The Wrongologist

What’s
Wrong Today:

Pew has released another installment of
data from its massive research into Muslim attitudes, conducted from 2008-2012,
entitled “The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society.” Over 38,000
Muslims in 38 countries were surveyed, in interviews in 80-plus languages, thus
constituting a huge survey that is both statistically sound and geographically broad.

 

Pew found that most Muslims are deeply
committed to their faith and want its teachings to shape not only their
personal lives but also their societies and politics.

• Asked “Should Sharia (religious law) be the law of the land?” 57% of
  Muslims across 38 countries answered “yes”, including most problematically for the
  US: 99% of Afghans, 91% of Iraqis, 89% of Palestinians, 84% of Pakistanis and
  74% of Egyptians. 

99% of Afghans…Don’t
you wish we knew THAT before we
started surging, nation-building and paying off Mr. Karzai?

• “Should Sharia apply to non-Muslims as well as Muslims?” Across 21
  countries surveyed on this question, 40% answered affirmatively, with the highest
  positive response coming from Egypt (74%) exceeding even Afghanistan’s 61%.

• In the 20 countries where it was asked, the question of whether Sharia
  punishments (such as whippings and cutting off of thieves’ hands) should be
  enacted, the average of those who answered “yes” was 52%, led by Pakistan (88%), Afghanistan (81%),
  the Palestinian Territories (PT), (76%) and Egypt (70%). The survey showed that
  Muslims tended to be most comfortable with using Sharia in the domestic sphere,
  to settle family or property disputes.

• On
  the specific penalty of stoning for adultery, the
  20-country average was 51% — with Pakistan again leading
  at (89%), Afghanistan (85%), the PT (84%) and Egypt (71%) highest in approval.

• 38% of Muslims across those same 20 nations support the death penalty for those leaving Islam for another
  religion (apostasy).

• Majorities in most countries say that “democracy is better than a powerful
  leader;” however, a powerful leader was preferred by more than 50% in Russia,
  Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as by 42% of Iraqis, 40% of Palestinians and
  36% of Egyptians.

• Most
  Afghans, Egyptians and Tunisians believe that “Islamic political parties” are
  better than other parties.

Data from the global
survey was compared with prior Pew surveys of Muslims in the US. Pew reports that there were 2.6 million Muslims in
the US in 2010 and that their population will grow to 6.2 million by 2030. American
Muslims are much more likely than Muslims in other countries to have close
friends who do not share their faith, and they are much more open to the idea
that many religions – not only Islam – can lead to eternal life in heaven.

On the question
of suicide bombing: Across 20 countries, only 13.5% think it is
ever justified, but support is much higher in the Palestinian Territories
(40%), Afghanistan (39%) and Egypt (29%).

It is the reverse in
the US, where 81% of US Muslims
say suicide bombings or other forms of violence against civilians in the name
of Islam are never justified, while just
1% say violence against civilians is often justified, or is sometimes
justified (7%) to defend Islam.

Dr.
Timothy R. Furnish, who served as an Arabic linguist with
the 101st Airborne and as an Army chaplain, holds a PhD in Islamic history from
Ohio State. He is the author of Holiest
Wars: Islamic Mahdis, Their Jihads, and Osama bin Laden (2005),
and blogs at MahdiWatch,
has these conclusions about Pew Research’s work:

1) The high degree of Muslim support for Sharia is a red flag: Despite assurances
by both the Obama and Bush administrations that most Muslims are “moderate,” empirical
data clearly show that most Muslims support not just Sharia in general, but also
its brutal punishments. Just as
disturbing, almost 40% of Muslims are in favor of killing those who choose to
follow another religion. The countries in which the US is heavily
involved either diplomatically or militarily are where such sentiments run most
high: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Territories.

 

This explains why very few Islamic leaders
have publicly tried to lead the Muslim world towards moderation.

 

Further, it appears that our military, two
presidents and 4 CIA directors owe an explanation to the American people.

 

2) Afghanistan was always a lost cause.
Afghans are at the top of almost every list in support for Sharia, suicide
bombing and honor killing, as well as
dislike for democracy. The data are clear: Our military’s inability
to explain the causes of “green on blue” attacks or the Taliban’s continuing popularity in Afghanistan shows they
never understood the environment.

 

Strategically, the
US decision to stay there after taking out al-Qaida and then attempting to nation-build
in Afghanistan was a huge mistake.

 

2014 can’t come soon enough.

 

3) Islam in Southeastern Europe and Central
Asia is a more tolerant brand of the
faith than
the Middle Eastern variety. For example, the SE European and Central
Asian Muslims are the least likely to support the death penalty for apostasy,
and are the most supportive of letting women decide whether to veil.

 

Muslims in Sub-Saharan Africa are the most
likely to know about Christianity, and to interact with Christians. On the
other hand, African Muslims are among
the most enamored of Sharia, while those in Central Asia are fond of
letting Islamic judges decide family and property disputes. So there does
not seem to be a direct link between Westernization and moderation.

 

4) Malaysia may
be the next breeding ground of Islamic terrorism:
61% of its population (17 million) are Muslims, and they hold harsh views: 86%
want Sharia to be the law of the land; 67% favor the death penalty for
apostasy; 66% like Sharia-compliant corporal punishments; 60% support stoning
for adultery; and 18% think suicide bombing is justified.

 

It looks like we need to hire more Malay
linguists and analysts.

 

In summary, Islam is the world’s
second-largest religion, numbering some 1.6 billion humans (behind Christianity’s
2.2 billion).

 

There is enormous diversity of opinion among Muslims on
many issues of doctrine and religious practice, and we shouldn’t categorize
Islam as either “peaceful” or “violent”. That is the superficial thinking that
has gotten us into big trouble in the last decade.

 

Nonetheless, this latest Pew study provides
empirical evidence that many, many Muslims retain a literalist, supremacist
and often brutal view of managing their world. 

 

The
best news in the research is the tolerant and nuanced world view of American
Muslims compared to that of Muslims worldwide, particularly in the Middle East.
Our decade-long military involvement in the Middle East has given many Muslims
a direct, and in many ways, a negative experience with Americans. That
experience may contribute to certain survey results, particularly about the
desire for Sharia in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, or it may contribute to the finding that 39% of Afghans have no issue with suicide bombings.   

 

Our politicians and military must build a
deeper understanding of the global Muslim landscape if we are to have peace and
security in the 21st Century.

 

A deep dive into the Pew data is a great
place to start.