UPDATED! Muslim Attitudes in the West (Need YOUR Help)

July 24, 2007 by ibnabeeomar Action-Alerts, Islamophobia, Media, Society, Terrorism
28 comments Tags: Society

Update: Preliminary results added below.

Dr. Ali Shehata has a survey online regarding Muslim attitudes in the West. Many non-Muslims are making dangerous conclusions about Muslim attitiudes towards certain issues and we need to effectively respond to these claims and this CANNOT be done without the participation of everyone possible. We need to get at least thousands of responses to this survey.

This is important and will help Dr. Ali and the others conducting the survey to speak out positively on the behalf of Muslims and insha'Allah prevent more harassment, profiling and negative stereotyping of Muslims in the west. The survey is COMPLETELY ANONYMOUS and no harm will come to you for being honest but not replying will only demonstrate that we have things to hide and open the door for more attacks and allegations that Muslims are deceptive, violent and so on.

This survey needs to go viral and FAST. Please don't only take the survey, but post it on your blogs, facebook, myspace pages, etc. Get the word out fast as it will only be up for a short time longer.

Preliminary results as follow:

Total participants: 825 (67% of respondents under age 35)

Men: 336
Women: 481

US respondents – about 650 (highest # in southwest, lowest participation northwest)
Canada – 37
UK – 57
Australia – 25

People who believe Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion – 97%

People who believe that susicide and suicide bombings are never justified – 85%
People who were unsure on this issue – 7%

People who support peace with Israel – total 83%
People unsure on the matter – 9%

People who would turn a blind eye to a terrorist plot – 2%
People who would in some way contact the authorities to report a plot – 78%
People unsure – 15%

People who have experienced harrassment, hatred or persecution for
religion – 59%

People who report that their community issued a condemnation of 9/11 – 62%
People unsure on the matter – 32%
People who report their community celebrated the 9/11 attacks – 0%

Percentage of communities with targeted youth programs to protect youth from extremism – 51%
Percentage with no such programs currently or ever – 49%

People who believe education of Muslims and non-Muslims is the way to peace – 89%
People who believe war is the way – 1%

The top three issues concerning Muslims in the West:
1) The hijacking of Islam by terrorists and militant radicals (31%)
2) The increasing delinquency and intellectual confusion among Muslim youth (22%)
3) The oppression, persecution and plight of Muslims world-wide (21%)

Percentage of Muslims happy with where they are now – 80%
Percentage who seek to leave the West and live elsewhere – 7%

Again, these are only quick figures and a more detailed analysis and breakdown will follow in the coming weeks as I have time to analyze the data and inshaâ€™Allah work with other community leaders around the US to help make recommendations inshaâ€™Allah. Once again, jazakum Allahu khair for your time and assistance, was-salaam alaikum

Dr. Ali Shehata
www.jmerit.com

Tags: Society

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Muslimmatters.org began in 2007 as a collaboration between various Bloggers and Shuyukh in order to bring attention to issues faced by Muslims, especially in the West. We have focused on issues of Religion, Society, Ethics, Sex Education, Politics, Civil Rights, Family, as well as the random issues that pop up from now and then, all with some ranting and humor mixed in.

We challenge ourselves and our readers to engage in discourses that touch our lives as citizens of the West, while maintaining our individual Islamic identities: Ultimately to cooperate, but not to compromise.

Pingback: Muslim Attitudes in the West at Ijtema
http://www.dua4me.com/out.php?title=Muslim_Attitudes_in_the_West__Ali_Shehata_MuslimMatters-org Ameen (click here) !

May Allah help us to prevent harassment, profiling, and negative stereotyping of Muslims in the West. And May Allah Bless Dr. Ali Shehata and those who are willing to stand up for justice.

