John L. Esposito and Mona Mogahed
While post-9/11 resulted in necessary Western government responses to counter international and domestic terrorism, this tragic event has been widely exploited by far-right neocons, hardline Christian Zionist Right and xenophobic forces. Islam and mainstream Muslims have been brush-stroked with "terrorism," equated with the actions of a fraction of violent extremists. Major polls by Gallup, PEW and others reported the extent to which many Americans and Europeans had and have a problem not only with terrorists but also with Islam and all Muslims.
Islamophobia grew exponentially, as witnessed in America's 2008 presidential and 2010 congressional elections, Park 51 and post-Park 51 anti-mosque and so-called anti-Shariah campaigns, as well as increased hate speech and violence. The massacre in Norway is a tragic signal of this metastasizing social cancer. Anders Behring Breivik's 1500-page manifesto confirmed the influence of the hate speech spread by American anti-Muslim (Islamophobic) leaders, organizations and websites.
It is truly time for a new narrative, one that is informed by facts, and that is data-driven, to replace the shrill voices of militant Muslim bashers and opportunistic politicians chasing funds and votes. Key findings from the recently released Abu Dhabi Gallup Report, Muslim Americans: Faith, Freedom, and the Future, offer data that provide a good starting point -- a very different picture of Muslims in America today.
Far from the image of a fifth column of foreign, terrorist sympathizers and shariah-imposing boogeymen, data indicates that Muslim Americans are actually among the most integrated, optimistic, thriving, and loyal citizens of this country. Astonishingly, despite the hate speech, discrimination and erosion of their civil liberties, American Muslims remain optimistic about their status and future in America. Muslim Americans report being better off and more optimistic in 2011 than they were in 2008. Their life evaluation ratings have increased more than any other American religious group: 60% are thriving in 2011, up 19 percentage points from 2008. They are also more hopeful about their future than any other major religious group. They rate their lives in 5 years at 8.4 on a scale of 0 to 10, compared with 7.4 to 8.0 among other major religious groups and are more likely to see their standard of living getting better in 2011 (64%) than they were in 2008 (46%). More than other groups, Muslim Americans believe the economy in 2011 vs. 2008 has improved more than that of other groups. They tend to vote Democrat and are happier with the political climate since the election of Obama (8 in 10 Muslim Americans approve of Obama's job performance, the highest of any other major religious group).
In contrast to their critics who question their loyalty and charge that Muslim Americans do not reject terrorism, Muslim Americans (78%) are most likely to reject violent military attacks on civilians and are most likely (89%) to reject violent individual attacks on civilians versus other major U.S. religious groups. 92% say Muslims living in this country have no sympathy for Al Qaeda
Yet, despite data that indicates Muslim Americans are loyal to the U.S., 10 years after 9/11 significant minorities of their fellow citizens continue to question their loyalty. Thus, while 93% of Muslim Americans believe they are loyal to America, 80% of Jews, 59% of Catholics, and 56% of Protestants believe this to be the case. Not surprisingly, 60% of Muslim Americans believe that most Americans are prejudiced toward Muslims and data shows that roughly half (between 47%-66%) among other religious groups agree. 48% of Muslims (by far the highest of any other group) say they have personally experienced religious or racial discrimination in the past year.
At the same time, 57% percent of Muslim Americans have confidence in the honesty of elections, the highest of all other major U.S. religious groups, and are among the most open group to other faith communities, with 44% classified as "integrated," 48% as "tolerant," and only 8% as "isolated."
For many, one of the most astonishing findings of the Gallup poll may well be the common ground that Muslims share with Jewish Americans in their political and social views. After Muslim Americans themselves (93%), Jewish Americans (80%) are more likely than Catholics, Protestants, and Mormons (59% or less) to see U.S. Muslims as loyal to America. They say that there is prejudice toward U.S. Muslims in higher numbers (66%) than do Muslims (60%). Jews (74%) and Muslims (83%) in America are the most likely to say the Iraq war was a "mistake." And perhaps most surprising, a substantial majority of Jewish Americans (78%) and Muslim Americans (81%) support a future in which an independent Palestinian state would coexist alongside of Israel.
This September 11th provides an opportunity to remember the past but also to recognize that truth is stranger than fiction, the fiction constructed by preachers of hate whose fear-mongering has infected our popular culture and society. Now is the time to reassess and rebuild our national unity on the facts.
Follow John L. Esposito on Twitter: www.twitter.com/johnlesposito
they speak of and considering lack of political freedom and democracy and speech in Middle East and in other part of the worlds,they have managed to secure the rights of choosing not just one religion and its contents but ways of worshiping and also their political beliefs that is molded and based on democratic philosophy that a mankind need in every society and country around the worlds and they should be thank full for the given opportunity to make a difference in their living life style and should speak and promote this very perfect example of the democratic system around worlds which it would makes us all less vulnerable in the present and future and represent a better understanding of the United States and its people as the fanatism and enemies speaks and preach falsely of the USA as just a nation of an Empire.
Also let me tell you this I love Japanese culture, Russian culture, African Culture, Asain Culture..you throw xenophobe and Islamaphobe around any time someone disagrees with something like the Shariah.You can't be a xenophone to love all these other foreign cultures but not like political Islam. I am not afraid of the God you worship, I am not afriad of the way you dress,I am not afraid of you praying 5 times a day.I am afraid of the part of Islam that wants to put the entire world under the Shariah and force me to either convert or pay the Jiyza tax for simply being non muslim
"Now is the time to reassess and rebuild our national unity on the facts."
~John Esposito
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Yes.
Thank you very much for another excellent and important article, Dr. Esposito.
http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/islamic-radicalization
"Although the activities of radical imams are typically associated with Salafist-Wahhabi lectures given in the mosque, they are not limited to the mosque itself. Imams are often active and influential in other venues such as prisons, publishing, online forums, audio lectures, and at Islamic conferences and institutes. These various forums allow imams to reach new audiences and potentially susceptible followers outside of the mosque itself."
To wit:
Islam ISN'T the problem, its adherents are largely peaceable, industrious and hopeful.
AND
Islam habors extremists, whom are sheltered by a culture of tribalism that precludes reform or "tattling" and thus perpetuates harmful stereotypes because it permits atrocities in its very name.
If both things are true (and they are) they aren't true ONLY of Islam.
Extremism overseas has developed in response to the political environment...mainly dictatorships and wars. This is well documented.
Pakistani's, for example,were complicit in the sheltering of OBL--including, almost certainly, the highest eschelons of their military and intelligence communities.