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Daily News Analysis

Most Muslims hate the Daesh terrorist group, Pew Research finds

Crescent International

The overwhelming majority of Muslims in the world hate the terrorist outfit Daesh that goes by several names--ISIL, ISIS or takfiris (for Muslims). Yet this is not something one would find reflected in the Islamophobic media of the West. Instead, they deliberately mislead people making them believe that all Muslims are either terrorists, potential terrorists or their sympathizers. Pew Research has discovered something very different.

Toronto,

Sunday December 06, 2015, 10:53 EST

At a time when some American politicians—Donald Trump and Ben Carson—and media outlets—Fox News and CNN—are outdoing themselves painting every Muslim either as a terrorist (member of Daesh) or a sympathizer, Pew Research’s finding paint a very different picture.

In a survey conducted in 10 Muslim majority countries (plus Zionist Israel that is not a Muslim majority state or entity) whose findings were published on November 17, Pew Research Centre found that the overwhelming majority of opinion was completely against the terrorist outfit.

The survey was conducted in the wake of the Baghdad, Beirut and Paris terror attacks. When asked if they had favorable or unfavorable opinion about Daesh, the overwhelming majority of people in these countries expressed unfavorable opinion.

Below are Pew’s findings of people expressing unfavorable opinion.

Country Unfavorable

Lebanon: 100%
Jordan: 94%
Palestine: 84%
Indonesia: 79%
Turkey: 73%
Nigeria: 66%
Burkina Faso: 64%
Malaysia: 64%
Senegal: 60%
Pakistan: 28% (62% had no opinion)

Some points stand out. Two regimes—Jordan and Turkey from the above list—that provide direct or indirect support to the takfiri terrorists also have clear majorities that oppose the group. The Boko Haram terrorist outfit has been rampaging through Nigeria. Although not directly affiliated with Daesh, it carries out similar criminal acts including kidnapping of girls, rape and seeking money through extortions.

The low unfavorable percentage among Pakistanis (28%) is not surprising although favorable opinion was expressed by only 6% of respondents. The overwhelming majority (62%) did not have or did not express their opinion openly.

What might account for this? Two factors can be cited. First, it appears that most people are afraid to give their opinion about a group because groups similar to it have been operating in Pakistan and murdering people. Perhaps, people preferred not to expose themselves even though the risk of retaliation may be small.

Second, Pakistan is an anomaly among Muslim countries. In another comparative survey that Pew conducted in 2007 and then in 2013 about Muslims’ opinion of Saudi Arabia, the overwhelming majority’s favorable view or approval rating of Saudi conduct had declined.

Only in Pakistan did Saudi Arabia’s approval rating stood at a massive 97%. What explains the Pakistanis’ unique position in the Muslim world vis-à-vis Saudi approval rating?

Not only has the Saudi regime pumped billions of dollars into various Pakistani madrassas spewing out narrow-minded Wahhabism, most politicians and other opinion-makers are also on the Saudi payroll.

The Pakistani media under strict orders from the powers that be is told not to criticize the Saudi regime regardless of how terrible its conduct. This attitude has only recently undergone some minor changes in the wake of many terrible things the Saudi-linked terrorist groups have perpetrated in Pakistan.

Aside from Pakistan, the takfiri terrorists and their Saudi mentors have little standing or support among most Muslims.

It would have been interesting if Pew Research had also conducted a survey in Saudi Arabia itself, that is the factory for producing these monsters. But the Saudi regime would not allow such a survey because it would then stand exposed as the principal source of this problem.

END


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