Ameen (click above) !
Pingback: University Update - West 8 - Muslim Attitudes in the West (Need YOUR Help)
Moiez

The questions kinda sounded like they were coming from the government or something, it gave me an erie feeling when they starting talking about if you know al-qaeda and if you think israili’s should be fought against and what kind of muslim are you, We are muslim and thats it no ifs or buts, sects cmon i know they exist and i know we cant prevent it because of the hadith but dont aknowledge that it is there like that I feel embarrassed and ashamed of Allah that his religion is like this
Moiez

but if this helps the muslims than I would take this survey mulitiple times
I ask Allah to forgive us all
http://www.muslimmatters.org Amad

Moiez, you have been watching too many conspiracy movies :)

The survey came from a trusted friend, who we know for many years. He is a doctor by profession as well as a caller to Islam giving classes and halaqat wherever he is.
http://www.mujahideenryder.net Mujahideen Ryder

What if the survey actually supports what American research institutes find? The jmerit.com site looks kinda of sketchy. I am also getting that eerie feeling like Moiez.

I also don’t see a need to ask such personal questions in terms of how much Qur’an you read, how much you pray.

Oh yeah, nothing is anonymous on the Internet. :-D
http://www.mujahideenryder.net Mujahideen Ryder

I think the reason for asking about how much Quran you read is to find religiosity, but there are other ways to do this.

Non-Muslims see a Muslim man with a big long beard or a sister in niqab and they right away think they are extremist.

The question in the survey should be like “do you have a long beard” or “do you wear niqab”.

That way the results will be like 80% of niqabis love to live in america or 77% of muslim males who wear long beards believe suicide is forbidden and have only 1 wife.

That is really effective then saying: 89% of muslims who read quran frequently believe osama bin laden is totally wrong and doing things against Islam.
http://www.jmerit.com Dr. Ali Shehata

SA – I am a little saddened at some of these comments since I have spent so much of my time trying to help people understand more about Islam and to help Muslims protect themselves from persecution. The survey was done by a Muslim and in conjunction with scholarly input and encouragement by both Sh. Waleed Basyouni and Abdul-Rahman Chao (Medina grad). It is not a government conspiracy furthermore.

I understand that some people will not understand the reasoning behind a question and for this reason I have given people the chance to text in responses which only adds to the work of interpretation but also gives me a chance to see how future surveys can be better. We suffer from a total lack of research in Islam and as a result non-Muslim polling and research groups have been out there “gathering data” on Muslims and then coming up with their own conclusions. I find it saddening that with all the intelligence and education we possess as Muslims in the West that we are allowing people to paint whatever picture they want of Islam.

For those who believe that the media is out to get us or blocking us, etc I have also found this to be completely untrue. After publishing my latest book, Demystifying Islam, I have given over 25 radio interviews – some about an hour long – on large radio stations across the US. I was welcomed and given ample opportunities to explain Islamic positions on numerous issues alhamdulillah. The call-ins to the overwhleming majority of these shows were positive and each radio host was very surprised to learn many new things about Islam alhamdulillah. I have been invited back as a guest and commentator to at least 6 of these stations alhamdulillah.

One particular statement made on one radio network though really affected me when the host said to his listeners (FM station morning talk show in CT) – “it is so hard to actually find a Muslim to speak with these days and get some clarity on what is happening”. I was surprised because so many Muslims are within the greater Hartford, CT area and NY city is so close as well. My point in short is that it is SO EASY to play the victim and say that they are against us but it takes courage and resolve to go out there and get things done. People in the West are still coming to Islam and that means we have many avenues and we cannot afford in today’s climate to be lax or pessimistic. The Prophet (saas) is recorded to have said in authentic hadith that he disliked pessimism and loved optimism. And the reality is that so many people right now are looking for credentialed Muslims to help their viewers/listeners understand what is going on.

So in conclusion to this long response I ask you to give your own Muslim brother the benefit of the doubt as we are supposed to do with one another. There is so much education that needs to be done now – both in our own communities and among non-Muslims – and none of that will happen until we know where the problems are and then apply educated answers to them. Jazakum Allahu khayr.
http://www.jmerit.com Dr. Ali Shehata

To respond to the issues regarding particular questions:

Why am I concerned about the “religiosity” of the person answering the questions by asking questions about Quran as opposed to beards/niqab?

Firstly, there is in fact 2 questions about hijaab and since niqab is not a unanimously agreed upon requirement by the ulama (whereas hijab is) I did not deal with niqab.

Secondly, it becomes very silly to ask about the length of the beard for numerous reasons. The survey would lose its professionalism if I ask the length in inches/cm of someone’s beard and it would not be accurate if I just ask about “long beard” since people’s definition of long varies.

