Survey finds Muslims in U.S., abroad differ

Sharyn Jackson, The Des Moines Register | USATODAY

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The views of Muslims in America more closely resemble those of other Americans on some issues of modern society than they do those of Muslims around the world, according to a new global survey of people of Islamic faith.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life surveyed 38,000 Muslims in 39 countries in Africa, Asia and Europe on issues such as Islamic law, religion and acceptance of other faiths. Those results, released Tuesday, were compared with findings of a 2011 Pew survey of Muslims in America and views of American Christians.

People who work with the Muslim community attribute the differences in views to religious freedom in the United States and routine exchanges of ideas with people of other faiths.

"The Muslims have more freedom here than in the Muslim majority countries they come from," said Hamed Baig, vice president of the Islamic Center of Des Moines. "They come here, and they are more secure and more relaxed."

That comfort, said Baig, has led Muslims in America to be more accepting of other faiths, and more comfortable with their own.

According to survey findings, almost two-thirds of U.S. Muslims (63 percent) and U.S. Christians (64 percent) say there is no conflict between religion and modern life. In Africa, Asia and Europe, 54 percent of Muslims share that view.

Views of Muslims worldwide were closer on the issue of violence. Most Muslims reject suicide bombings and violence against civilians, the surveys found, including 81 percent of American Muslims and 72 percent of Muslims in Africa, Asia and Europe.

In those continents, researchers found, a large majority of Muslims believe that Islam is the one true faith leading to heaven, and that belief in God is necessary to be a moral person.

In contrast, a majority of U.S. Muslims, 56 percent, say that many religions can lead to heaven. About two-thirds of American Christians and Americans in general share that view. But just 18 percent of Muslims in Africa, Asia and Europe believe that religions other than Islam offer a path to eternal life.

Anwar El Nour, leader of the Darfurian Community in Iowa, says the statistics may offer a narrow window on the issue.

"I myself don't think that all Muslims even go to heaven," El Nour said.

El Nour said his experience as a Sudanese immigrant in Des Moines has led to direct exchanges with other cultures. The Lutheran Church, he said, has welcomed the 200-strong Muslim immigrants and even provided a place to pray.

"We share a lot of things in America with Americans," El Nour said. "The way we have been treated as Americans here, with democracy and freedom, I think we are totally different from Muslims in other parts of the world."

The survey also found that less than half of U.S. Muslims (48 percent) say all or most of their close friends are followers of Islam. In Africa, Asia and Europe, a median of 95 percent of Muslims says that all or most of their close friends are Muslim.

Fatima Smejkal, a board member of the Cedar Rapids Islamic Center, said her community is constantly melding with other faith communities.

"The Christians, the Muslims, the Jewish faith — we are all as one here. We respect each other, work together, live together. We frequent each other's house of worship," Smejkal said. "It's a wonderful society."

People of other faiths who work with the Muslim community in Iowa also see a regular exchange of cultures versus what happens in other countries.

"Culture is a big piece of who we are as individuals, and that's certainly influenced by the society and culture around us," said Connie Ryan Terrell, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa. "Folks who don't have the experience of interacting with people who are different from them usually have a much narrower viewpoint."

Rabbi David Kaufman of Temple B'nai Jeshurun said another reason Muslims in the U.S. have similar viewpoints to other Americans is that they purposely left countries where the prevailing views were different. Like the Jewish community that came to the United States in the 19th century, Kaufman said, Muslim immigrants were more likely to be secular.

"When you're dealing with Muslims fleeing from Iran, fleeing from Iraq, coming to the U.S. from Egypt, they're fleeing fundamentalism and coming to a place where there's freedom," and they are entering the American education system, Kaufman said.

"In this country, we educate about civil rights and secular views, and interaction with people of other faiths and ethnicities is a huge part of it," Kaufman said.

Of course, not all Muslims in the United States share singular opinions, Kaufman said.

Sal Syed, public relations committee chair of the Islamic Center of Ames, said that while U.S. Muslims have more freedoms than in other countries, they are not necessarily treated equal to people of other faiths.

"Here people are separated and don't really know who other people are," unlike in his native India, he said. While most people are off on Sunday, a Christian day of worship, Muslims have to make special arrangements with their jobs to worship on Fridays.

"We are a secular democracy, yes, but for non-Christians, it is not secular enough," he said.

Sarai Rice, director of the Des Moines Area Religious Council, said most of the time when various communities work together on social services, discussions of contemporary society don't even come up. But there is one thing, she said, that everyone has in common.

"We work together not in beliefs, but in meeting the needs of the community," Rice said. "All faith traditions essentially agree that we should all be contributing to the common good."