% of Turks agree that Darwin’s theory is probably or most certainly true (see chart, page 1637). The former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, already showing differences in religious patterns with other countries in the study, had the highest fraction that accepted evolutionary theory. In fact, only 28% of Kazakhs thought that evolution is false,^[91]

Mosque participants were asked, whether they agree or disagree with the statement, "Shari'ah should be the law of the land in Muslim countries?" Shari'ah refers to Islamic law.

Apply Islamic Law in Muslim Lands
Strongly Agree — 59%
Somewhat Agree — 22%
Somewhat Disagree — 8%
Strongly Disagree — 3%

Don't Know — 8% ^[92]

Asked whether Shari'a should be the only source of legislation, one of the sources of legislation, or not be a source of legislation, most Muslims believed it should at least be a source of legislation. Support was particularly strong in Jordan, Palestine, and Egypt, where approximately two-thirds of Muslim respondents stated that the Shari'a must be the only source of legislation; while the remaining third believed that it must be "one of the sources of legislation." By comparison, in Lebanon and Syria, a majority (nearly two thirds in Lebanon and just over half in Syria) favored the view that Shari'a must be one of the sources of legislation.
In contrast, neither education nor age seems to explain attitudes toward the role of the Shari’a in legislation. Pooled data from Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt indicate that 58% of respondents with low education, 59% of those with moderate education, and 56% with higher education believe that Shari'a must be the only source of legislation in their countries. Similarly, the pooled data found that approximately 50% of respondents in all age groups wanted to see the Shari’a become the only source of legislation, another 36-40% across age groups wanted to see it as a source of legislation, and 10-13% preferred that the Shari’a not become a source of legislation.^[93]

More than a third—36%—would prefer Ireland to be ruled under Sharia law, while 37% would like Ireland to be governed as an Islamic state.

It found 28% of young Muslims aged between 16 and 26 believe violence for political ends is sometimes justified.

More than half of young Muslims—57%—believe Ireland should become an Islamic State.

Almost one-in-five—19%—said they “respect” al-Qa’ida terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden, but the same number of those polled supported US President George Bush. However, the findings generally reveal strong liberal opinions among Irish-based Muslims. ^[95][96]

14% of the the Norwegian Muslims want to have Sharia in Norway. That is the results of a TV2 and Norsk Gallup survey. 72% of the Muslims disagreed, while 14% did not know. Correspending numbers for the population at large was 2%, 93% and 4%. A larger percentage of Muslim women wanted Sharia than Muslim men, and there were more Muslims with lower education than Muslims with higher education that wanted the same. ^{[97] [98]}

In the survey of 1,003 Muslims by the polling company Populus through internet and telephone questionnaires, nearly 60% said they would prefer to live under British law, while 37% of 16 to 24-year-olds said they would prefer sharia law, against 17% of those over 55. Eighty-six per cent said their religion was the most important thing in their lives.
Nearly a third of 16 to 24-year-olds believed that those converting to another religion should be executed, while less than a fifth of those over 55 believed the same. The survey claimed that British authorities and some Muslim groups have exaggerated the problem of Islamophobia and fuelled a sense of victimhood among some Muslims: 84% said they believed they had been well treated in British society, though only 28% thought the authorities had gone over the top in trying not to offend Muslims.^[99]

The special poll based on a survey of 500 British Muslims found that a clear majority want Islamic law introduced into this country in civil cases relating to their own community. Some 61 per cent wanted Islamic courts - operating on sharia principles – "so long as the penalties did not contravene British law".
.
.
.
President Bush and Tony Blair have said that the war on terror is not a war against Islam. Do you agree or disagree? March 2004 / Now

Agree 20% 14% Disagree 68% 80% Don't know 12% 6%"

"There should be a new law to make incitement to religious hatred a criminal offence Agree 81% Disagree 15% Don't know 4%

Despite the right to free speech, In Britain people who insult or criticise Islam should face criminal prosecution Agree 58% Disagree 36%

Don't know 5%"^[100]

Four out of 10 British Muslims want sharia law introduced into parts of the country, a survey reveals today.

The ICM opinion poll also indicates that a fifth have sympathy with the "feelings and motives" of the suicide bombers who attacked London last July 7, killing 52 people, although 99 per cent thought the bombers were wrong to carry out the atrocity.

.
.
.

The most startling finding is the high level of support for applying sharia law in "predominantly Muslim" areas of Britain.

Forty per cent of the British Muslims surveyed said they backed introducing sharia in parts of Britain, while 41 per cent opposed it. Twenty per cent felt sympathy with the July 7 bombers' motives, and 75 per cent did not. One per cent felt the attacks were "right".

Nearly two thirds thought the video images shown last week of British troops beating Iraqi youths were symptomatic of a wider problem in Iraq. Half did not think the soldiers would be "appropriately punished".

