Distrust Remains Between Muslims, West

Friday, 22 July 2011 13:10
Courtesy Of "On Islam"

CAIRO – As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 attacks approaches, a recent survey has found that tensions and negative views remained high between Muslims around the world and western countries, especially those who hold negative stereotypes about Muslims and Islam.

"Muslim and Western publics continue to see relations between them as generally bad, with both sides holding negative stereotypes of the other," says the survey released Thursday on the website of the Pew Research Center.

Titled, "Muslim-Western Tensions Persist," the survey was performed between March 21 and May 15 in a dozen countries, including Egypt, Turkey, the Palestinian occupied territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Indonesia and Pakistan.

Coming in the course of Global Attitudes Project, the research is an update for a number of trend questions from a 2006 Pew Global Attitudes poll exploring how Muslim and Western countries view each other.

The report found that many Westerners view Muslims "as fanatical and violent" and few regard Muslims as "tolerant or respectful of women.”

On the other hand, Muslims in the Middle East and Asia generally see Westerners as "selfish, immoral and greedy - as well as violent and fanatical."

According to the survey, the idea that relations are bad has become "somewhat less common" over the past five years in Western countries such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia.

Yet, such view was not shared by Muslims who complain from deteriorating relations with the west.

"A greater percentage of Western publics now see relations between themselves and Muslims as generally good compared with 2006.

"In contrast, Muslims in predominantly Muslim nations are as inclined to say relations are generally bad as they were five years ago," the report says.

Accusations

Blaming each other for the origin of the problem, the western concerns about the so called ‘Islamic extremism’ were faced by similar concerns from Muslims about western policies affecting Muslims and Muslim countries.

"For the most part, Muslims and Westerners finger point about the causes of problems in their relations, and about which side holds the high ground on key issues,” the survey says.

“Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere who say relations with the West are bad overwhelmingly blame the West. However, while Americans and Europeans tend to blame Muslims for bad relations, significant numbers believe Westerners are responsible."

Many Muslims blame Western policies and their corrupt governments for a "lack of prosperity" in their countries.

"Perhaps reflecting the Arab Spring, in several Muslim and Western nations, people are more likely than they were five years ago to say the lack of prosperity stems from a lack of democracy, it says.

There is an agreement between Muslims and Westerners that Muslim countries should be "more prosperous."

"Muslim publics have an aggrieved view of the West - they blame Western policies for their own lack of prosperity," the report says.

"Across the Muslim publics surveyed, a median of 53% say US and Western policies are one of the top two reasons why Muslim nations are not wealthier.

“In contrast, few Americans or Western Europeans think the economic challenges facing Muslim countries are a result of Western policies.”