Who Speaks for Islam?

I experienced this first hand a few weeks ago when I spoke by phone on a UK based TV program called

. To my unpleasant surprise, I found out on air that I was joined by a member of Hizbul Tahrir (HT), a marginal but controversial group which denounces Western Democracy and calls for the creation of a pan-Islamic state in the Muslim world. The reaction to my reporting of Gallup's findings on Muslim views of democracy, gender and Shari'a (Islam's ethical and legal code) by both the HT representative and later the bloggers who've parsed my interview showed just how little either side was willing to understand the very people they so prolifically discuss. The HT representative on the program dismissed or "reinterpreted" findings I presented so as to not challenge the group's simplistic utopian ideology which holds liberty in contempt as morally decadent. For example, as I regularly report, our research shows that far from denouncing democracy, Muslims around the world say it is among the things they most admire about the West, specifically mentioning "liberty" as a desirable attribute. Around the world, from Morocco to Malaysia, Muslim respondents described their respect for much of what the West holds dear: freedom of the press, the rule of law, and transparency and accountability of government. As much as HT selectively ignored and exploited these findings to push their propaganda, many conservative pundits who diametrically oppose HT's vision of the world, did much the same. To them, my crime was that I reported that many Muslim women wanted sharia as a source of legislation. I also explained that Muslim women surveyed by Gallup said they believed they should have access to equal legal rights, free employment, voting without family influence, and even leadership positions in government. This suggests that many Muslim women see Sharia differently from those who use it to deny women rights. For simply stating results of survey research, I stood accused of "endorsing" Taliban-like rule, and downplaying the abuses done in the name of sharia. Measuring and reporting what people believe does not mean agreement or endorsement. What it does mean is seeing the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. Factoring in this reality makes leaders stronger--their decisions are better informed, their communication is better targeted, and their outcomes are better anticipated. While some may find the facts inconvenient, the rest of us can benefit from our ability to engage in authentic dialogue, even when we disagree.