Half of the 500 people surveyed said relations between white Britons and Muslims were getting worse. Only just over half thought the conviction of the cleric Abu Hamza for incitement to murder and race hatred was fair.^[101]

Conducted by the Frekans research company as part of a project to promote the Turkish Jewish community and its culture, the poll gauged Turks' views on different ethnic and religious groups in Turkey, the Jewish community in particular. Fifty-seven percent of 1,108 people surveyed in the poll said they did not want to have atheist neighbors, while 42 percent said they did not want Jewish neighbors and 35 percent of respondents were reluctant to have Christian neighbors.

Furthermore, when asked whether they would feel uncomfortable if people from Turkey's non-Muslim communities were employed by top state institutions, 57 percent of respondents expressed discomfort with the idea of someone from these groups being employed by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), while 55 percent stated that they did not want non-Muslims to be members of the judiciary or the police force.^[102]

....Prominent political scientists Ersin Kalaycıoğlu and Ali Çarkoğlu from Sabancı University reported the research findings on religiosity in Turkey under the framework of the International Social Survey Program, or ISSP, which measures religious values from 43 different countries....

The findings on tolerance toward religions are remarkable as well. Ninety percent of the Turkish population reported having a positive view toward Muslims, but this ratio dropped to 13 percent for Christians and around 10 percent for Jews. Those who said they have highly positive views about non-believers of any religion totaled 7 percent.

When it comes to accepting political candidates from different religions, 37 percent of Turks said they would absolutely not accept this and 12 percent said they would most likely not accept it. However, 23 percent said they would absolutely accept it and 24 percent say they would probably accept it. Eleven percent of Turks said people from different religions should absolutely be allowed to organize public meetings to express their ideas, while 24 percent said they should be allowed to do so.

Thirty-six percent said people from different religions absolutely should not be allowed to organize such meetings, while 23 percent said they should not be allowed to do so.^[104]

Unemployment rate in Queensland:

Muslims - 10.9%
Non-Muslims - 4.7%

Research shows the unemployment rate of Australian Muslim women is over three times higher than Australian-born females from English speaking populations.^[105]

Unemployment rates for Muslims are higher than those for people from any other religion, for both men and women.

In 2004, Muslims had the highest male unemployment rate in Great Britain, at 13 per cent. This was about three times the rate for Christian men (4 per cent). Unemployment rates for men in the other religious groups were between 3 and 8 per cent.

The unemployment rate for Muslim women at 18 per cent was about four times the rate for Christian and Jewish women (4 per cent in each case). Unemployment rates for women in the other religious groups were between 6 per cent and 9 per cent.

Unemployment rates were highest among those aged under 25 years for all religious groups. Muslims aged 16 to 24 years had the highest unemployment rates. They were over twice as likely as Christians of the same age to be unemployed – 28 per cent compared with 11 per cent. ^[106]

In Denmark, Muslims make up 5% of the population but receive 40% of social-welfare outlays. Their preachers have told them, Mr. Bawer reports, that only a fool would not take maximum advantage of the bounty that Western Europe offers...^[107]

According to a survey conducted by UNICEF, in cooperation with the national council for family, cases of physical and psychological abuse have increased in the past period in Jordan. The study showed that at least 70 percent of school students are subjected to some form of physical or physiological abuse by parents or teachers in schools.^[108]

Nearly 94 percent of Yemeni children aged between two and 14 years old are subject to psychological or physical violence from their parents or guardians, according to the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) [study, which involved 4,000 families across the country] conducted by Ministry of Public Health and Population in September 2006. The results of the survey, which took place over a period of 21 days, were made public at a workshop held last month. They show that 82 percent of these children are subjected to physical punishments, of whom 44 percent were boys and 38 percent were girls.^[109]

World Gender Gap Worst in Islamic Nations

The 2009 report by the World Economic Forum has listed predominantly Islamic nations in the bottom of their annual Global Gender Gap (GGG) Index.....The only nation not predominantly Islamic in the bottom of the Global Gender Gap index was Benin.

In addition, the 2009 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index report does not include rankings on a number of significant and predominantly Islamic nations where women are oppressed. Somalia (population of nearly 10 million) was not included in the index. Endless numbers of reports of the stonings and Islamic supremacist abuses of women have been reported in Somalia in the past year, including the stoning to death of a 13 year old girl based on “Sharia law” in October 2008. Sudan (population of nearly 41 million) was also not included in the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index. Among other nations, Afghanistan (29 million) and Iraq (29 million) are also not included in this Global Gender Gap Index. With the index not reporting on these 109 million, the desperate fate of an estimated 50 plus million women are not included in this Global Gender Gap index report.