So why ask about Quran? It makes a strong point when we see people who rarely read the Quran supporting suicide bombings – the point then being that education and closeness to the book of Allah results in an attitude of tolerance. So I am guaging the effect of closeness to the Quran and multiple issues and I hope this makes sense.

The results of this survey again are not just for throwing up a big billboard to non-Muslims, but it has the dual purpose of clarifying our stance to non-Muslims as well as helping us to internally recognize where problems are so we can pay more attention to them.

And just as a preview and to allay fears – the survey is NOT confirming what the other research institute (Pew Research Institute) discovered. They did though build their data on 1000 responses whereas this survey has only gotten about 400 thus far.

Isn’t it sad that a Muslim who is working to help out the community is struggling this much and being attacked when a non-Muslim grp had little difficulty in getting 1000 respondents.

But once again, their results were covered by all major media outlets and in fact i was contacted by several radio stations to discuss these results. When we gather the real info this is called standing up for justice which is what Allah commands us to do and also protecting the good name of this deen which I am sure you all know is something very special in Islam. It’s time we drop the conspiracy theories and get on with real life before Allah replaces us with those who will deal with reality.
http://www.mujahideenryder.net Mujahideen Ryder

JazkaAllah khair Dr. Ali for commenting! Your explanation was good. I apologize if it seemed that I was deterring your work. May Allah (swt) give it success.

You said: “Isn’t it sad that a Muslim who is working to help out the community is struggling this much and being attacked when a non-Muslim grp had little difficulty in getting 1000 respondents.”

Maybe we should figure out a way of getting a large quantity to fill out the survey, instead of emailing and blogging.

How exactly did the non-Muslim organization get 1,000 people? That is a question that needs answering.

I was discussing this with another brother about how Muslim surveys can be more effectively done if it’s done at a large quantity scale. For example, say for registering for the ICNA, ISNA or MAS convention or an MSA Zonal conference you make mandatory for each applicant to fill out a 5 minute survey of 10 to 15 questions. This is an easy way of getting over 10,000 responses.

And if you wanted to filter it and focus on a set group, then an MSA conference would be good for an age range of 16 to 26.

I am almost positive that organizations like ICNA, ISNA, MAS and MSA National would be willing to allow a survey to be part of the registration process, since its for the progression and development of the Muslim community in North America.

May Allah (swt) give this project success. Ameen!
http://www.muslimmatters.org ibnabeeomar

jazakallahu khayr dr. ali for clearing some of this up. we need to all get behind this cause and try to help make the project a success. insha’Allah if theres suggestions for improving the survey, or some constructive criticism to help for future projects that could be communicated through the proper channels.

i agree with dr. ali’s statement though, we need to refrain from attacking the project. if someone does not agree with it, they simply need not fill it out, but i really feel like we need to step back and look at the bigger picture of this:

imagine how much impact it would be if a public figure can go on the radio or news and say with confidence that they received 10,000 replies to a muslim survey and found the following results…
ahmed

Jazakum Allahu khairan for clarifying these issues, Dr Shehata.

My question is this:

What if some right-wing group decides to fill in the survey the way they want it to turn out?

Or what if someone writes a script to go through and fill the survey with bogus information?

What kind of precautions have been taken in case of these possibilities?

Again, thank you very much for all your hard work.

was salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu,
Moiez

Now that we have some proof my other comment comes into play
time to send out some forwards, and mujahideen ryder had some good suggestions on the spreading of this Anti-Persecution of Muslims survey
http://www.jmerit.com Dr. Ali Shehata

Barak Allahu feekum for your kind and supportive comments and excellent suggestions. I totally understand that in this day and age we need to be careful and I appreciate the fact that you all were open to understanding alhamdulillah. MR – your ideas are excellent and definitely something I am considering for the upcoming conferences. i was using this as a test vehicle so that when the conferences come up some of the “bugs” could be worked out.

Ahmad – you also had good questions and issues that you brought up. I realize that these things are of course possible and at the same time difficult to protect entirely against. I know that neither of them has happened and I have tried to avoid such a thing happening by first placing a time limit on the survey and secondly by leaving many text response answers. Such people will not have enough lingo and tech knowledge to put anything legit in the text boxes. I also have means of examining individual reponses – it doesn’t allow me to know who answered but allows me to see that person’s answers. Questionable responses will be removed.

