Perceptions of Muslims: Polls, damn polls, and statistics

Dark days, polls say

Before the missiles and bombs stopped flying between Israel and Lebanon, poll results have been hurled across parliaments and newspapers in Europe and America in an effort to introduce restrictions on Muslim charities, political activities, and civil rights. But rather than speaking to Muslims with more nuance and breadth (or mainstream Muslims themselves speaking beyond the often conflicting statements of their representatives), the tendency of governments and media to rely on polls assessing the alleged behaviour of Muslims often confuses and frustrates more than it enlightens.

The recent terror arrests in London have led to an polled increase in support for passenger profiling in Britain and the US with a ‘focus on Muslims’ despite adherents spread across nearly every race. Polls implying a multitude of divided loyalties and violent tendencies have led to widespread fear, with Muslim leaders issuing plaintive and seemingly futile denials. However, many of these poll results have reasonable explanations or at least alternative interpretations.

For example, one observer points out that the identification by Muslims of their religion first rather than nationality is an obvious one, since Muslims will rally around themselves when under siege by their government, excluded by society, or under military attack elsewhere in the world. Oft-cited British polls showing minorities of Muslims sometimes justifying violence against civilians or sympathising with the objectives of the 7/7 bombers leave out some important caveats – that only slightly fewer non-Muslims agree with the violence (7% vs. 10%) and that the bomber’s objectives, as possibly understood by a Muslim poll responder, might include the withdrawal of UK troops from Iraq and ending the occupation of Palestine – both points on which a majority of Britons agree.

Other polls showing a minority interested in implementing sharia law fail to differentiate between the hand-chopping Saudi variety and its use in civil disputes that – importantly – do not violate British law, a view many Islamic scholars have supported. Regarding extremism, not only do twice the number of British Muslims show concern about the rise of Islamic extremism – 43% – as Muslims elsewhere in Europe, but more Muslims want the British government to fight Islamic extremism than non-Muslims (56% to 49%), including a 48% support for surveillance of mosques (approximately equal to non-Muslims). There is also broad agreement on the Muslim need to integrate (66% vs. 74%) and even views on public drunkenness and short skirts on women (offended and not offended, respectively). Despite the similarities in these findings, poll results are consistently spun or selectively revealed to cast mainstream Muslims in the worst possible light.

Even the polled distrust of Muslims by Americans acknowledges dramatically lower numbers for those who actually know a Muslim personally (42% of them). Knowing this, the results – 39% think Muslims aren’t loyal to the US, 22% don’t want them as neighbors, and 39% want Muslims to have a special ID (a green crescent pinned to their shirt, perhaps?) – reflect public ignorance more than the existence of an actual threat.

Taking the most publicised polls at face value, while a minority of Muslims in Britain and the US do feel hostile towards non-Muslims, a majority of non-Muslims have now returned the favour. Over 50% believe “militant Islamism” is as great a threat as Nazism and communism and 63% believe are “very concerned” about worlwide Islamic rule (though apparently not concerned about how this would actually happen).

Sometimes, these broad judgements morph into the absurd, such as a rumour of New York Muslims offended by a Kate Moss poster – reprinted in newspapers worldwide – when no Muslims had actually complained. When this prejudice is correlated with statistics, it veers toward insignificance. Regardless of perceived sympathies, the number of British or American Muslims involved in terrorism is statistically near zero. Of course, it only takes a handful to commit an act of terrorism, but the actual accusations of involvement in terror to date do not indicate a “trend” that is somehow reflective of the larger Muslim community.

Obviously, none of this should deter Muslims from eliminating the tendencies toward terrorism and extremism within their communities, but neither should a fear of terror lead to hysterics where Muslims are thrown off flights for speaking, wearing, or praying in Arabic.

After all this, if one still wants to rely on polls, then other recent ones turn government policy towards Muslims on its head. Not only do a clear majority of Britons now believe that foreign policy has a clear link to terrorism (as a recent letter by 38 British Muslim groups and politicians to Tony Blair alleged), but support for the ruling Labour party has reached a 19 year low over the issue. In the US, support for the war in Iraq is, despite efforts to link it to Hezbollah and the recent terror arrests, the lowest ever measured, with a majority for the first time breaking the link between Iraq and the “war on terror.” Yes, polls are just numbers subject to interpretation, but very often the most reassuring results just get swept under the rug.

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England.