(RNS) A Gallup poll of eight Muslim countries has found that only a small minority of their residents said the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were justified.
Between 5 percent and 18 percent of residents polled in those countries said the attacks were justified, Dalia Mogahed, executive director of Gallup’s Muslim studies said May 2 at a forum that revealed some results of the Gallup Poll of the Muslim World.
The results were based on polling in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan.
“Our poll showed that widespread religiosity did not translate into widespread support for terrorism — in fact quite the opposite,” Mogahed said in an interview at Gallup’s Washington headquarters. “It may actually have been acting as some kind of a moral anchor to prevent an increase in … unfavorable views of America from turning into an increase in extremist views.”
The poll found that residents of all eight countries stated that religion was “an important part” of their daily lives at rates higher than U.S. residents. For example, 98 percent of Egyptians and Saudi Arabians and 74 percent of Iranians said this was the case, compared to 68 percent of Americans.
Gallup defined “radical” Muslims as those who thought the Sept. 11 attacks were justified, and pollsters concluded that religion did not play a key role in Muslim extremism.
Researchers found that 56 percent of radicals said they attended religious services in the last seven days, compared to 59 percent of moderates. They also found that 92 percent of radicals said religion was “an important part” of their daily lives, compared to 91 percent of moderates.
Both moderates and radicals said what they resented most about the West was its “disrespect for Islam.” From more secular countries such as Turkey to more religious nations such as Saudi Arabia, respondents said the best way to improve relations is to respect Islam and “stop seeing Muslims as inferior,” Mogahed said.
She said such views help explain the sense of outrage that surrounded the recent controversy over the publishing of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
“It was really a match to an already … combustible ocean of emotion around humiliation,” she said.
About 1,000 residents were interviewed in each country, giving the survey a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
