Latest PEW research poll shows majority Muslims approve of sharia

A hat tip to my friend, who I will call "Mr J" who sent me the original poll results which you can find here.  The results boil down to this; a majority of Muslims worldwide approve of the implementation of the sharia, with the usual countries heading the list; Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia and Nigeria.  Iran and Saudi Arabia are too obvious to list but are part of the greater adherence to sharia that is spreading globally.  It is disappointing to see the results, even moreso that the greater umma does not stand in unison to denounce these results, but also to take back Islam from those who represent it in a negative light.  If Islam is really a religion of peace then Muslims en masse should be taking to the streets.  It seems the numbers from PEW belie the narrative that Islam is the same as Christianity or Judaism.

From the American Thinker May 4 by Andrew Bostom

Sharia Über Alles

Despite a number of (deliberately?) mitigating biases, both methodological and interpretative, the latest Pew Research Forum report, "The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society," released April 30, 2013, confirms the broad appeal of the totalitarian Sharia, Islam's religio-political "law," across Islamdom.

The data were pooled from surveys conducted between 2008 and 2012, representing, as touted by Pew, "a total of 39 countries and territories on three continents: Africa, Asia and Europe." Collectively, the surveys included "more than 38,000 face-to-face interviews in 80-plus languages and dialects, covering every country that has more than 10 million Muslims." Pew did acknowledge this important caveat about Muslim populations not surveyed because, "political sensitivities or security concerns prevented opinion research among Muslims." Notably excluded countries were Saudi Arabia, the Sudan, and Iran -- all Islamic states, governed by the Sharia, Saudi Arabia and the Sudan under Sunni Islam, the third, Iran, being the world's largest Shiite Muslim state.

Responses to four related questions on the Sharia, comprise the surveys' salient -- and pathognomonic -- findings. The questions were, "Do you favor or oppose making sharia law, or Islamic law, the official law of the land in our country?", and these three internally validating (and equally edifying) queries, "Do you favor or oppose the following: punishments like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery?", "Do you favor or oppose the following: punishments like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery?", "Do you favor or oppose the following: the death penalty for people who leave the Muslim religion?" Summary data from the nations with the five largest Muslim populations (as per 2010) surveyed, Indonesia (204 million), Pakistan (178 million), Bengladesh (149 million), Egypt (80 million), and Nigeria (76 million), revealed:

• 72% of Indonesian Muslims, 84% of Pakistani Muslims, 82% of Bengladeshi Muslims, 74% of Egyptian Muslims, and 71% of Nigerian Muslims supported making Sharia the official state law of their respective societies. The population-weighted average from these 5 countries was 77% supportive. (Composite regional data confirmed these individual country trends -- 84% of South Asian Muslims, 77% of Southeast Asian Muslims, 74% of Middle Eastern/North African Muslims, and 64% of Sub-Saharan African Muslims favored application of the Sharia as official state law.)

• 37% of Indonesian Muslims, 85% of Pakistani Muslims, 50% of Bengladeshi Muslims, 70% of Egyptian Muslims, and 45% of Nigerian Muslims favored Sharia-based mandatory ("hadd") punishments "like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery"

• 42% of Indonesian Muslims, 86% of Pakistani Muslims, 54% of Bengladeshi Muslims, 80% of Egyptian Muslims, and 37% of Nigerian Muslims favored the Sharia-based hadd punishment of stoning for adultery

• 16% of Indonesian Muslims, 75% of Pakistani Muslims, 43% of Bengladeshi Muslims, 88% of Egyptian Muslims, and 29% of Nigerian Muslims favored the Sharia-based hadd punishment of execution for "apostasy"

Furthermore, the Pew survey results confirm the abject failure of the U.S. midwifed Iraqi and Afghan "democracies" to fulfill the utopian aspirations of the much ballyhooed "(Bernard) Lewis doctrine." Instead, the negative prognostications, epitomized by my colleague Diana West's evocative description "Making the world safe for Sharia," have been realized. Specifically, the Pew data indicated:

• 91% of Iraqi Muslims and 99% of Afghan Muslims supported making Sharia the official state law of their respective societies

• 55% of Iraqi Muslims and 81% of Afghan Muslims favored Sharia-based hadd punishments "like whippings and cutting off of hands for crimes like theft and robbery"

• 57% of Iraqi Muslims and 84% of Afghan Muslims favored the Sharia-based hadd punishment of stoning for adultery

• 42% of Iraqi Muslims and 79% of Afghan Muslims favored the Sharia-based hadd punishment of execution for "apostasy"

Religious piety, as evidenced by frequency of prayer and "Following the Prophet's Example," increased support for Sharia, which was unaffected by age, gender, or educational level.

The Pew report fails to elaborate on these strong associations, offering no explanation about why increased compliance with prayer and pious conformity with the behavior of Islam's prophet Muhammad might result in broad Muslim approval for mutilating thieves, stoning adulterers to death, or executing those who simply exercise freedom of conscience and forsake Islam. Yet the Pew investigators readily proffer these mollifying comments, insisting the predilection for Sharia "varies widely," noting "many favor democracy over authoritarian rule," and even concluding,

Overall, Muslims broadly support the idea of religious freedom. Among Muslims who say people of different religions are very free to practice their faith, three-quarters or more in each country say this is a good thing.

First, even the Pew data on Muslim support for "killing" apostates do not reflect sentiments for the less draconian punishments for apostasy: imprisonment with beatings (for women under Shiite law, timed to each of the prayer sessions, i.e., 5 times per day) until "recantation"; dissolution of marriage and both parental and property rights. These adjunct non-lethal "punishments" -- often applied to "private" apostates who do not manifest their apostasy in public -- would likely have registered far more "popular" appeal. Also, both "religious freedom" and "freedom" -- ("hurriyya"; discussed below) in Islamdom bear no resemblance to Western conceptions of these ideals, as this ranking of Christian persecution -- dominated by countries from sub-Saharan Africa (where 94% affirmed to Pew "it is good that others are very free to practice their faith" ) and the Middle East/North Africa (where 85% affirmed to Pew "it is good that others are very free to practice their faith") -- makes plain.

Furthermore, the current Pew report includes no data on "blasphemy," i.e., a simple question about Muslim attitudes toward public criticism of Islam's prophet or the creed itself by both non-Muslims and Muslims, ignoring Pew's own August, 2011 data from its analysis, "Rising Restrictions on Religion." This report, released August 9, 2011, examined the issue of "defamation" of religion, tracking countries where various blasphemy, or criticism of religions are enforced. "While such laws are sometimes promoted as a way to protect religion, in practice, they often serve to punish religious minorities whose beliefs are deemed unorthodox or heretical," the report noted.

There is more, read it all