The goal is to move fwd to how other organizations do surveys which is through phone interviews but the difficulty in this case is the subject matter. I doubt anyone would talk to me too long if I started asking questions about terrorism on the phone and for those that do answer the honesty issue will be out the window in some cases. So, at present a somewhat imperfect system but a very capable and effective one nonetheless.

The survey time limit will expire soon and already I have a good idea about the trends which are alhamdulillah very good and I fully intend to go public with them insha’Allah. it also gives me a good idea about where we need to direct our efforts inward to prevent any more catastrophes insha’Allah and how we can effectively work with others insha’Allah to achieve common goals.

Once again, I am glad that my answers were well received and I am and continue to be open to your concerns and suggestions. I just wanted everyone to remember that we are all trying to achieve the same goals – the pleasure of Allah and the correct representation of this deen which will serve to protect and nurture the Muslims who adhere to it insha’Allah. Jazak Allahu khayr!
http://www.muslimmatters.org Amad

jazakAllah khair Dr. Ali for taking the time to stop by and clarifying the issues.

I hope you will stop by more often and add your valuable thoughts to other topics inshallah.

wasalam.
Moiez

Yes please you seem like someone I would like to get to know and in contact with since your working for the good of the ummah I feel like you might be something good that Allah(swt) has dropped in and I want to snag the opportunity like Musa (AS) and Umar(RA)
mohamed

The views I have seen in this blog has been very disturbing . I don’t blame many Americans for being fearful. Many views I have seen here reflect Islamist Sunni views and does not reflect democratic values. They are typical of CAIR and ISNA and ICNA views. They say one thing in MSNBC but say something else when they are with each other. Kind of like the verses in the Quran about the hypocrites. I still do not understand why Muslims who follow the traditional Sunni views are living in the West and not under Taliban controlled areas in Afghanistan.

I have had to struggle many times in this blog and elsewhere from radical views and it seems that American Muslims have not gotten over the culture of the so called Sunni Islam clerical jurisprudence. Either they don’t get it or they don’t know how to get out of it. Or maybe they know no other kind of Islam.

Either ways most Sunni adherents believe Americans are kuffar and America is kufr land and thus would not find it hard to lie in any survey. Why should we even bother looking at surveys when we have the fiqh books to look at to see what are the values Sunni Islam believes in.

A quick glimpse at Sunni hadiths like Bukhari, Muslim and the Muwatta by the students of Imam Malik is all America needs to look at.

I understand the dilemma that many Muslims in the West have. In one side they can not be part of a kufr nation according to Sunni dogma and on the other side they are enjoying their life in this kufr nation. Quite a dilemma isn’t it?

The solution is to return to the Quran and abandon the Abbasid fiqh known as Ahl Ul Sunnah. This will sove your dilemma, but many here refused to listen. This is because the Abbasid fiqh makes many Muslim feel superior to others as it labels all non Muslims as kaffirs like the Jews and Christians did in the past and many still do. The Abbasid fiqh also used the prophet Muhammad as its spokesman dropping hadiths like leaves falling from a tree. Nobody seems to ask where they got those hadiths from but who cares, most muslims follow Sunni islam because their parents were one. Kind of like the early pagans of Arabia. Sunni Muslims thought that they will be respected around the world, but the Muslim deeds do not reflect this superiority. Its superiority based on identity and not actions, so why should it? Quite a dilemma wouldn’t you agree?

The Abbasid fiqh believes Muslims should live under a legal state like the 1st Muslim community in Madinah with all its political and legal and economic framework. They called that Shariah or Islamic law. However since it was for a community more than 1,450 years ago many of the economic and social and political framework is no longer applicable. Yet the Abbasid fiqh does not have a way out of it. So they are not able to apply it in modern times and yet they can not accept any other system since it goes against the Abbsid fiqh dogma, so they are in a limbo. Quite a dilemma wouldn’t you agree?

