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Half Americans Don't Know Islam: Poll:
Though they lack the basic knowledge about Islam, more than half
Americans already hold negative views about the faith and think it
supports violence, according to a new Washington....
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New York:
How Islam Phobia is deliberately given rise to in United States can once again be
gauged from a survey taken after the shooting at the Fort Hood Army
base in Texas earlier this month. If the findings of the survey
conducted by Pew Research Centre are to be believed, they show that more than half of
Americans fear the rise of Islamic extremism.
Major Nidal Malik Hassan, an army psychiatrist, allegedly mowed down
12 fellow soldiers and a civilian when he fired on his comrades to
protest his upcoming posting to the war zone in Afghanistan in
the worst-ever shooting at any US army base
The shooting by the Muslim soldier
occurred at the backdrop of the rising suicide cases among the US
soldiers posted in Afghanistan and dissent against the ongoing
US war in the Asian subcontinent and the Middle East.
There are estimated to be more than
five million Muslims in the US. According to the survey by the
independent Pew Research Center done after the November 5 shooting,
52 percent Americans think that Islamic extremism is rising in the
US.
In a similar survey by the center in
2007, only 46 Americans had expressed their concern over Muslim
extremism in the country. The survey says 49 percent Americans today
feel very concerned about 'Islamic extremism' as against 48 percent
in 2007.
According to the Pew Research Center,
the public followed the reports on the army base shooting closely as
well as the ongoing investigation. People’s reaction varied with
their political affiliation. Compared to 65 percent Republicans,
only 44 percent Democrats said that they are concerned about the
rising extremism.
There are only 36 percent young
Americans who said Islamic extremism was rising, as against 60-65
percent old people.
At the same time, the survey is
totally silent on the reported reasons behind the shootout and the
opinions suggesting that linking the incident with religion could be
counter productive.
Immediately after the shootout at the
US army base, community leaders while condemning the attack had
warned against linking the incident with Islam. Instead, they had
said, the real reasons behind the incident should be investigated
into.
The survey done on phone was conducted between
November 12 and November 15 and involved 1,003 Americans.
Interestingly, doubts are also raised
over such surveys that are normally conducted after such incidents.
"How opinions of a thousand Americans
can be treated as the popular belief of entire United States?", asks
Shahryar Akhter, an expert on United States while speaking to
ummid.com.
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