<p>Suicide bombing is OK to defend the faith. But otherwise they are adapting well to US ways. Oh, and less than half believe Muslims did 9/11. OK then.</p>
<p>yeah, about that.</p>
<p>what is the source of this?</p>
<p>yeah, i would also like to know.</p>
<p><a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6680939.stm[/url]”>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6680939.stm</a></p>
<p>Open full report. BBC did not want to highlight the bad side.
Don’t you guys watch the news?</p>
<p>not today.</p>
<p>“Suicide bombings” is a pretty broad category. Some are used to further Islamicism (“fundamentalism” as it is referred to in popular usage), some to struggle against what is perceived as a violent and aggressive occupation as in the relatively secular Palestine, yet others for varying political reasons. </p>
<p>The notion of “defending the faith” is a very important tenet of Islam, but when taken out of theological context, is by Westerners often mistaken to equate anything from Al-Qaeda style terrorism in the name of Islam to individual Muslims believing violence is ok as long as it is connected to a religious cause. Both of these interpretations are grossly oversimplified - </p>
<p>Jihad, as opposed to popular American knowledge, is an all-catch term for simply doing what is right; spreading the faith peacefully; defending Islamic principles through speech and action. Violent Jihad is only permitted under severely restricted and in the Qur’an defined forms - for example, it has to be used under the need of self-defense and in a last resort situation only, and cannot harm civilians under any circumstances. Islamicist groups (as well as historical Muslim empires) bend these rules frequently through re-interpreting definitions of self-defense and civilians (so American imperialism becomes an attacker one merely defends the community against, and Americans in general are denied the status of peaceful civilians). </p>
<p>Point being, when the majority of American Muslims - which are “otherwise” very secular - defend violent Jihad such as suicide bombing (suicide, btw, being strictly prohibited as a sin when not part of community self-defense) in the name of faith, this is the Jihad they are referring to. Don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions when you cannot take the full context of Islamic faith, and how those responding to the survey interpreted it, into account.</p>
<p>As for 9/11, one can be a Muslim, and still not act Islamic. For what those people have done I would hardly consider them fellow believers anymore. Osama has interpreted and re-interpreted the Islamic tenets he believes justifies his cause and actions so frequently it’s no use to even counter him theologically at this point.</p>
<p>“Suicide bombings is a pretty broad category.”</p>
<p>Yeah - it takes in everything from mad as a hatter to crazy as an outhouse rat with all shades of the hopelessly or congenitally insane in between. We shoot mad dogs. Can we at least pump these fruitcakes full of chlorpromazine and lock them in a ruer room before they hurt themselves and everyone within fragmentation range? Probaly not. That would be insensitive.</p>
<p>What a world.</p>
<p>higherlead, thank you for thoroughly reading and reflecting upon my respectful points of clarification speaking as a well-read Muslim, and responding in kind. I wish all Americans were this open-minded!</p>
<p>Oh… wait.</p>
<p>frrrph: Splitting hairs. When half of the Muslim community of America says they don’t believe Muslims perpetrated 9/11, you can bet that many (personally I’d say most, but that statement can’t be defended) aren’t referring to the semantic point of “fellow believers”.</p>
<p>As for the first point (about Jihad) that may be more justified.</p>
<p><em>edit</em> In fact, the whole fellow believers thing is irrelevant, because the actual quote in the article is this: “Consistent with the views of Muslims in other countries, fewer that half of Muslim Americans - regardless of their age - accept the idea that Arab men carried out the 11 September attacks, the study says.”</p>
<p>That’s delusion on a grand scale.</p>
<p>Fair enough. I’m not active enough in American mosques to know the vibe on that, but it surprises me - most Americanized Muslims I’ve met have been level-headed and progressive. Maybe California is very, very different. </p>
<p>Apologies for overgeneralizing: I do feel Islamophobia and general ignorance is a big problem, and would rather not it stand unquestioned or the “discussion” of Islam remain un-nuanced.</p>
<p>Islamophobia is a huge problem; you are surely correct about that one, FRRRPH. </p>
<p>However, I am shocked by the beliefs from those whom I conider to be well educated Muslims. I have a friend, whose American educated Palestinian husband believes the Mossad was responsible for 9/11. Her BIL doesn’t believe that the Holocaust ever happened…and this man has a PhD, for crying out loud!</p>
<p>If the well educated people are speaking this way, what does that mean? (rhetorical question only). No wonder there is Islamophobia!</p>
<p>But isn’t there some frightenly large percentage of Americans who believe 9/11 was in fact carried out by our government?! Conspiracy theorists abound.</p>
<p>That aside, I was interested in frrrph’s post, but the opening line, ‘“Suicide bombings” is a pretty broad category,’ sent serious chills down my spine.</p>
<p>Some U.S. Muslims Say Suicide Attacks OK
By ALAN FRAM
AP
WASHINGTON (May 23) - One in four younger U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances, though most Muslim Americans overwhelmingly reject the tactic and are critical of Islamic extremism and al-Qaida, a poll says. </p>
<p>According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, one in four younger U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances. </p>
<p>The survey by the Pew Research Center, one of the most exhaustive ever of the country’s Muslims, revealed a community that in many ways blends comfortably into society. Its largely mainstream members express nearly as much happiness with their lives and communities as the general public does, show a broad willingness to adopt American customs, and have income and education levels similar to others in the U.S. </p>