The taqiya startegy could have worked, but unfortunantly for many Sunnis and Shias also, the fiqh books are available everywhere. In fact Americans can get all they want from the internet. They can see the Shafi fiqh and Maliki fiqh and Hanbali fiqh and the books of Abbasid hadiths. How are you going to hide those? Quite a dilemma, wouldn’t you think?
Hassan

mohamed, next time wait 24 hours after taking pot to post your comments.
A non mouse

Dr. Shehta,

In the survey, I didn’t get that question where you ask, “Which of the following best describes you?, and then you go on to mention, sunni, shia, ikhwani, sufi, salafi…..

Are you trying to say that Ikhwanis, Sufis, Salafis are not Sunnis? IMHO, the various groups should have been kept under a different question. That question should be changed.

Salam

The survey is already in progress, so we can provide suggestions that can be incorporated in future surveys. I am sure Dr. Ali appreciates all the suggestions for improvements. For now, let’s try to answer to the closest degree, and move on. The important point is to get it done. Also, if we have more suggestions, etc., please provide them in a respectful manner (not that Br. Khalid wasn’t respectful) and for the purpose of enhancements to future surveys, NOT this particular one. You cannot change a survey in progress because it will void all the results -MM
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee

Dr. Shehata and others,

Jazzak Allaahu Khayr for your efforts. I already filled out the survey immediately after hearing about it on Tariq Nelson’s blog.

As I’m sure you know, since this is not a survey with random sampling, the results are not scientific — no one can say they represent the views of the Muslims in general. The best that one can say is that they represent the views of Muslims who happen to view these websites and who happen to desire to fill out the survey…which since its been made clear that the goal of the survey is to provide different results than other surveys which have been in the media is a clearly biased sample in many ways.

I understand that you are doing the best you can and I applaud the effort and support it, but I just wish more stress was placed on the second aim you mentioned (to see what issues exist in the Muslim community in order to address them) and the encouragement be made to people to be honest rather than giving the people the idea there are right or wrong answers. Of course to many of the questions there are right or wrong answers, but if we want the survey to be helpful we want people to answer what they really think, not what they think they are “supposed” to say on the survey.

Allaah knows best.

This is just my reaction and my advice — maybe some clarification would help me to understand better. It is not meant to be negative criticism. Again, Jazzak Allaahu Khayr. I am in support of such efforts and just want them to improve. For another important effort promoting research and dialogue in the community on these issues I encourage everyone to check out http://www.muslimsforasafeamerica.org
http://www.muslimmatters.org ibnabeeomar

maybe dr. ali will be able to reply, but i had the same question when i was reading the survey. i believe that its not an issue of whether those groups themselves are sunni or not, but its what people actually identify themselves as – and from that perpsective i think its a good question. it will be able to demonstrate people who consider themselves of a particular group do not lean towards terrorism, as the media often tries to paint only certain sects of islam as responsible for terrorist acts
http://www.muslimmatters.org ibnabeeomar

mohamed – other than the fact that your post is childish, full of false information, it is also just at a level of ludicrousness for ANY muslim – even those who reject hadith,

you said,

The Abbasid fiqh also used the prophet Muhammad as its spokesman

Is that so? Since you at least believe in the Quran, can you tell me who did Allah(swt) appoint to reveal the Quran to, and explain it to us, and to be its “spokesman”

furthermore, can you please tell us what exactly it is you suggest we do or follow since mainstream islam is obviously not correct in your eyes.

lastly, have you read any of the books we directed in response to your previous arguments on other posts or do you just prefer to troll and post drivel without engaging anyone in an actual intellectual and meaningful discussion?
http://www.mujahideenryder.net Mujahideen Ryder

Mohamed you came here too? (he came on my blog)
http://www.muslimmatters.org ibnabeeomar

survey closes on monday

email from dr. ali:

Salaam alaikum everyone

I apologize for continuing to annoy everyone but I know there a number of you who have yet to take the survey. Everyone is busy for sure but it will only take 5 minutes of your time and the poll closes in just 4 days subhanAllah! Briefly I will take a moment to tell you why this survey is so important to participate in …

About 4-6 weeks ago a research group in the US, the Pew Research Institute released a study that made certain claims about Muslims in America that were viewed with great negativity in many media circles. Particularly they tried to extrapolate one of their figures to “prove” that over one million terrorists live in the US and that they are under the age of 25. The poll that I have arranged of course doesn’t have the financial or institutional back-up to discredit the Pew report nor is that the main intention; yet our poll does show the public that we take these issues seriously enough to do some internal investigation and find ways to address the problem. Furthermore, from the responses received thus far there is a great deal of valuable
information that can be used to benefit our community.