Even with these significant exclusions from the Global Gender Gap index report, the bottom 10 index nations (excluding Benin), which are all predominantly Islamic nations, represent a population of over half a billion individuals.....If women represent half of the population in these nations, then these bottom 10 predominantly Islamic nations demonstrate the ongoing oppression of an estimated 250 million women.

In addition, if some other predominantly Islamic nations in the bottom of the Global Gender Gap index are also added to these totals, the global image of the correlated oppression of women further expands dramatically. (Again, this is without such nations as Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc., which were not included in the GGG index report analysis.)

If nine additional such nations in the GGG index are added, the total population impacted doubles from half a billion to over 1 billion.....If women represent half of the population in these nations, then these bottom ranked, predominantly Islamic nations demonstrate the ongoing oppression of an estimated 500 million women.

All of the predominantly Islamic nations referenced in these calculations are members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The OIC rejects the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and has created its own version of a human rights document, “the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights” that stipulates that “All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Shari’a” and that “The Islamic Shari’a is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification to any of the articles of this Declaration.” Human rights group Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) has protested U.S.-funded NGO’s working in “engagement” with the OIC without challenging this rejection of universal human rights. On October 26, 2009, the U.S. State Department’s 2009 Religious Freedom report was critical of the efforts of the OIC to undermine human freedoms.^[110]

At least 50 women who have undergone painful and illegal female circumcision have been treated at two Sydney hospitals in the past year.^[111]

Nearly 90 percent of Afghan women suffer from domestic abuse, according to the United Nations Development Fund for Women. Despite that, there are less than a dozen shelters like this one in Afghanistan, usually run by non-governmental organizations. Abusers are rarely prosecuted or convicted, and most women are afraid to say anything. "Their mothers are beaten by their fathers. They're beaten by their fathers, by their brothers. It's a way of life," said Manizha Naderi, director of WAW.^[113]

A recent report by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) registered 139 cases of violence against women in the northern region of Kurdistan in the second half of 2008 alone. It said 163 women were killed as a result of domestic violence in Kurdistan in 2009. Experts suggest the number is less than 5 percent of the real estimates.^[114]

A study published in June 2006 in the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association, based on interviews with 300 women admitted to hospital for childbirth, said 80 percent reported being subjected to some kind of abuse within marriage. At times, the violence inflicted on women takes on truly horrendous forms. The Islamabad-based Progressive Women's Association (PWA), headed by Shahnaz Bukhari, believes up to 4,000 women are burnt each year, almost always by husbands or in-laws, often as “punishment” for minor “offences” or for failure to bring in a sufficient dowry. The PWA said it had collected details of nearly 8,000 such victims from March 1994 to March 2007, from three hospitals in the Rawalpindi-Islamabad area alone..^[115]

London-based Refugee Workers Association Woman’s Group (GIK-DER) revealed disturbing news last week that up to 80% Turkish and Kurdish women are victims of domestic violence and sexual harassment. At the same time 70% of Turkish and Kurdish husbands cheat on their wives.^[116]

While statistics are notoriously hard to come by due to the private nature of such crimes and the fact that very few are reported, the United Nations Population Fund approximates that as many as 5,000 women are murdered in this manner each year worldwide. Undoubtedly that's a low estimate, as reports from Turkey, Jordan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories, among other locales, are filtering in at an alarming rate. Add to the list Germany, Sweden, other parts of Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States, and it's clear that young Muslim women in the West are becoming increasingly vulnerable.^[117]

The number of murders, rapes and assaults on people who dare to break strict religious or cultural rules is doubling every year, police figures show, with up to two violent “honour crimes” being committed every day. But charities which help victims of honour crimes say the true extent of the problem is far worse than the statistics show, as every year hundreds of vicitms - normally women - are too frightened to report attacks or to give evidence in court.

[....]

Figures released by the Metropolitan Police show that in London alone there have been 129 honour-based crimes between April and October this year, compared with 132 in the whole of 2008/09, which in turn was double the number of the previous year. The Home Office has estimated that there are an average of 12 honour killings each year in England and Wales.

But Diana Nammi, director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation, described the official figures as “the tip of the iceberg” and suggested there are more than 500 honour crimes each year nationwide.

She said: “It’s not just the detection of honour crimes which is increasing, but the number of crimes which are committed. The rise of fundamentalism is the reason these crimes are increasing. The Government has also been turning a blind eye to the problem, which only makes things worse.

“We need to change the mindset of the communities where these crimes are happening - mainly people from South Asia, the Middle East and Muslim communities - and hopefully the religious leaders will think about how we can stop this.”^[118]

A survey carried out among university students on honour killings showed that in two universities around 30 percent of students thought such crimes were normal. In other universities the rate ranged from 3 to 19 percent.^{[119] [120]}