<p>Even so, the survey revealed noteworthy pockets of discontent. </p>
<p>While nearly 80 percent of U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings of civilians to defend Islam can not be justified, 13 percent say they can be, at least rarely. </p>
<p>That sentiment is strongest among those younger than 30. Two percent of them say it can often be justified, 13 percent say sometimes and 11 percent say rarely. </p>
<p>“It is a hair-raising number,” said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Washington-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, which promotes the compatibility of Islam with democracy. </p>
<p>U.S. Muslims have growing Internet and television access to extreme ideologies, he said, adding: “People, especially younger people, are susceptible to these ideas.” </p>
<p>Federal officials have warned the U.S. must guard against homegrown terrorism , as the British suffered with the London transit bombings of 2005. </p>
<p>Even so, U.S. Muslims are far less accepting of suicide attacks than Muslims in many other nations. In Pew surveys last year, support in some Muslim countries exceeded 50 percent, while it was considered justifiable by about one in four Muslims in Britain and Spain, and one in three in France. </p>
<p>“We have crazies just like other faiths have them,” said Eide Alawan, who directs interfaith outreach at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Mich., one of the nation’s largest mosques. He said killing innocent people contradicts Islam. </p>
<p>Andrew Kohut, Pew director, said in an interview that support for the attacks represented “one of the few trouble spots” in the survey. </p>
<p>The poll briefly describes the rationales for and against “suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilian targets” and then asks, “Do you personally feel that this kind of violence is often justified to defend Islam, sometimes justified, rarely justified, or never justified?” </p>
<p>The question did not specify where a suicide attack might occur, who might carry it out or what was meant by using a bombing to “defend Islam.” </p>
<p>Those of all ages backing at least some suicide attacks were about evenly divided between men and women, with support stronger from those who were U.S.-born and less educated, and those who attend mosques at least weekly. </p>
<p>Only 5 percent of U.S. Muslims expressed favorable views of the terrorist group al-Qaida, though about a fourth did not express an opinion. </p>
<p>Most said they are concerned about a rise in Islamic extremism in the U.S. and around the world. </p>
<p>Only 40 percent said they believe Arab men carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. </p>
<p>By six to one, they say the U.S. was wrong to invade Iraq , while a third say the same about Afghanistan - far deeper than the opposition expressed by the general U.S. public. </p>
<p>Just over half said it has been harder being a U.S. Muslim since the 9/11 attacks. Nearly a third of those who flew in the past year say they underwent extra screening because they are Muslim. </p>
<p>Forty-seven percent said they consider themselves Muslim first, rather than American. Forty-two percent of Christians and 62 percent of white evangelical Protestants identified themselves primarily by their religion in earlier surveys. </p>
<p>The survey estimates there are roughly 2.35 million Muslim Americans. Among adults, two-thirds are from abroad while a fifth are U.S.-born blacks. </p>
<p>By law, the Census Bureau does not ask about people’s religions. </p>
<p>Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,050 Muslim adults from January through April, including in Arabic, Urdu and Farsi. Subjects were chosen at random, from a separate list of households including some with Muslim-sounding names, and from Muslim households that had answered previous surveys. </p>
<p>The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 5 percentage points. </p>
<p>Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.</p>
<p>So would you say Christians caused the Oklahoma bombing? Maybe it’s in how you interpret the question.</p>
<p>A very large proportion of Americans support continuing to send “suicide death squads” (thank you, Dick Morris) to Iraq, where they can get shot at “around the corner” rather than in the United States itself. </p>
<p>“Forty-seven percent said they consider themselves Muslim first, rather than American. Forty-two percent of Christians and 62 percent of white evangelical Protestants identified themselves primarily by their religion in earlier surveys.”</p>
<p>Gotta worry about them there Protestants…</p>
<p>Nice try to divert the conversation…Not </p>
<p>When 25% of any other major religion in the US says suicide bombers are an acceptable tactic let me know.</p>
<p>37% of Americans (at last count) support Dick Morris’ suicide death squads.</p>
<p>Tactics are exactly that…tactics.</p>
<p>Last time I looked, most Christians believed in both dying for their faith, and killing for it (even if the latter is explicitly and universally condemned – even in self-defense, even in defense of women and children – by those closest to the religion’s founder in the first 300 years of its history.)</p>
<p>I think there is a difference between a religion and a religious cult. I am not sure if I can articulate the difference, but I know one when I see one. Islam appear to me to be a religious cult not a religion. Unless there is some deprogramming, I don’t see how muslims can fit into the modern (supposedly tolerate) world.</p>
<p>“Last time I looked, most Christians believed in both dying for their faith, and killing for it”. It might be time you looked again. I married into a Christian family, and probably 90% of the people I work with and am friends with are Christians, and not one of them believes in killing in the name of their faith. Was this a joke? The Crusades ended a long time ago.</p>