There have also been those who viewed the questions with a lot of skepticism and wondered why the focus on terrorism. As Muslims, we cannot live with our heads in the sand and ignore the issues around us. People around us in the West are very scared due to what they read and hear. This does concern us greatly since Allah has sent us to spread peace and with that security. The Prphet (saas) has commanded us with “bashiru wala tunafiru” – bring people closer and don’t drive them away. I already know that the overwhelming majority of Muslims are those who are tolerant, peaceful and concerned about making this
world better and safer. Yet, your neighbors don’t know that and the public in general doesn’t know that. So make your voice heard on these issues and remember that this is primarily an internal study meant to help give us direction. It has no intention of hurting anyone and is totally anonymous.

The survey again can be accessed from http://www.jmerit.com or directly right now through:

http://www.AdvancedSurvey.com/default.asp?SurveyID=53636

For those who have already taken it – may Allah reward you for your time and concern – please don’t take it again of course, but try your best to encourage your friends at the masjid and of course your parents, siblings and/or children to also take it. You can help so much this way. The deadline is Monday insha’Allah and afterwards it will take a few days to process the results and then post them with analysis and recommendations insha’Allah. Please once again forgive me for taking your time but I wouldn’t if this wasn’t so important. Barak Allahu feekum wa jazakum Allahu khayr.

Dr. Ali Shehata
Rasheed

Assalamu Alaikum,

The survey contains a large amount of Bias. The questions are heavily inclined to love, peace and coexistance with the disbelievers.

So you have 4 responses inclining to love and praise of the jews and one response with condemnation. (the variable question even says Allah PRAISED them as ahl kitaab)

Likewise there are 4 responses of reporting suspicious activity to the police and one response completely turning a blind eye.

(No Al Qaedah or millitants member is going to be discussing an attack in a mosque or among common people)

You question on suicide bombing say what do you think about ( stapping explosive and blowing yourself AMONGST A CROWD OF PEOPLE)

I’m not saying the survey contains bias, I’m saying the survey is extremely biased.
http://www.muslimmatters.org ibnabeeomar

message from dr. ali (results added in the post):

Salaam alaikum everyone,

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who participated in the survey/poll and forwarded it on or contacted people to encourage them to take it. Alhamdulillah the response rate was good with about 825 people taking the survey. This was not at all a bad number for a first time effort in this regards. There were some isolated problems with people not finishing all the questions of the survey and I hope to resolve this in the future by including the number of questions in the initial email so pople will have an idea of how much they need to committ time-wise.

Before I give an overview of the results (a more detailed analysis will be up on the http://www.jmerit.com website later in the month insha’Allah) I did want to ask if anyone would like to volunteer for future efforts. Web surveys are good and the ability to combine that
with paper hand-filled out surveys would be better. If you are part of a class, or attend jumu’ah and are able to get permission from your masjid for handing surveys after jumu’ah please do reply as the help would be great. Also anyone who specializes in statistics and
statistical methods would be a great assett and I would love to hear from you. Otherwise I certainly appreciate everyone’s time and ask that you forgive my shortcomings.

Once again, all attempts were made to make this a clean and scientific as possible effort, yet the term poll will be used. I will explain
methodology on the website later this month for those who are interested in why the poll was conducted this way, the advantages it
has over other survey methods as well as the disadvantages. Also, it should be remembered that this is more of an internal study to help Muslims recognize the patterns in their communities so that we can all make educated efforts to better protect, educate and motivate our communities insha’Allah.
mohamed

“Blah, blah, blah”.

Quite a difference, wouldn’t you agree. Keep your Abbasid gossip and hearsay. Don’t complain about Islamophobia, you deserve it.

Mohamed, we are done with your same song and dance. Please go to LGF, you’ll find lots of company there. Or call up Fox Noise and you could earn become famous and even earn some money for your nonsense. As for MM, we enjoyed the comedy you provided, but the shtick has become boring. Bye, bye. -Amad.

ibnabeeomar

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